Posts

Showing posts from January, 2009

Professor now

In India you get appointed as lecturer first, and then you become reader and years later appointed as a professor. In the United States, everyone who teaches at the college level can be called professor. Teaching is a very difficult profession and I never imagined myself doing that but when an opportunity presented itself I thought why not give it a try and have this experience in life as well. I always dreaded teaching, standing in front of people and talking so I was surprised that I wanted to do this. In December I was given the task of teaching ‘Introduction to Bioinformatics’ class in a local community college. This is the first time they are offering this class so there is no coursework they had developed, so I spent lot of time trying to come up with content for this class. Because of lack of time and vastness of this subject I had settled in for ‘Bioinformatics for Dummies’ book and my lectures are guided by that book. Anyway, it has been four classes so far and I can’t say tha

Good deeds

Surah Taha - verse 112 And he who hath done some good works, being a believer, he feareth not injustice nor begrudging (of his wage). English translation by Picthall. "aur jo koi kare kuchh bhalaiyaaN aur woh imaan bhi rakhta ho so ussko dar nahi be-insaafi ka aur na nuqsaan pahunchne ka. " اور جو کوئی کرے کچھ بھلائیاں اور وہ ایمان بھی رکھتا ہو سو اسکو ڈر نہیں بے انصافی کا اور نہ نقصان پحنچنے کا Urdu translation by Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan

Higher incidence of diphtheria among Muslims in Hyderabad: study

A study of diphtheria cases between 2003 and 2006 in the city of Hyderabad found that rate of the disease is higher among children of 5-19 years of age, women, and Muslims than other social groups. The study conducted by National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai is published in July 2008 issue of peer reviewed journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Published since 1995, journal Emerging Infectious Diseases is published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States. In 2005, 71% of the 4,161 Indian cases of diphtheria came from Andhra Pradesh. The study found that between 2003 and 2006 there were 2,685 patients admitted to Hyderabad hospitals for diphtheria cases. The fatality rate was low at 1.2% but the study saw increase in the rate of incidence over the years. Diptheria cases were lowest among infants but increased with age and reached a maximum among children of 10-14 years of age. Study found that 70% of 2,685 patients were Muslims. This was found to be

Repent, believe, and do good deeds

Surah Taha - verse 82 And lo! verily I am Forgiving toward him who repenteth and believeth and doeth good, and afterward walketh aright. (82) Quran translation by Pickthall- Quranexplorer.com سورة طٰه اور جو توبہ کرے اور ایمان لائے اور عمل نیک کرے پھر سیدھے رستے چلے اس کو میں بخش دینے والا ہوں Urdu translation Jallandhari.

Speak gently

So after assigning Prophet Moosa and Haroon (alaihe salaam) their duty as prophets, Allah tells them not to become weak in their zikr. Then these verses follow... Go, both of you, unto Pharaoh. Lo! he hath transgressed (the bounds). (43) And speak unto him a gentle word, that peradventure he may heed or fear. (44) Surah Taha. Translation by Picthall http://quranexplorer.com/ So even to Firaun, the biggest transgressors of his time, Moosa alaihe salaam is told to speak to him gently so that he may understand or fear. Now contrast this to the attitude of Taliban and Saudi moral police aka Muttawa. And almost every masjid has people with that kind of mentality who take it upon themselves to mind everyone's else business and do not hesitate in humiliating others in public by telling them what in their opinion is haram. For these kind of people Islam is a fixed system that ceased to exist after khulfa-e-rashedeen. By removing all artifacts of the era of the prophet they are removing the