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[إيليا]

الأتكيت
Etiquette, one aspect of decorum, is a code that governs the expectations of social behavior, according to the conventional norm within a society, social class, or group. Usually unwritten, it may be codified in written form. Etiquette usually reflects formulas of conduct in which society or tradition have invested. An etiquette may reflect an underlying ethical code, or in may grow more as a fashion, as in eighteenth century Britain where apparently pointless acts like the manner in which a tea cup was held became important as indicators of upper class status. Like "culture", it is a word that has gradually grown plural, especially in a multi-ethnic society with many clashing expectations. Thus, it is now possible to refer to "an etiquette" or "a culture", realizing that these may not be universal. In Britain, though, the word etiquette has its roots in the eighteenth century, becoming a universal force in the nineteenth century to the extent that it has been described as the one word that aptly describes life during the reign of Queen Victoria

Etiquette fundamentally prescribes and restricts the ways in which people interact with each other, and show their respect for other people by conforming to the norms of society.

Modern etiquette instructs people to greet friends and acquaintances with warmth and respect, refrain from insults and prying curiosity, offer hospitality equally and generously to guests, wear clothing suited to the occasion, contribute to conversations without dominating them, offer assistance to those in need, eat neatly and quietly, avoid disturbing others with unnecessary noise, follow the established rules of an organization upon becoming a member, arrive promptly when expected, comfort the bereaved, and respond to invitations promptly.

By way of contrast, Roman etiquette varied by class. In the upper strata of Roman society, etiquette would have instructed a man to: greet friends and acquaintances with decorum, according to their rank, refrain from showing emotions in public, keep his womenfolk secluded from his clients, support his family's position with public munificence, and so on.

Violations of etiquette, if severe, can cause public disgrace, and in private hurt individual feelings, create misunderstandings or real grief and pain, and can even escalate into murderous rage. Many family feuds have their beginnings in trivial etiquette violations that were blown out of proportion. In the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, the entire world-destroying conflict between the armies of two clans begins when one ruler, Duryodhana, commits a couple of minor faux pas at his cousin's castle, and is impolitely made fun of for it. One can reasonably view etiquette as the minimal politics required to avoid major conflict in polite society, and as such, an important aspect of applied ethics.

In the West, the notion of etiquette, being of French origin and arising from practices at the court of Louis XIV, is occasionally disparaged as old-fashioned or elite, a code concerned only with "which fork to use". Some people consider etiquette to be an unnecessary restriction of freedom of personal expression; others consider such free spirits to be unmannerly and rude. For instance, wearing pajamas to a wedding in a cathedral may be an expression of the guest's freedom, but may also cause the bride and groom to suspect that the guest in pajamas is expressing amusement or disparagement towards them and their wedding. Etiquette may be enforced in pragmatic ways: "No shoes, no shirt, no service" is a notice commonly displayed outside stores and cafés in the warmer parts of North America. Others feel that a single, basic code shared by all makes life simpler and more pleasant by removing many chances for misunderstandings.
Manners involve a wide range of social interactions within cultural norms as in the "comedy of manners", or a painter's characteristic "manner". Etiquette and manners, like mythology, have buried histories especially when they seem to have little obvious purpose, and their justifications as logical ("respect shown to others" etc.) may be equally revealing to the social historian.

Etiquette is dependent on culture; what is excellent etiquette in one society may shock in another. Etiquette evolves within culture. The Dutch painter Andries Both shows that the hunt for head lice (illustration, right), which had been a civilized grooming occupation in the early Middle Ages, a bonding experience that reinforced the comparative rank of two people, one groomed, one groomer, had become a peasant occupation by 1630. The painter portrays the familiar operation matter-of-factly, without the sarcasm this subject would have received in a nineteenth-century representation.

Etiquette can vary widely between different cultures and nations. In China, a person who takes the last item of food from a common plate or bowl without first offering it to others at the table may be seen as a glutton and insulting the generosity of the host. Similarly, amongst older Australian women, a woman who takes the last item of food is called the old spinster, whilst in most European cultures a guest is expected to eat all of the food given to them, as a compliment to the quality of the cooking.

Etiquette is a topic that has occupied writers and thinkers in all sophisticated societies for millennia, beginning with a behavior code by Ptahhotep, a vizier in ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom during the reign of the Fifth Dynasty king Djedkare Isesi (ca. 2414–2375 B.C.). All known literate civilizations, including ancient Greece and Rome, developed rules for proper social conduct. Confucius included rules for eating and speaking along with his more philosophical sayings. Early modern conceptions of what behavior identifies a "gentleman" were codified in the sixteenth century, in a book by Baldassare Castiglione, Il Cortegiano ("The Courtier"); its codification of expectations at the Este court remained in force in its essentials until World War I. Louis XIV established an elaborate and rigid court ceremony, but distinguished himself from the high bourgeoisie by continuing to eat, stylishly and fastidiously, with his fingers. An important book about etiquette is Galateo, overo de' costumi by Monsignor Giovanni della Casa; in fact, in Italian, etiquette is generally called galateo (or etichetta or protocollo).

In the American colonies Benjamin Franklin and George Washington wrote codes of conduct for young gentlemen. The immense popularity of advice columns and books by Letitia Baldrige and Miss Manners shows the currency of this topic. Even more recently, the rise of the Internet has necessitated the adaptation of existing rules of conduct to create Netiquette, which governs the drafting of email, rules for participating in online fora, and so on.

In Germany, there is an "unofficial" code of conduct, called the Knigge a book of high rules of conduct written by Adolph Freiherr Knigge in the late 18th century entitled exactly Über den Umgang mit Menschen (On Human Relations). The code of conduct is still highly respected in Germany still today and is used primarly in the higher society.

Etiquette may be wielded as a social weapon. The outward adoption of the superficial mannerisms of an in-group, in the interests of social advancement rather than a concern for others, is a form of snobbism, lacking in virtue.


أنتشار الأمراض النفسية والأنتحار
Suicide is more widespread than you think
Maybe you know someone who committed suicide, and maybe not, but teen suicide is a serious issue that hopefully you can help prevent!

Fact 1:
It is the third leading cause of death among teenagers — almost 2,000 teens kill themselves each year.

Fact 2:
Many teens attempt suicide. A recent survey of high-school students found that:

Almost 1 in 5 had seriously considered attempting suicide;
More than 1 in 6 had made plans to attempt suicide; and
More than 1 in 12 had made a suicide attempt in the past year. (By the way, this means that in a class of 25 students it is likely that at least two have tried to kill themselves!)
Fact 3:
Female teens are much more likely to attempt suicide than males, but male teens are four times more likely to actually kill themselves.

Fact 4:
Over sixty-percent of teens who kill themselves use guns.

Fact 5:
About 877,000 people die by suicide every year.

Fact 6:

For every completed suicide, an estimated 8-25 attempts occur.

Fact 7:
Over 3 million youth are at risk for suicide, yet only 36% receive treatment

Mental illnesses including anxiety disorders and depression are common and under-treated in many developed and developing countries, with the highest rate found in the United States, according to a study of 14 countries.

Based on face-to-face diagnostic surveys in the homes of 60,463 adults, the study found that mental ailments affect more than 10 percent of people queried in more than half the countries surveyed.

Rates ranged from 26.4 percent of people in the United States to 8.2 percent of people in Italy. While Nigerians appeared to have the lowest prevalence of mental illness — 4.7 percent — the researchers think the actual number is likely much higher since residents of the violence-prone West African nation may be hesitant to confide in strangers.

[إيليا]

فضل رعاية اليتم وفضل الصدقة والصلاة والنوافل
Charity, preached by every religion of the world, is a way of bringing justice to society. And justice is the essence of religion, Islam has therefore made charity that is Zakah, obligatory and binding upon all those who embrace the faith; it has been made into an institution in order to give in permanence and regularity.
A society can flourish only when its members do not spend all their wealth to fulfil their own desires but reserve a portion of it for parents, relatives, neighbors, the poor and the debilitated. As the saying goes: Charity begins at home. A true believer is thus always prepared, after meeting the needs of his family, to assist other people in need of his help.

Thus the spirit of kindness and well wishing is the essence of charity. The giver is not to expect any reward from the beneficiary as there awaits for him an abundant reward from God - material, moral and spiritual - what God deems it best to confer on His servant.

Charity should be lawfully earned or acquired by the giver. It should include such things as are of use and value to others.

"Charity is for those in need." This is general principle which enjoins us to help people in need, be they good or bad, on the right path or not, Muslims or non-Muslims. No one should judge in these matters. The foremost ends in charity should be God's pleasure and our own spiritual good. The concept of charity in Islam is thus linked with justice. It is not limited to the redressal of grievances. It implies apart from the removal of handicaps, the recognition of the right that every human being has to attain the fullness of life.
The spirit of helping others to earn God's pleasure is best reflected in Muslim society in the field of education. The greatest charity for a Muslim is to learn something and then teach it to other Muslims in large numbers. Thus Muslims have devoted themselves to other's education generation after generation. Knowledge is the most wonderful thing in the whole universe. That is why there is nothing greater then knowledge being imparted by one human being to another. Muslims on a large scale have engaged themselves in receiving education and imparting it to others, individually as well as by establishing maktabs and madrasas, that is, primary schools and Colleges. These educational institutions established in the house of the teachers or in separate buildings, generally made no charges for instruction. During the medieval period, these madrasas flourished in tens of thousands throughout the Muslim world. The wealthy people helped in running these madrasas, not only though Zakah, but also by making endowments (wakf), of their properties as these madrasas. The income from these properties met the needs of these schools. The orphans and poor people were given stipends over and above free board and lodging.

Prayer and supplication -1

Prayer means "calling on, addressing, making a fervent request, asking for help." In the Qur'an, prayer is also described as "turning to Allah with all one's soul" or the "acknowledgement of one's weaknesses and limited power before Allah's infinite might, and asking for help from Him." (Yahya, 2005)

As for supplication, it is the basis of worship of God and servitude to Him. In order to secure a desire or wish he cannot obtain, a child will either cry or ask for it, that is, he will supplicate through the tongue of his impotence either actively or verbally, and will be successful in securing it. In the same way, man is like a delicate, petted child in the world of all living creatures. He has to either weep at the Court of the Most Merciful and Compassionate One through his weakness and impotence, or supplicate through his poverty and need, so that the things he wants may be made subject to him, or he may offer thanks for their being made so. Otherwise like a silly child who creates a fuss over a fly, saying:"With my own strength I subjugate things it is not possible to subjugate and things a thousand times more powerful, and I make them obey me through my own ideas and measures," he displays ingratitude for the bounties. And just as this is contrary to man's innate nature, so too he makes himself deserving of severe punishment (Nursi)

In one verse from Quran, Allah directly addresses "And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way. (Bakara 2, 186)"

There are many hadith (Prophet Muhammad 's sayings) on prayer and supplication Once he said: Allah loves those who insist on praying (Kenzû'l-irfân), "Praying is worshipping itself" , "(Especially)Three prays are not rejected:
The praying of the mazlum (opressed)
The praying of the guest
The praying of the father to the child."

Prophet Muhammed also said (pbuh)
"The dua can change our life, our outlook, and our fate. It is the most potent weapon of a believer."

The most important aspect, the most beautiful aim, the sweetest fruit of this is this: “The one who offers the supplications knows that there is Someone Who hears the wishes of his heart, Whose hand can reach all things, Who can bring about each of his desires, Who takes pity on his impotence, and answers his poverty.” (Said Nursi)

According to the Qur'an, prayer cannot be confined to any particular time and place. Because the wishes and needs of people never abate, their prayers never end. That is, prayer has no time limitations.
However the Qur'an mentions when are the best times to pray, such as the nighttime and the morning prayers, when one distances himself from daily tasks in order to concentrate on prayer. One verse stresses the importance of the dawn prayer: "... those who seek forgiveness before dawn." (Surah Al Imran: 17)

In recent years there has been some controversy on the issue of fostering and adoption. Confusion has prevailed as to the exact do’s and do not’s for Muslims that wish to foster.



A brief study of the subject may enlighten us as to the true nature of this matter. This article is designed to give the community a better understanding of the issue so that more people may get involved in this noble responsibility.

The most famous orphan in Islamic culture is, without doubt, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. His father died before he was born and by the time he was eight he had lost both his mother and the grandfather who named him. He was subsequently raised by his uncle Abu Talib who continued to be his protector until his own death, when Muhammad was an adult of almost fifty years of age.

When Muhammad's wife Khadijah gave to him a slave named Zaid, Muhammad freed the boy and raised him as if he were his own son. The importance of taking homeless children to care for them is well-established in Islam.

The Islam form of "adoption" is called kafâla, which literally means sponsorship, but comes from the root word meaning "to feed." It is best translated as "foster parenting."’

As can be seen, foster care is well established in Islam as a means of providing care to children. Fostering allows a child to benefit from the care of a good home, while at the same time not losing his/her rights from birth parents.
In the light of this historical fact, Muslims are no strangers to the concept of adoption and foster care. In fact, they have before them lofty examples of these practices right from the life of the Holy Messenger himself.

Having been brought up as an orphan himself, it placed the Holy Messenger in a position where he was able naturally and instinctively to identify with the plight of orphan children more than others. His teachings are therefore replete with the teachings and directives towards the orphan, of treating them with utmost kindness and compassion. The list of such teachings is lengthy and enumerating them in this brief article would be inappropriate. It is sufficient to quote but one saying of his: 'The home wherein the orphan is ill-treated is the worst home on earth.'

In the time of the Holy Messenger, there was hardly a home which had not taken in and adopted an orphan child. This was a normal practice in the society of his companions. Muslims should by virtue of the lofty examples and teachings of the Holy Messenger, be in the very frontline in efforts to secure the adoption and fostering of 'abandoned' children. In fact they aught to be setting the trend for the rest of society in this matter. At the least, it is expected of them to co-operate closely with groups and bodies that are promoting these efforts.

Due to the high standards of morality and conduct required of Muslims by their religious laws, Muslim homes and families are ideally positioned to imbue and impart these exhalted values to adopted children - values that will be of life long consequence to them. A word of caution to prospective adoption families though; the humanitarian and noble practice of adopting children should never be motivated by material or pecuniary interests or intensions at all. This will destroy and demolish the very spirit of this gracious deed, leaving it as a lifeless corpse

[إيليا]

طب الأعشاب وطب البديل ومخطاره
Herbalism

Herbalism, also known as medicinal Botany medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, botanical medicine and phytotherapy, is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. The bioinformatics related to this subject could be referred to as MedBotanics (Seshagirirao). Sometimes the scope of herbal medicine is extended to include fungi and bee products.

Plants have an almost limitless ability to synthesize aromatic substances, most of which are phenols or their oxygen-substituted derivatives such as tannins. Most are secondary metabolites, of which at least 12,000 have been isolated, a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total. In many cases, these substances (esp. alkaloids) serve as plant defense mechanisms against predation by microorganisms, insects, and herbivores. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food yield useful medicinal compounds.
Utilizing the healing properties of plants is an ancient practice. People in all continents have long used hundreds, if not thousands, of indigenous plants for treatment of various ailments dating back to prehistory. There is evidence that suggests Neanderthals living 60,000 years ago in present-day Iraq used plants for medicinal purposes (found at a burial site at Shanidar Cave, Iraq, in which a Neanderthal man was uncovered in 1960. He had been buried with eight species of plants)[1] These plants are still widely used in ethnomedicine around the world.

The first generally accepted use of plants as healing agents was depicted in the cave paintings discovered in the Lascaux caves in France, which have been radiocarbon dated to between 13,000 - 25,000 BC.

Anthropologists theorize that over time, and with trial and error, a small base of knowledge would have been acquired within early tribal communities. As this knowledge base expanded over the generations, the specialized role of the herbalist emerged. The process would likely have occurred in varying manners within a wide diversity of cultures.

Indigenous healers sometimes claim to have learned by observing animals. According to folklore sick animals change their food preferences to nibble at bitter herbs they would normally reject. Similar animal behavior has been reported by farmers, travelers and outdoorsmen. Unfortunately such reports are largely anecdotal. Nevertheless, field biologists have provided corroborating evidence based on observation of diverse species such as chimpanzees, chickens, lambs and butterflies. Sick animals tend to forage plants rich in secondary metabolites such as tannins and alkaloids. Since these phytochemicals often have antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antihelminth properties, a plausible case can be made for self-medication by animals in the wild. [2] It must be remembered that some animals have digestive systems especially adapted to cope wth certain plant toxins. An example is the koala that can live on eucalyptus, a plant that is dangerous to most animals. It can never be assumed that a plant that is harmless to a particular animal is safe for humans to ingest.

The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years. Pharmacologists, microbiologists, botanists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and leads that could be developed for treatment of various diseases. In fact, approximately 25% of modern drugs used in the United States have been derived from plants (citation needed).



أهمية اللغة الأنجليزية وتعلمها
The Importance Of The English Language
Frankly speaking, it is highly essential to know the language for communication. In general, the most popular language is English. In this computer age, English is the only language that any one can understand. So to say, it has become as an ideal language for expressing our feelings. First, we have to learn the language and then we have to gain fluency in the language. Unless we have the fluency in English language, it would not be possible to work with the computer. If you do not know English, then you would be in need of a translator to do the job.

The first stage of learning this language would be very interesting. Once you are fluent with the alphabets, slowly you can learn many words. It would always be better to follow the method of reading first, then writing. You can use the picture books for this purpose. When you feel that you are familiar with the words, you can form sentences. This is the most interesting stage to learn. You just think of a sentence in your mother language, and try to write the same sentence in English. There could be some mistakes. But you should not bother about it. But, you have to write the same sentence using many different words till you are satisfied with your sentence. If you follow this way, very soon you can create sentences of your own.

The next step is learning the grammar of the language. It is quite simple and very systematic compared with other languages. There are certain rules and regulations for each and every topic in grammar of this language. As long as you follow the rules and regulations, it would be a difficult task to make mistakes. You would gain that much guidance from the grammar. The presentation is the most important factor in communicating your feelings. So, naturally you must be sure while you are presenting. what you really wish to say. At any point, do not try to write or speak, beyond your capability. Even if it is a small and simple sentence, it would reach the receiver perfectly. This is our basic idea. Slowly, you can improve the standard of your language by practice. If you know to form the sentences, it is more than enough to go deep into the subject. Though this only an article about the importance of the English Language, we have to learn some of the basic points in presenting the sentences. There are three different types of sentences: They are, 1. Statements. 2. Interrogative sentence. 3. Imperative sentence. 4. Exclamatory sentence. To begin with, you must know the difference between a phrase and a sentence.

Phrase is a group of words, which gives meaning, but not complete meaning. A sentence is a group of words, which makes a complete sense.
1. Statement: The sentence starting with nouns or pronouns is known as statement.
Example: Rome is a church city.
2. Interrogative sentence: There are two types of interrogative sentences.
a. “wh” type question. The sentences starting with the following fords are “wh” type question. What, When, Where, Who, How many, How long and etcetera. Example: Why did you come late? 2. What are you doing there?
b. “yes or no” type question. For which sentences you get the reply either with yes or no they are called yes or no type question. Example: Is your father a doctor? The answer: No sir.
3. Imperative sentence: The sentence that gives command, request, and advice is known as Imperative sentence. Example: Walk on the pavement. 2. Eat regularly.
4. Exclamatory sentence: The sentence that expresses the sudden feelings or strong emotions is known as exclamatory sentence.
Example: Alas! He is dead. 2. Oh! What a beautiful sight.

When you are familiar with the above points, it would be very interesting to you to create many wonderful sentences. In general, the sentences are divided into three different kinds. They are, 1. Simple sentence. 2. Compound sentence. 3. Complex sentence.

Though it very essential to have knowledge in handling the above sentences, we have to study them separately. In this essay, we are talking about the importance of the language. Many people make mistakes even with the usage of articles. It is a pity that even scholars may make mistakes. So, you should not get dejected with your style of writing.

There is a lot of difference between these two. 1. a few 2. few When you want to say that you have friends, you have to say that,” I have a few friends.” When you want to say that you do not have friends, you have to say that, “I have few friends.”

This is the opposite meaning of the word, many. Apart from these, there are many points to be discussed later. When you feel that you are already strong on the above subjects, you can develop your knowledge for betterment of your knowledge. As long as you educate yourself, you will come across many new things. There is no end for learning. All the above points are used in the normal usage of English. The literature value of the English Language is entirely different and should be dealt separately.

[إيليا]

التعامل مع المراهقين
How to Deal With Teenagers
Congratulations, you are a parent and your child is now a full grown adolescent/teen/monster. What are you to do when the only words from both your mouths are yelled out and your teen slams her/his door in your face. Or he/she ignores you. Tells you to be quiet or even Shut up. Or the classic, "No one understands me!" or "I hate you." or "Leave me alone!"

Can you remove his/her allowance? Sob in front of them? Try to make them understand with words like "When I was your age..." or "You have no right to..." or "I'm older than you so..."

I am an older sister at home and have just recently phased out of my rebellious teenage years. I remember the tears shed with my mother and wondering if I'm even my father's daughter. These days, now that I'm an adult, I still feel like a kid at home. Why? Because mothers will always be worrisome and naggy and fathers are... just fathers.

How can you deal with your teen? Here are some tips:

1) Do not invade their privacy and read their diary. If you must, make sure he/she never finds out. Their diaries may have traps-- my own diary had strands of hair on certain pages so when they were gone, I knew someone had opened my diary.

2) Respect him/her. If you expect him/her to respect you, show him/her respect so you play the part of a role model.

3) Accept the fact that their friends and their life outside matters more to them than life at home. No matter how much you slave for them, how much time you spent on dinner or breakfast, at the office with a bitch-ass boss-- your teen will always think of him/herself first and his/her friends, popularity, dating, and the latest gadgets, doo-das they want you to buy for them.

4) Don't yell. The more you yell, the more they yell back. If they ignore you, you can try to ignore them.

5) If all else fails and you are a mother, and your teen is out of control, have a sob-session. Cry in front of him/her. Explain to him/her your feelings and why you are worried. If you have a daughter, she might cry along with you.

6) Do not resort to violence. I am sick of seeing parents slapping around their children-- from three year olds to 18, 19, 20. Sickening.

7) Sit down and have a talk with him/her. Remember, there are always two sides or more to a story. Maybe you are the one at fault. Your teen may not be as stupid and immature as you may think. (though studies have shown people do not fully develop their brain to make wise decisions until after the age of 24)

8) Be involved but don't pry. Don't spoil him/her. Don't give in to far-fetched demands. Teach, show, and be patient.

Good luck! Hopefully, your teen won't grow into an adult who sends you to a nursing home and doesn't visit you unless you are near death. Or doesn't even call you on Mothers'/Father's Day. Or would rather go on vacation with his/her own family than spend one day at your home... Wait a second-- are you treating your own aged parents the same way? What comes around, goes around, my friend... Shameful... you and you expect your child to give a nut about you? Your monster is only a reflection of yourself.



السياحة في المملكة العربية السعودية
Tourism in Saudi Arabia
The Central Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia includes the capital, Riyadh, and a number of other important towns, north and west of the capital, such as Buraidah, Unaizah and Ha'il.
This is the heartland of the country, and in Arabic is known as Najd. It is also the most traditional and, in general, the most religiously conservative region of the country.
Outside Riyadh, in the towns and villages of the Najd, westerners are not as common as they are in the east or in Jeddah and are therefore objects of interest. Also in the Najd is the town of Buraidah which is the only place in Saudi Arabia where even foreign women are required to be veiled.
Though Riyadh is the capital of the country, it has only in the past few years that it has become the real centre of the Kingdom's government. Technically Riyadh was always the capital but until the early 1980s, the ministries, embassies and virtually everything else were in Jeddah. They have now been moved to Riyadh and the embassies are all located in an area known as the Diplomatic Quarter.
As a matter of fact, until the embassies moved to Riyadh, the only airline allowed to fly into the city was Saudia. All that has now changed with many international carriers serving Riyadh as well as Jeddah and Dhahran.
Riyadh has predictably undergone a major transformation since the discovery of oil. In 1932 the city was only 8.5 square kilometres in area, but by 1994 it had expanded to over 1600 square kilometres. As a matter of fact, very little of what you see in Riyadh today is older than 50 years and a great deal is less than 20.
Riyadh (which is the plural of an Arabic word meaning garden) enjoys a winter climate that is cool and pleasant with moderate temperatures. Rain is not unusual in the winter, nor are sandstorms. Summer is dry and hot, but without the uncomfortable humidity of Jeddah or Dhahran.
It is important to note that permits for visits to all archaeological sites and forts in the country, except for those located in the Eastern province, are obtained at the Riyadh Museum. The exceptions to this rule are Dir'aiyah (pictured) -- the oasis town which is the ancestral home of the Al-Saud and which was restored in the early 1980s, some 30km from the capital's centre) and the Najran Fort. Permits are issued at no charge upon production of your passport or residence permit (iqama).

Things to see in Riyadh
Riyadh Museum --
Open Saturday to Wednesday from 8am to 2pm. Admission is free.
In the Ethnographic Hall is a large model of the Masmakh Fortress, which is central to the history of modern Saudi Arabia. This was the fort in Riyadh that Abdul Aziz and his followers captured in January 1902, thus returning the Al-Saud to a position of power in their homeland. (They had spent the previous 10 years in exile in Kuwait.)
Besides the model of the fort, the display includes carved and painted doors from Qaseem, the area north of Riyadh, and Qateef, a town which was once a major port on the Gulf. There are also clothes, musical instruments, weapons, traditional cooking utensils, woven bags and some jewelry.
The main hall is well organized with signs in both Arabic and English. The periods covered range from the Stone Age to early Islamic times. In one room, there is an interesting display of Islamic architecture.
Masmakh Fortress
The fort (pictured), built of dried mud, is open Saturday to Wednesday from 7.30am to 1.30pm. A permit is required which can be obtained from the museum.
This is the fortress which Abdul Aziz and his followers captured in 1902 and which begins the history of present-day Saudi Arabia. There is a well-restored traditional majlis on the ground floor. The courtyard contains a well, which is still functional. The courtyard is surrounded by six painted doors, which open into empty rooms. On the upper level, there are amazingly carved walls and three columns which support the wooden roof.
Murabba Palace
Built by King Abdul Aziz in 1946 as a home and seat of government, this combination palace/fortress is open from Saturday to Wednesday from 8am to 2pm.
King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies
Normally there is an exhibit on some aspect of Islamic art or culture. There is also a permanent exhibition on the treatment and preservation of old books and manuscripts.
King Saud University Museum
Open from Saturday to Wednesday in the mornings. To visit it, an appointment must first be made through the university's public relations office . Usually, a day is required to arrange a visit for a small group.
Displayed in the museum are objects from the university's archaeological excavations at Al-Fao and Rabdhah. The former is on the edge of the Empty Quarter (the vast sandy desert in the Kingdom's southeastern corner) and was a pre-Islamic city between 300BC and AD300. The latter is about 100km east of Madinah and was a station on the pilgrimage road linking Makkah and Madinah to Persia and Iraq.

Outside Riyadh is the historic area of Diriya, the capital of the first Saudi state dating from the 18th century. This area has also been restored and opened to tourists.
An annual cultural festival is held at Janadriya, called the Janadriyah Festival. It is organized by the National Guard and takes place at a special site some 45km outside Riyadh. It includes traditional dancing, camel races, lectures and poetry readings as well as traditional arts and crafts shows. It normally lasts about two weeks and takes place in the winter when the weather is cooler, usually in February.


Bordering the Arabian Gulf and containing the towns of Dhahran, Al-Khobar, Dammam, Qateef, Hafuf and Jubail, the Eastern Province is where oil was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s.
Before the discovery of oil, Dammam and Al-Khobar were tiny fishing and pearling villages. There was no Dhahran at all.
Dammam is the administrative centre of the province and one end of the Dammam-Riyadh railway. Trains leave daily for Riyadh at 7.30am and 4pm. The journey takes between four and five hours and the train passes through Abqaiq and Hafuf, the main town in the Al-Ahasa oasis.
Al-Khobar is more western in orientation than Dammam. The first recorded settlement was in 1923 and, because of its location next to the early ARAMCO camp, it grew rapidly. In the earliest days of oil shipment from the Kingdom, oil moved from a pier at Al-Khobar to Bahrain, where it was processed. Today, Al-Khobar is at one end of the King Fahad Causeway, a 25km feat of modern engineering that links the Kingdom to the island of Bahrain.
Dhahran is the town that ARAMCO built. The city consists of the ARAMCO compound, the airport (soon to be moved to a spectacular new site some 60km north), the US Consulate and the King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals.
Some 13km north of Dammam is the town of Qateef; it was first settled about 3500BC and for centuries was the main town and port in this area of the Gulf. In fact, some early European maps label the present-day Arabian Gulf as the "Sea of Elqateef". Qatif and the nearby island of Tarut are historically some of the most interesting sites in the Kingdom.
About 90km north of Dammam is the town of Jubail (pictured). Until the mid-1970s it was a small fishing village but it then became one of the Kingdom's two newly created industrial cities. The other one is Yanbu on the Red Sea Coast. The industrial city is a complex of petrochemical plants, an iron works and a number of smaller companies, plus a Royal Saudi Naval Base.
Near Jubail are the ruins of what was unearthed in the mid-1980s by a group of people attempting to dig their vehicle out of the sand. The ruins are known as the Jubail Church and are acknowledged by the Saudi bureaucracy who will not issue permits to visit it because "the site is being excavated." In any case, the ruins originally contained four stone crosses, which later went missing though the marks where the crosses were are still visible. The ruins are thought to date from the 4th century, which make them older than any known church in Europe. Not much else is known but speculation is that it was in some way connected to one of the five Nestorian bishoprics which are known to have existed in this area of the Gulf in the 4th century.
The town of Hafuf is the centre of the Al-Ahasa oasis which is one of the largest in the world. Until about a century ago, most of the dates in Europe came from here and the area remains one of the world's largest producers of dates.
Hafuf itself contains an old fort and one of the most interesting souks in the Kingdom. Because of the enormity of the oasis and the number of picturesque villages scattered through it, a leisurely drive through the greenery is an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.

Other things to see in the Eastern Province
Both Dammam and Al-Khobar have an impressive Corniche along the Gulf.
The development at Half Moon Bay on the Gulf is a beautiful tourist and recreational attraction.
The towns of Qateef and the islands of Tarut and Darin near Dammam may be the point of a morning excursion. Both have been inhabited for thousands of years and both have old forts.
The oasis of Al-Ahasa with its springs and streams is one of the greenest and most delightful places in the Kingdom. It is well worth a day trip by car during which one drives slowly through the villages and the area.
The Thursday morning market in Hafuf, the main town of Al-Ahasa, is particularly interesting both for its traditional crafts and for the general feeling of an old marketplace.

As far as non-Muslims are concerned, Jeddah is the most important city of Saudi Arabia's western region, known as the Hijaz.
Jeddah is by far the most cosmopolitan city in the Kingdom, hardly surprising when you realize it has been the main port for Makkah since early Islamic times. Indeed, until well into the twentieth century thousands of pilgrims arrived at Jeddah seaport annually as the first step on their trip to Makkah and Madinah.
The Hijaz came under nominal Turkish control in the 16th century, though local rulers kept a great deal of power and influence. The first foreign consuls arrived in Jeddah in the first half of the nineteenth century. King Abdul Aziz and his troops took control of the city in 1925 and afterwards, foreign representatives to his court lived in Jeddah rather than Riyadh. The embassies remained in Jeddah until the mid-1980s when they were all transferred to the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh. Nonetheless, there are still a large number of foreign consulates in Jeddah as the city retains its importance as the commercial capital of the Kingdom and it is, of course, the main port of entry for the millions of pilgrims who visit the Holy Cities each year.
Most of Jeddah's historic sites are along the old city walls, which were demolished, in the late 1940s. The old city (pictured) is now a protected urban area in which buildings cannot be torn down unless they are absolutely beyond repair and, if they are torn down, they must be replaced with something of similar size and architectural style. Within the old city, many of the traditional houses are built of coral, taken from reefs in the Red Sea.
Within the old city, there is the Sharbatly House and the Naseef House. These are two old houses, the traditional homes of two of Jeddah's merchant families and both have been restored to their original state.
The Municipality Museum is opposite the National Commercial Bank headquarters in the old city. It is the only remaining building of several which comprised the British Legation in Jeddah during World War I. The museum is open in the mornings from Saturday to Thursday; admission is free but a permit from the Jeddah Municipality is required (telephone: +966 2 669-5556 or 660-7671). Once the permit has been granted, it is still necessary to make an appointment with the curator of the museum.
There is a Christian cemetery in Jeddah in a street in the old city named the "Street of the Cemetery of the Foreigners". It is no longer in use and the last burial had taken place in the early 1950's, but is kept up in turn by several of the foreign consulates in the city. It is walled and there is a large gate, but can be peered into from some of the buildings surrounding it.
Al-Balad district of Jeddah is a historic area. Houses have been reconstructed as they were 100 years ago and it is an interesting area to walk through and observe. These houses, which have been restored and are open to tourists, belong to various old Jeddah families.
About 70km east of Jeddah is the Holy City of Makkah where the Prophet was born in the 6th century AD. He began to preach in Makkah and it was to Makkah that he returned shortly before his death in AD632. Makkah and its environs are strictly off-limits to non-Muslims and there are checkpoints on the roads leading into the city.
Makkah is Islam's holiest city and it is to Makkah that all devout Muslims dream of coming at least once (the hajj) in their lifetime. The centre of the city is the Grand Mosque and the sacred Well of Zamzam beside it. The Kaa'ba to which all Muslims turn when they pray is in the central courtyard of the Grand Mosque and, according to Islamic tradition, it was built by the first prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael.
In the mountains above Makkah and Jeddah is the town of Taif. Its elevation gives it a climate far cooler and pleasanter than either Jeddah or Makkah and without the uncomfortable humidity of the former. Many families from both Jeddah and Riyadh maintain houses in Taif as an escape from the uncomfortable summers in those two cities.
Taif became a part of modern Saudi Arabia in 1924 when the soldiers of King Abdul Aziz took the city. Most recently, Taif was the seat of Kuwait's government-in-exile during the Iraqi occupation of that country in 1990-91. It is also well-known as a producer of high quality attar-of-roses from its roses, which have a particularly sweet fragrance.
There is a museum in the city in the Shubra Palace, open only on Thursday from 9am to 7pm.
Madinah is the holiest city in Islam after Makkah and was in fact the first to accept the Prophet's message. The Prophet fled to the city, then called Yathrib, from Makkah in AD622. (The Islamic calendar dates from His flight to Madinah.) The most important place in the city is the Prophet's Mosque, which contains His burial place. Everything of historical or religious significance is within the precincts forbidden to non-Muslims, although the outskirts of the city and the airport are open to all.
Located several hundred kilometres north of Madinah is the ancient -- and now uninhabited -- city of Madain Salih (pictured). It is the best known and the most spectacular archaeological site in Saudi Arabia. During its prime, it was an important stop on the caravan routes from the incense-producing areas of southern Arabia to Syria, Egypt, Byzantium and other points. The immense stone tombs, which have made it famous, were carved between 100BC and 100AD and the city itself was the second city in the Nabataean Empire, after Petra in modern-day Jordan.
The ruins at Madain Salih are in fact better preserved than those at Petra in Jordan, because of the hardness of the local stone. The Nabataeans became rich through their control of the incense route and their charging caravans tolls of up to 25%. They entered a decline in the first century AD when the Romans realized that the incense could be loaded onto ships and taken to Egypt. Less expensive items continued to move along the route and it was never totally abandoned. In Islamic times, the pilgrim route from Damascus to Makkah passed through Madain Salih.
For those who want to visit Madain Salih, a great deal of bureaucratic bother and hassle can be avoided by booking a tour through the Madinah Sheraton. Both the hotel and the airport are on the outskirts of the city and so are open to non-Muslims.
The hotel's tour is a weekend one -- covering arrival at the hotel on Wednesday evening with a slide presentation. The trip to Madain Salih with a guide begins on the Thursday at 6.30am, and returns to the hotel in the evening. Friday is a free day and the price of around SR700 or SR750 includes the trip to the site, two nights at the hotel, all meals from dinner on Wednesday evening to lunch on Friday and airport transfers.
Normally the hotel needs three weeks to arrange the tour, which is for groups of 10 or more and which only operate when there are enough people.
To anyone standing on its shore and gazing out across its dazzling waters, the Red Sea may seem to be a misnomer. Anything less red cannot be imagined; its blueness is palpable, indisputable and infinite. Yet this is the name which seems to predominate over those it has borne in the past; the Sea of Hejaz, the Arabian Gulf, the Coral Sea or, less romantically, Tanker Alley.
Poets among us who extol the scarlet beauty of the setting sun as it dips below the watery horizon, will feel no further need to justify the aptness of its name, but scientists take more convincing. They will doubtless tell you of the red coral on the famous reef, or the planktonic algae, which leave a dull red tidal scum at the edge of the water. So -- is it to be coral, scum or sunsets? Take your pick.
Oil tankers, cargo vessels, passenger liners and fishing boats all ply their trade across the surface of this great waterway, but for many, the true fascination of the Red Sea is hidden just below its surface. Here lies the diver's paradise; one of the world's most impressive reefs, containing more than 200 species of multi-coloured coral.
For enthusiasts in Jeddah, dive shops abound. Equipment may be bought or hired, and most shops offer courses with qualified diving instructors. These courses range from elementary tuition for beginners to recreational dives for the more experienced. Several of Jeddah's large hotels offer weekend diving packages and some have their own private, man-made beaches with dive shops and easy access to the reef.
Snorkeling is a popular way to view the edge of the reef, especially for those with limited confidence in their swimming ability. However, most divers will tell you that there is nothing to beat the thrill of experiencing the depth of the reef and the teeming marine life to be found there. Sharks, manta rays, turtles and eels will take pieces of bread from your hand, and brilliantly coloured schools of fish teem all around, in bewildering variety. Such is the lure of the reef that many novice divers become totally 'hooked' and cannot imagine why they have never joined in the fun before.
The arts of boat-building and navigation have a proud, centuries-long tradition in the Red Sea region. Sadly, however, ancient boat-building skills are lapsing into obscurity, with the advent of outboard motors and fibreglass hulls. The beauty of the houri, the sambuk and the dhow, carved without the use of plans by the craftsman's unerring eye -- all are rapidly vanishing and may even now belong to the past.
Fishing, however, is an art that still preserves time-honoured methods, mostly due to the difficulties imposed by the dangers of the reef. The hook-and-line method of fishing has been in use for more than four thousand years and is still going strong. Conservation of certain species of fish and the dangers of over-fishing are both important issues for the Saudi Arabian government -- as a result, the total catch is respectable, though not excessive. The Kingdom's fishermen land a total of 8,000 metric tons of fish per annum, which, although eight times as much as the Sudan, is less than half Egypt's total catch.
In addition to its marine life, the water of the Red Sea is also a vital commodity. The city of Jeddah is totally dependent on it for household and industrial supplies, and enormous desalination plants are in operation. These supply drinking water, which has been purified to a high standard, as well as non-potable domestic water. Seawater is also used in large quantities by oil refineries and cement works situated along the coastline.
The danger of pollution is always present in the Red Sea, particularly from oil spillage, and a Royal Decree forbids the discharge of any pollutant substances, including oil, within 100 miles of the Saudi Arabian coastline.
For swimmers, divers, traders, industrialists, fishermen and tourists, the Red Sea has its own kind of perfection. And even the idle gazer, pondering the impenetrable blue/red anomaly, can be said to have been given something to think about.

[إيليا]

العرب في عيون الأعلام الغربي
Foreign media scramble to win over Arab viewers

Western media outfits, most with public funding and partly political motives, are racing to add more Arabic TV *******s and websites to the mix, undeterred by scant advertising revenue

Rarely have Western news organisations wooed Arab hearts and minds so avidly - or with so little certainty of political or commercial reward.

Freed by satellite television and the Internet from the dreary monopoly of state media, Arabs already get news in their own language from a plethora of local and foreign sources.

Western media outfits, most with public funding and partly political motives, are racing to add more Arabic TV *******s and websites to the mix, undeterred by scant advertising revenue.

Jihad Ballout, spokesman for the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, said competition was welcome, giving more choice to consumers, but argued that from a business perspective the TV market was saturated. “The pie is quite limited,” he said.

Ballout, whose own ******* was set up with Saudi financing, questioned why foreign media groups were planning big investments that were likely to take years to see a return.

“Is it purely to reflect a different perspective, and whose perspective will it be?” he asked.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) plans to launch an Arabic TV ******* in the autumn. Germany’s Deutsche Welle has aired three hours daily of Arabic news and features since 2002.

France’s planned CNN-style ******* expects to start an Arabic component next year. Even the Danish Broadcasting Corporation says it is contemplating news in Arabic.

Russia Today, a state-run English-language television *******, has announced plans for an Arabic version.

“It will definitely not be political,” asserted Akram Khuzam, the venture’s general producer, before adding: “Television is influence. Why should Russia ignore this instrument, especially in such a restive region?”

Media cacophony: A powerful tool it may be, but the challenge for any foreign news organisation will be to gain credibility in an area where distrust for Western policies is deep-rooted and flourishing - and where the airwaves are already brimming with alternatives.

“There’s a real cacophony of media in the region. Even poor neighbourhoods in Damascus have satellite dishes,” said Ali Abunimah, who runs Electronic Intifada (electronicintifada.net) to promote Palestinian views on the Middle East conflict.

“Even in a country as restricted as Syria, there is enormous access to media from elsewhere,” said the 34-year-old Jordanian based in Chicago. “That challenges the US stereotype of a controlled media where people don’t know any better.”

Polls show the ******* of choice in most Arab homes is still the Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which blazed to success after it went on air in 1996 with its combination of hard news, slick format and talk shows that broke taboos in the Arab world.

While its Arab perspective delighted an audience sometimes irritated - or simply not reached - by CNN or BBC World, Al Jazeera offended Arab governments by giving dissidents a platform and hosting often raucous political debates.

Saudi Arabia hit back with Al Arabiya. Now Arab governments from Abu Dhabi to Mauritania have their own satellite stations, as do some Lebanese factions such as Hizbollah.

Al Jazeera, which plans to launch its own English ******* this year, also upset Washington by airing statements from al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks.

As Arab anger mounted over the Iraq war and US support for Israel, the Americans launched Al Hurra (the Free One) Arabic TV station in 2004 to cut through what President George W Bush called “the barriers of hateful propaganda” in the Middle East.

Least popular: A poll published by the University of Maryland last year showed Al Hurra was the least watched of eight Arabic networks. Hizbollah’s al-Manar ******* did little better. Al Jazeera led with 65 percent of viewers, trailed by Al Arabiya on 34 percent.

The survey, conducted in October with pollsters Zogby International, did its research in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Can new Western entrants add value for Arab viewers?

Lawrence Pintak, director of the American University in Cairo’s Adhem Center for Electronic Journalism, said BBC Arabic TV might be best-placed to win over an Arab public sceptical of Western “public diplomacy” and jaded by media overload.

“The BBC brings a lot of credibility,” he said, citing the track record of the BBC’s Arabic radio service, for decades a listening habit for Arabs seeking independent news.

Competitors suggest that the BBC’s Arabic venture, directly funded by the Foreign Office, may be tarnished by the British government’s decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Johannes Hoffmann, spokesman for Deutsche Welle, said Arab viewers perceived the German station, unlike the US or British media, as independent and objective. “After all, we were not one of the warring parties (in Iraq),” he said.

Abunimah said anything that smacked of propaganda would fall flat among Arabs tired of being treated as if they were stupid.

“We don’t need more documentaries about Denmark without addressing the political divides (between Arabs and the West).”

Foreign media eyeing the Arab world should complement their coverage with “an honest acknowledgement of what is at the root of the divisions - anger at the policy choices of Western governments and intolerance in Western societies,” he said. reuters


البنات وفضل تربيتهن
Girls are a blessing from Allah swt and a means of attaining Paradise. The love of boys and hatred of girls is a custom from the days before Islam, the Days of Ignorance, and are rejected by the Quran. We find on the contrary, that Islam encourages Muslims and believers to seek out the great rewards obtained for those who raise their daughters on love of Allah and love of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) said “If a person has a baby girl, teaches her, raises and trains her well, then gives her hand in marriage, Allah gives him a double reward.” [Bukhari and Muslim] The Prophet (s) said, “If a person has a baby girl and never humiliated her and never put her down and never put his son above her, Allah will grant him paradise.” [Abu Dawud and al-Hakim] The Holy Quran encourages the teaching of girls and called for women to be partners in interfaith debates when it says, “If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge hath come to thee, say: ‘Come! let us gather together,- our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!’" [3: 61] In this verse, Allah mentioned the women in total equality with the men, as participants in a religious debate with unbelievers who refused to accept the faith in the time of the Prophet (s).



حقوق الأنسان في الأسلام ولجان حقوق الأنسان
The political system of Islam is based on the three principles of towhid(Oneness of Allah), risala (Prophethood) and Khilifa(Caliphate).

Towhidmeans that one Allah alone is the Creator, Sustainer and Master of the universe and of all that exists in it - organic or inorganic. He alone has the right to command or forbid. Worship and obedience are due to Him alone. No aspect of life in all its multifarious forms ¾ our own organs and faculties, the apparent control which we have over physical objects or the objects themselves ¾ has been created or a acquired by us in our own right. They are the bountiful provisions of Allah and have been bestowed on us by Him alone.

Hence, it is not for us to decide the aim and purpose of our existence or to set the limits of our worldly authority; nor does anyone else have the right to make these decisions for us. This right rests only with Allah. This principle of the Oneness of Allah makes meaningless the concept of the legal and political sovereignty of human beings. No individual, family, class or race can set themselves above Allah. Allah alone is the Ruler and His commandments constitute the law of Islam.

Risala is the medium through which we receive the law of Allah. We have received two things from this source: the Qur’an, the book in which Allah has expounded His law, and the authoritative interpretation and exemplification of that Book by the Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), through word and deed, in his capacity as the representative of Allah. The Qur’an laid down the broad principles on which human life should be based and the Prophet of Allah, in accordance with these principles, established a model system of Islamic life. The combination of these two elements is called the shari’a (law).

Khilifa means "representation". Man, according to Islam, is the representative of Allah on earth, His vice-gerent; that is to say, by virtue of the powers delegated to him by Allah, and within the limits prescribed, he is required to exercise Divine authority.

To illustrate what this means, let us take the case of an estate of yours which someone else has been appointed to administer on your behalf. Four conditions invariably obtain: First, the real ownership of the estate remains vested in you and not in the administrator; secondly, he administers your property directly in accordance with your instructions; thirdly, he exercises his authority within the limits prescribed by you; and fourthly, in the administration of the trust he executes your will and fulfils your intentions and not his own. Any representative who does not fulfil these four conditions will be abusing his authority and breaking the covenant which was implied in the concept of "representation".

This is exactly what Islam means when it affirms that man is the representative (khalifa) of Allah on earth. Hence, these four conditions are also involved in the concept of Khalifa. The state that is established in accordance with this political theory will in fact be a caliphate under the sovereignty of Allah.

Democracy In Islam

The above explanation of the term Khilafa also makes it clear that no individual or dynasty or class can be Khalifa: the authority of Khilafa is bestowed on the whole of any community which is ready to fulfil the conditions of representation after subscribing to the principles of towhid and Risala. Such a society carries the responsibility of the Khilafa as a whole and each one of its individuals shares in it.

This is the point where democracy begins in Islam. Every individual in an Islamic society enjoys the rights and powers of the caliphate of Allah and in this respect all individuals are equal. No-one may deprive anyone else of his rights and powers. The agency for running the affairs of the state will be formed by agreement with these individuals, and the authority of the state will only be an extension of the powers of the individuals delegated to it. Their opinion will be decisive in the formation of the government, which will be run with their advice and in accordance with their wishes.

Whoever gains their confidence will undertake the duties and obligations of the caliphate on their behalf; and when he loses this confidence he will have to step down. In this respect the political system of Islam is as perfect a dorm of democracy as there can be.

What distinguishes Islamic democracy from Western democracy, therefor, is that the latter is based on the concept of popular sovereignty, while the former rests on the principle of popular Khilafa. In Western democracy, the people are sovereign; in Islam sovereignty is vested in Allah and the people are His caliphs or representatives. In the former the people make their own; in the latter they have to follow and obey the laws (shari’a) given by Allah through His Prophet. In one the government undertakes to fulfil the will of the people; in the other the government and the people have to fulfil the will of Allah.

The Purpose Of The Islamic State

We are now in a position to examine more closely the type of state which is built on the foundations of tawhid, Risala and Khilafa.

The Holy Qur’an clearly states that the aim and purpose of this state is the establishment, maintenance and development of those virtues which the Creator wishes human life to be enriched by and the prevention and eradication of those evils in human life which He finds abhorrent. The Islamic state is intended neither solely as an instrument of political administration nor for the fulfillment of the collective will of any particular set of people; rather, Islam places a high ideal before the state for the achievement of which it must use all the means at its disposal.

This ideal is that the qualities of purity, beauty, goodness, virtue, success and prosperity which Allah wants to flourish in the life of His people should be engendered and developed and that all kinds of exploitation, injustice and disorder which, in the sight of Allah, are ruinous for the world and detrimental to the life of His creatures, should be suppressed and prevented. Islam gives us a clear outline of its moral system by stating positively the desired virtues and the undesired evils. Keeping this outline in view, the Islamic state can plan its welfare programme in every age and in any environment.

The constant demand made by Islam is that the principles of morality must be observed at all costs and in all walks of life. Hence, it lays down as an unalterable policy that the state should base its policies on justice, truth and honesty. It is not prepared, under any circumstances, to tolerate fraud, falsehood and injustice for the sake of political, administrative or national expediency. Whether it be relations between the rulers and the ruled within the state, or the relations of the state with other states, precedence must always be given to truth, honesty and justice.

Islam imposes similar obligations on the state and the individual: to fulfil all contracts and obligations; to have uniform standards in dealings; to remember obligations along with rights and not to forget the rights of others when expecting them to fulfil their obligations; to use power and authority for the establishment of justice and not for the perpetration of injustice; to look upon duty as a sacred obligation and to fulfil it scrupulously; and to regard power as a trust from Allah to be used in the belief that one has to render an account of one's actions to Him in the life Hereafter.

Fundamental Rights

Although an Islamic state may be set up anywhere on earth, Islam does not seek to restrict human rights or privileges to the boundaries of such a state. Islam has laid down universal fundamental rights for humanity which are to be observed and respected in all circumstances. For example, human blood is sacred and may not be spilled without strong justification; it is not permissible to oppress women, children, old people, the sick or the wounded; women's honour and chastity must be respected; the hungry must be fed, the naked clothed and the wounded or diseased treated medically irrespective of whether they belong to the Islamic community or are from amongst its enemies. These, and other provisions have been laid down by Islam as fundamental rights for every man by virtue of his status as a human being.

Nor, in Islam, are the rights of citizenship confined to people born in a particular state. A Muslim ipso facto becomes the citizen of an Islamic state as soon as he sets foot on its territory with the intention of living there and thus enjoys equal rights along with those who acquire its citizenship by birth. And every Muslim is to be regarded as eligible for positions of the highest responsibility in an Islamic state without distinction of race, colour or class.

Islam has also laid down certain rights for non-Muslims who may be living within the boundaries of an Islamic state and these rights necessarily form part of the Islamic constitution. In Islamic terminology, such non-Muslims are called dhimmis (the covenanted), implying that the Islamic state has entered into a covenant with them and guaranteed their protection. The life, property and honour of a dhimmis is to be respected and protected in exactly the same way as that of a Muslim citizen. Nor is there difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim citizen in respect of civil or criminal law.

The Islamic state may not interfere with the personal rights of non-Muslims, who have full freedom of conscience and belief and are at liberty to perform their religious rites and ceremonies in their own way. Not only may they propagate their religion, they are even entitled to criticize Islam within the limits laid down by law and decency.

These rights are irrevocable. Non-Muslims cannot be deprived of them unless they renounce the covenant which grants them citizenship. However much a non-Muslim state may oppress its Muslim citizens it is not permissible for an Islamic state to retaliate against its non-Muslim subjects; even if all the Muslims outside the boundaries of an Islamic state are massacred, that state may not unjustly shed the blood of a single non-Muslim citizen living within its boundaries.

Executive And Legislature

The responsibility for the administration of the government in an Islamic state is entrusted to an amir (leader) who may be compared to the president or the prime minister in a Western democratic state. All adult men and women who subscribe to the fundamentals of the constitution are entitled to vote for the election of the amir.

The basic qualifications for an amir are that he should command the confidence of the majority in respect of his knowledge and grasp of the spirit of Islam, that he should possess the Islamic quality of fear of Allah and that he should be endowed with qualities of statesmanship. In short, he should have both virtue and ability.

A shoora(advisory council) is also elected by the people to assist and guide the amir. It is incumbent on the amir to administer his country with the advice of this shooraThe amir may retain office only so long as he enjoys the confidence of the people and must relinquish it when he loses that confidence. Every citizen has the right to criticize the amir and his government and all reasonable means for the ventilation of public opinion must be available.

Legislation in an Islamic state is to be carried out within the limits prescribed by the law of the shari’a. The injunctions of Allah and His Prophet are to be accepted and obeyed and no legislative body may alter or modify them or make any law contrary to them. Those commandments which are liable to two or more interpretations are referred to a sub-committee of the advisory council comprising men learned in Islamic law. Great scope remains for legislation on questions not covered by specific injunctions of the shari’a and the advisory council or legislature is free to legislate in regard to these matters.

In Islam the judiciary is not places under the control of the executive. It derives its authority directly from the shari’a and is answerable to Allah. The judges are appointed by the government but once a judge occupies the bench he has to administer justice impartially according to the law of Allah; the organs and functionaries of the government are not outside his legal jurisdiction, so that even the highest executive authority of the government is liable to be called upon to appear in a court of law as a plaintiff or defendant. Rulers and ruled are subject to the same law and there can be no discrimination on the basis of position, power or privilege, Islam stands for equality and scrupulously adheres to this principle in social, economic and political realms alike.

Human Rights, The West And Islam

The Western Approach

People in the West have the habit of attributing every beneficial development in the world to themselves. For example, it is vociferously claimed that the world first derived the concept of basic human rights from the Magna Carta of Britain - which was drawn up six hundred years after the advent of Islam. But the truth is that until the seventeenth century of no-one dreamt of arguing that the Magna Carta contained the principles of trial by jury, Habeas Corpus and control by Parliament of the right of taxation. If the people who drafted the Magna Carta were living today they would be greatly surprised to be told that their document enshrined these ideals and principles.

To the best of my knowledge, the West had no concept of human and civic rights before the seventeenth century; and it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the concept took on practical meaning in the constitutions of America and France.

After this, although there appeared references to basic human rights in the constitutions of many countries, more often than not these rights existed only on paper. In the middle of the present century, the United Nations, which may now be more aptly described as the Divided Nations, made a Declaration of Universal Human Rights, and passed a resolution condemning genocide; regulations were framed to prevent it. But there is not a single resolution or regulation of the United Nations which can be enforced if the country concerned wants to prevent it. They are just expressions of pious hopes. They have no sanctions behind them, no force, physical or moral, to enforce them. Despite all the high-sounding resolutions of the United Nations, human rights continue to be violated and trampled upon.

The Islamic Approach

When we speak of human rights in Islam we mean those rights granted by Allah. Rights granted by kings or legislative assemblies can be withdrawn as easily as they are conferred; but no individual and no institution has the authority to withdraw the rights conferred by Allah.

The charter and the proclamations and the resolutions of the United Nations cannot be compared with the rights sanctioned by Allah; the former are not obligatory on anybody, while the latter are an integral part of the Islamic faith. All Muslims and all administrators who claim to be Muslim have to accept, recognize and enforce them. If they failed to enforce them or violate them while paying lip-service to them, the verdict of the Holy Qur’an is unequivocal:
"Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down are the disbelievers (Kafirun)." (5:44)
The following verse also proclaims:
"They are the wrong-doers (zalimoon)". (5:45)
A third verse in the same chapter says:
"They are the perverse and law-breakers (fasiqoon)." (5:47)

In other words, if temporal authorities regard their own words and decisions as right and those given by Allah as wrong, they are disbelievers. If, on the other hand, they regard Allah's commands as right but deliberately reject them in favour of their owns decisions, then they are wrong-doers. Law-breakers are those who disregard the bond of allegiance.

[إيليا]

Does Beauty Really Matter?
When this article is being written, what comes immediately to mind is a series of surveys done by a popular magazine called Psychology Today. The surveys, conducted over the past three decades, were on how people feel about the appearance of their bodies. The findings are what they should not have been. Letís wish so.

In 1972 twenty-three percent of American women were dissatisfied with their appearance but by 1997 that figure had risen to fifty-six percent. In 1972 fifteen percent of men were dissatisfied with their appearance but by 1997 that figure had risen to forty-three percent. Thirty-eight percent of men are now dissatisfied with the size of their chests compared to the thirty-four percent of women dissatisfied with their breasts. Men are getting pectoral implants.

Millions of women have had surgery to change the shape of their breasts or increase their size. A strange phenomenon!

Shall we presume that there were more good-looking men and women three decades ago than there are now, or shall we presume that while looks might have remained the same (or believe it, turned better) but it is the attitude of a man or a woman towards him or herself that has changed. Is it that we are constantly failing to understand the true meaning of beauty or the beauty is failing in getting us become good-looking? Something is missing somewhere. Let’s come to that later.

We always, and everywhere, try to be beautiful, and in the process a mirror becomes more personal to us than we are to ourselves. The process of becoming beautiful and looking good is so rapid that what we become is just an outward us. Is being beautiful so important? Even now we see the most popular people not so good-looking, and the most beautiful people next door not so popular. Does beauty really matter? Probably it does, particularly for people who have a dying preoccupation for the body and would go to any length to safeguard it. No wonder then, despite nearly thirty years of feminism, beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar a year business. Those who make money have a mind, and those who spend have forgotten they have it.

Least do we realize that we would look the way we are, and an expression on our face is actually the reflection of what we are from within? We can camouflage the exterior, but what can we do to the interior. Our goodness or badness, generosity or animosity, or love or hatred, all show somewhere here or somewhere there on our bodies. If we are good from within, our face reflects a mesmerizing state of goodness; if we are not, we clearly show it through our expressions.

It is this body we always give a helping, and not to what lies beneath it. This way we only answer some deep-rooted anxieties in our psychology, and do not provide a solution to them. We keep on spinning answers for these anxieties, until we run out of them as we advance in age. Try as you might, you canít camouflage old age.

We fail to achieve ageless beauty. The reason being that we failed to recognize it when we were young. Ageless beauty, says Ayurveda, comes from within.

Ayurveda values inner beauty as much as it does value outer beauty. Beauty, it adds, is based on good health. What is more important is that whenever Ayurveda recommends an external application to enhance your looks, it always has some degree of effect that it exerts internally on you. Henna, for example, is a hair-coloring agent and vitalizer for of us, but when it remains on the scalp and remains in contact for long, it does more to our internal health than what meets the eye. Lifestyle changes, another thing Ayurveda recommends, make you look good naturally than become good artificially. Haven't you ever come across simple-looking, down-to-earth people who impress upon, and look good to you, in the first very instance? They are the ones who carry an inner, positive influence as a beautiful mark on their faces. Beauty is nothing but a mindset, and you are actually a positive or a negative mindset when you look beautiful, or do not.

[إيليا]

صعوبات التعلم
Learning disability is a term used to denote various types of difficulties with learning.

Learning disability (U.S.) -- In the U.S., the term is used to refer to a learning difficulty that is unexpected given the general intelligence of the affected individual. That is, the academic performance of the affected person is much lower than the individual's general intelligence would predict.
Learning disability (U.K.)-- In the U.K., the term is used to refer more generally to developmental disability.
Disability means loss or lack of functioning, either physical or mental, such as blindness, paralysis, or mental subnormality—which, unlike illness, is usually permanent. Disabilities are usually stigmatizing . Moreover, disabled persons often need extra financial and personal support.

Learning disability means disorders characterized by substantial deficits in scholastic or academic skills, including reading disorder , mathematics disorder , and disorder of written expression . Also called academic skills disorders or learning disorders. Learning disability disorder that prevents students from learning as well as would be expected from their ability, as measured on an intelligence test. It covers a range of problems, including difficulties with reading, writing, mathematics, or communication.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted to protect qualified people with disabilities. The first article in this series focused on the requirement that a claimant under the ADA be otherwise qualified for the position, and able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation by the employer. This article discusses the ADA concept of disability. The statute defines a disability in three distinct and unique ways that broaden its impact in the workplace. For purposes of the ADA, disability means having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, having a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. Physical or Mental Impairment The first definition of a disability is "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual." A great amount of legal debate has centered around the terms "physical or mental impairment," "substantially limits," and "major life activities." The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), the body charged with enforcing the ADA, has defined a "physical or mental impairment" as any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one of the major body systems, or any mental or psychological disorder such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, or specific learning disabilities. In its interpretive guidance, the EEOC notes that it does not consider physical characteristics (eye and hair color, height, weight and muscle tone within normal ranges) as impairments. Similarly, predispositions to illness, pregnancy, and personality traits (poor judgment and quick temper) are not disabilities unless resulting from a psychological disorder. Advanced age is also not a disorder, according to the EEOC, although medical conditions associated with advanced age would be. The prevalence of learning disabilities is very apparent-early intervention is key to young children's success in school


الجشع والطمع
Greed
Greed is selfish excessive or uncontrolled desire for possession or pursuit of money, wealth, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism. (People who do not view unconstrained acquisitiveness as a vice will generally use a word other than greed, which has strong negative connotations.)

Some desire to increase one's wealth is nearly universal and acceptable in any culture, but this simple want is not considered greed. Greed is the extreme form of this desire, especially where one desires things simply for the sake of owning them. Greed may entail acquiring material possessions at the expense of another person's welfare (for example, a father buying himself a new car rather than fix the roof of his family's home) or otherwise reflect flawed priorities.

Coveting another person's goods is usually called envy, a word commonly confused with jealousy. The two word denote opposite forms of greed. We may envy and wish to have the possessions or qualities of another, but we jealously guard the possessions or qualities we believe we have and refuse to share these with others. Greed for food or drink, combined with excessive indulgence in them, is called gluttony. Excessive greed for and indulgence in *** is called lust, although this term no longer carries as negative connotations as it once did.

Greed is sometimes represented by the frog.

A woodcut by Ugo da Carpi, is entitled "Hercules Chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses." [1]. Thomas Aquinas metaphorically described the sin of Avarice as "Mammon being carried up from Hell by a wolf, coming to inflame the human heart with Greed".

Proponents of laissez-faire capitalism sometimes argue that greed should not be considered a negative trait and should instead be embraced, as they claim that greed is a profoundly benevolent force in human affairs, as well as a necessary foundation for the capitalist system. Critics have argued this definition confuses greed with self-interest, which can be benign

أمثال
Proverbs are speech metaphors. Many of the widely known proverbs each tell a condensed story. In some cultures only elderly people use proverbs. It is not enough for one to know proverbs, one must also know how to use them in the right contexts.

Functions of Proverbs:

Proverbs often contain witty statements hence they serve as repositories of wisdom and wit.
Proverbs may sum up situations, pass judgements, recommend a course of action or serve as a past precedents for present actions.
Proverbs are used either for education, advice, counselling or criticism.
They could be used for social or moral training of children: to be honest, patient, kind, hard working etc.).
Examples of Proverbs:

Honesty is the best policy
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
Two heads are better than one.
One tree does not make a forest.
Rome is not built in a day.
Look before you leap.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
To err is human, to forgive is divine.
Better late than never.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
All that glitters is not gold.



أهمية تعليم الطفل لغات بجاننب العربية
Children have the capacity to develop new language more naturally than do adults. Children who learn more than one language before adolescence, will acquire those languages with more ease and "native-like" ability than they would trying to study those languages as adults. Most adults who began to seriously study a second language for the first time in junior high, high school or later, look at bilingual children with envy, realizing that even years of laborious study are not likely to render them "equal" or "balanced" bilinguals. It is true that many bilingual children are not balanced bilinguals, using each of their languages with equal ability, since assuring that they have equal exposure to both languages is quite a task--sometimes an impossible task--for the parents. However, bilingual children do acquire their dominant language (or both their languages if neither is dominant) to an ability equal of that of their monolingual peers. Additionally, they acquire a piece of a second language, generally learning far more of that language far more quickly than an adult could. How well a bilingual child develops their second language can vary from a child who only knows a few phrases and some very basic vocabulary in a second language, to a child who listens and understands, but cannot or perhaps will not speak, to a balanced bilingual child who communicates in both languages with the same command as monolingual peers in both languages.

Whether a bilingual child is just dipping their toe into a second language, or actually swimming in it, that child is experiencing to some degree the richness of another language. Children that are exposed to more than one language, even if they never fully learn that language as children, have a higher capacity for foreign language learning as teens or adults. Just playing foreign language cassettes in the home, and trying to speak whatever you know of a second language to your infants and young children will help their minds expand linguistically in a way that will give them an educational advantage later.

In addition to stretching their minds intellectually, learning two languages allows children to stretching their understanding of people beyond their dominant culture. Being able to step into another culture through its language is like being able to live a second life. Although some bilingual children do not have a lot of exposure to the culture of their second language, the language itself conveys much of the culture of the people who speak that language. Further, even if children are not living with native speakers of their second language (who are fully a part of the culture associated with the child's second language) in their house or community, they are still likely to be exposed to original songs and stories from that culture. Bilingual children have some experience seeing how different cultures cause different people to interpret completely differently the exact same circumstance. [Example] Seeing two different cultures internally helps bilingual children realize that much of what is considered universal human behavior within a culture may be unique to that culture. This awareness and understanding of differences between people prepares children to reserve judgment when they see someone respond "inappropriately" to a situation.

Bilingual children not only better appreciate what is human versus what is cultural, but they are also more inclined to have a deeper appreciation of language. They understand at an early age that their is more than one way to label or discuss something. They understand that different labels for the same object or idea in different languages can have different connotations. They are more likely to see the creative possibilities of language and explore their own linguistic creativity.

[إيليا]

جرائم الحرب
War crime
In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under international law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. Every violation of the law of war in an inter-state conflict is a war crime, while violations in internal conflicts are typically limited to the local jurisdiction. In essence, the term "war crime" represents the concept of an international jurisdiction as applicable to the most severe crimes, in areas where government is dysfunctional and society is in a state of turmoil.

The article "list of war crimes" summarizes war crimes committed since the Hague Conventions of 1907. In addition, those incidents which have been judged in a court of law to be crimes against peace and crimes against humanity that have been committed since these crimes were first defined (in the London Charter, August 8, 1945) are also included.

The article "list of war criminals" is a list of war criminals as according to the conduct and rules of warfare as defined by the Nuremberg Trials following World War II as well as earlier agreements such as Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, and the Geneva Conventions of 1929 and 1949.

War crimes include violations of established protections of the laws of war, but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of battle, such as attacking those displaying a flag of truce, or using that same flag as a ruse of war to mount an attack.

Attacking enemy troops while they are being deployed by way of a parachute is not a war crime. However, Protocol I, Article 42 of the Geneva Conventions explicitly forbids attacking parachutists who eject from damaged airplanes, and surrendering parachutists once landed. [1]

War crimes include such acts as mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians. War crimes are sometimes part of instances of mass murder and genocide though these crimes are more broadly covered under international humanitarian law described as crimes against humanity.

War crimes are significant in international humanitarian law because it is an area where international tribunals such as the Nuremberg Trials and Tokyo trials have been convened. Recent examples are the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which were established by the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

Under the Nuremberg Principles, the supreme international crime is that of commencing a war of aggression, because it is the crime from which all war crimes follow. The definition of such a crime is planning, preparing, initiating, or waging a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances. Also, participating in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any such act constitutes such a crime.


الحرب النووية
Nuclear, or atomic warfare, is a war in which nuclear weapons are used. Throughout the course of history, they have only ever been used twice in a state of war (the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and only by one side in the confrontation, the United States of America. Today the term usually refers to confrontations in which opposing sides are both armed with nuclear weapons.

The possibility of using nuclear weapons in war is usually divided into two subgroups, each with different effects and potentially fought with different types of nuclear armaments.

The first, a limited nuclear war (sometimes attack or exchange), consists of only the use of a small number of weapons in a tactical exchange aimed primarily at the opposing military forces. The effects of the weapons would still affect civilian locations. Many military bases are located near cities and nuclear fallout would be spread widely through the atmosphere.

Various nations developed relatively low-yield tactical nuclear weapons during the Cold War for use in such situations, though the explosive power of such weapons still vastly exceeds those of conventional (non-nuclear) arms.

The second, a full-scale nuclear war, consists of large numbers of weapons used in an attack aimed at an entire country, including both military and civilian targets. Such an attack would seek to destroy the entire economic, social, and military infrastructure of a nation by means of an overwhelming nuclear attack.

Some Cold War strategists argued that a limited nuclear war could be possible between two heavily-armed superpowers (such as the United States and the Soviet Union) and if so several predicted that a limited war could "escalate" into an all-out war.

Even the most optimistic predictions about the effects of a major nuclear exchange predict the death of millions of civilians within a very short amount of time; more pessimistic predictions argue that a full-scale nuclear war could bring about the extinction of the human race or its near extinction with a handful of survivors (mainly in remote areas) reduced to a pre-medieval quality of life and life expectancy for centuries after and cause permanent damage to most complex life on the planet, Earth's ecosystems, and the global climate. It is in this latter mode that nuclear warfare is usually alluded to as a doomsday scenario.

A third category, not usually included with the above two, is accidental nuclear war, in which a nuclear war is triggered unintentionally. Possible scenarios for this have included malfunctioning early warning devices and targeting computers, deliberate malfeasance by rogue military commanders, accidental straying of planes into enemy airspace, reactions to unannounced missile tests during tense diplomatic periods, reactions to military exercises, mistranslated or miscommunicated messages, and so forth. A number of these scenarios did actually occur during the Cold War, though none resulted in a nuclear exchange