Aaargh!! Muslim Phobias!

After reading this article about 5 frightening Muslim phobias it made me think of writing my own list. It seems that there's more than one irrational fear prevalent in some Muslim communities, some of them more amusing than harmful but others are downright unislamic and do nothing but give Muslims a bad reputation! So, without further ado, here is my list of Muslim phobias:



Anuptophobia - Fear of Staying Single

Is it just me or do Muslims have an somewhat unhealthy obsession with marriage? We all know that it completes half your deen, and of course we all want to find a loving, committed relationship, but reaching the age of 25, or 30, 35 or older without being married is nothing to be terrified or ashamed of! Please, enjoy your life in the meantime, stop feeling so sorry for those poor old '30 year old pensioners who surely must be infertile by now', and once you do get married, we're happy for you, really, there's no need to show off with hundreds of wedding photos and lovey-dovey status updates....*shudder*

World War Z

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*warning some spoilers*

A rare movie for me - 5 stars!! This has just the right amount of action, suspense and kept me on the edge of my seat for 2 hours; there wasn't really any 'this would be a good time for a toilet break' moments. It was kinda like an extreme version of The Walking Dead (to which I am somewhat addicted) - zombies taking over the world due to the spread of some virus, except unlike most zombie films, these ones can *run*.... Which makes more sense, and makes it more scary!

Islam - Positive or Negative?

A while ago on facebook I saw the picture below appear on my timeline. I'm going to give whoever made it the benefit of the doubt and assume they ad nothing but good intentions to remind women of how to behave in a good manner as required in Islam. However, my first impression of it was very negative - and to tell the truth it made me feel rather angry and upset. I see the reason for the use of the street signs to communicate 'street etiquette' but to me all it does is reinforce the negative stereotype of the oppressed Muslim women, a stereotype I do my best to dispel!

Now, I'm not saying that the information on the poster is false (well, I found that some of it has more evidence than others in my research but overall most of it has at least some grounding), but what I object to is the way in which is it presented. I often find this in Islam, something that is actually good is presented in a very negative way. So, I decided to make my own version to show that the same information (I excluded the less well evidenced stuff) can presented in a positive light and that actually women are not oppressed but highly respected in Islam. Let me know what you think!

"Women have an honoured position in Islam. Allah and his prophet provide specific advice to women to help them maintain their respect and dignity. Among these things is to dress and behave modestly, to avoid attracting attention to oneself, to respect each other’s personal space in the street, and to save your love and beauty for the man that is committed to you. Equally men are taught not to check out women in the street, not to speak to them disrespectfully, to protect them from harm, to provide for them, to make them happy. May Allah guide all of us to be the best to our husbands, our wives, our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters in Islam. May He put strengthen and bless our relationships with each other, let us see the best in each other and don’t let us divide the Ummah"

Pacific Rim (2013)

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I really enjoyed this movie too! Seems like I'm seeing some good movies recently, another action/sci-fi type so somewhat like Elysium. No inappropriate scenes or bad language so great for family viewing. I just took off one star because there were a few too many fight scenes for me. I know I know, it's meant to be like that, but I felt like I was squinting to see what was going on a lot of the time especially as it all seemed to be in the dark - don't the Kaijus ever come out in the day?? I would have liked a little more story, and also the geographer in me was somewhat unsure about the whole concept of aliens coming out the ring of fire... ok yes I know it's made up of course, but as far as I could tell these monsters were coming out somewhere near Japan, in which case how were they coming out of a destructive plate margin?? Surely they should have been coming out of Kilauea or something, now that would have been much more believable!

Elysium (2013)

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I really enjoyed this movie! Husband did too until the end when he decided he hated it... ok so there were a few things that could have been better - the bad guy wasn't scary enough (according to my husband) and there was one scene in particular which was pretty unrealistic. In fact, the whole plot seemed a little weak - that a whole 'planet' could be reset with some sort of computer virus - they were so advanced they could cure cancer in 30 seconds yet their security systems were totally flawed. However, in a way it kinda reflects today's technology reliance - what would happen if the internet was hacked into/shut-down on a large scale. And I liked the geography theme with the over population and environmental destruction. But nah, couldn't give it 5 stars due to the plot weaknesses but, it is a movie and I did enjoy it, so I reckon it deserves 4 stars, let me know what you think!

End of Watch (2012)

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Haven't done a movie review for ages!! And I've actually watched quite a few movies since my last review (well, it was a loong time ago!) so thought I'd add the last 4 I've seen. These were not at the cinema as I have sadly stopped going since having a baby. I just never seem to have time and feel bad leaving my lo for 3 hours to see a movie when I already leave him when I go to work! Now and then is ok I admit but the other reason is we bought a projector last year so we have a kind of home cinema experience in our lounge - since the projector cost us around £250 I want to make use of it! It's not perfectly clear like the cinema by any means but it's good enough for me, plus it's free and I can sit in my pyjamas, have intervals whenever I want and home made snacks! 

So my hubby chose this movie, I'd heard of it before but it's not something I would automatically go for. However, it turned out to be pretty good. There wasn't that much of a storyline compared to say, Elysium or World War Z, which are on a much bigger scale, but it's main strength was how realistic it was, just two normal cops in LA and the experiences they face. I would say it's an action thriller, lots of action but kinda scary edge-of-your-seat stuff too. The acting is excellent from the two main actors (Gyllenhaal and Peña) they have great chemistry between them you really feel like they're best friends. 

I minused a star due to the unnecessary amount of swearing (mainly the f work), apparently it comes in
top ten for movies that use the f-word, a bit ott for my taste! I have this thing about swearing that the more you do it and hear it the more normal it becomes, when it shouldn't be, it's horrible and I don't ever want to become immune to it for mine and my lo's sake. But other than that I'd definitely recommend it, just don't go and watch the other 9 movies all at once!