boxafella.com/blog

Wow.. I have to give a shout out to Brian over at the Pinstack forums.. Long have I scoured the net for a theme suitable for my phone… He, has created one just for me. With a bit of help from this site, I was able to make it available OTA, as I can’t find my damned USB… Anyways – if you have a BlackBerry 8130 and would like a Superman theme, here you go!

Superman Theme 8130 (OTA only)

Okay – so dig this. Being a Muslim, I can’t really “date.” Technically, I don’t think we’re supposed to even associate with the opposite sex. The reasoning for it makes sense, and it doesn’t really bother me. But it does get me wondering where – and how – I’m supposed to meet anyone.

Don’t get me wrong; I am in no way saying I feel “restricted” or “choked” by my religion. Not at all. It just leaves me in a compelling situation. There are methods, I suppose for arranging a marriage; but my parents have no interest in doing so for me – and frankly, I’m not sure that’s the way I want to go… Though I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. It would be quite simple, really. They’d find a few girls for me to pick from, I find one I like, and boom.

Or, at least that’s how I invison it… Which is what leaves me wondering. I know I’m young, but it isn’t like I’m going to live forever. I know what I’m aspiring for, and how to reach my goals… I just need some support I suppose. Maybe I don’t need anything, or anyone — but that isn’t the way I see it right now. Having plenty of time doesn’t really mean anything when you’re spending it all alone.

Life goes on, and we move forward; Or at least, we try. We strive for success, and long for companionship. You can’t blame me for being human.

For the sake of clearing things up — I’m going to make this quick.

Abu Hurairah (radhiallâhu anhu) narrated that the Prophet (sallallâhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “The Jews were split up into seventy-one or seventy-two sects; and the Christians were split up into seventy one or seventy-two sects; and my community will be split up into seventy-three sects.” (Abu Dawud 4579)

Abdullah Bin Amr (radhiallâhu anhu) narrated that Allâh’s Messenger (sallallâhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “There will befall my Ummah exactly (all those) evils which befell the people of Isra’il, so much so that if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother, there will be among my Ummah one who will do that; and if the people of Isra’il were fragmented into seventy-two sects my Ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect.” They (the Companions) said: “Allâh’s Messenger (sallallâhu ‘alayhi wasallam), which is that?” Whereupon he said: “It is one to which I and my companions belong.” (Tirmidhi 171)

(Above borrowed from here)

The word “Sunni” is derrived from the word “Sunnah” which are the traditions or practices and ahadith (teachings) of the Prophet (PBUH). For one to be considered a “Sunni Muslim” is to be considered one who follows the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH).

“And hold fast,
All together, by the rope
Which Allah (stretches out for you),
and be not divided among yourselves;”
[Al-Qur’an 3:103]

My Uncle and I were discussing the sects of Islam, Christianity and Judiaism.. He explained his position to me in a brief sentence; But with clarity I couldn’t have gathered..

“You know you are in the right when the people of the world begin to attack you” he said. “And even if I’m wrong – I’m in the clear. As a Muslim I believe in the teachings of all the Prophets – Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (PBUTA.) If the teachings of our Prophet are wrong; It’s okay. We believe in the teachings of Jesus, too. If his teachings are wrong, fear not.. We also believe in the teachings of Moses.”

I’ve always believed that there wasn’t much of a difference between Islam, Christianity and Judiaism. My Uncle, saying what he said, affirmed my belief. For, we are all the people of God. We have all had our chances. God has sent us messages and miracles, time after time.

In the Quran Allah mentions the rewards for the Jews and Christians who truly believe:

(57:28)
O you who believe (in Musa (Moses) (i.e. Jews) and Isa (Jesus) (i.e. Christians)! Fear Allah, and believe in His Messenger (Muhammad (PBUH)), He will give you a double portion of His Mercy, and He will give you a light by which you shall walk (straight). And He will forgive you. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Just look at how forgiving the religion of Islam is. How much room for compassion and mercy there is. One simply has to want knowledge, yearn to learn.

I guess the point of this post is that to all yourself a “Sunni” Muslim is to say that you’re following in the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) more than it is claiming a sect.

I’ve changed the theme to the site.. I was told once that the previous one wasn’t in good contrast – so I fixed it. I’ve also added a page on Jesus in Islam.. You should check it out.

That is all.

The hardest part about writing this post so far has been titling it. I’ve even written this post twice so far. I’m not really sure as to what I hope to achieve by writing this today, but I feel like ranting. Since I first laid eyes on the desktop of my freshly installed Ubuntu I knew I could never go back to Windows. Though for work and other things I need an available copy so that I may keep up with whatever documents may be sent my way.

Ultimately, I have been able to open up and process most of my documents through here. Unfortunately I have yet to find a way to sync my Blackberry or update my TomTom.  I also haven’t been able to locate a Linux program to read Quickbook format. Other than that, I use OpenOffice to handle all my word processing needs. I’m able to open, edit, and save Microsoft Office documents through OpenOffice. Luckily, that meant that I was able to spend more time in Linux, learning to love it more and more.

Just as an everyday user, you can appreciate the simplicity of Linux. Everything you need normally comes bundled in whatever distribution you choose. Depending on the specific distro, you can come with a default of cracking tools, programing tools, server tools, administrative, education, and so much more. The true potential of computers is in Linux, not Windows.

As a small business owner, running opensource programs on all your computers saves you from having to purchase an individual license for each machine you’re running it on. If you were to buy 4 computers for your business preloaded with Windows, alone that’s going to cost you about $700.00/each. You can get those same 4 computers with Linux preloaded for $400.00/each. Then lets say you need to get Microsoft Office for those 4 Windows PC’s you just bought. That’s another $200.00/each. If you were using LInux, you’d probably already have the OpenOffice Suite pre-installed. For free. Yeah, that’s what opensource is. Free.

4 desktops running Windows – $4,000.00
4 copies Microsoft Office Pro – $1,300.00
Total – $5,300.00
——–
4 desktops running Linux – $1,200.00
4 copies OpenOffice.org – $0,000.00
Total – $1,200.00

Seriously, just look at how visually pleasing that is. You can’t deny how beautiful that is. Anyways – the next time I get a blue screen of death, I’m going to try and write down all the information given, and post it here. Maybe someone knows something. -shrugs-

Well, I’m home again. Safe and sound, il7amdulilah. Anyways; here are the pictures I promised… There was a bit more than I thought. I’ve gone ahead and put them all into a gallery. The thumbnails below open into a new page. Enjoy.

Thumbnails lead to Gallery

I’ve had the best weekend this year, so far. On Friday my job gave me a run to Mobile, Alabama. My parents suggested that I take my little brother along with me for the ride. At first, I objected; because my brother’s 13 and I’m not too keen on him missing any school.

Seeing as how the delivery spot is only a few hours out of Atlanta, I decided that I was going to go pay my friends a little visit since I was around their part of the South. To be completely honest, I’ve had a pretty bangin’ time. I didn’t expect to enjoy myself too much having my little brother tagging along; but I was totally wrong. This trip gave me an opportunity to spend some much needed quality time with him.

I’ve always doubted by ability as a big brother. I’m not sure why, but I never thought that I was doing a good job, or the right thing for that matter. I see now that I’m wrong. I mean, I may not have always posed as the best role model, but it seems to me that I’m doing the little things right… As far as advice goes; I can’t give him any without first explaining where I’m coming from with whatever choice I’m trying to persuade him towards.

All in all, this is the best vacation; ever. Not nearly as long as I’d have liked; but the kid missed two days of school – so I’m sure he’s having a blast as it is. Hahaha.

—– Also, I’ve been having a bit of a problem with the “Cheese” application for Linux… As you guys have seen before, my webcam worked without a problem upon initial install of Ubuntu onto my computer… In the last few days it’s been showing me the “Emergency Broadcast System” red, green and blue bars with a small square containing “snow” similar to the “snow” screen on your TV if you were to tune into a broadcastless channel. This problem seems to come and go as it pleases, because my cam is working all of a sudden. If any of y’all out there are able to duplicate the problem, or have faced something similar and were able to fix it — PLEASE do share with me your knowledge.

Oh yeah, be sure to check back later this evening for a few pictures from our trip. We aren’t camera-men, so we only snapped a few shots…. Check y’all later!

The Ubuntu team is doing it right! The only one probelm I had with Gutsy Gibbon was that I couldn’t get my integrated Logitech webcam to work… I just tested out Ekiga VoIP software to see if it’d detect the webcam, and it did! It’s awesome that now everything on my laptop works from the get-go. From the webcam to the Bluetooth — it all works!

Being the perfectionist I am, I wasn’t satisfied having Vista instead of XP. In my opinion, Vista is a resource hog, and just doesn’t run all my programs the way they’re intended to. I wasn’t able to have any fun (ie. play Urban Terror.) Today I decided to try once again at perfecting my machine..

I downloaded Active@ KillDisk and proceeded to erase all the data in my Windows partition. I learned from my mistake the last time around, and made sure to backup all important data. After having wiped Windows out of my laptop, I proceeded to load Ubuntu normally. I backed up what files I thought I’d cry over losing, and proceeded to wipe out that partition as well.

I happened to stumble onto EXPerience’s TinyXP rev.08 the other day, and thought it’d be worth giving it a go — and so I did. Unfortunately, I’ve had one BSOD pop-up in reference to a physical memory dump… I still haven’t any idea as how to fix that problem. This isn’t the first time it’s happened… It used to be relevant in my older Vista install, and now it seems it’s followed me to XP.

I went ahead and downloaded Ubuntu Hardy Heron version and installed it the same way I did when I worked Gutsy next to Vista… And viola! I’ve got the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, and Microsoft Windows XP completely working. Windows seems to be a bit quicker than before, but it could be because I’ve just finished reinstalling. I haven’t had a chance to add all my programs yet, but I’m sure they won’t cause much harm.

All in all, I’d have to say that the latest version of Ubuntu is awesome; I’m loving the wallpaper I think the most. LOL. Windows XP is going to need a bit of registry tweaking and maybe I can get this one nuisance in order… If any of y’all know what’s causing my Physical Memory Dump problem with Windows that prompts a BSOD — let me know what to do! Good luck with your endeavors of supreme computing.

MAN! What is WRONG with some of ‘em?! Someone please explain to me why things must be way more complicated than necessary. I mean Islam is pretty simple honestly. In it’s true form, it’s beautiful and perfect. People complicate it with their ideas, opinions, perceptions and thoughts. In the Quran, Allah speaks of not dividing the religion; and to keep away from those who secularize. Why do we have to be divided?

I understand that a whole lot of things happened between the time of the Prophet (PBUH) and now; which all accounts for the divisions today. But why must we, as beings with understanding and rationale – be irrational? Why must secular beliefs keep people away from one another?

I don’t even know how girls think. I mean, maybe I’m just way too open minded or I have a wrong understanding of Islam… I don’t think it should matter if I’m Shia, Sunni, Wahabi, Ismaeli, or whatever… I don’t think it should matter what she is either. What I do believe matters is compatibility, attraction, and sincere understanding… Isn’t a Muslim a Muslim?

I believe to be a good Muslim, one must follow the example of the Prophet (PBUH) and worship only Allah. One must perfect their iman (faith.) So why stray from the teachings of the Quran? Because her parents might quarrel her? Why must her parents even beef!? I don’t even know where I’m going with this..

Am I just so rebellious that I’ve lost sight of true decency? If my parents have a problem with what I’m doing, and it’s something I really want… Well, it’s my parent’s problem – not mine.

Is that it? Am I too much of a rebel to see things clearly?