Posts from — January 2008

The latest issue of Rolling Stones features a fascinating Special Report titled Fear Factory, by investigative journalist Guy Lawson. In this article, Lawson details how the FBI has gone to great lengths to go after terrorist threats, to even the point of creating threats themselves. Lawson writes of how outfits of the FBI, such as the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) have used informants to lull unsuspecting people (Arab and South Asian Muslims for the most part) into planning terrorist plots, ones these people never would have pursued on their own.

“While real threats undoubtedly exist,” Lawson writes,”what the Bush administration promotes as a nationwide pattern of terrorist activities is largely the result of its own policies in the age of lawfare.”

He goes on to write about one of many examples, the “Fort Dix Six,” about a group of Muslims who allegedly wanted to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey:

As in other cases, the FBI itself proved to be the mastermind behind the plot. The men —who included three roofers, a taxi driver and a former delivery boy for Super Mario’s Pizza — had little money and no connections to real extremists. All were in their twenties and spent their weekends playing paintball. Under the guidance of two informants for the JTTF, the men planned an assault on Fort Dix using rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s —none of which actually existed.

The article is available in its entirety on the Rolling Stones website. The article can also be found in the latest print version of the magazine, the one with a February 7, 2008 cover date and a picture of Thom Yorke of Radiohead on the cover. It’s definitely worth reading.

A few months ago, a friend gave me a copy of Three Cups of Tea. I always saw it at Borders and wanted to read it, but never got around to it. However, it joined the growing pile of ‘Books I have but have not yet read pile’ on my shelf.

A few weeks ago, a coworker emailed me about the book, saying that he was reading it and thought that maybe I would like it as well. So I finally got around to it last week and finished it yesterday.

Whoa.

The subject, Greg Mortenson has been responsible for building schools in poor regions in Pakistan, especially schools for girls. He felt the need to start the endeavor after wandering into the village of Korphe after a failed attempt to climb K2. He made a promise to one of the village elders that he would come back and build a school. Although Mortenson had to overcome a lot of hardships to eventually fulfill his promise, he didn’t stop there.

It’s crazy because here’s this guy, Greg, who owes absolutely nothing to Pakistanis and Muslims and yet has dedicated a good portion of his life to ensure that the poor regions can provide an education to its children when Pakistan’s own government cannot. Since 9/11, Mortenson has also been trying to build schools in Afghanistan in order to a)educate the children so they won’t become part of the group of uneducated extremists and b)undo a lot of the damage the American fight on terrorism did to the villages of the civilian population.

Although I don’t think the book was perfect (the sentence structure was a bit confusing at times), I have to recommend this book. I couldn’t get over how much Greg Mortenson has accomplished.

There is some sort of unwritten rule that the nicer the Indian restaurant is, the worse the food. This is why most of us go to the Pakwans and Shalimars of the world, the dives. The food is good while the restaurant itself leaves much to be desired. (At one Pakwan, they have a sign that says: “We have the right to refuse service to anyone.” That cracked me up because, seriously, what service?). But no one really cares about the actual restaurant and lack of cleanliness because the food is awesome. Hence, no one who patronizes these restaurants cares about how one looks when eating. You eat with your hands, what do you expect?

Which brings me to Sultan in San Francisco. It’s an Indian restaurant with nice ambience, waiters, and *gasp* cloth napkins! This is crazy because they actually have good Indian food!

I forgot my surroundings as my dish and my naan came. I ate my food like I always eat desi food, not really caring about being dainty and all that. So when I looked at my cloth napkin stained red orange from my chicken masala dish, I felt the shame. I tried to fold my napkin over, with the stains on the inside. I then saw that some had seeped through to the other side. Oy. The waiter came by later to refill my water but I told him I was fine. I did not want him to have to handle my glass. Not in front of me anyways.

Oh the humanity. . .

Congratulations Sultan, you are the exception to the rule. Someone remind me not to look like a fool next time I eat there.

During the long weekend, I attended an Islamic conference titled “Is Islamic Thought Dying?” The topic intrigued me since it sounded like I would be intellectually stimulated and learn quite a few things. In order to ensure that all registrants were serious and interested in the conference, everyone had to write an essay about whether or not he or she believes that Islamic thought is dying. In addition, the program organizers mentioned a particular book - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul: The Pertinence of Islamic Cosmology in the Modern World - on their site, saying that the lectures will touch on what is said in that book.

Turns out the entire conference was meant to be a critique on that book. While interesting, it wasn’t what I (or anyone else for that matter) signed up for.

However, one of the scholars, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, went off topic in his speeches. While he touched on the various types of thought discussed in the book, he delivered his own take on it instead of delivering, in his words, “a book report.”

After going through horizontal versus vertical thinking and the use of tradition plus reason he got to talking about the “Curse of Default.”

Dr. Umar (a former Puritan from Nebraska who converted in the 70s and then studied Islam abroad. He’s got a cool story about how he was introduced to Islam.) related an incident that took place soon after 9/11:

At a college campus lecture, a group of professors defended Islam and Muslims against the atrocities of 9/11. However, a group of Muslims shouted them down.

At the mosque after prayers later that week, one lady went up to the men that had been shouting at the lecture, who were actually the leaders of that mosque, and asked what was wrong with them. “We don’t need help from kafirs, ” one man responded. A kafir literally means a ‘disbeliever’ but it’s not a very nice word. It’s not something you call someone lightly, basically. Unfortunately, this particular group is the way they are because they fail to apply reason with the tradition, creating a version of Islam that most of us don’t agree with.

And that, Dr. Umar said, was the tragedy because it was this group (for the life of me, I can’t remember the name) that had their literature distributed across campus. Out of the other Muslim groups, they were the ones that were the most articulate. People were becoming familiar with their particular type of ’strict’ Islam and either adhering to it or reacting negatively to it. This would be what people equate with Islam. Hence the ‘curse of the default.’

Dr. Umar stressed that we all need to do whatever it is we are good at to promote Islam, not as a hate-filled religion that some are perfectly content portraying it as, but to utilize our strengths to ensure Islam is not equated with intolerance and injustice. Otherwise if we don’t do anything soon, then when the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’ is uttered, a mental image similar to the scene from that college lecture will be conjured up. As Muslims in America, we can’t afford to have that image. We need to be the ones who make up the default.

He gave everyone a lot to think about. It was the best lecture of the weekend.

*I feel like I have to give some sort of disclaimer that I’m not trying to convert anyone or anything like that. As this is my blog, I will write something religious minded once in a while just because it’s a big part of who I am

A minor spoiler for the movie follows so don’t read the rest of this if you don’t want to be spoiled at all for Cloverfield.

Ok?

You’ve been warned.

I caught Cloverfield last night. I enjoyed it but I got distracted a bit half way through because there was a question nagging at my mind, a question I think the movie proposes:

Who would you go back for?

In the movie, Rob forsakes the evacuation of Manhattan and heads back into the city to find the girl he’s in love with, Beth. There’s a pretty good chance she’s dead but that doesn’t stop him from going back into Midtown while the city is being destroyed around him and his friends while a monster is rampaging across town.

Who would be on the list of people I would risk my life for, even with a good chance chance that he or she may already be gone?

And then, the second part of this question (as proposed by my manager): To what length? Do you go all the way until the end or do you give up if the odds seem too great?

I wonder. . .

. . . is dealing with the strange dreams that somehow come about.

I don’t remember the specifics but it was weird.

It included a group of hockey stick wielding people who I initially perceived to be a band of misfits but were actually protecting uh, something (or someone, don’t remember).  Anyways, their hockey blades had actual real blades that they used for the protecting.

I’m not sure if my dream somehow channeled some late night cable movie.

Oh well.

To all the people who are currently sick (which is pretty much 75% of the people I know), I hope we all get better soon.

As an aside, I just saw a commercial for the DVD set for Two and Half Men. Considering that people actually watch that is one thing but there are people who are going to buy the DVDs to watch episodes again? Crazy man.

Yesterday was the 3rd of January. The clouds were threatening most of the morning and finally, by lunch, it started raining. The 3rd of January last year started much the same way. That was the day my dad passed away.

January 3, 2007 It was the most surreal day I had ever experienced, from the moment I woke up at 2:45 am to find that my dad had passed on to the moment he was laid to rest, at around 3:30pm.

I had been afraid it was going to start raining but after the janaza prayers at the mosque, the prayers that are performed for a person who has passed away, the clouds opened up and the sun literally started shining down as my dad’s casket was put into the hearse. I know, I know, it looks like I’m trying to paint a pretty picture, but that’s what happened. We all then followed the hearse to the Muslim cemetery in Livermore with our orange FUNERAL stickers stuck to our windshields and our headlights turned on, procedure for following a funeral procession.

My dad (or as I called him, “Abu”) was bedridden his last 3 months so we all spent time sitting and talking with him. As he realized the end was coming, he told us his regrets in life. One time, he was really upset with himself - he didn’t think he amounted to much in life and thought of himself as a failure. This was completely untrue but it was hard trying to convince him otherwise. “Look Abu,” I finally told him, “you helped raise 4 mostly sane kids and none of us have any weird piercings or tattoos. That’s got to mean something.” He laughed at that. Hopefully by all of us being there for him, we were finally able to convince him that he meant something.

I used the following picture in the slideshow my brother’s wedding reception last week. It’s from my sister’s wedding reception on December 29, 2002 and it’s the last one of all of us together:

Clockwise from left: Me, my dad Hasan, my mom Surayya, my brother, my little sister, my older Aaisha, and my brother-in-law.

Take care Abu. It’s been a really weird year without you.