Tragedy in Toulouse

By this point, many of you may already have heard about the murders in France. With everything going on in the world, its almost as if we have become accustomed to sick tragedies like this one...or maybe we haven't, when it happens in our own backyards. I don't really know. There just doesn't seem to be anything shocking about people losing their lives in very sad sad ways, nowadays. This certainly can't be a good sign :-(

Before getting up to speed on the specifics of this heinous occurrence, I read an excellent piece by Professor Tariq Ramadan as he attempted to offer some perspective on some of the relevant issues at play.

I wanted to add a few simple thoughts to the discussion, if I may...

My heartfelt condolences go out to all the French families affected by this man's vicious actions. Whether we have become accustomed to senseless violence or not, the loss of any human life is something that should always be considered tragic regardless of who the victims are and reflected upon thoroughly.

France's 'integration' issues are well-known around the world, I think. From my own personal experience, I have met a few young French people who have felt let down in their own society, the lack of opportunity and racism they experience for being ethnically, racially or religiously 'different'. The trend towards conformity and uniformity, in the name of secularism may have isolated people even further I'm afraid. The fiery rhetoric around this faux 'integration' debate (not just in France, but elsewhere) seems to be driving people further apart.

Not just in France alone, but elsewhere, the true promise of equality has failed to materialize. And there are unfortunate consequences to this reality, which makes it all the more important that we all engage civilly with one another and do our part to make our communities more inclusive.

We can sidestep the real issues at play here (exclusionary policies, disenfranchised youth, racism, etc) and focus on hot-button issues that really just serve to distract us from what is seriously wrong in our communities. Opportunistic politicians can blame 'high' immigration, a supposed failure of immigrants and coloured folk to integrate properly, etc etc, but that ends up leaving us nowhere. We don't end up having the right conversations about how to fix some of these problems.

Prof. Ramadan provides some useful insight in this regard.

"Mohamed—how typical the name is!—was a French citizen of immigrant background before becoming a terrorist of immigrant origin. Early on his destiny became tied to the surrounding perceptions of that origin. Now, in a final act of provocation, he has come full circle, has vanished into this constructed and distorted image to become the definitive “other.” For the French of France, there is no longer anything French about Mohamed the Muslim Arab."

"The overwhelming majority of the Mohameds, the Fatimas or the Ahmeds of the suburbs and the banlieues are French; what they seek is equality, dignity, security, a decent job and a place to live. They are culturally and religiously integrated; their problem is overwhelmingly a socio-economic one. The story of Mohamed Merah today holds up to France a mirror in which it sees its face: he ends up a Jihadi without real conviction, after having been a citizen deprived of true dignity."

And then appropriately follows with,

"Once more, this excuses nothing. But therein lies a crucial lesson for us all."

The Small Things, III

This recurring blogpost is adopting a theme as I present the third installment...The common thread between the posts being that they all relate to nature and creation!  Thinking back to my university days, as a social science and humanities student, one of the most fascinating courses I had the pleasure of taking was a course on plant life. So the direction these postings has taken isn't all that surprising I suppose.

I think the photos below speak for them self. I showed these pictures to my brother, and he didn't find them all that fascinating...

What I find so extraordinary is that yes, there exist insects, beatles and marine life that are tiny, but a reptile- which to me seems to be a more complicated creature anatomically (just an impression, not based in fact!!)- that it exists in a miniature version...I just can't get over it!

So, enjoy and marvel at the beauty of the Brokesia Micra chameleon from Madagascar!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/tiniest-chameleon-madagascar-brookesia-micra_n_1280151.html?ref=canada&ir=Canada

The Small Things, II

Just a few posts ago, I shared the very first installment of what I hoped would be a recurring blog post! I am happy to be making an addition to The Small Things with this post!

I came across the photograph below in a local daily, I was struck by the juxtaposition of the living and vibrant flowers against the dearth of the desert. I wondered, can life spring in an environment as uninviting as a dry desert?

Scorpian weed in the Mojave desert.

 There is definitely a lesson to be learned from these purple Scorpian weed: Two seeming opposites, coexisting unexpectedly when the conditions are just right...

#Peaceonearth

RECIPE: Baklava

I've always wanted to try my hand at homemade baklava and I finally made it happen this past weekend. Much like the Scottish Shortbread cookies, this recipe is pretty foolproof. There isn't much room to go wrong, even for the novice baker! So don't be afraid if this is your first or second foray into baking.

I basically followed DedeMed's recipe, with a few minor alterations. Her recipes and videos can be found here and here. There are only a few items that you will need to pick up from your local Middle Eastern/South Asian/etc grocery store: Rose water, Orange Blossom Water, Phyllo pastry & nuts of your choice.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1 package phyllo dough
• 1 1/4 cup of butter melted
• 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped nuts of your choice
• 6 tsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp cloves 
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup of Simple Syrup (recipe found below)
• Ground pistachio to decorate

Simple Syrup/Atyr

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp rose water
• 1 tbsp orange blossom water 

 So now that you have all of the ingredients...you're probably wondering what to do with them!

Reviving my Spirit, 2011

Christmas weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the 10th Annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit Convention in downtown Toronto. For the first time in ten years, the conference sold out with an estimated 20 000 participants. Last year, it seems they were somewhere between 17 and 20 000. Attracting scholars from near and far, one great addition this year was Professor Seyyid Hossein Nasr, whom I'll discuss a little later.

The subject of this year's conference was "Control, Chaos or Community: Three Ways, One World, Our Choice." A very fitting title, considering the socio-political/economic/popular worldwide turmoil. I think in all this 'chaos', it was beneficial to get some religious/spiritual perspective on what role/responsibility we have as human beings and western Muslims.

As with previous years, a number of scholars attended, including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson (U.S), Professor Tariq Ramadan (Switzerland), Professor Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (U.S), Imam Zaid Shakir (U.S.), Shaykh Abdalla Idris Ali (CAN), Dr. Jamal Badawi (CAN), Attallah Shabazz (U.S.), Habib Ali Al-Jifri (Yemen), Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson (U.S.), Imam Yassir Fazaga (U.S.), with other guests including Shaykh Mishary Alafasy, Dr. Seyyid Hossein Nasr, Shaykh Sulaiman Mulla, Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury and Toronto's own- Sister Tayyibah Taylor.

I thought I would run through a few highlights from a few speakers. My words won't do justice to the emotion and passion behind some of their words, but I will try my best.

RECIPE: Scottish Shortbread Cookies

Count my family among the obsessed when it comes to shortbread cookies- (and desserts altogether). I have to admit, that the holiday season with its plethora of articles dedicated to holiday cookies kind of inspired me to bake! I've always enjoyed cooking new recipes, but as far as desserts went- I only had my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe to rely on! During the past month, I tried making a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips (not as successfully as I had hoped!) and a shortbread cookie (which was delicious!). I scoured websites searching for a recipe that would best mimic the Walkers brand of Shortbread, and I may have come close!

Some recipes suggested using confectioners sugar (beneficial for its corn starch proportion), while others suggested granulated white sugar. I read that the latter would heed a better cookie texture, so I went with the white sugar!

Some recipes also suggested adding vanilla. I think you could easily skip this and still end up with a delicious cookie.

Here is the recipe I followed.

2 ½ cup all purpose flour

¼ tspn salt

1 ¼ cup of butter

½ tspn vanilla

½ cup and 1 tbspn of white sugar

Yields about 60-70 small cookies

SWATCHED: My new Revlon lippies

This past week, Rexall had another great sale going on. This time, they were offering a BOGO on most of their lip products from a number of major brands, including Revlon, L'Oreal, Maybelline, etc.

I am normally too lazy to head out for these sales...but this time, I had extra motivation: to add some red lippies to the collection! I have never publicly worn red or reddish lipsticks in my adult life, that I can remember. When I was young, I quite enjoyed wearing red lipstick for fun! I used to carry around those mini Avon lip samplers in my frog purse :-)

Last week, for a night out, I wore a daring red lipstick and it felt great, if not a bit bold!

Long story short, I picked up two Revlon lipsticks, one a more classic red, the other an intense coral-red- unlike anything I've ever worn before. I picked up Revlon Colourburst Lipstick in 'True Red' and Super Lustrous Lipstick in 'Fire & Ice'.

I took a few pictures and quickly swatched them here. Overall, I really like both lipsticks. They don't have any funky/fruity smells, I got them at great prices and the colour payoff is insane. I can't speak to their longevity of wear, but a mini-review might be appended to this blogpost at some point.

Wisdom of a quarter century.

In early December, I celebrated my birthday with some week-long festivities with family and friends. I made some wonderful experiences, for which I am very grateful. I am quite blessed.

I wanted to keep this post short. I find the more I think about the past and my future, the more I realize a few 'truths', if you will, about life- gained from my personal experiences.

1- Life won't turn out exactly the way you imagine. But you can certainly try to plan for the best/worst!

2- The older you get, the harder it will be to fight the cynic in you, despite your best efforts!

There are a great deal of other realizations I've come to, but these are probably to two most significant.

"Verily the soul becomes accustomed to what you accustom it to. That is to say: what you at first burden the soul with becomes nature to it in the end" -Al-Ghazali

Come to any realizations of your own after hitting any milestones?

The Small Things...

It occurred to me recently that we live during times of great negativity, misunderstanding, strife and injustice and that sometimes our focus and attention to these issues can be quite depressing. I can't be the only one who feels this way.

For myself at least, hearing about one world crisis after another such as the repression and murder of protesters in Syria, our failings in the First Nations community of Attawapiskat, the horrendous treatment of women all across the world, our deleterious consumption habits, excessive materialism, the 27 million people currently enslaved across the world....etc, has caused me to have a negative perspective on our nature as human beings. They say you get more cynical over time. So lets just say, I'm keeping my eyes wide open to ensure that is not my fate :-)

And so even while I am keenly aware of many of the failings we have as a human race, there is still so much around us that that represents the positive and the beautiful and this recurring blogpost will make a humble attempt to capture that. Hopefully this will be an enlightening venture.

I came across this extraordinary photo, of a Weta- a cricket like creature/insect. It is the largest photographed insect in the world , which means there could be larger undiscovered insects out there! A scary thought indeed.

My sister thinks this is ugly, but when I look at it I can't help but marvel at its creation. We live in a world inhabited by so many creatures. sA. We all have an important role to play as humans, creatures and plant life rely on each other for survival. When we lose sight of this fact, we open ourselves to a whole host of problems...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/giant-weta-worlds-largest-insect_n_1126475.html?ref=canada&ir=Canada

New Trailer: The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra

The opening title of the second installment of The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra turned up online recently! Thanks to my savvy younger sister, I am happily sharing the video below. To see the trailer, click here. This opening sequence really reminds me of how unique and GREAT this series is. There just hasn't been anything like it. Ever.

The expected premiere date is around mid-2012. It seems like the date has been getting pushed back frequently, however :-( So hopefully it will just be 6 more months.