The project took me to Tunisia in September. Its been the most challenging place work-wise compared to Germany, Egypt, Jordan, Korea or Morocco. However, that's what makes this whole year interesting. I had entered into my comfort zone, not for long. Tunis reminded me that its not over until its over.
As for the city, well, it is nice and peaceful. Not a lot of high-rise buildings even though are now building some. I think we didnt see anything higher than 3 floors on the average. It is a Muslim country and it was Ramadan but only by the name. I could see people not fasting and not really praying. In fact, they didn't even go for Friday prayers. I might be generalizing it but I am speaking for all the Muslims in office at least.
Anyway, the culture was missing. I couldn't find much unique about the culture. The people gave the impression of Europeans with their way of dressing and looking and spoke Arabic. Some people spoke French as well.
This country links to Italy after the Mediterranean but its influences are from the French colony it was. There are also some ruins from the time the Romans ruled which they have made into nice tourist sites. It was a mixed ambiance with a bit of Italy, France and a bit of Middle East as well. However, I couldn't really label it an African country even though it is geographically.
On one of the days we went to Hammamet, a city at around 50 min drive from Tunis. This city seemed like the fun-land outside the city. Tunis is very different from this one. This one had casinos, markets, joy rides and well basically a happening place. The tourists were enjoying here getting alcohol openly and there was also a dock where there were some expensive boats. A local told us that lots of Europeans settle for their retirement life here. Buy a yacht, keep going across the Mediterranean whenever required. That kinda life.
But it was still an OK place to visit. Nice people, friendly. Its a booming economy with industry coming into the picture. Exporting some fruits and minerals and they have found reserves of Oil and Gas as well. The UAE giants are investing in the real estate as I could see some famous names on mammoth projects over many acres. Sports city, health city, that kinda thing. It would be different in a few years.
The best thing I liked about the country was the their focus on education. It is mandatory for everybody to get educated until the age of 16. Government supported good public schools, that is something that builds nations. I think Tunisia is in the right direction just considering that.
It was not the most ideal planned way back. The flight got cancelled cos of a part malfunction and we had to wait for another 12 hours flying early next morning. The airline took good care of us, got us transferred to a hotel and nice dinner to go with that. Enjoyed some Tunisian cuisine, which by the way was delicious. I don't know the name of dishes but it was a nice mix of vegetable and meaty dishes. Good lamb & veal and good peas and potatoes. Nice fruit juice to go with that.
I would probably go there again to visit the historic places which I couldn't really find time to go and see because of this being a work trip but I put my marker on the stuff so its easy to find next time.
Conspiracy Guaranteed
I have been always been interested in conspiracy theories. From the young age of watching such movies which brings the thrill and rush of blood and twists and turns has always enthralled me to the shocking realities of life today.
I never would've thought that it could come out of that TV box and into reality. Conspiracy theories are all around us and evidently making our lives thrilling. We have been brainwashed to believe what we see on TV and when looking at the big picture that the media is controlled by people who show us what they want to show us and we believe it, we should be labelled as quite stupid.
With the advent of media and its growth to Internet and social networking, the whole thing has just got out of hand. Watch the headlines on any news channel, pick up a newspaper, see a twitter feed, follow facebook for a while, all I see is something going wrong in Muslim countries in the fray. Why is it that out of the 192 countries in the world (number from members of United Nations) only majority Muslim countries make the news and that too for all the wrong reasons. Isn't there problems in countries like US/ UK/ European Countries/Far East? I can assure you there are bigger problems but the image of Muslim countries is what these people are after.
The only thing important enough is to keep mentioning it. Reminding ourselves about it. This is to ensure we don't get carried away with what we see and hear. If one keeps the big picture in mind, it is very easy to stay focused on the goal and task ahead.
This is a continued test of our faith. The conspirators will keep throwing things at us, hoping we will fail. Fall down, lose hope. I actually heard a very close family member who asked, why should I get close to Allah? People who are not close are more successful. I was surprised and yet not so surprised.
The meaning of success itself has been changed. The perception is different. Success is money, fame, happiness in life, contentment in life, things that I have, things that I want and I get... with my hard work, my efforts, my skill, my talent, my achievements due to my good work and my relationships and my contacts....
It all sounds...so right doesn't it?
Did you notice that the perception of success contains a lot of "I" who did it all by "himself" and limited to "This Life". This is exactly what they want us to think and they have been successful in their mission. Take God out of our lives and make us falsely believe that it is us who control our lives and success or failure is all due to our efforts and not God's will.
Observe a day an average person lives. How many times in the day does God or religion come in? Prayers are actually a diversion from the "life" that I am living. When the optimum way of living preached to us was life around prayers and remembrance of Allah and not the other way around. Where did that go? Oh right, that is not how successful people are made.
Riba (interest & interest on interest) has been categorized as the termite that keeps eating into you. It is the most hated element in the eyes of God, right up there with adultery, fornication, consuming alcohol, gambling. Every thing condemned by religion is the most popular thing to do these days.
Interest is now so common that its not even a point of discussion. It is understood to get money out of your money in the bank. It is understood that since you need the car, you ll go and get a car loan and pay interest. It is understood that with the continuously inflating value of property the only way possible to own a house is by taking a loan and pay interest. In this day and age of competition the best universities are so expensive that the only way to get into them and afford them is to take a student loan and pay on interest. It is just the "right" way and rather the only way possible to get all these worldly things.
Think out of the box. It is mentioned by Allah in the Quran that whoever asked for success in life, he was granted that. Whoever asked for success in life and the hereafter, he was granted that. So its all about asking for the right things isnt it? What are we asking in our prayers?
Increased wealth? Peace in the world? Fulfilling of responsibilites of family? Good fate of my daughter, my sister? Happiness in marriage? Job success? General Success in life?
While the above are OK to ask for also, where are the prayers for a Successful here-after? Even our prayers have now become focused with things that end with death. We have made the trade of the after-life which is going to last forever with these few 70 to 80 to 100 years.
When we pray, do we truly believe that it is going to happen since we are asking God? Do we have the blind faith that I will get what I want only if I ask The Right Source?
Everything happening around us is set with a master plan that the conspirators have made up. Their plan has been in motion since the day man was put into this world. They have gone stronger with time as indicated to us as well that it will happen. It is all happening as per the script already written and told to us. What the conspirators don't know that the plan doesn't get fulfilled at the end that they have planned. There is another Master Plan, a superset of their plan. This one by The Greatest Planner of all, Himself. There is going to be more and much more after that. But do we believe in that? Ask yourself, do you really believe there is life after death? Has your faith weakened? Is it just something that you read and you don't really believe in it?
The stage is being set my friends. As mentioned in the Holy Quran and told by Our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W). The signs of the end of times are showing. We are losing our grip on the world. Its time to repent and come back to the basics. Go back to the matrix. Get close to your faith. For the times are near when our Prophet (S.A.W) said, it would be the greatest test of our faiths and extremism will not prevail. A person who is one step behind will be better. It is better to be one step behind but don't let the passion die. The fire within has to be keep burning.
Then wait for the Azaan (call) and when it comes, say Labbaik and join the force. The force which will be a comeback, an "in-your-face" to all the conspiracies of the world. The force that will be an answer to all the questions that the conspirators pose on us today. Questions around corruption, terrorism. The answer will be given but not now. Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But only when the time comes. Just ensure you are ready and on the right side of the battlefield. Jihad (Holy War) is our destiny as that is also a form of prayer with death in the way of religion with the truest faith and no worldly reasons, is the key to heaven.
I never would've thought that it could come out of that TV box and into reality. Conspiracy theories are all around us and evidently making our lives thrilling. We have been brainwashed to believe what we see on TV and when looking at the big picture that the media is controlled by people who show us what they want to show us and we believe it, we should be labelled as quite stupid.
With the advent of media and its growth to Internet and social networking, the whole thing has just got out of hand. Watch the headlines on any news channel, pick up a newspaper, see a twitter feed, follow facebook for a while, all I see is something going wrong in Muslim countries in the fray. Why is it that out of the 192 countries in the world (number from members of United Nations) only majority Muslim countries make the news and that too for all the wrong reasons. Isn't there problems in countries like US/ UK/ European Countries/Far East? I can assure you there are bigger problems but the image of Muslim countries is what these people are after.
There is a conspiracy around it. There is an hidden agenda. We all know about it. We don't want to talk about it. Its understandable.
The only thing important enough is to keep mentioning it. Reminding ourselves about it. This is to ensure we don't get carried away with what we see and hear. If one keeps the big picture in mind, it is very easy to stay focused on the goal and task ahead.
This is a continued test of our faith. The conspirators will keep throwing things at us, hoping we will fail. Fall down, lose hope. I actually heard a very close family member who asked, why should I get close to Allah? People who are not close are more successful. I was surprised and yet not so surprised.
The meaning of success itself has been changed. The perception is different. Success is money, fame, happiness in life, contentment in life, things that I have, things that I want and I get... with my hard work, my efforts, my skill, my talent, my achievements due to my good work and my relationships and my contacts....
It all sounds...so right doesn't it?
Did you notice that the perception of success contains a lot of "I" who did it all by "himself" and limited to "This Life". This is exactly what they want us to think and they have been successful in their mission. Take God out of our lives and make us falsely believe that it is us who control our lives and success or failure is all due to our efforts and not God's will.
Observe a day an average person lives. How many times in the day does God or religion come in? Prayers are actually a diversion from the "life" that I am living. When the optimum way of living preached to us was life around prayers and remembrance of Allah and not the other way around. Where did that go? Oh right, that is not how successful people are made.
Riba (interest & interest on interest) has been categorized as the termite that keeps eating into you. It is the most hated element in the eyes of God, right up there with adultery, fornication, consuming alcohol, gambling. Every thing condemned by religion is the most popular thing to do these days.
Interest is now so common that its not even a point of discussion. It is understood to get money out of your money in the bank. It is understood that since you need the car, you ll go and get a car loan and pay interest. It is understood that with the continuously inflating value of property the only way possible to own a house is by taking a loan and pay interest. In this day and age of competition the best universities are so expensive that the only way to get into them and afford them is to take a student loan and pay on interest. It is just the "right" way and rather the only way possible to get all these worldly things.
Think out of the box. It is mentioned by Allah in the Quran that whoever asked for success in life, he was granted that. Whoever asked for success in life and the hereafter, he was granted that. So its all about asking for the right things isnt it? What are we asking in our prayers?
Increased wealth? Peace in the world? Fulfilling of responsibilites of family? Good fate of my daughter, my sister? Happiness in marriage? Job success? General Success in life?
While the above are OK to ask for also, where are the prayers for a Successful here-after? Even our prayers have now become focused with things that end with death. We have made the trade of the after-life which is going to last forever with these few 70 to 80 to 100 years.
When we pray, do we truly believe that it is going to happen since we are asking God? Do we have the blind faith that I will get what I want only if I ask The Right Source?
Its a conspiracy... every thing is a conspiracy... I am surprised at how everything has to be a conspiracy for us to come out of our routine life and take notice...
Everything happening around us is set with a master plan that the conspirators have made up. Their plan has been in motion since the day man was put into this world. They have gone stronger with time as indicated to us as well that it will happen. It is all happening as per the script already written and told to us. What the conspirators don't know that the plan doesn't get fulfilled at the end that they have planned. There is another Master Plan, a superset of their plan. This one by The Greatest Planner of all, Himself. There is going to be more and much more after that. But do we believe in that? Ask yourself, do you really believe there is life after death? Has your faith weakened? Is it just something that you read and you don't really believe in it?
Would you be doing the things that you do, would you be living your life the way you are doing now, if you truly truly believed in the fact that this life is the exam and the results are in the hereafter?
The stage is being set my friends. As mentioned in the Holy Quran and told by Our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W). The signs of the end of times are showing. We are losing our grip on the world. Its time to repent and come back to the basics. Go back to the matrix. Get close to your faith. For the times are near when our Prophet (S.A.W) said, it would be the greatest test of our faiths and extremism will not prevail. A person who is one step behind will be better. It is better to be one step behind but don't let the passion die. The fire within has to be keep burning.
Then wait for the Azaan (call) and when it comes, say Labbaik and join the force. The force which will be a comeback, an "in-your-face" to all the conspiracies of the world. The force that will be an answer to all the questions that the conspirators pose on us today. Questions around corruption, terrorism. The answer will be given but not now. Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But only when the time comes. Just ensure you are ready and on the right side of the battlefield. Jihad (Holy War) is our destiny as that is also a form of prayer with death in the way of religion with the truest faith and no worldly reasons, is the key to heaven.
The Reality of Me (The Human)
Actually, I decided to update this post a little more for more completeness. Just the poetry (that follows below) doesn't justify what led me to it. I was inspired by a good friend who brought to notice this first Ayat from Surah Al-Insaan.
Allah asks us...
The explanation of the above is basically towards the fact that we as humans can so easily flaunt ourselves with pride. With the small achievements in life, we feel, we are kings and in control of whatever we want to do. Pride (Ghuroor) is one of the most disastrous things that a human could develop. As that leads to other big sins and eventually away from Allah.
Allah reminds us by asking that question. There was a long time before Man when there was No Man. There were other creations like Jinn, Angels, maybe others we don't even know. However, in the infinite time that only Allah knows, man is not even worth mentionable.
So, then Man was built from sand, or clay to be more specific as mentioned in the Holy Quran, this Surah explains the reality of me (the human). Surah-e-Insaan further explains how what we are when we are born and we forget who we were as we grow up. Easily fooled that what we are doing is based on our own strengths and talent and not by Allah's will.
Lot of thought depth led from that single Ayat. I think that is the beauty of The Holy Quran. Every Ayat has so much too ponder over.
Got inspired and with inspiration comes out a little Shayari (poetry)...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Khaak ka Zarra hoon mein...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Dunya mein Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqaat...
Koi yeh mujhay bata dey "Kyon" aur "Kya" hoon mein...
Jo Uss nay chaha tha ... Woh tou na bana hoon mein...
Samajh kee baat yeh hay ~Umar... Mitti say bana hoon mein....
Aur Mitti hee mein ja mila hoon mein...
Translation
Some where He says I am a grain of sand [1]
Some where He says I am the highest of all His creations
Can somebody tell me "Why" and "What" I am
What He wanted... I have certainly not become...
The thing to understand ~Umar is... I have been made from Sand...
And I have gone and mixed with the Sand [2]
[1] - "Grain of Sand" - The smallest particle possible as in of minimal (close to zero) value in this world
[2] - "Mixed with Sand" is used in the context of getting Ruswa (disgraced, insulted, humiliated, defamed) in life
Allah asks us...
The explanation of the above is basically towards the fact that we as humans can so easily flaunt ourselves with pride. With the small achievements in life, we feel, we are kings and in control of whatever we want to do. Pride (Ghuroor) is one of the most disastrous things that a human could develop. As that leads to other big sins and eventually away from Allah.
Allah reminds us by asking that question. There was a long time before Man when there was No Man. There were other creations like Jinn, Angels, maybe others we don't even know. However, in the infinite time that only Allah knows, man is not even worth mentionable.
So, then Man was built from sand, or clay to be more specific as mentioned in the Holy Quran, this Surah explains the reality of me (the human). Surah-e-Insaan further explains how what we are when we are born and we forget who we were as we grow up. Easily fooled that what we are doing is based on our own strengths and talent and not by Allah's will.
Lot of thought depth led from that single Ayat. I think that is the beauty of The Holy Quran. Every Ayat has so much too ponder over.
Got inspired and with inspiration comes out a little Shayari (poetry)...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Khaak ka Zarra hoon mein...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Dunya mein Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqaat...
Koi yeh mujhay bata dey "Kyon" aur "Kya" hoon mein...
Jo Uss nay chaha tha ... Woh tou na bana hoon mein...
Samajh kee baat yeh hay ~Umar... Mitti say bana hoon mein....
Aur Mitti hee mein ja mila hoon mein...
Translation
Some where He says I am a grain of sand [1]
Some where He says I am the highest of all His creations
Can somebody tell me "Why" and "What" I am
What He wanted... I have certainly not become...
The thing to understand ~Umar is... I have been made from Sand...
And I have gone and mixed with the Sand [2]
[1] - "Grain of Sand" - The smallest particle possible as in of minimal (close to zero) value in this world
[2] - "Mixed with Sand" is used in the context of getting Ruswa (disgraced, insulted, humiliated, defamed) in life
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