One Pen’s Journey

Those who say I can do it and those who say I can’t do it are both usually Right, No one can stop you in achieving your goals other than you. If you really want to achieve your goals you’ll find a way, if you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.’ Shrikant Pantawane from Nagpur, an auto-driver and son of a security guard, started working early in life as a delivery boy to support his families financially. Later he took to driving an auto to make ends meet. At a very young age Shrikant was burdened with responsibilities and he would balance both his job and studies to support his family. But hardships, obstacles and financial struggles never disheartened him from pursuing his dreams. Shrikant still sits behind a three-wheeled vehicle, but now it’s not his auto-rickshaw, but an aircraft! With hard work, determination and passion to defeat his struggles, Shrikant achieved what he had only dreamt of as a child. Once when Shrikant had gone to the airport to deliver a parcel, duri...

A prodigy rock climber, by age eight he had scaled the face of the 11,627-foot Mount Temple in the Canadian Rockies, and by 17 he was acknowledged to be one of the best climbers in the United States . In January 1982, after having ascended a difficult technical ice route in Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, Herr and a fellow climber Jeff Batzer were caught in a blizzard and became disoriented, ultimately descending into the Great Gulf where they passed three nights in −29 °C degree temperatures.   By the time they were rescued, the climbers had suffered severe frostbite. Both of Herr’s legs had to be amputated below the knees ; his companion lost his lower left leg, the toes on his right foot, and the fingers on his right hand. While a postdoctoral fellow at MIT in biomedical devices, he began working on advanced leg prostheses and orthoses, devices that emulate the functionality of the human leg. Using specialized prostheses that he designed, he ...

The weight of clouds can reach quite astonishing proportions. For example, a cumulonimbus cloud, commonly known as the thunder cloud, can contain up to 300,000 tons of water. The fact that a mass of 300,000 tons of water can remain aloft is truly amazing. Attention is drawn to the weight of clouds in other verses of the Qur'an: It is He Who sends out the winds, bringing advance news of His mercy, so that when they have lifted up the heavy clouds, We dispatch them to a dead land and send down water to it, by means of which We bring forth all kinds of fruit... (Qur'an, 7:57) It is He Who shows you the lightning, striking fear and bringing hope; it is He Who heaps up the heavy clouds. (Qur'an, 13:12) At the time when the Qur'an was revealed, of course, it was quite impossible to have any information about the weight of clouds. This information, revealed in the Qur'an, but discovered only recently, is yet another proof that the Qur'an is the Word of Alla...

Dr. Salah Sultan , President of Islamic American University and professor of Islamic Jurisprudence, Cairo University, issues the following Fatwa:   "The best way to earn money in Islam is to work hard and employ thought. Islam prohibits a Muslim from earning vast amounts of money without making any effort. Allah Almighty says:   "O you who believe! Strong drink and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it aside in order that you may succeed."   (Al-Ma'idah: 90)   Islam wants people to give their money for good and charitable causes out of the goodness of their hearts, love of God and humanity, and not through devious and dubious ways and means. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says,   "Allah does not accept except that which is good and pure."   (Reported by Al-Bukhari)   In Islam, money is not an aim in itself, in the sense that it is a means of earning one's livelihood. It ...

Woman has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals. Her consent is a prerequisite to the validity of the marital contract, according to the Prophet’s teaching. It follows that if an "arranged marriage" means the marrying of a female without her consent, then such a marriage may be annulled if the female so wishes: Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to the Messenger of Allah, and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice...(between accepting the marriage or invalidating it) (Ahmad, Hadith no. 2469). another version of the report states that “the girl said: ‘Actually, I accept this marriage, but I wanted to let women know that parents have no right to force a husband on them.’” (Ibn-Majah). The Muslim scholar, Dr. Bilal Philips had to say the following about Chilad marriage in a recent interview: The concept of child marriage, of course in Islam, if a pers...

Everyday a large number of homeless, poor people who cannot afford a decent meal, line up in neat rows under the Dabeerpura bridge in Hyderabad. Every man, woman and child wait for their turn to pick up a plate, washes it and sits down in formations.Many in the line have not eaten for days, but they still wait their turn. Without a hassle, rice is served on each plate followed by dal and Khichdi. This has been going on for more than three years, with one man sincerely running from end to end serving the food. Azhar Maqsusi is a 36-year-old who lives in the Old City in Hyderabad has been unrelentingly feeding lines of destitute people in the afternoon as part of his daily free-food camp for the past three years."It all started around three years ago. I hardly ever took that route but my tyre got punctured that day and I decided to catch the local train from the station under the bridge when I saw a physically handicapped woman with her feet amputated," says Azhar, reca...

A recent study   found   that bilingual speakers may actually process information more efficiently than single-language speakers. Researchers from Northwestern University, in Illinois, and the University of Houston used brain imaging to look at bilingual people’s comprehension abilities. They found that people who speak more than one language are comparatively better at filtering out unnecessary words than monolinguals, whose brains showed that they had to work harder to complete the same mental tasks. The study, published in the journal   Brain and Language, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at what’s called coactivation and inhibition in the brain. Coactivation is the ability to have both languages simultaneously active in the brain, while inhibition is that ability to select a correct language while hearing more than one at a time. The researchers studied 17 Spanish-English bilinguals and 18 monolinguals, and had they undergo tests that as...

Laxmi, a victim of acid attack and a standard-bearer for the movement to end acid attacks, has been selected by the US for the prestigious International Women of Courage Award. Laxmi received the award from US First Lady Michelle Obama at an awards ceremony at the State Department in Washington. She was 16 when an acquaintance threw acid on her face while she waited at a bus stop in New Delhi's busy Khan Market in 2005, disfiguring her permanently. "Many acid attack victims never return to normal life: they often go to great lengths to hide their disfigurement, many forgo education or employment rather than appear in public, and suicide is not uncommon. But Laxmi did not hide," the State Department said. "She became the standard-bearer in India for the movement to end acid attacks. She made repeated appearances on national television, gathered 27,000 signatures for a petition to curb acid sales, and took her cause to the Indian Supreme Court," it sai...

It is not permissible for a man who believes in Allaah and His Messenger to put his hand in the hand of a women who is not permissible for him or who is not one of his mahrams. Whoever does that has wronged himself (i.e., sinned).  It was narrated that Ma’qil ibn Yassaar said: the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “For one of you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle is better for him than that he should touch a woman who is not permissible for him.”  This hadeeth alone is sufficient to deter and to instill the obedience required of us by Allaah, because it implies that touching women may lead to temptation and immorality.  It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When the believing women migrated to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), they would be tested in accordance with the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meani...

Most powerful photograph. Diego Frazão Torquato, 12 year old . Brazilian playing the violin at his teacher’s funeral. The teacher had helped him escape poverty & violence through music. Image credit - unknown

In this African tribe, when someone does something wrong, they take the person to the center of the village where the tribe surrounds him and for 2 days say all the good he has done. The tribe believes each person is good but sometimes people make mistakes, which are really a cry for help. They unite to reconnect him with his good nature.

It's sad to think that there are still some societies that exist where parents are concerned and often feel burdened by the pressure of getting their daughters married. Their worry often begins before their daughters have even reached a marriageable age. Marriage gives priority, in some cases not all, over everything else and daughters are often made to feel that the sole purpose of their lives   is marriage and this should be their number one priority.   Parents start worrying about saving for their daughter's big day so they can get her married off in a culturally fitting manner. In a sense, they rightly do so; it's a good thing for parents to think about these things for their children and it's always wise to plan ahead. However, again in some cases not all, we need to ask the question; why is a girl's education not given equal importance? Why do we feel that educating our daughters is a waste of time and money, but paying thousands in credit towards her we...

"I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon," says Sağırlı. "İ realized she was terrified after I took it, and looked at the picture, because she bit her lips and raised her hands. Normally kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera. He says he finds pictures of children in the camps particularly revealing. You know there are displaced people in the camps. It makes more sense to see what they have suffered not through adults, but through children. It is the children who reflect the feelings with their innocence." - Turkish photographer Osman sigrili

Allah  had a plan for you before you were born, and He still has a plan for you. Allah's plan for you is necessary and glorious. His plan is vital to your success and important to the world. Allah's plan is not set in stone, as if we were robots pre-programmed in the factory. That would strip us of free will and deny our natures. Rather, I believe that Allah has a flexible plan for each human being:  a plan that allows that person to benefit the world with his/her unique talents. This is in fact the Islamic view of al-Qadar, or predestination. There is no doubt that Allah has decreed everything that happens in the universe from the beginning of time to the end, and that Allah has written it all in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz (the Book of Decrees).

Dowry is most talked about issue of the society. It is a blot on our face, but every day news item. It is a social malady and denied vehemently. With open eyes we see the cases of dowry in our own family and don’t stop. It continues. It develops. Like a continuous fire in the family, relatives, neighbors and friends. People are obsessed with it. Yes, truly. It is a typical Hindu custom that bride’s parents give an amount of money, jewelry, plots, etc to groom on the marriage ceremony, unfortunately dowry is even creeping into Muslim marriage. It is rising among Muslims. Islam, the religion of Muslims does not permit Dowry. It does permit Maher the reverse of the dowry.  So it is unusual for a Muslim boy to ask for it. He has to pay a certain amount as Mahr to his wife. There is no tradition or custom that the bride should get something with her. However, gifts are allowed, not dowry. If the parents of the bride and family are giving something as a “gift” on marriage to the ...

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims share the most fundamental   Islamic beliefs and articles of faith . The differences between these two main sub-groups within Islam initially stemmed not from spiritual differences, but political ones. Over the centuries, however, these political differences have spawned a number of varying practices and positions which have come to carry a spiritual significance. Origins - A Question of Leadership The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes from a word meaning "one who follows the traditions of the Prophet." Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions at the time, that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and adviser,   Abu Bakr , became the...