The Adventures of Umm lol cats: Episode III: This Valentine’s Day

Well its that time of the year, I mean its Valentine’s Day. How better to celebrate Valentine’s day than to dramatize a story from my own life. Here is Umm lol cats with none other than Daphne from Scooby Doo. Call me a romantic fool but I think every day should be a Valentine’s Day and every month should be the Valentine’s month and so this is why I don’t particularly celebrate this day but at the same time I also do not criticize people who do so. To each their own. Different Cultural and religious mores can lead to pretty funny situations sometimes as the following story may illustrate.

Disclaimer: I have not met Daphne in real life just in case you are wondering. :p Click on the image below to see the whole comic.

The Adventures of Umm lol cats: Episode II: Indecision 2008

Whenever and wherever you turn on your TV all that you see these days are the elections, elections and elections. Instead of getting mad I thought I should jump into the bandwagon and so here is my 2 cent on the elections. Much has already been written on the (absurd) subject of Obama being a Muslim. Click on the image below to see the whole image.

Umm lol Cats superheroine Manga

The very talented and artful Aafke has created a manga version of Umm lol cats the superheroine. All of you supervillians out there end your trouble making regimes because Umm lol cats will be watching. Well I am flattered. :’)  I have inducted Aafke in the Hall of Fame. What else does this entail? I will have to introduce Aafke in one of the adventures of Umm lol cats comics. Stay tuned. Disclaimer: Since my artistic skills are not as great as Aafke’s so my rendering may not be even half as good as Aafke. 😉

Book Meme

And so it has happened. I have been tagged by Baekho. Without wasting much time on explanations here’s the meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

The closest book to me is not about Hello Kitty just in case you people are wondering. It’s Edward Said’s Culture and Imperialism. Here are the sentences:

My reaction to this is one of disgust and humiliation! I always remember with joy my early days when, with almost no friends, without anyone to talk to me, without preparations, without influence of any kind, I went before the publuc with my operas, ready to be blasted and quite happy if I could succeed in stirring up some favorable impression. Now what pomposity for an opera!!!

And the five people that I would like to tag are.

1. Aafke
2. Lofter
3. Kimiam
4. Cafe Philos
5. Stinger

Teach your langauge to your children otherwise don’t complain!

People of the blogsphere, heed my advice. If you are from country A and decide to live in country B so that your kids grow up in country B and never went back to country A AND you also don’t teach your children about your culture AND also do not teach them much about YOUR language then don’t complain if they take country’s A language as their own. Its NOT their fault that they have to use English subtitles to watch a movie or a TV drama in their supposed mother tongue. Ok? got it? Are we all clear? Kapish? May Allah guide us all. Ameen.

Regarding the picture, I was looking for a picture of a furious looking Korean girl and Kim Seon-Ah here fits the bill. The poster is from the Korean Movie, “She’s on Duty.” Here is the synopsis of the movie from IMDB.

“The film deals with a boisterous undercover female cop who gets sent to an all-girl’s school in order to get close to a criminal in hideout by befriending his teenage daughter. The general set up and the fighting antics of the female cop play close resemblance to Stephen Chow’s classic Fight Back to School.”

Addition #1:
P.S: How do I know this? From experience of course!

Addition #2:
Since its not obvious to some people then let me be more clear substitute country A with Korea and substitute country B with the United States. Do you get it now people? Kapish?

K-pop guide to Muslims: Animal Rights in Islam

That’s Jun Ji Hyun and actress Jung Ryu Won dressed in green Rudolph the Reindeer costumes. Speaking of animals, people usually associate animal rights with hippies but there are many people of faith (hippies and non-hippies) out there who are concerned about animal rights and draw inspiration from their faith. Many Muslims like UMM lol Cats (see I told you not all of us are hippies) are also included in this category. Here are some references to support our position in Islam. Thus the beloved prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stated “If someone kills a sparrow for sport, the sparrow will cry out on the Day of Judgment, “O Lord! That person killed me in vain! He did not kill me for any useful purpose.” (Nisai). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whoever kills a sparrow or anything bigger than that without a just cause, Allah will hold him accountable on the Day of Judgment.” The listeners asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is a just cause?” He replied, “That he will kill it to eat, not simply to chop off its head and then throw it away.”
(Nisai, Hakim).

The Adventures of Umm lol cats: Episode I: The Phantom Mullah

Umm lol cats may not be a super hero (or super heroine) but she can have less than a dull life and so I present to you “The Adventures of Umm lol cats.” A few words of caution. The object of the current episode is not to mock everyone in KSA but rather only certain people. You may say that we should not mock anyone. Well yes and no. After you see people breaking apart successful Muslim communities here in America because some Saudi educated guy comes along and thinks that indigenous American Muslims ought to live like the Saudis well enough is enough. Also I am not trying to mock the Middle Eastern Accent but such people usually do have that accent. For people who do not know the terminology, hijab is usually referred to as the hear covering worn by Muslim women, Najd is a region in Saudi Arabia and Mullah roughly means a religious leader. The sad thing is that I have seen people who do think that the real scholar of Islam are in Najd and that most other institutions in the Islamic world are whack. Some background of today’s episode: In KSA, there are some indications that the ban of women driving may be lifted soon. Anyway I hope that people like “The Adventures of Umm lol cats” and if enough people like it I may even make it a regular section of the site.

Click on individual images for a larger view.

P.S: Just joined the Facebook under this alias. Ping me.

Hello Kitty converts to Islam!

 Alright folks I am back (details later). Its with much please that I would like to announce that my beloved Hello Kitty has converted to Islam. lol. Just kidding. But as I noted in one of my earlier posts, it would be cool if someone did came out with a hijabi version of Hello Kitty. Welcome look no further, there is indeed a hello kitty in traditional wedding costume and even a niqabi Hello Kitty here. O dear!

Roadtrip ….

I will be on the road for the next ten days so I won’t be posting for almost a fortnight. Wishing everyone the best of luck on everything. Next stop New York.

K-pop guide to Muslims: Yun Eun Hye and the Environment

Here is Yun Eun Hye wearing a T-shirt in support of the environment. She started her career as a pop singer in the group Baby V.O.X. but later moved to acting which has proved to be more successful. Despite initial skepticism her role in the drama Princess Hour was able to win over her critics. So she is not just another pretty face. Speaking of environment, environmentalism is not something which people usually associate with Islam or with prophet Muhammad (pbuh) but there are ample examples from the life and saying of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that can bolster the claim for an Islamic idea of environmentalism. Consider the following sayings of prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

• “No Muslim, who plants a shoot, except that whatever is eaten or stolen from it, or anyone obtains the least thing from it, is considered [like paying] almsgiving on his behalf until the Day of Judgment.” (sahih Muslim)
• “There is reward in [caring for] every living being.” (sahih Muslim)
• “Faith is some seventy branches, the highest of which is “There is no god but God, and the least is removing obstacles from the path of people. (sahih Bukhari and sahih Muslim)

It makes me wonder, we do see the effects of urban sprawl run amok in many parts of the Muslim world and environmental degradation also. We should learn from the example of the prophet (pbuh).