Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Mosque of Murad Agha in Tajura


The Mosque of Murad Agha in Tajura








Photo: The Mosque of Murad Agha with its Mausoleum and Minaret.

By Franco Caparrotti

The holy month of Ramadan this year is to commence in beginning of August and devoted men and women around the Islamic world would spend longer time in thousands of mosques worshiping God.

One of these mosques is the Mosque of Murad Agha which is located in Tajura.

The city of Tajura is located just 25 km east of Tripoli and now considered a suburb of the capital. It is a joyful city crowded by high palms and a long white sandy shore.

How many times mainly in the summer time we cross this city while going to one of the many beaches or just visiting the ruins of Leptis Magna and we never thought or imagined that a significant landmark or a monument that exists right next door.

It is the Mosque of Murad Agha which is considered one of the most important mosques that exist in Libya for the reasons of time and the personality of the man who established it in the middle of the sixteenth century.

It was Murad Agha the Turkish officer who was sent to Tajura in 1551 by the Ottoman Sultan to help the Libyans bring an end to the rule of the Knights of St. John in Tripoli that started in 1510.

Murad Agha, the word agha means commander, established his headquarters and command at Tajura so he could keep a close eye on what was going on behind the walls of the present day Old City of Tripoli.

With the help of the Ottoman navy Tripoli was conquered 14 August 1551. Murad Agha was appointed the first Ottoman Wali, governor, of the new Ottoman province on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

The city of Tripoli is called "Tripoli the West" or 'Turabuls Al-Gharrb' in Arabic as it is currently known. It is named Tripoli of the West in order to differentiate between it and the other Tripoli that is also located on the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon.

Instead of building a fortress in Tajura, which was his original plan, Murad Agha decided to build a mosque that has remain as such until today.

Using a design by famous architects of the Maghreb, supervision of Tunisian engineers and with more than 300 slaves from the Knight of St. John this magnificent holy place was constructed.

The mosque has 48 marble columns, probably brought from the ruins of Leptis Magna, two hundred kilometers east of Tripoli, surmounted by a series of arches, horseshoe style, supporting the vaults.

A water well (sweet water, still in use) and a bracer were built in the middle. In the yard outside, you can see the minaret (square shaped, reminding the Tukambia) which you can climb, with only 105 steps. This gives you rather a magnificent view.

Along with the mosque Murad Agha constructed a Kor'an Madrassa {school}.

Later after the death of the commander a mausoleum protecting his grave was constructed.

It took one year to construct the mosque from 1552 to 1553 and as the years passed good care of the mosque have preserved this milestone which you can admire with just a stop over in Tajura.




http://tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=4&i=4729

BP Drilling Off Libyan Coast May Threaten Ancient Sites, Report


Read about the possible high cost of offshore drilling proposed by BP for Libya as reported by The Tripoli Post .
BP Drilling Off Libyan Coast May Threaten Ancient Sites, Report

Media reports say plans by energy giant BP to start drilling off the Libyan coast could lead to disastrous consequences for the country's rich heritage of coastal ancient city sites and shipwrecks.
http://tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=2&i=4923

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

???????

Love

Do you believe that there is such a thing as "Unconditional Love" ? A Love that survives and endures ALL Things ? I used to but lately I have been thinking about this a lot and have come to the conclusion that there isn't such a thing as unconditional love .

For the sake of argument , I will give as a example the love of a baby for the mother . The baby will love the mother or care giver ... as long as all it's needs are met . A parent may say they have unconditional love for their child but do they ? Isn't there always some hidden condition , stipulation, that they may not even be aware of, between the parent and the child ? Such as ... maybe a behavior that the parent expects from the child . Or prehappes the child assumes the parent will always be willing to be a provider for them even after adult hood is reached .

Maybe these aren't good examples , but this is what I could think of at the moment . I am NOT SAYING that love won't always be there between people , but rather, that whether or not one is aware of it , there are conditions to love , be it hidden or out in the open . How do you feel about this ?







Picture art by heartagramx666x

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The High Status of Women in Islam

I thought you might like to read a great article on women , their rights and role in Islam, by author Ellen Keim , taken from her blog  .

I’m a feminist but I love being a Muslim woman. Does that seem like a contradiction? It depends on what you think Islam and feminism each teach about the nature of men and women.
Many people think that feminists view men and women as interchangeable, as if there is absolutely no difference between them. But believing that a man can parent as well as a woman or a woman can manage a company as well as a man does not mean that they will do the same jobs in exactly the same way.
I believe that there are innate differences between men and women, but the differences aren’t set in stone. Generalizing (or stereotyping) can backfire on you, because there are always exceptions. But if you go by basic biology, it’s clear that women are built for bearing and nurturing children and men are built to protect and provide for the family unit.
That’s when life is at its most basic. But most societies have moved beyond the need to assign gender roles based on biology. There is a lot more flexibility in an advanced society. Women still bear the children but they don’t have to be the ones who nurture them. Nor do they have to rely on men to take care of them.
Some people think that Islam is backward because it seems to enforce the basic gender roles. But if you read the Qur’an, it’s clear that men and women are viewed as equally valuable as well as equally accountable. Each person, male or female, is equally important to God and each is expected to submit to and serve Him.

Just because Muslim cultures tend to be patriarchal doesn’t mean that Islam is. If you think about it, almost all societies award men a higher status than they do women. But Islam calls for an egalitarianism that you don’t see as clearly in Christianity or Judaism. Women aren’t blamed for the Fall, nor are they depicted as weak. They aren’t viewed as seductresses. Sexuality is seen as a positive force between marital partners, not something that has to be sanctified. (Paul wrote that it is better to marry than to burn [with sexual desire].)  Women are to be treated with honor and respect just as much as men are.
The Christian Church is depicted as the Bride of Christ and is admonished to subject itself to Christ’s headship, just as a wife is to subject herself to her husband. In Islam, husbands and wives are to work together for their mutual benefit and to satisfy their mutual desires.
I’m not saying that Christianity does not value women. But Islam is emphatic about the high status accorded them. It is also much more pragmatic about things like men’s and women’s different responses to sex. Women are taught to respect both their own bodies and men’s sexual natures by removing as much visual temptation as possible from men’s sight. (That’s only one of the reasons why women cover themselves.) And men are taught to honor mothers above all other people.
A Muslim woman receives a dowry when she marries which is hers to keep. Any money she makes or inherits during the marriage is also hers alone. She is not required to contribute to the family income unless she wants to.  She can also negotiate a kind of pre-nuptial agreement which dictates her rights in the marriage.
When Muslim women don’t seem to have any rights, it’s a cultural rather than a religious phenomenon. Coming from a Western culture, as well as a feminist background, I was pleased to find that Muslim women actually have so many rights. They have responsibilities, too, but that’s true for men and women.
I don’t feel put down in the least by Muslim men and in fact I enjoy the respect with which they treat me. All of the Muslim men I know have adopted me as their sister. I feel less defensive about being a woman than I did when I was a Christian, because I know that Islam has a healthier and more accepting attitude toward women than Christianity does.
For a thorough discussion of the high status of women in Islam, read “Elevation of Women’s Status” by Shaikh Al-Timimi on the website Islam: the Modern Religion.

Friday, September 17, 2010

God Bless Them


Here are some ACTUAL conversations by individuals to HELP CENTERS . God bless them .
 

the last one is best
HELLO  OPERATOR
Actual call center conversations!
>
Customer:
> 'I've been calling 700-1000 for two days and can't
> get
through;
> Can you help?'

>Operator: 'Where did you get
>that number, sir?'

>Customer: 'It's on the door of your
>business.'

>Operator: ' Sir, those are the hours
>that we are open.'
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>
Samsung Electronics
>
Caller: 'Can
> you give me the telephone number for Jack?'

>Operator: 'I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand who
>you are talking about.'

>Caller: 'On page 1,
>section 5, of the user guide it clearly
> states that I Need to unplug the fax machine from the AC wall socket and Telephone Jack before  cleaning. Now, can you give me the Number for Jack?'

>Operator: 'I think it means the telephone plug on the wall.'
>----------------------------------------------------------------------

>
RAC
> Motoring Services

>
Caller: 'Does
> your European Breakdown Policy cover me when I am
>
> Traveling in Australia ?'
>Operator: 'Does the product name give you a
>clue?'

>
---------------------------------------------
> -------------------------

>
Caller
> (enquiring about legal requirements while traveling in Europe )
>'If I register my car in France , and then take it to England , do I have to change

>
the
> steering

>
wheel
> to the other side of the car?'

>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
Directory
> Enquiries

>
Caller:
> 'I'd like the number of the Argo
> Fish Bar, please'
>Operator: 'I'm sorry, there's no listing. Are you sure
>that the spelling is correct?'
>Caller: 'Well, it used to
>be called the Bargo Fish Bar but the 'B' fell off.'

>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
Then
> there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in
> Woven.
>Operator: 'Woven? Are you sure?'
>Caller: 'Yes.
>That's what it says on the label -- Woven in Scotland '

>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>On another occasion, a man making heavy breathing sounds from
>a phone

>
box
>
told
> a worried operator: 'I haven't got a pen, so I'm steaming up the
> window to write

>
the
> number on..'
>----------------------------------------------------------------------

>
Tech
> Support: 'I need you to right-click on the Open
> Desktop.'
>Customer: 'OK.'
>Tech Support: 'Did you get a pop-up
> menu?'
>Customer: 'No.'
>Tech Support: 'OK . Right-Click again.
>Do you see a pop-up menu?'
>Customer: 'No.'
>Tech Support: 'OK, sir. Can you tell
>me what you have done up until this
>
> Point?'
>Customer: 'Sure. You
>told me to write 'click' and I wrote 'click'.'

>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
Tech
> Support: 'OK. At the bottom left hand side
> of your screen, can
>
> You see the 'OK' button
> displayed?'
>Customer:
> 'Wow! How can you see my screen from there?'

>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
Caller:
> 'I deleted a file from my PC last week and I just realized
> that I need it. So, if

>
I
> turn my system clock back two weeks will I get my file back
> again?
'
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>This has to be one of the funniest things in a long time. I think
>this guy should

>
have
> been promoted, not fired. This

>
is
> a true story from the WordPerfect Helpline,

>
which
> was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care
> department. Needless to

>
say
> the Help Desk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently
> suing

>
the
> WordPerfect organization for 'Termination without Cause.'
Actual
> dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer
> Support employee.
>(Now I know why they record these conversations!):
>
>Operator: 'Ridge Hall, computer assistance;
>may I help you?'
>Caller: 'Yes,
> well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect.'
>Operator: 'What sort of
> trouble??'
>Caller: 'Well,
> I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words
> Went
> away.'
>Operator: 'Went away?'
>Caller: 'They
> disappeared'
>Operator: 'Hmm. So what does your
>screen look like now?'
>Caller: 'Nothing.'
>Operator: 'Nothing??'
>Caller: 'It's
> blank; it won't accept anything when I type.'
>Operator: 'Are you still in WordPerfect,
>or did you get out?'
>Caller: 'How
> do I tell?'
>Operator: 'Can you see the 'C: prompt'
>on the screen?'
>Caller: 'What's
> a sea-prompt?'
>Operator: 'Never mind, can you move
>your cursor around the screen?'
>Caller: 'There
> isn't any cursor; I told you, it won't accept anything
> I
> Type.'
>Operator: 'Does your monitor
>have a power indicator??'
>Caller: 'What's
> a monitor?'
>Operator: 'It's the thing
>with the screen on it that looks like a TV.
> Does
> it have a little light that tells you when it's
>on?'
>Caller: 'I
> don't know.'
>Operator: 'Well, then look
>on the back of the monitor and find where
> the
> power cord goes into it. Can you see that??'
>Caller: 'Yes,
> I think so.'
>Operator: 'Great. Follow the
>cord to the plug, and tell me if it's
> plugged
> into the wall.
>Caller: 'Yes,
> it is.'
>Operator: 'When you were behind
>the monitor, did you notice that
> there
> were two cables plugged into the back of it, not
> just
> one?
> '
>Caller: 'No.'
>Operator: 'Well, there are.
>I need you to look back there again and
> find
> the other cable.'
>Caller: 'Okay,
> here it is.'
>Operator: 'Follow it for me,
>and tell me if it's plugged securely into
> the
> back of your computer.'
>Caller: 'I
> can't reach.'
>Operator: 'OK. Well, can you see if it is?'
>Caller: 'No.'
>Operator: 'Even if you maybe
>put your knee on something and lean
> way
> over?'
>Caller: 'Well,
> it's not because I don't have the right angle --
> it's
> because
> it's dark.'
>Operator: 'Dark?'
>Caller: 'Yes
> - the office light is off, and the only light I have
> is
> coming
> in from the window.'
>Operator: 'Well,
> turn on the office light then.'
>Caller: 'I
> can't.'
>Operator: 'No?
> Why not?'
>Caller: 'Because
> there's a power failure.'
>Operator: 'A power
>... A power failure? Aha. Okay, we've got it
> licked
> now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and
> packing
> stuff that your computer came in?'
>Caller: 'Well,
> yes, I keep them in the closet.'
>Operator: 'Good.
> Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it
> up
> just like it was when you got it. Then take it back
> to
> the
> store you bought it from.'
>Caller: 'Really?
> Is it that bad?'
>Operator: 'Yes,
> I'm afraid it is.'
>Caller: 'Well,
> all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?'
>Operator: 'Tell
> them you're too stupid to own a computer!'
>

Libyan Jews to get Holocaust benefits

September 17, 110 Friday 17 Tishri 3871 4:46 IST 
jpost
 
Print Edition
Photo by: courtesy
Libyan Jews to get Holocaust benefits
By SHARON WROBEL 14/09/2010
Finance Ministry to allocate NIS 110 million in benefits to Jews from Libya; benefit payments will be made retroactively from April.
 
Jews from Libya who were persecuted during the Holocaust will receive compensation benefits, the government announced Tuesday. The Finance Ministry will allocate NIS 110 million in benefits to Jews from Libya, the government said. The plan was coordinated with the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors. “We have taken an important decision to help the elderly population of Holocaust survivors who were in Libya during World War II,” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Tuesday. “We decided it was appropriate to allocate benefits without processing an in-depth eligibility examination for every application case individually, which would have created heavy bureaucratic red tape and caused a lot of aggravation for benefit claimants.” A Tel Aviv court in April said Libyan Jews were exposed to Nazi persecution during WWII and therefore had a valid claim to compensation benefits. According to the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors, there are currently 5,000 Jews from Libya eligible for benefits. Benefit payments will be made retroactively from April, the government said. The entitlement includes a fixed monthly benefit payment of a minimum of NIS 1,822 and other benefits such as convalescence pay, subsidized medicines and exemption of license fees for television. Ofra Ross, executive director of the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors, said the authority would help Libyan Jews just as other claimants. “We are witnessing a historic correction to a large segment of Holocaust survivors who have not received any compensation for the great sorrow they experienced during the Nazi regime,” Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen said Tuesday. Last month, Steinitz signed a directive entitling 30,000 needy Holocaust survivors to receive a 50 percent discount on their monthly electricity bills for up to 400 kilowatts per hour. 
Ok , this is all well and good But ... who will compensate the many Libyans that lived through the battles , hardships, the mistreatment they received at the hands of the Germans and Italians during WW2 ? Italy is addressing some of these issues now by giving the Libyan government money( $5 billion)  for the concentration camps so many Libyans were sent to during Italian occupation of Libya .

Monday, September 13, 2010

After The Party

These last few days, post Eid and Ramadan, have had a strange feel to them , anti-climatic , a mono chromatic color .All Ramadan we stayed up until 6a.m.or sunrise . It was great for me , because for once I was on my  circadian rythme .This is one reason why I love Ramadan , for once the rest of the world ( well , the Muslim world that is ) is marching to my personal drummer. We had one heck of a parade for a month marching to my drummer.

Now it is back to normal and I can't seem to get my internal clock to go along with this new way. Moe is having sleeping problems too . He goes to sleep at a normal time ,but wakes up the time to have his breakfast before sunrise, Ramadan time . I just can't close my eyes before 6 a.m. period ! Plus when I do go to sleep, I just want to sleep all day . I have tried to force myself to go to sleep earlier , but no joy there .It will take us a week or so to get back to a pre Ramadan routine I suppose .

Some sad news ... for me that is ... fall is coming here to Tripoli.You can feel it in the shade , lol . In direct sunlight it is still hot as all get out , but in the shade , oh so cool .We went for a ride in the country side yesterday , Moe and I . The leaves on the trees are starting to do their thing , falling , drifting down to the ground on the northern breeze.The light has that certain quality we only see this time of the year .OMG ! It makes me so home sick for Houston .

Painting by: Connie Tom " The Colors Of Autumn 2"

Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Jukebox, The Ghost

Heard this group the other night on David Lettermna's show and fell in love with them . They sound like the Beatles meeting David Bryne .Enjoy !

The Eid And The Spirit Of Ramadan


Eid has been great . Son and his family came to visit . Moe's sisters and brothers , along with many other relatives and friends have been by to wish us well this Eid . It has been busy .

It feels so strange to be eating and drinking during daylight hours . Makes you feel guilty . I have to keep reminding myself that it is ok now to have a cup of coffee before sunset . LOL . And speaking of strange feelings .... it just is odd not to be "in the Spirit" so to speak ,the spirit of Ramadan . Like the day after Christmas,when there are no more Merry Christmases greetings, or Christmas music in the air. That sad empty feeling, anti-climatic ? While on the subject of the Spirit Of Ramadan ,here is a good article on how to keep that spirit alive all year long . Check it out . Some very good ideals there .

A friend named Ellen Keim is a new convert to Islam.She did Ramadan all on her own , without the fellowship of other Muslims to give her support this year.It was her 1st Ramadan . I think she did wonderfully well , on her own and deserves kudos . She has written all about her Ramadan feelings here . It is a good read . Check it out .

Moe and I wish you a happy Eid and hope the goodness of Ramadan lives in your heart all year long .

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

One Year Older Now

It was my birthday yesterday .I am a whole year older , a entire year .... OMG ! Birthdays normally are a good thing with me . I enjoy them . I never felt the need to lie about my age as some people  will do . I looked forward to my birthdays as a general rule , but not this year .This year makes me just one year away from being labeled a " Senior Citizen " . A senior citizen .... how in the world did this happen to me ???

I can remember all the way back to waiting for my 21st birthday and all it's rich rewards that would be mine once I was a legal age .For years I counted the minutes until that birthday .Then there was the year I turned 28. Moe bought me my 1st car . What a present that was and how much fun I had learning the freedom a car brings one . My 35th birthday was celebrated a entire month .What a time that was !!! 45 was a good one too , because I lived and had survived death .

Yes , I have had many wonderful birthdays . This year was fun too . Khadijateri came over this evening with one of her daughters . We had so much fun laughing and talking . She gave me a fantastic birthday present ... she got YouTube back on my computer for me . Yeah !!! Moe was so sweet today too . I had many well wishes from friends and family on Facebook and cards in the mail .Maybe getting older isn't such a bad thing after all . Thank you everyone ! OTE

Monday, September 6, 2010

America’s History of Fear

The below artcle from The New York Times tells a interesting and true point of veiw . See what you think about it .

September 4, 2010

America’s History of Fear

A radio interviewer asked me the other day if I thought bigotry was the only reason why someone might oppose the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. No, I don’t. Most of the opponents aren’t bigots but well-meaning worriers — and during earlier waves of intolerance in American history, it was just the same.
Screeds against Catholics from the 19th century sounded just like the invective today against the Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque. The starting point isn’t hatred but fear: an alarm among patriots that newcomers don’t share their values, don’t believe in democracy, and may harm innocent Americans.
Followers of these movements against Irish, Germans, Italians, Chinese and other immigrants were mostly decent, well-meaning people trying to protect their country. But they were manipulated by demagogues playing upon their fears — the 19th- and 20th-century equivalents of Glenn Beck.
Most Americans stayed on the sidelines during these spasms of bigotry, and only a small number of hoodlums killed or tormented Catholics, Mormons or others. But the assaults were possible because so many middle-of-the-road Americans were ambivalent.
Suspicion of outsiders, of people who behave or worship differently, may be an ingrained element of the human condition, a survival instinct from our cave-man days. But we should also recognize that historically this distrust has led us to burn witches, intern Japanese-Americans, and turn away Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.
Perhaps the closest parallel to today’s hysteria about Islam is the 19th-century fear spread by the Know Nothing movement about “the Catholic menace.” One book warned that Catholicism was “the primary source” of all of America’s misfortunes, and there were whispering campaigns that presidents including Martin Van Buren and William McKinley were secretly working with the pope. Does that sound familiar?
Critics warned that the pope was plotting to snatch the Mississippi Valley and secretly conspiring to overthrow American democracy. “Rome looks with wistful eye to domination of this broad land, a magnificent seat for a sovereign pontiff,” one writer cautioned.
Historically, unreal suspicions were sometimes rooted in genuine and significant differences. Many new Catholic immigrants lacked experience in democracy. Mormons were engaged in polygamy. And today some extremist Muslims do plot to blow up planes, and Islam has real problems to work out about the rights of women. The pattern has been for demagogues to take real abuses and exaggerate them, portraying, for example, the most venal wing of the Catholic Church as representative of all Catholicism — just as fundamentalist Wahabis today are caricatured as more representative of Islam than the incomparably more numerous moderate Muslims of Indonesia (who have elected a woman as president before Americans have).
In the 19th century, fears were stoked by books written by people who supposedly had “escaped” Catholicism. These books luridly recounted orgies between priests and nuns, girls kidnapped and held in secret dungeons, and networks of tunnels at convents to allow priests to rape nuns. One woman claiming to have been a priest’s sex slave wrote a “memoir” asserting that Catholics killed boys and ground them into sausage for sale.
These kinds of stories inflamed a mob of patriots in 1834 to attack an Ursuline convent outside Boston and burn it down.
Similar suspicions have targeted just about every other kind of immigrant. During World War I, rumors spread that German-Americans were poisoning food, and Theodore Roosevelt warned that “Germanized socialists” were “more mischievous than bubonic plague.”
Anti-Semitic screeds regularly warned that Jews were plotting to destroy the United States in one way or another. A 1940 survey found that 17 percent of Americans considered Jews to be a “menace to America.”
Chinese in America were denounced, persecuted and lynched, while the head of a United States government commission publicly urged in 1945 "the extermination of the Japanese in toto." Most shamefully, anti-Asian racism led to the internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.
All that is part of America’s heritage, and typically as each group has assimilated, it has participated in the torment of newer arrivals — as in Father Charles Coughlin’s ferociously anti-Semitic radio broadcasts in the 1930s. Today’s recrudescence is the lies about President Obama’s faith, and the fear-mongering about the proposed Islamic center.
But we have a more glorious tradition intertwined in American history as well, one of tolerance, amity and religious freedom. Each time, this has ultimately prevailed over the Know Nothing impulse.
Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.
I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos videos and follow me on Twitter.

American-Muslim's Are American Too

Muslim-Americans launch PR initiatives, promote Sept. 11 as day of national service

 
protesters near ground zeroIn an effort to push back against negative views of Islam and Muslims, grassroots Muslim groups are launching a series of initiatives to convey to non-Muslim-Americans that they are also Americans.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a series of advertisements today that will run on national television, clearly intended to counter some of the furor over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. In one spot, a New York firefighter who was a first responder after the Sept. 11 attacks talks about losing a loved one before announcing that he is a Muslim.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said the point of the ad is to "challenge the notion that Muslims were not also targeted on 9/11."
Previously at The Upshot:
Poll: Most Republicans think Obama 'sympathizes' with Islamist goalsTwo mosques far from Ground Zero get hate messagesNY cab driver stabbed in alleged anti-Muslim hate crime
A national CBS poll from last month showed that 40 percent of Americans had an unfavorable view of Islam. More than 70 percent of respondents said building a mosque near Ground Zero was not appropriate. And only 62 percent of Americans think Muslims should have the same right as other groups to build places of worship in their communities, a Pew Research poll found.
You can watch the CAIR "first responder" ad after the jump:
Meanwhile, Edina Lekovic, director of policy at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, is helping to organize a grassroots Muslim Day of Service planned for Sept. 11. The group coordinated more than 3,500 service projects in the past year as part of President Obama's National Day of Service initiative, but Lekovic says the push is especially important now.
"Given the climate in the country right now and the ... intense levels of attacks that many Muslims are feeling, this effort is meant to channel those emotions toward something that is good both for our faith and our country," Lekovic said.
Rather than just be "outraged" over incidents like the group planning to burn Korans in Gainesville, Florida on Sept. 11, Lekovic told The Upshot the day of service is an opportunity to "show who we are rather than just talk about who we are."
A separate grassroots initiative called "My Faith My Voice" also launched an advertisment this week featuring Muslim-Americans saying they renounce terrorism and do not want to take over the country or impose their faith on anyone.
"These are sincere efforts by everyday American Muslims to demonstrate who we are and that we are in every possible way just like every other American, and the kinds of awful and dangerous attacks that are happening now are fundamentally un-American," Lekovic said. "We're actually quite boring!"
Anti-Islamic sentiments are spreading well beyond the battle over the proposed Park51 community center near Ground Zero. At least two mosques far from New York have received hate-filled messages opposing the proposed mosque in Lower Manhattan, and a fire at a mosque construction site in Tennessee is now being investigated as arson.
(Photo: Anti-mosque protesters near Ground Zero/AP)

Broken Circles



Life recently for Moe and I has been a lot like the above painting , one minute you think things are going smoothly , in a nice neat circle , the next , the circle is broken to bits in disconnected fragments .

Moe has been ill now for about 2weeks with his heart .We spent one entire day at the Tagura Heart Hospital waiting to see the doctor in the emergency room . Trouble was , the emergency room was also being used for patients with appointments to see doctors , in a non emergency capacity . So , even though Moe had suffered a heart attack , we were made to wait until the last patient with an appointment was seen, a total of 5 hours . He was finally seen by the doctor about 30 minutes before sunset . Moe went in to see the doctor alone . He of course did not tell the doctor all the facts or his entire medical history , so the doctor was going to send him home with a pat on the back . Luckily the doctor walked Moe out of the room and I asked him what was being done for Moe . He looked at me like I had 2 heads and told me nothing .I then asked him did Moe tell you about.... this ? Or that ? Or this too ??? No , he hadn't . SIGH !!!!

So , back into the examining room we went as I filled the doctor in on ALL the facts .He ordered all sorts of tests . We waited for the results while wondering what we were going to eat when we got home , since it is still Ramadan and we were fasting .The results all said , according to the doctor , that Moe was just fine . Nothing wrong with him at all . Ah ha, I said , but what about this pesky little ole heart attack he had this morning ? Oh , don't worry about that, he said .You have to make an appointment tomorrow to see the heart specialist . In the mean time , just take a pill if you feel bad .Long story short , it will be until the end of the month before Moe see's a specialist . So , that has happened .

A good thing , we have heard from our oldest daughter that her baby girl doesn't have a heart murmur after all, as was suspected . YEAH !!! The other grand children are all well .

I have declared war on the men in the condo building . The septic tanks from their condo's are all over flowing.They refuse to have a septic tank car come and empty them .This is a problem that has been on going  for over a month . The sewer water is pooled underneath my car , which means I have to walk through it to get in my car . I have talked to them all, to no avail , so last night I moved my car into one of their nice and dry parking places when they went out .The man came home to find me in his place . To say he was unhappy is a complete understatement .He came to me screaming and yelling . I told him once he and the others empty the septic tanks , the lake dries up , I will move back to my place gladly , but until then , I am staying in that spot .He threatened me , I told him to take his best shot . So far he hasn't .

But on the plus side , Ramadan is almost over and it has been lovely this year . Friends and neighbors have sent over many delicious dishes of yummy food .Moe has spent several nights with his family having much needed fun .Other friends have come to visit us .We have spent time in prayer and giving thanks for the riches in our lives .I am going to miss Ramadan .Only 2 more days until it is over and we have the 3 day Eid that is spent visiting friends and relatives .Hope all is well in your lives .OTE