Where in the World is Affad Shaikh

Since my last significant post, I would say its been two months or so. I have been pre-occupied. I went to go watch my Aunt die from Leukemia in Pakistan, so slowly died from the pollution and inept treatment of the physicians and staff at a so called "cancer specialty" hospital. (more on my adventures there later) These past few years, I have lost so many loved ones, that death has almost been a consistent guest in my life.

Then I came back and promptly saw a friend, former apartment mate, get married then a few other friends get married, met my other apartment mates fiance, and figured out my own living situation. I guess you can say, I now am a grown up, with my own studio in Orange County, having to take care of myself the whole nine yards.

I do admit the solitude in my new studio seems liberating. I haven't had to much time to enjoy its wonderful environment, as I have spent a lot of time moving, sorting, organizing my stuff. I lived a pretty chaotic, disorganized lifestyle these past few years. I guess that is what they call the "college years" and the "post undergrad" lifestyle. Its apparently settling in that I need to have stability of sorts.

Though my trip to Pakistan, subsequently to Mexico as well, re-enforced the fact that there is ever so much more to life then living in my bubble. I am reflecting on this fact and finding that my desire to see, and experience, the world is to strong to be neglected. For instance the Islam in Malaysia I experienced was something else, worth investigating further. The Islam in Pakistan, was actually a bit of a disappointment, such clash of ideas, like I might have mentioned to several people, its like Pakistan has several tracks that its traveling on, it happens that right now they all line up. In the near future the tracks will veer and that will be a dangerous thing to see. (Sadly, never did I think I would fear people with beards, but there I seriously questioned my security and well being as I went to the market, or filled up at a gas station, worse ride in a taxi.)

Work has occupied my life mostly- since I have gotten back its been hectic catching up with cases, deadlines, reports, requests, event attendance and the list goes on. But also I have been busy with this stupid desire to create a space of my own in my new studio. I have sort of brought out the inner interior designer our of me. But its not without help! I turn to Apartment Therapy to be my shining light, to figure out how to give my eclectic nature a physical form in the space I call my studio.

I know its a space that I rent. That I am limited in my ability to change the space, as well as the fact that I might move to some other situation at any given time, but I almost feel obligated to give manifestation to a sophisticated style of living rather then the "card board box dining table" I have been living these past several years. I believe my car will thank me for this change, its served as my closet, sometimes my bed, other times my study area.

One thing that excites me is that in the near future, I will come home from work, clean up, eat dinner and sit down with my long list of books to read and just begin reading. I miss that a lot. I want to read the book on my desk "Eastern Origins of Western Civilizations" or the book on "Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence" by Kamali, there is the historical fiction "Saracean Blade" and the Sci-Fi thrillers "Song of Ice and Fire" (4 of them, I highly recommend).

I don't mind coming and sitting on my couch and watching a movie, maybe the ending of "Jab we met"- Bollywood movie that got interrupted in Pakistan because of the regular power outages. Or even, finally sitting and playing Half Life for XBox, its sad, but as a college student doing all the things I did, I forced myself to stay away from video games. I think, I won't mind going to an Al-Maghrib seminar, in fact, if all goes well I hope to attend the one coming up later this month "The Torchbearers"- THIS WILL BE GREAT BOOST for my faith, especially with Ramadan coming up.

Its time to slow things down in life. To take it with a bit more ease. I get to caught up with things here, things there, and everywhere. My weakness has been my lack of focusing on "me" and having a place of my own, I look forward to that self dotting. I deserve it. I do.

Possibly even posting up some actually meaningful posts for you all to read, rather then the half-arsed nonesense you sometimes see posted by me.

Pakistan's Bhutto killed in attack

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon.

I think Ms. Bhutto may have represented the hopes of many Pakistani citizens in that she would help the country emerge from the devolving military state that Musharraf created. At any rate, it is interesting to see how assassinations change the dynamics of political options for the populace in Asian countries. I don't know how many of you (Indians) remember -- or are old enough to remember -- Rajiv Gandhi's assassination during his bid for PM-ship in the early '90s, but Bhutto's killing reminded me very much of his.

Pakistan's Bhutto killed in attack - Yahoo! News

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

At least 20 others were also killed in the attack on the rally for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections where the 54-year-old Bhutto had just spoken.

Her supporters erupted in anger and grief after her killing, attacking police and burning tires and election campaign posters in several cities. At the hospital where she died, some smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf blamed Islamic extremists for Bhutto's death and said he would redouble his efforts to fight them.

"This is the work of those terrorists with whom we are engaged in war," he said in a nationally televised speech. "I have been saying that the nation faces the greatest threats from these terrorists. ... We will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out."

In the U.S., a tense looking President Bush strongly condemned the attack "by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy."

Musharraf convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff, where they were expected to discuss whether to postpone the elections, an official at the Interior Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad.

She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser.

Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto's party, said he was standing about 10 yards away from her vehicle at the time of the attack.

"She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle's roof and responding to their slogans," he said.

"Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away," he added.

Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. She died about an hour after the attack.

In Pakistan Its Treason to Work Outside the Constitution

You hear alot of stuff on Pakistan. You have seen posts here on Muslamics, and I also post on Pakistan. Here is a good Times Online analysis for your reading pleasure, however, below is my excerpt of choice:

Musharraf cannot afford less than a landslide for his party; otherwise he risks facing an opposition in parliament that could invalidate his extra-constitutional declaration of emergency rule. At the very least a two-thirds majority could unseat him. A two-thirds majority in parliament could also call for the reinstatement of the original Supreme Court, which Sharif says is his party's primary goal. That reconstituted high court could then rule that Musharraf contravened the constitution by dismissing the judges in the first place and declaring emergency. And, what is most worrisome for Musharraf, working outside the constitution in Pakistani law can be considered treason.

You can read more about my thoughts on "Busharraf" and his Abraham Lincoln speech at This American Muslim.

One less glass ceiling...

Benazir Bhutto is a controversial figure, and one whom I must admit I don't know much about. I've just started reading her autobiography and was inspired and moved by the stories she recounts in the preface. I do know that there are many dimensions to her story and to her life. Still, I cannot help but respect Bhutto for her courage and determination. Read with an open mind:

"I am a woman proud of my cultural and religious heritage. I feel a special personal obligation to contrast the true Islam - the religion of tolerance and pluralism - with the caricature of my faith that terrorists have hijacked. I know that I am a symbol of what the so-called 'Jihadists', Taliban and al-Qaeda, most fear. I am a female political leader fighting to bring modernity, communication, education, and technology to Pakistan. I believe that a democratic Pakistan can become a symbol of hope to more than one billion Muslims around the world who must choose between the forces of the past and the forces of the future."

"The political battles that I fought were always for an end. The goals centered on liberty and social justice. And those values are definitely worth fighting for. But I do believe my career has been more challenging because I am a woman. Clearly it's not easy for women in modern society, no matter where we live. We still have the extra mile to prove that we are equal to men. We have to work longer hours and make more sacrifices"
...

" Once the political opposition learned I was pregnant, all hell broke loose. They called on the President and the military to overthrow me. They argued that Pakistan's rules did not provide for a pregnant Prime Minister going on maternity leave. "



" I rejected the opposition's demands, noting that maternity rules existed in the law for working women (my father had legislated maternity leave)."



" Hardly mollified, the opposition drew up a plan of strikes to pressure the President into sacking the government. I had to make my own plans. My father had taught me that in politics timing is very important. I consulted my doctor who assured me that my child was full term and, with his permission, decided to have a Cesarean delivery on the eve of the call for strike action."


"I received thousands of messages of congratulations from all over the world. Heads of government and ordinary people wrote to me, sharing the joy. Especially for young women it was a defining moment, proving a woman could work and have a baby in the highest and most challenging leadership positions. The next day I was back on the job, reading government papers and signing government files. Only later did I learn that I was the only head of government in recorded history to actually give birth while in office. That's one less glass ceiling for women Prime Ministers in the future to have to break."

From preface of Benazir Bhutto's autobiography Daughter of The East, May 2007

The Pakistani Army

Last night we were watching PTV, and my mom made a really interesting observation to add to my list of 27 reasons why people choose to leave Pakistan bringing the total to 28.

A lot of vacant jobs are filled by ex-military personnel: retired major so-and-so, retired captain this-and-that, retired colonel whats-his-name.

So where do the young and extremely talented go? If they have the means, they leave the country. If they don't, they are forced to take up menial jobs, or they starve.

Does the Pakistani government see any of this?
Of course not, because the army IS the government.

Looking forward to reading Military Incorporated by Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa.

While I am on the topic, why don't I just throw this question out there....

What is better for the people....a corrupt democracy or a righteous dictatorship?

Glass Ceilings & School Funding

If we can't laugh at our problems,
then we are truly fated for misery?

Sex Deprived...What is going on?

Search Results on Google Trends

By Affad Shaikh
The graph is a three year time frame of the trends in google searches. It show a comparison of two searches that I put in- Sex and Islam. Sex mainly because I thought that it would be a good base line to see how significant the search result is, and anyway I have a closet...(inside head thought, inside head thought!) and Islam because I thought, heck new google service lets play around with it.

I did not imagine that it would become a blog-worthy item, aside from the fact that it was an interesting tool that google was introducing. See these results come from google search statistics. Each of your computers has this thing called an IP address, which is basically a computer physical address on this world wide web. So they use this to track where the searches are coming in from and with all the information they have they have created this database which is now accesible by mere mortals like ourselves to play around with.

When I did my initial search I was playing around and to find that the top ten countries or "regions" as google refers to it were actually Muslim populated areas, disturbed me!

Look at the graph below. Unfortunaly one thing google trends doesnt do is provide numerical values to see the "volume" of searches being done. That is why I used "sex" becuase the saying goes technology is motivated for the access to "pornography"- don't believe me? Just read about the invention of the camera and some the things it was first used for, or read about video technology on phones and what motivates researchers and designers to push the limits of this new technology- from a friend on the inside on these sorts of thing, I personally get stories of what the thinking behind some technology is, and its disturbing.




So this disturbing data leads me to some questions, for which I doubt I have any answers, but its something to reflect on.

1. What is going on?

2. Are Muslims that sex deprived that they have to search it to such an extent in the privacy of their own rooms...or in cafe's?

3. I am assuming this is more Muslim youth then it is adults, so my question is are the countries so corrupt that morality has fallen down the hole?

4. For people who want to jump the gun and say this is because of the "hijab" etc, notice that Iran and Suadia Arabia are not amongst the countries listed, and both institute mandatory "hijab" of women; there might be other factors but still the countries listed are liberalized, I know Pakistan and Pakistan the people using the internet are wholeheartedly liberal, my family is included in them- and Malaysia and Indonesia are for sure liberal and booming economically. So is it the "liberal" society that confuses and conflicts with peoples head to lead to such staggering numbers?

Islam is about modesty and not about social controls, so in a place where there is a Islamic culture it doesnt necessarily mean social controls inhibit individual free will. The norms are there, but people do as people do.

Again the first graph is total worldwide searches. Then the second one is top ten, normalized search results. Now "normalized" means they take the total number of searches for the search words and divide it by percentage of the total search amount to get a top ten list. This might mean that more people using the internet doing more searches in some countries will make the normalized ratio larger then in others. Other factors also deal with how many people access and use google compartively to how people search for these sites elsewhere. Google is popular, but its not the "only" search engine out there.

If you do the same with porn, it gives you much greater hits else where in the world and they are non-Muslim countires in the top ten, click here to see for yourself. You will notice, closet suburban Irvine is quite up there in the ranks when it comes to "porn" searches. Finally, still shocked, I put in "gay" and well, Irvine seems to top the charts- those rich white people are wierd- so vocally homophobic yet so active on the net in searching for that stuff.

So you can't just use statistics to label an entire community one way or another, really you can not do that, if anything you can use it to discuss an issue but to label, I would be hard pressed. I can see Fox news headline now...followed by "White Upper Middle Class suburban Christian community tops the charts in Homosexual Google Searches".

However you look at it, its still a figure that needs to be looked at and taken into consideration.