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Imam Hassan Qazwini Meets with Senator Barack Obama
Islamic Center of America
Dearborn, MI 48127
313-593-0000 May 15th 2008
 Imam Hassan Qazwini the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of America – Dearborn Michigan, the largest Mosque in North America met yesterday Wednesday May 14, 2008 with Senator Barack Obama the democratic presidential candidate. The private meeting between the two took place at Macomb Community College – Michigan. In this meeting Imam Qazwini and Senator Obama discussed the upcoming presidential election, the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East and the War in Iraq. Furthermore, in the end of the meeting Imam Qazwini offered a copy of his newly released book ‘American Crescent’ to senator Obama. Imam Qazwini also invited Senator Obama to visit the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. |
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Imam Qazwini and the Doha Debates
WATCH THE DOHA DEBATES: APRIL 29th, 2008
Imam Qazwini in the Peninsula  04/30/08 – Sunni-Shia conflict not hurting Islam – Al Qazwini rejected that there was any conflict at all. ‘A minority of Shias and a minority of Sunnis are those who are fighting. Why aren’t the Catholic and protestant killings in Northern Ireland given equal predominance
 Imam Qazwini in the Christian Science Monitor 04/30/08 – Is the Sunni-Shiite rift mostly politics and media hype? – ‘When I speak, or other moderate Muslim scholars speak, we will not find any outlet for our words,’ he says. ‘But if a grocer in Karachi goes out on the streets and calls for jihad [holy war] against America, he will find many media outlets there ready to cover his insanity.’ Imam Qazwini in Gulf-times |
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Watch Imam Qazwini Meet with Pope Benedict XVI
 On Thursday, April 17, 2008, Imam Hassan Qazwini along with ten other Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu religious leaders meet with Pope Benedict XVI at John Paul Cultural Center in Washington , D.C. Having met two years ago at the Vatican , Imam Qazwini re-iterated the significe of leading the efforts of tablishing permanent dialogue between Muslims Catholics. Imam Qazwini urged the Pope to continue his efforts in promoting such dialogues. In response, Pope Benedict VXI stated that he along with his staff at the Vatican are preparing for a dialogue session with Muslim spiritual leaders upcoming in November. Imam Qazwini at the end offered the Pope a copy of his book ‘American Crescent’ and in exchange the Pope offered Imam Qazwini with a symbolic gift. |
A human rights crime
The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished.
This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.
Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.
Regardless of one’s choice in the partisan struggle between Fatah and Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember that economic sanctions and restrictions on the supply of water, food, electricity and fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent people in Gaza, about one million of whom are refugees.
Israeli bombs and missiles periodically strike the area, causing high casualties among both militants and innocent women and children. Prior to the highly publicised killing of a woman and her four children last week, this pattern had been illustrated by a report from B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organisation, which stated that 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of them were civilians, and 25 were under 18 years of age.
On a recent trip through the Middle East, I attempted to gain a better understanding of the crisis. One of my visits was to Sderot, a community of about 20,000 in southern Israel that is frequently struck by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. I condemned these attacks as abominable acts of terrorism, since most of the 13 victims during the past seven years have been non-combatants.
Subsequently, I met with leaders of Hamas – a delegation from Gaza and the top officials in Damascus. I made the same condemnation to them, and urged that they declare a unilateral ceasefire or orchestrate with Israel a mutual agreement to terminate all military action in and around Gaza for an extended period.
They responded that such action by them in the past had not been reciprocated, and they reminded me that Hamas had previously insisted on a ceasefire throughout Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel had refused. Hamas then made a public proposal of a mutual ceasefire restricted to Gaza, which the Israelis also rejected.
There are fervent arguments heard on both sides concerning blame for a lack of peace in the Holy Land. Israel has occupied and colonised the Palestinian West Bank, which is approximately a quarter the size of the nation of Israel as recognised by the international community. Some Israeli religious factions claim a right to the land on both sides of the Jordan river, others that their 205 settlements of some 500,000 people are necessary for “security”.
All Arab nations have agreed to recognise Israel fully if it will comply with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept any negotiated peace settlement between the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, provided it is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people.
This holds promise of progress, but despite the brief fanfare and positive statements at the peace conference last November in Annapolis, the process has gone backwards. Nine thousand new Israeli housing units have been announced in Palestine; the number of roadblocks within the West Bank has increased; and the stranglehold on Gaza has been tightened.
It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US in the crucial peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle while innocent people are treated cruelly. It is time for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn the human rights tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people.
· Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, is founder of The Carter Center project-syndicate.org
An eye opener for us all……
In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.
Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt to the ground.
The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:
‘I don’t know how I’m going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn’t.’
Food for Thought
عن الإمام جعفر الصادق (ع) : ثلاثة هنّ فخر المؤمن وزينه في الدنيا والآخرة : الصلاة في آخر الليل ، ويأسه مما في أيدي الناس ، وولاية الإمام من آل محمد (صلى الله عليه وآله).
Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq (a.s.) said:
Three attributes are the honour and the beauty of the believer in this life and hereafter: : Praying in the end of the night (Night Prayers), hopelessness from whatever in the hands of people and following the Imam from The Progeny of Mohammad (s.a.w.a.)
(Al-Kaafi by Al-Kulaini 8:234)
“It’ll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers.”: ~Author unknown, quoted in You Said a Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs
“Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.” ~Abraham Flexner
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives: James Madison
“When even one American-who has done nothing wrong-is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth-then all Americans are in peril” Harry S. Truman
“We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom”: Stephen Vincent Benét:
Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!
1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321
1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111
9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888
Brilliant, isn’t it?
And look at this symmetry:
1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321
Now, take a look at this…
101%
>From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:
What Equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been in situations where someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.
How about ACHIEVING 101%?
What equals 100% in life?
Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help answer these questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
If:
H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K
8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%
And:
K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E
11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%
But:
A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E
1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%
THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:
L-O-V-E-O-F- G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+ 6+7+15+4 = 101%
Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:
While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close,
and Attitude will get you there,
It’s the Love of God that will put you over the top
Gossip
A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the damage.
“Go to the marketplace, ” he said, “and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road.”Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.The next day the wise man said, “Now go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me.”The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay, the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.”You see,” said the old sage, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back.So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
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Indian scientist turns prawn waste into super food
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Sydney: It was the stench of the huge piles of seafood waste on the outskirts of her home town in Tamil Nadu which pushed Indian food scientist, Renuka Karuppuswamy, to consider a more useful purpose for the rotting waste.
That childhood goal has led to a new commercial viable technique for extracting a super food supplement – a powerful antioxidant which protects cells in the human body – from prawn shells.
Now a PhD student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Renuka’s research promises to turn millions of tonnes of seafood waste around the world into a useful commercial health supplement.
The antioxidant Renuka has extracted is called astaxanthin, which gives cooked prawns their red colour. However, almost all the astaxanthin is contained in the shells and heads which are thrown away.
Most commercial astaxanthin is currently produced naturally from algae or synthetically by a chemical process. But, the 27-year-old UNSW Food Science and Technology PhD student has developed an extraction technique for waste prawn heads and shells which is efficient enough to make commercial-scale extraction viable. Astaxanthin sells at about $200 a gram and as well as being used as a human health supplement, it is useful in salmon and egg production.
Renuka’s technique offers not only a new source of astaxanthin but an environmentally friendly use for the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of prawn waste generated by processing plants globally each year. An estimated 1.44 million tonnes of seafood waste is generated worldwide every year, most of which is dumped in landfill or oceans.
“You just had to cover your nose,” recalls Renuka of the stinking seafood waste landfill near the fish markets of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, which she passed regularly on the way to school.
Renuka’s PhD project centres on the use of supercritical carbon dioxide – CO2 held under the exact pressure and temperature conditions to be in a state between gas and liquid – to separate astaxanthin out from the solvents needed to extract it from the prawn waste. Renuka’s technique works at lower temperature, recovers more astaxanthin and causes less degradation to the antioxidant than other methods.
“With the techniques I have developed you get larger quantities of the antioxidant and that means extraction from prawn shells could be commercially viable,” she says.
The work has green credentials: not only are the solvents and gas employed in the process fully recycled, the used shells can also be used as water filtering agents or to create a natural food coating which replaces petrochemical-derived waxes.
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A Blind Boy
There was a blind boy who hated himself just because he was blind, he hated everyone, except his loving girlfriend, she was always there for him, he said that if he could only see the world, he would marry his girlfriend.. .
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to him and then he could see everything, including his girlfriend.
His girlfriend asked him, ‘Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?’
The boy was shocked when he saw that his girlfriend was blind too, and refused to marry her.
His girlfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to him saying, ‘Just take care of my eyes dear.’ (She had donated her eyes to him)
This is how the human brain changes when our status changes.
Only few remember what life was before, and who’s always been there even in the most painful situations.
‘Life Is a Gift ‘
Today before you say an unkind word,
Before you complain about the taste of your food,
Before you complain about your husband or wife,
Today before you complain about life,
Before you complain about your children,
Before you complain about cleaning your house,
Before whining about the distance you drive,
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
Think of the unemployed, and those who wish they had your job.
And before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another,
Remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down,
Put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and well.
Interesting – your Birthday.
Interesting to learn more about yourself through your birth date.
Birthday Calendar….
It tells you how many hours and how many seconds you have been alive on this earth and when you were probably conceived. How cool is that?
After you’ve finished reading the information of your birth date, click again, and see what the moon looked like the night you were born. This is neat. Who says our time clocks aren’t ticking….
Provoking Thoughts 