This seemed like a good idea at the time...

One date later..... enough said!

We did manage to finish them in the end, 2 days past their best by date! Somehow fasting makes me feel justified in eating whatever I want in those 5 short hours between iftaar (breaking fast) and suhur (starting the next fast). Especially after watching that programme about the fast diet where you can apparently eat whatever you like in-between fasts.

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!