God, I can't beleive what's wrong with these people???!!!!!! I guess terrorism is worldwide, First was London, then Egypt, and they are destroying our tourism, last year was Sinai, then now the best resorts and hotels in Sharm!!!May Allah bless the souls of those who passed away, and help their families :(((A series of explosions hit the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh early Saturday, killing at least 49 people and wounding 150 others, witnesses and police said.
Police officials in Sharm el-Sheik said there may have been as many as seven blasts; three in Naama Bay, which is packed with hotels, and four in the nearby Old Market area.
"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical condition," said one doctor at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital.
Police expect the death toll to rise.Initial reports said the blasts might have been caused by car bombs.
Witnesses said the first blast took place at 1:15 a.m. in the Old Market area, which includes stores that are popular with tourists.
They said that explosion was so powerful that it shook windows miles away.
Khaled Sakran, a resident, said he saw the explosion at the Old Market. "I saw the fire in the sky," he said. "Right after, I heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay."
One of the deadliest explosion took place in a car park between the Gahazala Gardens and Movenpick hotels.
Another bomb exploded near the Marriott hotel and another near the Marina Sharm, witnesses said.
Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian witness, said that the Ghazala Garden hotel was "completely burned down, destroyed."
Another witness, Hossan Osman, said: "There are lots of bodies covered with blood-stained white sheets around the hotel. Lots of people rushed to the scene to see what was happening but up to 600 policemen are cordoning off the area."
One correspondent said police officers immediately tightened security in and around the city, with sniffer dogs checking vehicles at every checkpoint.
Saturday's blasts came on the 53rd anniversary of Egypt's 1952 revolution and many Egyptians were on an extended holiday weekend in Sharm el-Sheikh and other resorts.
Last October, a series of attacks struck several hotels in the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, about 100 miles northwest along the Gulf of Aqaba coast, killing 34 people.
The trial of three men suspected of involvement in the October attacks opened on July 2 at the high state security court in Ismailiya, northeast of Cairo, and was expected to resume tomorrow. http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9220
" He saw how fragile we are, and how quickly we fell into the hands of tyranny, he saw that ordinary men could reach deep within themselves and find courage, he saw that if we began to communicate as a nation we could become strong again, united" ..... The PostMan I don't know if any of you hear the phrase quoted above before, it's from a movie called "The postman". The story takes place at our time, where the United States of America had undergone a massive destruction -years before the story of our movie started- due to a huge war, this war left the country with nothing, it has been totally destroyed, all forms of civilization ended, communications between different states was totally terminated, one may never know whether his mother, sister, or friend living in another state is still alive or not, words like "hope", "security", and "strength" were removed from their dictionary and were replaced by "despair", "fear", and "weakness". One man was able to survive this war, he gathered some men around him, and formed an army, instead of using this army to reunite the country again, and help others, he used it for his own welfare, he was so brutal and cruel, would kill anyone who'd say "no" to him, and would pass by all towns, take their food and supplies, kill their children, assault their women, and force the men to join his army. And amongst all this, this destruction, injustice, and cruelty, comes a man, who without even knowing or intending became a hero himself, started raising everybody's hopes, showing them there's still hope for a better tomorrow, for a brighter future. One man, who was caught by the injust army leader, and was forced to join him, he didn't like what was going on, so he ran away, and one rainy night he came across a mail car, that once belonged to a postman, he got inside, and there, was a postman's skeleton, probably have been there for years, he took off the postman's suit, got dressed in it, as his clothes were totally worn out, and took his mailing bag.He continued his journey, trying to find food and shelter, one day he came across a little town, it was totally fortified, and wouldn't let any strangers in, so he lied, said he was a postman, and that he was on duty for an official mission assigned to him by the USA restored government, of course the town's Sherif wouldn't believe him, so the man started taking out the letters from the mailing bag, reading the names of the recipients outloud, and it happened that one of the recipients did live in this town, so they opened the doors for him, he gave the recipient her letter, which turned out to be from her sister written 15 years ago.The postman got into town, spreading hope with him, hope that there actually might be a restored government, even though these were lies, but it affected them. He went to the town's post office which been closed since the beginning of the war, hundreds of letters not delivered, and then came a young boy "Tony", Tony was so excited about the Postman, asked him to join him as a postman, he was so determined about it, so passionate, so the postman asked him to repeat the oath after him: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, no gloom of night, stays these couriers from the swift of completion of their appointed rounds"He left the town, not even thinking about this postman thing again, he continued his journey for days and days, one day he came across a young girl riding a horse, he asked her who she was, so she told him she worked for the USA restored government as a postman!!! She took him to ther residence, and there he found Tony, Tony took responsibility of the whole thing, formed a whole team, delivered mail throguhout 30 states in the USA, and he lied, he told him he was in direct contact with the PostMan which is false, but he wanted to give them hope. The postman saw that all the mail carriers were young, yet passionate about what they were doing, though they haven't seen the USA in its glory days before the wars as they were all still kids or not even born, yet they worked hard to restore it, beleived it was their duty. He couldn't help but join them again, but this time it was no lie, probably the only and most sacred truth ever, Uniting, Believing, working together for a better future for their country and generations yet to come, and now that they have the postman amongst them, their spirits were so high, and with everyone of them shot dead by the unjust army leader, came 2 or 3 instead, eager to accomplish something, prove for everyone that, when there's a will there's a way.They fought the unjust leader, defeated him, united the whole nation again, and it all started with people who beleived they can do something for their country, no matter how you might feel your role is minor, you can make a big change. The postman had a daughter after that, he named her "Hope" showing everybody there's a hope for a better future, together they united their country, rebuilt it, and started all over again from scratch. The postman didn't deliver just mails and letters, he delivered a message of hope, embraced by a new generation.We can all be postmen, just like him. I was watching this movie, kept thinking, this happened before, back at the days of the sahaba, with the greatest Man ever, our beloved prophet, he delivered the greatest message ever from Allah, showed the true path, gave people hope, and started a new society, with people around him, beleiving and supporting him and in his message, and was able to spread his message to the whole world. Everbody can be a postman, a doctor is a postman, he delivers hope and happiness to the hearts of sick people, a scholar is a postman, he delivers the message of the prophet PBUH and Allah to everyone, an artist is a postman, he delivers ideas and visions through his art. Everybody can be a postman, delivering hope, happiness to everyone, though the mail would be different, but they all work for the same target. Be a PostMan tell us the kind of message you're trying to deliver, and how you can serve humanity and religion through it.
Also, join us in here:
http://www.samiyusuf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1716
Awakening in action...
From left to right: Bara Kherigi, Wassim Malak, Sharif Hasan, Wali-ur Rahman. Wali-ur Rahman The CEO (Cheif Executive Officer) of Awakening. He was the co-founder of Awakening, and the main force behind establishing Awakening’s structure. He drew up and executed the strategy for Awakening’s corporate image and brand name. Wassim Malak The Director of Marketing and Sales. Joined Awakening to develop its marketing and sales strategy for the US and Canada. Has formulated and executed Awakening’s worldwide marketing and promotion strategy.Sharif Hasan The Director of Publications. Co-founded Awakening and developed its corporate vision and strategy. Has considerable experience in authoring, translation, editing and publishing. One of his writings is "Sirah of the Final Prophet (s)"Bara Kherigi The Director of Media & Records. Joined Awakening and developed its media & records strategy. Wrote the lyrics for songs "The cave of hira", "Allahu", English lyrics for "The creator", "Ya Mustafa", "Supplication", and assisted in writing "Who's the loved one". Assisted in the backing vocals for some songs from "Al Muallim" album I wrote this to acknowledge those people, support them and pray for them. Because of them some of us changed their way, and repented.. Because of them hope started to get implanted in our hearts.... Hope that there can actually be a way out, that we can do something, change, get the whole world to know what Islam is, who Muhammad PBUH was, and what honourable message he tried to spread to the whole world.... A lot of sisters and brothers here may had a song from Sami Yusuf or Mesut Kurtis, a cd or a book by a renown scholar or any of the Awakening's productions turn their lives upside down, took them out of the darkness and into the light, and we owe it all to them. May Allah bless them, grant them sincerity, and help them serve Him in the best way possible. Amen.... http://www.samiyusuf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1204
Al Salamu Alikom wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatu.... Sami Yusuf...Imam Suhaib... Mesut Kurtis.... Renowned names in different fields of Islam, whom we cherish, respect and look up to.... Names that affected us, added up to us, changed our way, and lifted up our spirituality.Tears would fall down our cheeks while listening to Supplication, Great love would fill our hearts listening to Al Muallim. We'd smile at Imam Suhaib's sense of humour while listening to "Mothers of the beleivers", and realize how superior our mothers were. Thank Allah for all his blessing and beautiful creatures with every word that Mesut sings in "Allahu Allah" But did any of us ever wondered who contributed towards all these successes? Who were the ones who strived to present them, and through them would enhance and promote a positive, relevant, balanced and moderate image of Islam. Thinking about Sami, Mesut, and Imam Suhaib, how much we cherish and support them, behind such a charming and impressive image, lies for sure an even more charming, hard working, sincere Muslims, whose only concern and ultimate aim is to serve their God and religion in the best way possible. And if it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't have been enjoying the successes of these images. AWAKENING.... There's no better choice of a name, a name that implies the message they want to deliver, the objective for which this company was established in the first place, AWAKENING..... Don't you feel the need to get up and do something, start changing what's around you, wake people up, return the prophet hood back to life. إن الله لا يغير ما بقوم حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم What is Awakening? It represents a new brand, a new vision and a new endeavour to promote a balanced and moderate image of Islam.Aren’t you just fed up of what you hear on the news? The challenge is how to address this. Perhaps part of the blame lies with us as Muslims. We need to first and foremost educate ourselves about the correct and balanced understanding of Islam. Then we need to present this message in the best possible way.Awakening was founded in the year 2000 in the United Kingdom as a publishing house. It has now expanded to three divisions: Awakening Records,Awakening Publications Awakening Media. Today, Awakening is a worldwide company with offices in the United States and the United Kingdom.Awakening has produced some of the most ground breaking products including the best-selling Islamic Music album by Sami Yusuf "Al Muallim" They have also pioneered the production of Islamic music video clips - using state of the art technology and expertise - which have been aired on mainstream TV and satellite channels across the world. Awakening has also published over 25 books and many media products including the best-selling audio lecture series on the "Life of Prophet Muhammad (s)" by Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki , "Mothers of the Believers" by "Imam Suhaib Webb" and an audio drama/documentary on the life of "Imam Abu Hanifah" by Abu Musayb. T H E I R V I S I O N To enhance and promote a positive, relevant, balanced and moderate image of IslamT H E I R M I S S I O N Producing Islamic books and media products that are vibrant in quality, dynamic in nature, modern in presentation, affluent in expression, educational, enlighting, spiritually uplifting, entertaining and excellent in content in order to produce Islam to the 21st century. T H E I R A I M To serve Islam based on the prophet's saying: إن الله يحب إذا عمل أحدكم عملا أن يتقنه To be the leading Western-based Islamic media and publications companyT H E I R D I V I S I O N S Publications MediaRecords Awakening StoreTheir activitiesAwakening produces, markets, and promotes media of three main kinds:1- Recordings of Islamic music which appeals to Muslims who wish to listen to music that is spiritually uplifting and entertaining. 2- Lectures in English by leading Islamic figures on religious, social and spiritual subjects. 3- Books in English on a range of spiritual and general subjects of interest to Muslims and non-Muslims.Their target audienceMuslims in the West Muslims in the Muslim world Non-Muslims in the WestWhat gave Awakening this success and unique flavour? 1- The Team: Awakening’s senior directors possess a diverse range of business skills and have a strong track record of commercial success. Their Western Muslim background and diverse cultural makeup enable them to identify and successfully take advantage of market opportunities throughout the Muslim world and the West in an innovative and creative way.2- Track record: Over the past five years the management team has built Awakening into a thriving business in the UK and US. 3- Talent: Awakening has identified, nurtured and promoted promising Muslim talents, and established them as internationally renowned artists and figures. 4- Brand: The reputation of Awakening’s artists, authors and lecturers, and its commitment to quality have established Awakening as a leading brand. Awakening’s products are associated with quality, and possess a contemporary and vibrant image. Awakening is considered as the trend-setter in its market. 5- Scope: Awakening has offices in the UK, US with directors based in each region, giving it direct access to some of the world’s largest and most important music markets.Awakening has distribution agreements in territories throughout the West, Middle East and South Asia. 6- Reputation: As a result of these strengths, Awakening has secured a strong position in the market.
Assalamu Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuI know I haven't blogged in aaaages, now a lot has been going on, and would take me a lot of time to tell u all about it, but I will :)2 weeks ago, it was the Sami Yusuf's concert in Cairo, I think you all knew about that from the ad I posted in my blog :DThis was surely, one of the best experiences I ever had, one I'd cherish for the rest of my life! it was mega fun, and hard too, kept me sooo busy, I was taking part in the event's organization, before the days of the concert, and on the 2 nights themselves which means I got to be backstage most of the time.I don't want any of u to start thinking, oh she had fun, that's because Sami was there and she got to meet him, no this isn't the case at all, what made me really happy and excited about that day was that I got to meet the Awakening Staff, for those who don't know, Awakening is an islamic media production company, it produces for Sami and many others.And I'm telling you, these guys are the best, they're working so hard for their religion, striving to promote a moderate and balanced image of Islam, all of them, the whole board and Sami, I haven't seen such modest, sincere men in my whole life.I'd post an article about them now, hope u like it, and waiting for ur replies.Also stay tuned for the concerts' pictures.
wassalam
