*wave*

I stopped at the supermarket on the way home from school today, and as I was about to go in, I spotted the others coming, so I waved really BIG-LY at them (so they'd notice I was going in and wait for me), and these two guys who were sitting on the wall in front, like, waved at me. Really widely. Ahahaha, they must've thought I was waving at them. So I was really embarrassed and ran away and they realised I wasn't waving at them and got embarrassed and ran away, too.

Imagine! A niqabi waving at two strange men. I don't think so. XD

But it was very funny.


In class today, I was thinking (class being that twilight between waking and dreaming) and I was feeling very sorry that I'll be leaving so soon (iA)...because there's still so much to learn. Even if I finish Level 11, there's another four advanced levels after that! So finishing isn't really finishing, and I've a hankering to stay and do them all. After all, if I go home, do my course for two years, and then...then I'll have forgotten all of this stuff that I've taken so much trouble to learn. And really, it is amazing: I've learnt a good few languages, but Arabic is something completely else. I can't really explain it...there's a sense of the infinite, to it, or...I don't know, yeah, I guess that's it.

Or divine. Yeah, that works.

Slate & Artefacts

I have a burn on my hand in the shape of Sauron's eye, all red and romantic-looking. Haha. Oh, and that time I slashed my ankle? I have a scar there, now. GO EGYPTIAN ARTEFACTS.

So then we did the muntasif mid-level test - it was short. But it was hard enough to make up for the length of previous ones. When she was going through it, I counted eight mistakes...this could be the worst test so far. There was a bunch of stuff I just could not parse/parsed all wrong, and another cluster of questions full of words of whose meaning I had no clue.

I realised something about UK testing and ghair-UK. See, in UK tests, the aim is not to get 100%. Take university for instance: the marking system is much 'harsher' than in the States. All those JYA students with A averages come here go there and get depressed and confused because they're going from 90s to 60s. We know better of course. 60s = good mark. 70s = spectacular. No one gets 90s. Pretty much. Unless, you're, like, [name removed]. So anyway: the UK system is supposed to reflect the idea that there isn't a ceiling to excellence, and material outside of what is taught = super extra credit. Who gets firsts? People who do extra. A US 90 = about a UK 70. See? Potential.

So yeah, the point was, Markaz Fajr is very American about their marks.

I meant to come home and sleep. The Return of the King was on last night and I forgot but I was revising anyway. Also, I have discovered a fairly interesting news site (http://www.slate.com/). But note that actualy reading the articles is more interesting than listening to the podcasts.

(some photos)

These have been lying around for a while. May be repetitive.


The Internet Cafe! Our home from home from home.


The 'Metro' - suburban not-quite-train/not-quite-tram


Horsy!


The last sunrise of Ramadan


Out of our bedroom window

888

Blah, I have the mid-level test tomorrow.

Meh.

23? 13!

I'm looking at a 13+ entrance exam for science.

This is a question:
What will tend to happen when the north-seeking pole of a permanent magnet is placed close to the north-seeking pole of another magnet?

The word 'rafada' came immediately (and insistently) to mind, and I could not remember 'repel' until a long time later.

Also, I was looking at the entrance exam for French. Oh dear. I can answer the whole thing in good Arabic. Hal atadhakkar ayyi shay'? La! Do I remember anything? Of course not. XD

So after about a minute of memory-straining (this is a small eternity in terms of brain-time! Brain-time = milli/microseconds), I finally managed to repress 'madinah' and very painfully recall 'cite' (e-acute :P)

And I'm looking at the maths one. I can't actually do some of it. What are products of prime factors again? XD


Other dumb things I did today:

- Tried to call a couple of schools. Why won't they pick up?? Oh yeah, that's it. IT'S SUNDAY. Which in that part of the world, is known as 'the weekend'.

- Feel asleep in class. Again. But in a very ostensible way, this time. (Head back, daydreamy smile, complete confusion upon waking, and inability to open eyes fully XD)

I'm sure I will have more to add to this list. The day is young!


Oh, and I watched 'Pokemon 4ever'. Which actually was quite nice.

...the noose is tight, so shall it be torn.

The Dark Night
By Babar Ahmad
HMP Manchester


The night is dark and there’s no sign of light.
The tunnel is long and there’s no end in sight.

The road is thorny and the path is steep,
There’s no time to rest and no time to sleep.

The air is thin and the rope is tight,
There isn’t much energy left to fight.

The ocean is deep and the brine is cold,
The lifeboats of rescue have all been sold.

The forest is thick and full of peril,
At every turn are snares of the devil.

Seething serpents in every crevice,
Snarling hisses full of menace,

With crocodile tears and a stiff upper lip,
And venomous bites that cause steel to rip,

With fake smiles and eloquent words,
As sweet as nightingale singing birds,

With shiny suits and well-groomed hair,
They entice victims into their lair.

The world is ruled by crocodiles and snakes.
The world is ruled by frauds and fakes.

Diversity and multiculturalism,
(Are just fancy words for state racism).

Fairness and honour are things now extinct,
Justice and power are two things distinct.

Power corrupts and gets to the head,
It enters the blood and turns gold into lead.

Years without trial incarceration,
In what is supposed to be a great nation!

The rule of law and human rights,
Have melted away into silent nights.

Those who claim moral superiority,
Only instil hatred into the minority.

Those who care fear more for themselves,
And thus leave their values on the bookshelves.

So where are the bearers of valour and nobility?
Where are those who stand tall in adversity?

Where are the men who stood up to power?
And dismiss the urge to hide and cower?

Where are the men who have a conscience?
Why don’t they put an end to this nonsense?

Where are the knights and where are the scholars?
Who worry about more than their pennies and dollars?

Why do they fear to correct that which is wrong,
Then justify it with words that are so long?

If they can’t walk the walk, they shouldn’t talk the talk,
But sit at the table with their knife and fork.

How can it be that men are born free,
Yet they prefer to live in slavery?

Grovelling and bowing to the snakes on thrones,
Slavering away until they turn into bones.

But what good is there in a life of disgrace,
Where every second is spent saving face?

What is in the dark must come to light,
All then their lies will be swept out of sight.

For truth is a stallion that never fails its master,
If it is suppressed it gallops even faster.

The victims of injustice are thorns in the side,
Like bleeding arteries they never subside.

Until the oppressed are returned their dues,
Their plights will remain headline news.

The Day is approaching in which tyrants will weep,
As they have sown so shall they reap.

That is the Day: Judgement Day,
When the One Most High will have His Say.

The night is dark but it will soon be dawn,
Since the noose is tight so shall it be torn.

The night is dark but it will soon be dawn,
And there a new era...shall be born.


-END-


Babar Ahmad MX5383
HMP Manchester
February 2007


Brother.

Theoretic Tolerance?

"Let our meaning be quite clear; we have no intention of blaming practical tolerance as applied to individuals, but only theoretic tolerance, which claims to be applied to ideas as well and to recognise the same rights for them all, which if taken logically can only imply a rooted scepticism. Moreover we cannot help noticing that, like all propagandists, the apostles of tolerance, truth to tell, are very often the most intolerant of men. This is what has in fact happened, and it is strangely ironical : those who wished to overthrow all dogma have created for their own use, we will not say a new dogma, but a caricature of dogma, which they have succeeded in imposing on the western world in general; in this way there have been established, under the pretext of 'freedom of thought,' the most chimerical beliefs that have ever been seen at any time, under the form of these different idols, of which we have just singled out some of the more important.

Of all the superstitions preached by those very people who profess that they never stop inveighing against 'superstition,' that of 'science' and 'reason', is the only one which does not seem, at first sight, to be based on sentiment; but there is a kind of rationalism which is nothing more than sentimentalism disguised, as is shown only too well by the passion with which its champions uphold it, and by the hatred which they evince for whatever goes against their inclinations or passes their comprehension. Besides, since rationalism, in any case, corresponds to a lessening of intellectuality, it is natural that its development should go hand in hand with that of sentimentalism... "

- Rene Guenon

Rhetor Maximus!

Today in class, we started doing 'balaagha'...and it's really interesting! Balaagha is one of the 'ilm al-lugha' - the sciences of the language, the others which are 'nahw' (grammar/syntax) and 'sarf' (morphology - conjugation, declension, etc). I really like less and less how Arabic transliterates.

Balaagha would correspond with the classical Roman art of rhetoric. Isn't it so cool to be learning rhetoric and pretend that one will be a 'rhetor'? We started off doing metaphor and simile (tashbeeh), and she gave us the example of, 'al imra'a ka-tha'ban' (the woman is like a snake)...oh I nearly died laughing, especially when she said that wouldn't do, and changed it to 'ar-rajul ka-tha'lab' (the man is like a fox) - and then all the girls objected.

Balaagha = the good one.


So yesterday, our new housemate moved in. She is Bulgarian, and so far, alhamdulillah, things are going okay. I feel really cautious about how it will all turn out, though.

Bulgarian food is nice! I want to learn EVERYTHING about how to cook it.

'The door is open...'

'I spend so much time hoping or trying (rarely, actually, more former) to get people to be introspective and begin searching...not to give them a target or a route, but simply inspire the need to search...that when someone does embark on a journey of some kind, I grow hopeful they will find something...but the object they find can only be worthy of what they seek...if they look with closed doors, they often find something quite other than what you might like...they have to look wholeheartedly and with a desire for the truth - and nothing but - and try brace themselves for it, shed the arrogance - in order for it to come to them... those who look aren't abandoned, not if they truly look .'

'If the truth sets you free, then you have to want freedom. and you cannot want freedom if you set out looking for the truth with a set of preconditions for what form it must take when it finds you.'

- Moments of Clarity, Someone Wise.

Planet Earth!

Oooo, I really really want the Planet Earth DVDs. Waaaaaaaaaaaant.

The Blue Planet/Planet Earth DVD set is no longer available.

:(


I think when I go home I will branch out into Attenborough-fangirlness. Possibly costly hobby, but SO VERY, VERY WORTH IT.

Alternatively, I could illegally download it off the internet. Woo!

Toast...?

I have been thinking.

And yes, for those of you who ask, it did hurt.

What also is hurting is the backs of my calves. I think I burnt them with the heater. Much like the way toast...toasts.

But yes...I've been thinking. Maybe I need to think about it a bit more. But...I think I could deal with staying in Egypt for three or four years, once I get the language part down. Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

Flowers are red! Green leaves are green!

I have a rose on my head. A lovely velvet rose.

Level 6 is hard. I already know this after one lesson. For a start, there is an Iraqi in our class. That is scary. Strange though it may seem, I am actually really really bad at speaking Arabic, and the better people around me are, the less I speak. I mean, alhamdulillah, I love grammar and I can read and write fine (but I need to learn the handwritten-script to write faster), and none of that is a problem. But conversation! ACK x 888.

Al-rajul al 'ankabut (Spiderman) is on TV now. Arabic dubs! And we make a habit of watching Detective Conan, too ^_^ (that's 'Case Closed' according to Tokyopop), in sweet Arabic. ^_^

Maybe I will try and con Maaherah into starting a conversation group. Especially for me.

six six six

Today is our 6th monthiversary!

Strange, strange.

Six down, six to go, but the six past seem to be much shorter than the six to follow.