Atheist Claims Harassment in Military

I’m posting this because I believe no one should be harassed for his or her religion or lack thereof.

AP   Posted: 2008-04-28 12:44:33   Filed Under: Iraq News, Nation News

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (April 26) — Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.

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Chuck France, AP

A Challenge
On Religion’s Role

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Army Spc. Jeremy Hall sued the government, alleging he has been harassed in the military because he doesn’t believe in God. He is known among fellow soldiers as “the atheist guy,” and he has been called a devil worshipper and gay — both of which are untrue, Hall said.

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he’s been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn’t believe in God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“I’m not in it for cash,” Hall said. “I want no one else to go what I went through.”

Known as “the atheist guy,” Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.

“I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That’s what I believe everyone else should see,” he said.

 

Hall, 23, was raised in a Protestant family in North Carolina and dropped out of school before earning his GED. It wasn’t until after he joined the Army that he began questioning religion, eventually deciding he couldn’t follow any faith.

But he feared how that would look to other soldiers.

“I was ashamed to say that I was an atheist,” Hall said.

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

“I said, ‘No, but I believe in Plexiglas,’” Hall said. “I’ve never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I’m worm food.”

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall’s allegations.

Hall said he had had enough but feared he wouldn’t get support from Welborn’s superiors. He turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Weinstein is the foundation’s president and a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. He had previously sued the Air Force for acts he said illegally imposed Christianity on students at the academy, though that case was dismissed. He calls Hall a hero.

“The average American doesn’t have enough intestinal fortitude to tell someone to shut up if they are talking in a movie theater,” Weinstein said. “You know how hard it is to take on your chain of command? This isn’t the shift manager at KFC.”

Hall was in Qatar when the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 18 in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. Other soldiers learned of it and he feared for his own safety. Once, Hall said, a group of soldiers followed him, harassing him, but no one did anything to make it stop.

The Army told him it couldn’t protect him and sent him back to Fort Riley. He resumed duties with a military police battalion. He believes his promotion to sergeant has been blocked because of his lawsuit, but he is a team leader responsible for two junior enlisted soldiers.

No one with Fort Riley, the Army or Defense Department would comment about Hall or the lawsuit. Each issued statements saying that discrimination will not be tolerated regardless of race, religion or gender.

“The Department respects (and supports by its policy) the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs,” said Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense.

All three organizations said existing systems help soldiers “address and resolve any perceived unfair treatment.”

Lt. Col. David Shurtleff, a Fort Riley chaplain, declined to discuss Hall’s case but said chaplains accommodate all faiths as best they can. In most cases, religious issues can be worked out without jeopardizing military operations.

“When you’re in Afghanistan and an IED blows up a Humvee, they aren’t asking about a wounded soldier’s faith,” Shurtleff said.

Hall said he enjoys being a team leader but has been told that having faith would make him a better leader.

“I will take care of my soldiers. Nowhere does it say I have to pray with my soldiers, but I do have to make sure my soldiers’ religious needs are met,” he said.

“Religion brings comfort to a lot of people,” he said. “Personally, I don’t want it or need it. But I’m not going to get down on anybody else for it.”

Hall leaves the Army in April 2009. He would like to find work with the National Park Service or Environmental Protection Agency, anything outdoors.

“I hope this doesn’t define me,” Hall said of his lawsuit. “It’s just about time somebody said something.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

             The news coming out of Texas regarding the polygamous sect has me concerned.  The way the state government has torn apart these families is total injustice. It smacks of religious persecution. Over four hundred children were taken away from the only families they have ever known. Some children have been relocated to places more than five hundred miles away.

              Why should we believe that the foster parents with which these children are placed are better parents than their birth-parents? I know that some foster parents are compassionate, generous people. Yet can we be expected to have faith that Texas just happens to have four hundred sets of parents who are ready, willing, and able to take care of these frightened and likely angry children?  

            Even in the United States where we have so much diversity and so much freedom, it is difficult to be different. As a Muslim, I know this is true for personal experience and from the stories of my friends. The newspapers talk about how people are shocked by the way the women of the sect look and dress. Think about how the members of the sect must feel when they see women in bikinis or teenage boys with mohawks. It is hard to imagine that the sect would be so persecuted if they looked and acted like “normal” Americans. Also, many people are talking about how some of the girls were married at age sixteen. But is it better for sixteen-year-olds to have casual sex with many partners as so often happens in our communities?

For more info:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/us/23cnd-polygamy.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1208983286-EImayKwfJnHy49Edji4waQ

 

Song Analysis “One Week”

Based on popular demand, I’ve decided to analyze the lyrics of “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies. (Brozer, brozer, barenaked ladies are Haram! It’s ok; it’s not that kind of Barenaked ladies.) I took some help from outside sources, i.e. different websites related to song lyrics. Here’s the best global summary of what’s going on in the lyrics:

“This song is about ego and relationships. A couple get into a stupid fight and it is not clear whose fault it is. First he thinks it is his fault, and then he thinks it is her fault, and finally he realizes it is both. During that whole process he cannot stop thinking about the fight, but rather than deal with their problems–the couple just go about their lives, watching television, eating out, etc.” Posted by SongMeanings on www.songmeanings.net

By now you should know the drill. The lyrics will follow with my analysis in parentheses.

Its been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side
and said I’m angry
Five days since you laughed at me saying
Get that together come back and see me
Three days since the living room,
I realized its all my fault, but couldn’t tell you
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
But it’ll still be two days till I say I’m sorry

(This part is relatively clear. A couple has a fight and the guy concludes that his fault but is too proud to admit it. The phrase, “get that together” is slang for “stop acting like an idiot.”)

Hold it now and watch the hoodwink
As I make you stop, think
You’ll think you’re looking at Aquaman
I summon fish to the dish,
Although I like the Chalet Suisse
I like the sushi
Cause its never touched a frying pan

(This is the Fish Verse. To hoodwink someone is to trick them. Here he is tricking someone by making them think he is Aquaman. Aquaman is a hero in DC Comics who can telepathically summon sea creatures. He is often ridiculed by comic fans because his powers are usually useless. Like Aquaman, the speaker is able to summon fish at will. Chalet Suisse is the French name for Swiss Chalet, a chain of family restaurants in Canada, with some locations in the U.S. as well. Sushi, of course, is raw fish, so it has not been fried.)

Hot like wasabi when I bust rhymes
Big like Leann Rimes
Because I’m all about value
Bert Kaempfert’s got the mad hits
You try to match wits
You try to hold me but I bust through
(Wasabi is a Japanese condiment made out of horseradish that adds a kick to sushi. To “bust rhymes” means to rap as the speaker does quite eloquently through the course of this song. Leann Rimes is a country singer who had a hit album, “Blue” when she was only 13. I think the only reason she’s in this song is because her name rhymes. Bert Kaempfert is a German musician and songwriter who wrote several well known hits including “Strangers in the Night,” “L-O-V-E,” and “Danke Schoen.” “Match wits” may be an allusion to the PBS quiz show, “As Schools Match Wits” or it may mean that he is mentally battling with his girlfriend.)

Gonna make a break and take a fake
I’d like a stinkin’, achin’ shake
I like vanilla, Its the finest of the flavors
Gotta see the show,
Cause then you’ll know
The vertigo is gonna grow
Cause its so dangerous,
You’ll have to sign a waiver
(“Stinkin” and “achin’” are used for emphasis but I’m not sure exactly what they’re emphasizing. Clearly he doesn’t want a shake that stinks. He just wants a “stinkin’ shake.” I think he’s talking about someone coming to one of his concerts – “gotta see the show.” But I don’t know how someone could get vertigo from a BNL show. Maybe crowd surfing? When he talks about it being “so dangerous/ You’ll have to sign a waiver,” he’s mocking our culture and our extreme readiness to take things to court.)

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt
(You can tell by the lyrics that the singer is a guy who likes to laugh. Apparently, he laughs at inappropriate times such as when his girlfriend is mad and at funerals. The next part is my personal favorite. He says he wears his mind on his sleeve which is sort of a pun on wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve, i.e. being emotionally vulnerable. He’s saying he’s an open book and lets people know what he’s thinking. But he says that he also takes off his shirt, which combined with the previous line, seems to imply that he often loses his head.)

Its been one week since you looked at me
Threw your arms in the air and said you’re crazy
Five days since you tackled me
I’ve still got the rug burns on both my knees
It’s been three days since the afternoon
You realized it’s not my fault not a moment too soon
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
And now I sit back and wait till you say you’re sorry
(I don’t think I have to explain what rug burns are. It seems the speaker has changed his mind. While earlier he said it was all his fault, now he’s saying it’s not.)

Chickity China the Chinese chicken
You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’
Watchin’ X-Files with no lights on,
Were dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man’s in this one

(Chickity China is a reference to a prank call by “The Jerky Boys.” The next line which says “you have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin” refers to the H5N1 bird flu which hit Hong Kong in 1998, when the song was written. For those who don’t remember, “The X-Files” was a sci-fi drama on Fox with eerie storylines and a creepy ubiquitous side character known only as “The Smoking Man.” The French phrase “dans la maison” simply means “in the house.”)

Like Harrison Ford I’m getting Frantic
Like Sting I’m Tantric
Like Snickers, guaranteed to satisfy
Like Kurosawa I make mad films
Okay I don’t make films
But if I did they’d have a samurai
(“Frantic” was the title of a 1988 Harrison Ford movie in which he plays a doctor whose wife is kidnapped while the couple is in Paris, attending a medical conference. Sting (a.k.a. Gordon Sumner) was the front man of the band “The Police” and later went solo. He claims to practice Tantric yoga which some have said enables people to have sex for hours at a time. “Snickers” is a popular American candy bar which used to have the slogan, “guaranteed to satisfy.” Akira Kurosawa was a brilliant Japanese film director. His films include “Rashomon” and “Seven Samurai.”)

Gonna get a set of better clubs
Gonna find the kind with tiny nubs
Just so my irons aren’t always flying off the backswing
Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon
Cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes
That make me think the wrong thing
(The first three lines in this verse refer to golf, a subject about which I know next to nothing. Apparently the singer wants to get fancy new clubs to improve his game. Any golfers out there, feel free to comment. Sailor Moon is a Japanese anime that features girls with big eyes and large breasts. I think you can see how these would make the singer “think the wrong thing.”)

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
You soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of losing my shirt

(This looks like a repeat of what he’s already said but there is one difference. Here he speaks of “losing my shirt.” Losing one’s shirt means losing everything. I think he’s trying to hint at the fact that he’s bad at relationships and tends to screw up.)

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Dropped your arms to your sides and said I’m sorry
Five days since I laughed at you and said
You just did just what I thought you were gonna do
Three days since the living room
We realized we’re both to blame, but what could we do?
Yesterday you just smiled at me
Cause it’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
(Here the speaker comes to the conclusion that both he and his girlfriend are at fault for the fight that they had. Five days ago seems to be when the fight started, when the speaker laughed at his significant other. The fight is expected to continue for another two days while they wait to admit guilt. Five days plus two days equals seven days.)

It’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
It’ll still be two days till we say were sorry
Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie

(He ends by giving a shout-out to Birchmount Stadium which may have puzzled American fans. Birchmount Stadium is located in Scarborough, Ontario. The Robbie is an annual youth soccer tournament. Again, I think it’s basically in the song to complete the rhyme.)

With thanks to:

http://lyrics.astraweb.com

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=2311

http://www.slangcity.com/songs/one_week.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Week

An Ugly Word for Handsome

Abbreviation is a long word for something so short.

In Latin, “rectum” means “right” but it sounds so wrong.

“Guapo” in Spanish is an ugly word for handsome.

World Food Crisis

If you’ve purchased groceries recently or if you’ve eaten out at a restaurant lately, you may have noticed something. You’re paying more than you used to pay.

 

There is a global food crisis. Earlier this month, World Bank president Robert Zoellick announced that the U.N. World Food Program needs at least $500 million (€319 million) in additional food aid to meet emergency demands. He told the United States, the European Union, Japan and other developed countries in no uncertain terms, “to fill this gap or many more people will suffer and starve.”

 

An estimated 33 countries face the prospect of social or political unrest due to high food prices. Think about that. Political regimes could topple over the price of bread.

 

According to ONE, the Campaign to Make Poverty History, “Rising food prices are dealing a crushing blow to the world’s poorest people, who spend around half of their income on food. The current situation threatens to exacerbate the twin crises of hunger and malnutrition; already, under-nutrition contributes to almost half of all child deaths and more than 20% of maternal deaths.” Consider spending half your income on food. Not an ipod, not the iphone, not i-anything; half your income paying for food. And think about how needless these deaths are. These children aren’t dying of some incurable disease. They’re dying simply because they don’t have food to eat.

 

As Americans we should consider ourselves lucky, for many reasons. We have incredible wealth, amazing technology, and tremendous freedom. Also, we pay the smallest fraction of our income for food in the world, an average of 7.2% in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But even here, food prices are rising and it is hurting a lot of people. It is especially difficult to people whose jobs are tied to food like bakers and restaurant owners. 

 

For more info:

A call for donors to help alleviate the problem

http://one.org/worldfoodcrisis/

Information on how the World Bank plans to face the crisis http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/02/business/NA-FIN-World-Bank-Food.php

How the Food Crisis is affecting Americans

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/inflation_squeeze.html?.v=4

Song Analysis – “All Star” –Smash Mouth

Those of you who have been following me since my Xanga days (www.xanga.com/asad123) know that from time to time I like to apply my literary analysis skills to contemporary music. Today I’d like to analyze Smash Mouth’s “All Star” from 1999. No particular reason why, I just heard it on the radio today and thought it would make a good entry. The lyrics, courtesy of lyrics.astraweb.com, follow and my comments are in parentheses.

 

 

Artist: Smash Mouth Album: All Star Smash Hits Title: All Star

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an “L” on her forehead
(When he says that world is going to “roll” him, I think he means that the world is going to run him over, like a steamroller. The phrase, “not the sharpest tool in the shed,” like “not the ripest banana in the bunch,” implies that the singer is no genius. And it is his lack of mental prowess that makes him fear the world will chew him up and spit him out. The same person who says the world will roll him also makes a gesture to him indicating that he is a loser. Those of us who grew up in the 90’s remember people doing this all the time, particularly after the movie Clueless came out.)

 

Well the years start coming and they don’t stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn’t make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do so much to see
So what’s wrong with taking the back streets
You’ll never know if you don’t go
You’ll never shine if you don’t glow
(I don’t understand what it means to be “fed to the rules.” An alternate version of the lyrics says, “fed you the rules” which makes a little more sense to me. But it’s quite vague and I don’t know what rules he’s talking about, maybe some general wisdom for life. He’s advocating a hedonistic way of life when he says it “didn’t make sense not to live for fun.” While I’m not opposed to people having fun, I don’t think one should live for fun alone. People who work hard in school may become smarter, but they may not get street smarts, which seem to be what he means when he says, “your head gets dumb.” In life, there are many things to do and see. Here “taking the back streets” strikes me as a metaphor for having a different perspective on life than the common man. But one will never get a fresh perspective, if one does not get out, travel, and have significant experiences.)

 

Chorus:

Hey now you’re an All Star get your game on, go play
Hey now you’re a Rock Star get the show on get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold
(An All Star in sports is an outstanding athlete. I think the singer here is trying to boost the self-esteem of his audience by telling everyone that they can all excel in their own way. He’s telling them to find something they’re good at it and give it their all. By calling people “Rock Stars,” I think he is saying that everyone can be creative or artistic. When he says, “all that glitters is gold,” he’s intentionally misquoting Shakespeare who said in The Merchant of Venice, “all that glitters is not gold.” Shakespeare was trying to say that appearances can be deceiving. But Smash Mouth is claiming that now, image is everything. He’s saying if something looks valuable, it is valuable. So if one puts on a confident face, one will eventually acquire self-confidence. The last line of the chorus is quite intriguing to me. Shooting star is the common name for what scientists call a meteor, a descending piece of space dust. Shooting stars all eventually fall to Earth. He’s saying that to be an individual, to “break the mold,” one has to risk failure. People who don’t risk failure lead boring, unproductive lives.)

 

It’s a cool place and they say it gets colder
You’re bundled up now but wait ’til you get older
But the meteor men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The waters getting warm so you might as well swim
My world’s on fire how about yours
That’s the way I like it and I never get bored
Chorus
Chorus
(He seems to be talking about climate change, but instead of global warming, he’s suggesting a coming Ice Age. It is possible that the phenomenon called “global warming” would actually lead to colder temps in some places, but that’s a discussion for another day. The “meteor men” are probably meteorologists, or weathermen. The hole in the satellite picture might be the hole in the ozone layer. Now the singer does a 180 and instead of cooling temperatures, things are getting warmer. When he says, “the waters getting warm,” he may be talking about El Nino, the global weather phenomenon that starts as a warming of the South Pacific. The El Nino of 1997-1998 was especially strong, and for many of us, it was the first time we heard about it. But I could be reading too much into these lyrics. I’m not sure how all this talk about climate fits it with the rest of the lyrics. If I were to venture a guess, I would say the singer is saying that one might as well have as much fun as one can now, because the future looks bleak.)

 

 

Somebody once asked could you spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change

(People thought gas was getting expensive in 1999 and then it was only $2 a gallon http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/03/08/in-2000-gop-trashed-dems-over-gas-prices/. Many of us have been approached by a needy person, asking for help with gas. I like his response which has an almost Zen quality. He says “we could all use a little change.”  There’s an obvious double meaning here as “change” in English can refer both to loose coins and reform. Yes, we could all use a little more money, but what’s more we could all benefit from a better world. This is essentially the end of the song as the rest is just a refrain. And it’s a nice note to leave on. Indeed, we could all use a little change.)

 

Well the years start coming and they don’t stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn’t make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do so much to see
So what’s wrong with taking the back streets
You’ll never know if you don’t go
You’ll never shine if you don’t glow
Chorus

Hotel Rwanda’s Paul Rusesabagina

Tonight I attended a lecture given by Paul Rusesabagina at Benedictine University. If you saw Hotel Rwanda, you know him as the hotel manager who was the protagonist of the movie. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, he sheltered twelve hundred Hutus and Tutsis in his hotel. Rusesabagina himself is part Hutu, part Tutsi and his wife is Tutsi.

In the course of an hour, Paul told the story of the massacre in his country. Imagine how difficult it must be to recount the darkest days in your history. A couple of things stood out in his lecture.

He spoke of the tragic incident which caused Rwanda to descend into anarchy. It happened when a plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi crashed, killing both men. He says he remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing when he heard the news just as we all remember where we were and what we were doing on September 11^th. He was celebrating his wife’s graduation from college.

He said, “I believe in the power of words. Words can kill.” If you are skeptical, consider the situation of a judge sentencing a man to death. Think of bigoted hate speech that sparks violence. Ponder insults spoken in anger between a husband and wife.

He talked about negotiation. He had to negotiate with the soldiers who threatened to kill the people staying in the hotel. He said he was reminded of the English saying, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Despite despising these violent men, he had to entertain them and treat them with manners. He also tried to negotiate with foreign governments in Brussels, Paris, and Washington D.C.

Near the beginning of the massacre, when chaos was breaking out in Rwanda, the United Nations pulled out its troops. UN troops acted as peacekeepers in Somalia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. In some of the most dangerous conflicts in recent history, the UN has kept troops in place. Yet in Rwanda, in 1994, even the UN felt it was too dangerous to stay.

Paul Rusesabagina talked about how there are lessons to be learned from Rwanda. He spoke at length about the current genocide in Sudan. Just as the international community did little to stop the genocide in Rwanda, few are doing anything about Darfur. In Rwanda, Hutus referred to Tutsis as “cockroaches” to justify killing them. Many Tutsis killed Hutus as well. Similar dehumanization is happening in Darfur. Water often becomes a major concern in conflicts such as this. In Rusesabagina’s hotel, people filled dustbins with water from the swimming pool. They had to ration water carefully to stay alive. In Sudan, water is also an issue of contention between the arid regions in the North and the lush jungle areas of the South. Paul emphasized the importance of the round table, of dialogue. There is no problem, no conflict, and no grievance that is beyond speech. With our reason and with our words, we can make a difference.

To find out more about Paul Rusesabagina, you can go to the Wikipedia page on him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rusesabagina. I hesitate to endorse Wikipedia for a number of reasons, but in this case, I think it does a very good job of presenting the facts. One important detail that Wikipedia fails to mention is that he has created a foundation, The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, which strives to prevent genocide and to help the victims of genocide, http://www.hrrfoundation.org/ (You can donate online with a major credit card, and honestly, what cause is more worthy than the prevention of genocide?). If you have more time, you can read his autobiography (written with Tom Zoellner), An Ordinary Man.

Subbing Experience

I subbed today at Naperville North High School, NNHS. Today I was two different people, both math teachers. I was one guy from 1st to 4th period and a woman from 5th to 8th. Apparently the school purchased new laptops for the teachers and the teachers had to go through orientation. I imagine it was a waste of time for many, who already knew how to use laptops. But hey, they don’t ask me.

For Ali bin Abi Talib

This is a poem for Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. Now just because I’m writing in honor of him doesn’t mean I’m Shia. Sunnis can show love to Hadrat Ali too. Seriously, after 1300 years, isn’t it enough already with the whole Sunni-Shia conflict? We’ve both said things we didn’t mean, did terrible things to each other, called each other infidels. But now we’ve been two millennia according to the Christian calendar and nearly 1.5 millennia in our own. It’s time to move on. No?—————————— 

The Lion Who Surrendered 

 

From a noble house

You descended

Through your veins

Flowed the blood of the Beloved

 

When no one dared

To speak the name of Faith

You stood up

Though an awkward youth you were

 

In battles for freedom

You carried the flag

Wielding a sword

Forked like a serpent’s tongue

 

Your sacred marriage

Was a union of saints

And brought forth

Two lights of the world

 

Wisdom radiated from you

Like beams of the moon

Knowledge is a city

You were the gate

 

Of the Messenger’s Successors

You were the Fourth

With your death

Light left the world ——————————”There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance.” – Ali bin Abi Talib, radiallahu an 

Ten Items or Fewer: How to Shop for Groceries

1. Come prepared. Scope out your fridge, pantry, and cabinets before you go. I recommend writing a list, but that’s not for everybody. If your store has a preferred shopper card, make sure to bring it.

2. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry. When you’re hungry, you’ll be inclined to buy either impulse items that are loaded with fat and sugar or things that you won’t eat later.

3. Make sure you go through every aisle. Sometimes items are stocked in odd places like Maraschino cherries in the liquor aisle.

4. If you want to lose weight, stick to the perimeter of the store. Fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and yogurt are located along the edges of the store.

5. Always compare prices by unit. For example. if one box of crackers, Box A, costs $3.oo and 10 ounces and Box B is $2.80 and 8 ounces, compare the prices per ounce. Box A is $0.30 per oz. while B is $0.35 per oz. Therefore A is actuakky a better buy.

6. Put one foot on the bottom bar of the cart and the other foot about 8 inches behind. Push off from your back foot and bring it up on the bar. You should roll forward pretty quickly for a couple feet. This doesn’t serve any purpose; I just find it fun.

7. You can save money by buying in bulk but don’t go crazy. When buying in bulk make sure it’s something that won’t spoil and that you will use. Buy paper towels and tissues in bulk. Mayonnaise and fish, not so much.

8. If your store has a self-checkout line, only use it if you have 12 items or fewer (yes, “fewer,” not “less”). Make sure you don’t end up in line behind the newbie who has never used the self-checkout before. As soon as you see someone doesn’t look like they know their way around a bar-code scanner, switch lanes.

9. When checking out, make sure that you’ve emptied your cart completely. It’s a good idea to look over your receipt to make sure you’ve purchased everything you intended to buy.