Recently I have been taking an interest in the country that is Turkey. It is quite a fascinating place for a number of reasons, not least because less than a century ago, it was the leader of the Muslim world in the form of the Ottoman empire.

I have many unanswered questions on it - some that I can put into words, such as "why did the Arabs rebel and join the British against" but there are many many more that are less easy to ask (let alone answer). Just a warning - the rest of this blog post is a "brainfart" of ideas and thoughts hopefully structured in a semi-cogent manner, however it may not make any sense at all or may be entirely wrong. Feel free to correct me.

Six truths of life:

1. You cannot touch all your top teeth with your tongue.

2. All idiots. after reading the first truth, will try it.

3.and discover the first truth is a lie and feel superior because they can do it.

4. you're smiling now because you're an idiot.

5. you soon will forward this to another idiot

6. there's still a stupid smile on your face.

Today, Thurday 5th August 2010, i went to a cupping course.

There are two ways people can fall short when it comes to remedies.
1) they put their trust in Allah alone and do not try any remedies.
2)they put thier trust in the remedy alone. (this can lead to Shirk)

i've learnt a lot on this course. and i have still a lot to learn.

there are three type of cupping: Dry cupping, Massage cupping and wet cupping.

dry and massage cupping are not from the sunnah, but fall under the hide category of "for every disease there is a remedy"

fire cupping is not used anymore as it is too hazardous and also it is harder to control the tension. therefore we nowadays used the pumps.

The front cover for Time Magazine for Volums 176 No 6 to be launched on 9 August 2010

It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan.

(See managing editor Richard Stengel's message to readers about the cover.)

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read:

"I am blind, please help".

A creative publicist was walking by him and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in a few more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign, turned it around and wrote another announcement. He placed the sign by the blind man's feet and left.

That afternoon the creative publicist returned to where the blind man sat and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had re-written his sign and he wanted to know what he had written on it.

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,
"Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,
"Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"

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