I mean everytime there is an earthquake, a flood, an oil spill – there’s always a group of heartless people who rip off tax payers.

This is in response to reading that 4 of Oprah Winfreys “angels” got busted ripping off the system. Shame on them!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/19/crimesider/entry5251471.shtml

i guess its part of the bigger political plan to erase our identity through losing out history and buying into westernization.

BBC did an amazing documentary a year ago i think, you can watch the links on youtube just search Science and islam.
here is a link:

Personally I’ve always admired the geometric harmony in Islamic designs.

According to a study, Uk has the highest level of teenage binge drinking, drunkeness,unprotected sex among girls aged 15 and 16 and alcohal-related problems in Europe.

Muslim schools are not divisive, they develop a strong sense of identity, self-esteem and sel-confidence. Muslim schools are preparing children to face the challenges of life in modern Britain and to also contribute in positive way to wider society. They are promoting tolerance and support the spiritual, moral, social, linguistic and cultural development of pupils. Muslim schools continue to improve in their GCSE results. For the third consecutive year, Muslim schools advanced on their previous results and surpassed the national average. All Muslim schools are oversubscribed. In state schools, Muslim children are victim of racism and bullying. According to DCSF, 56% of Pakistani and 54% of Bangladeshi children has beern victim of bullies.

In the 60s and 70s, Muslim parents were happy to send their children to state schools, thinking their children would get a much better education than back home. Then little by little, the overt and covert discrimonation in the system turned them off. They grew conscious of the failure of the school system and of hostility from the school system for Muslims. Muslim parnets would like their children to recieve western eduucation with Islamic ethos. They want boys and girls segrated and girls to wear viels. There are 15 areas where Muslim parents find themselves ofended by state schools.

I set up the first Muslim school in 1981 in East London and now there are over 130 Muslim schools and only ten are state funded. There are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools with Muslim teachers as role models.
Iftikhar Ahmad
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

i had to put the links in separate comments, to not consider them as spam, although links are not identical, but source of them is the same, anyway here is main source of the pictures :

http://www.citysrose.com/showthread.php?t=21572

I feel petty for all who didn’t visit AL-Quds, masjed Al-Aqsa , Qobbat Al-Sakhra walked in the old town of jerusalem, feel the smell of the fresh Kaek b semsem & Za’tar, each time i go there, i feel lighter and i can fly, its a blessed place for sure, words are not enough to express it, unless am Tameem al Barghouthi.

في القدس يزداد الهلال تقوسا مثل الجنين
حدْبا على أشباهه فوق القباب
تطورت ما بينهم عبر السنين
علاقة الأبِ بالبنين
في القدس أبنية حجارتها اقتباسات من الإنجيل والقرآن
في القدس تعريف الجمال مثمن الأضلاع أزرق
فوقه – يا دام عزك- قبة ذهبية تبدو برأيي مثل مرآة محدبة
ترى وجه السماء ملخصا فيها
***
في القدس أعمدة الرخام الداكناتُ كأن تعريق الرخام دخان
ونوافذ تعلو المساجد والكنائس
أمسكت بيد الصباح تريه كيف النقش بالألوان
فهو يقول: “لا بل هكذا”.
فتقول: “لا بل هكذا”.
حتى إذا طال الخلاف تقاسما
فالصبح حر خارج العتبات
لكن إن أراد دخولها فعليه أن يرضى بحكم نوافذ الرحمن
***
***
في القدس رائحة تركز بابلا والهند في دكان عطار بخان الزيت
والله رائحة لها لغة ستفهمها إذا أصغيت
وتقول لي إذ يطلقون قنابل الغاز المسيل للدموع علي: “لا تحفل بهم”…
وتفوح من بعد انحسار الغاز وهي تقول لي: “أرأيت”..
في القدس يرتاح التناقض والعجائب ليس ينكرها العباد
كأنها قطع القماش يقلبون قديمها وجديدها
والمعجزات هناك تلمس باليدين
في القدس لو صافحت شيخا
أو لمست بناية
لوجدت منقوشا على كفيك نص قصيدة – يا ابن الكرام – أو اثنتين
في القدس رغم تتابع النكبات ريح طفولة في الجو.
ريح براءة
في القدس رغم تتابع النكبات ريح براءة في الجو.
ريح طفولة
فترى الحمام يطير يعلن دولة في الريح بين رصاصتين
***
تميم البرغوثي

As for the identity thing i think religion is a part of one identity and so is his nationality and the nation to which he belong for that i consider my identity a muslim, arabian, jordanian from palestinians origins

With regards to the question of identity, you remind me of a very interesting dialog I had two years ago with my history professor. It was “special studies” whereby myself and a couple of classmates created a class with our professor titled “Readings in Early Modern Islamic Thought.” Every week we addressed a different author and his theories.

I forget which author brought up the question of identity, but it left me perplexed for days. When the professor asked us how we identify ourselves, my two classmates did not hesitate to say “American.” Ever since their childhood they have been taught to love their country..simple as that. Regardless of where their ancestors traveled from or what their religion is, it all fell under the category of american.

What is my category? I did not have such a speedy answer. First, I know I’m Arab and it IS part of my identity but that’s not it! Secondly, I am Muslim and to me that’s personal. Or, in other words, as Roba mentioned, I am secular. Finally, even though I am certainly Saudi, I consider this my nationality, not my identity. After much thought I realized that my identity is my family. They are who I am and without them I cannot be any of the three mentioned above. After all how can one be a true Arab if they not lllove their family :p (I do not want to bore you with further elaboration…)

The second realization I came to is the importance of having an identity. Why is it that in Saudi and Jordan and I’m sure many other countries identity is not necessarily the nationality? Also is that a good or a bad thing?

I know this steers away from the point you were trying to make. The conclusion I reached was one I will always remember and thought you might like to hear it :)