A few days back I stumbled on a twitter account thebookshelter and found that two young ladies in the Emirates have literally started and orphanage for BOOKS!! There are so many good things you could do one might wonder and better buy a new one rather then hording old stuff and also spending on the maintenance of the so called Book Shelter. Apart from that, since the flow of eBooks have begun people have just begun to forget the touch, feel and scent of paper. These are the first few thoughts that same up my mind.

Being a book lover with so many sitting on my bookshelf, personally I would not even think of parting with my books with any one. I love them. Just looking at the shelves filled with them makes me feel my hunger for learning. I took a breath and emailed thebookshelter.ae that I would like to donate. They replied promptly and had the few books that were ready with me, picked-up.

I started surfing their website and found a book that I had been wanting to have a glimpse at since some time but had not dared buy it for the simple reason that time would not permit to go through it.

People who love the written word would not part for it even though the digital world grows faster and feel of paper, its wonderful smell that one breathes in being engrossed in the book opens the doors of imagination, creativity and knowledge. Homes are growing smaller, and the price that once pays per square feet nowadays its much larger for someone to actually fall in love with having a library at home but then I would not dare speak the same having more then 150 books lying on my bookshelf and having known people who have collected newspapers and weeklys over years. The lust and hunger for knowledge in these people cannot be explain in words, for the written word would fall short of it.

For those who would like to know more about the work done by the two Emarati ladies or even have a book for yourself visit http://thebookshelter.ae

Hoping to write more blog posts then the past in 2012.

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His Highness, the ruler is always present on this spectacular event each year and finds time for it from his busy schedule which indeed reflects his love for education and imparting of knowledge. Personally I have been very lucky and fortunate to be present during the opening and visit of the Ruler. Its his humble self that any person, be it a citizen or an expat, can extend his greetings to the scholarly personality as well as accompany him as he scrolls past the hundreds of stalls erected by the participants from all over the world. His Highness Dr. Shiekh Sultan al-Qasimi, signed the English copy of his book (Sard al-Zatt) as well as the new book (Hadeeth al-Zakirah).

It was an overwhelming occasion as he skimmed through the booths, surfing through the titles exhibited on each stalls.

Personally I find great pleasure even window shopping at such a beautiful place and time passes by in such a way hours just seem to be minutes and there is never enough time to inspect each section of personal interest even let alone adventuring into a new field of growing knowledge.

Being a fan of this yearly event in Sharjah, there are a few critical points at mind do need to be considered by the organisers. On this very first day there were no carry bags with the publishers at the booths provided by the organisers nor were there any invoice books, no trolleys and so on. Buying the books was hard on the first day though its better later on. But the situation is the same year after year on the first day.

Once again all the applaud to this event for the sake of the love of knowledge and books.

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Although we might be in the age where Education and Knowledge is freely available everywhere there is a jungle of unknown out there, and people can be misled or get lost in the junk of duplication and sometimes even blunders and Urban legends. We often see these useless junk mails forwarded to us in the form of making us aware, just to find out later that it was a prank and there is no reality attached to it.

Having lived in the virtual world for years, in the form of a passion and a profession, spending hours on the Internet daily, it is often felt that the flow of Information over the Internet needs to be controlled. But then if it is really controlled then we would forfeit the freedom and right to information as well as expression.

However, there is one thing that is often bothering when I surf the internet that people just for some odd and unknown reason to copy and paste material from one site to the other. The copy paste business or adventure just leads to the expansion in the number of pages the internet has rather then real information.

Recently I came across a community site, which is much bothered with its PR than the flow of information due to is commercial aspect, that, it has announced the launch of  articles on historical events and dates according to the Hijri Calender. The website Zeninfosys, has installed Drupal to take care of its copy/paste business from another authentic website of the community mazaraat.com

Looking at the above scenario, one can see no reason for such work and nor does it have any importance other then adding more pages to the internet. It is not only the breach of intellectual rights which at times some authors or owners do not bother about but it does make a difference.

The reason for such acts of plagiarism can only be traced back to commercial benefits where a person might look-up for PR and visitor hits. Certainly the internet has grown to be a larger media version then the Television nowadays with people spending more time in front of their PCs rather then the TV screen.

On the other hand if anyone just wants to enter the internet world and be known the better and more sincere way would be to put forward original words. Content and Information can never be original unless one is a mass researcher but the words in which they are presented can be unique and the way its felt by the reader can be a standout form for each person has a different style of writing or conveying the information that might be useful in the internet jungle.

Apart from that “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person who you originally are”, is a nice quote to fit the topic.

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I use twitter to mark some of the wonderful pieces of information that I read around and at time just stumble on while surfing the internet. To save the good information one can simply tweet it and/or mark it favorite and it can be found in the time line later. Twitter can be used to share and jot down immediately great ideas that pop-up at anytime and any place.

Another great thing about twitter is its sms notification service. I use it to keep in touch with my immediate family and keep them updated of what I AM exactly doing. Though sometimes my son does get annoyed by the number of sms/tweets I send him, he sure likes reading it.

Though most of my tweets are really those 71% mentioned above I find it useful for myself. After all one can know what the Big B is doing when he tweets at least.

Ever since I have added my twitter to the facebook account it has saved my a lot of time updating my facebook friends with new blog posts at least.

Twitter has done great wonders in several ways and those who master its use and are looking for some serious business can benefit from everything that the little tweety has to offer.

We have seen companies offer serious support to their customers on a regular basis using twitter and others post important and vital announcements to their followers who do really look forward to such information. Looking at the age of information and the way the internet has changed our perspective of getting the information we need, its not only twitter that is a jungle but every piece of existing data is. One just needs to learn how to use the available data and resources to suit our best needs. That is the reason why we are humans and not monkeys of the jungle.

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But what if there is no identity theft. What if there do exist people with similar names and surnames or even full names. There are these sites that provide digital signatures but it does not always work everywhere on the internet. How can one secure their identity particularly if a person is associated with several NAMES and BRANDS.

Recently I had to deal with a submission made by me on ezinearticles.com which was rejected by saying that I did not have exclusive rights to it. The reason why I was supposed to NOT have exclusive rights to a content was that the article Ramadan and Fasting was also posted on the hikmah.ekhwan.com blog under the name of Juzar Sh Yusuf bhai while the article submission was made under the name of Juzar Noorani

The way ezinearticles verifies the actual author of the article is weird and illogical. A same person can have a short name, a full name and even several brand names that belong to him not just associated.

While looking for a possible answer to the problem aroused by my experience with ezinearticles it did make me think and do some research of my own. There are several resources that can help with the entire issue of copyright and brand protection or whatever you might call it. The Creative Commons license is the best of all that needs to be published on your site or associated with your work. Another freebie is myfreecopyright.com which is an amazing service which provides unique digital fingerprints for blogs, podcasts, websites and even files. Another free tool which might be of interest is ud.com which provides a search on the availability of the names you would like to associate with on most common social media.

There might be several free tools out there that can help people deal with such issues and if anyone knows of such tools please feel free to leave a comment.

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The past month has been really busy for me with most of my time spent as the Masjid and a part to and fro to my home from the Masjid. A little rest and some spare time with the family. Ekhwan has been in the hosting business since many years now with a few large companies that have trusted us for the many years we have been in business, dophinheattransfer.com and ezwaretechnologies being the most oldest of them all.

Saying that Ekhwan has become a brand in the hosting business that many prefer for the truthful and sincere service and advise we offer to our clients. Our aim has always been to help our clients get the most out of their business.

The reason for all the above introduction is a disclaimer that recently came into my notice. A website called ekhwan group dot com. I have separated the words and spelt out the dot so as not to link to it. This website is NOT a part of Ekhwan and we are not associated to this website or company in any way, even if it is legitimate which we are not aware of.

Just a second note. I have much to write about and will continue as soon as I am back from the spiritual journey, fully revived.

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One might think I am diverting from the topic but it is quite relevant. The its not he information that earns you your grades and certifications, it is the authenticity of the information. It is how well the knowledge is organized to be put to practical terms and for that you need it to be authenticated and verified by people, living and physical.

When we talk about the internet it is completely virtual and a free email address or a free blogging service or anything that can be grabbed by anyone is unauthentic. Remember a facebook account cannot provide identity information nor can a free gmail or hotmail account authenticate your ID. Its like what Bob said “pope@hotmail.com or gmail.com” does not authenticate that the email is from him.

Most online merchants see the use of a free email account as a suspect of fraud. Such email accounts are also prone to getting your personal and private information at threat of being stolen anytime. Exchanging sensitive information related to your bank accounts or credit card details or online accounts like paypal can land you into a mess if ever the account is compromised.There are several ways this can happen and its a different story for another time.

Those of us who spend a few hours daily on the internet spend at least a few 100$ a year on surfing the internet, especially emailing but ignore a small little expense of getting a paid email account with our own domain name and space. Having total control over our personal and valuable data. It would cost a few dollars a month just to do that. Ekhwan has several plans including Email Solutions as well as Complete Hosting Plans for those who want to establish their own identity on the internet.

What domain should you register? Simply go for your own name or your company name or nickname whatever you think might make it easier for people to identify you on the internet. I have got myself domains like juzarnoorani.com and juzar.net Remember it does pay to have your own domain name and your email, blogs, website hosted on an easily accessible hosting account. It will save you all the trouble of mixed up identities on the internet and give you the authenticity you need. Apart from Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail and many other services, you might also consider having a second thought on third party free blogging services if you are an active blogger.

Whats More……Sign up NOW And…

Get a 50% discount for the life of your account with us

Do NOT FORGET to use the promotion code myidentity while signing up.

The promotion lasts till 12th September 2010 and has only 25 accounts up for a Grab. So Hurry Up!

There are two more days for our comment and win competition. All you have to do it just Comment on the post and win free one year hosting on any account of your choice.

All you have to do is create an account for yourself and receive updates from your contacts, ie those people whom you wish to follow or receive updates from. These updates are called tweets.

You can search for a friend and then follow him/her or you can simply go to their URL and follow. Example: http://twitter.com/juzarnoorani or http://twitter.com/ekhwan Simply click the “Follow” button to add the person to your contact list.

When I say twitter being a best thing for mobiles I mean it. Twitter sends sms updates to your handset. Not from all of those you follow but from those whom you opt to have their tweet updates sent to you as sms notification.

For this you can go http://twitter.com/devices and setup your mobile number to access twitter and you might allow messages from the your contacts or those you follow.

The good thing is that it has a do not disturb system in place as well, where you can choose not to receive sms alerts at certain times of the day.

Once you have authenticated your mobile to access twitter, you can receive tweets in sms from all the contacts you select, Free of charge.

Whats greater even is that when you tweet or send an sms to your twitter account, all those following you will receive the tweet on their home page or their mobile softwares like nimbuzz or even just get an sms on their handsets, depending on the options they choose.

Great isn’t it. You can simply message all those following you, in other terms, all those who have added you to their contact list, in one go. At the cost of a single sms. Or even free if you are doing it though the internet.

Twitter now works with the DU network in UAE and Airtel in India. There are several network providers that support twitter worldwide. You can check it out if your local service provider is available.

Helpful Presentation about Twitter

Follow me on Twitter:

Ekhwan Web Hosting

Juzar Noorani

Note: Just like every social networking site, you should also keep your privacy as priority on Twitter as well. Check who is following you, whom you follow. There are many verified celebrity accounts on twitter as well.

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The major role in it is may be played by the current educational system and curriculum designing. It is hard to specify its clauses and to invent  a perfect way for it, but one thing is surely needed in both educational system and curriculum designing, that is based on applications and mainly limitations that his/her cognitive skills can develop. so ‘What is really important to learn are the numerous skills that enable us to conceptually address the world and solve our problems .how ever acquiring cognitive skills in isolation lacks meaning to the learners make hence the academic discipline form the content base for the cognitive processes conception in that some framework or structure is required to make sense out of the content taught acquiring cognitive skills’ (Print 1993, p.49)².

As it can be observed commonly in the natural nurturing system of a child; that a child starts his or her diet with the mother’s milk and with lots of care and day by day he/her becomes stronger to taker diet which he/her can now digest. Similarly the knowledge ilm is, as ‘It is no reflection upon the nutritive quality of beef steak that is not fed to infants. It is not an invidious reflection upon trigonometry that we do not teach in the first or fifth grade of school. It is not the subject perse that is educative or that is conducive to growth. There is no subject that is in or of itself or without regard to the stage of growth attained by the learner, such that inherent educational value can be attributed to it. Failure to take in to account adaptation to the needs and capacities of individual was the source of the idea that certain subjects and certain methods are interracially cultural or interracially good for mental discipline. There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract the notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts and truths pauses educational value in and of themselves in the reason why  traditional education  reduced the material of education so largely to a diet of pre-digested materials. According to this notion it was enough to regulate the quantity and difficult of the material provided, in a scheme of quantitative grading, from month to month and from year to year.³’

If one will try to rebel this system will surely have to pay for it. Like a child eats meats before his digestive system can accept it that will without any doubt disturb his/her digestive system. But he should be given the best diet he can digest, which contains all the nutrition. Similarly a seeker of education is in his/her starting period, regardless of his/her physical age is like a child in the mother’s womb. Therefore it is necessary that he/she should be taught step by step according to his ability to perceive. The Fatemi theory has been descried briefly by syedna Qadi Noman (q.r) in his books of tawil ud da’aim and assas u tawil .

According to the Fatemi daw at it is necessary that the learner is given as his istehqaq , nor more, neither less, which is meant by muraa’t ul hudud. As Allah almighty states in Quran:    و يؤت ذي كل فضل فضله(al insheqaq ;verse:19)

As it is an Arabic saying that الحصة بقدر الجثة   that is the Fatemi perspective for muraa’t ul hudud which enriches Fatemi literature.

This book kitab ul aa’lim wal gulam is a great example of it, which describes the way of bayan in Fatemi literature, as the aa’lim states: al ’ilm can not accomplish its dept but by an introduction of ilm which is before al ilm which is nearer to mind and easy to understnsd so that it can be remember by once mind and it becomes easy to apply and becomes east 4 uqul to achieve the peak of that ilm (pg 14). And for that put some hudud on the gulam that ‘First is of all is that you will stand upon the zahir of kitab (Quran) and Shariah and upon what you have been taught…and will not revile or waste what I tell you, and if I ask you anything you will not hide it from me, and you will not seek me before I teach you and you will not question me before I begin (pg 22-25)’

By this, the a’alim cleared to the gulam that if he want to learn then he will have to do mura,at hudud.

This divine method of teaching and seeking Al Ilm (knowledge) helps a learner to apply much of they have been taught as it becomes habitual to him/her , this theory is also known as simple non-associative learning.

So the aim of this in Fatemi literature is to lead toward the highest peak of ilm and this is not possible but through proper channel as Allah almighty has created them. As he states in Quran: طبقا عن طبق, until he reaches his final destiny of being with the ‘insane e mutlaq’ called by ikhwan us safa, the book on which Fatemi literature and believes based on, as that destiny is stated by Allah as فانشأناه خلقا اخر فتبارك الله احسن الخالقين   (al nor; verse: 3).

May Allah bless syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin a long and healthy life till the day of judgement.

—-
Published in the Rabiul Akhar 1431 Issue of Badre Muneer. The Author is a Student of Al Jamea Tus Saifiyah, Karachi.

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Blogging has been a wonderful excercise for the brain and its great to spread ones thoughts by reducing them to writing, but then who would be really interested in knowing what you thing. Twitter and facebook not only gives exposure to the writeups but also lets you know who ‘likes’ your post. There are several tools out there to connect the blog feeds with twitter and then twitter with facebook. As I said earlier its great to be on a social network and be known from a perspective you want.

Facebook has been a wonderful website that not only brings back old memories by uniting some of your very good friends of the past as well as those of today. The effect of such a massive network growth is viral and has to be discussed some other day, but now to the profile issue on the social network.

As the word suggests it is “YOUR” profile. The things that you want people to know about you so that they can recognize you. Who knows you might end up with a bichra huwa bachpan ka saathi lost in the kumbh mela .

Just like brevity in being witty in any other thing so it is in the profile. Be a little precise, cautious and limited in what you make available in your profile. Everything else being secondary, I regard the profile picture as being the most important aspect of the networking site. The profile picture is supposed to display who and what you are in a thousand unspoken words. People who know you will instantly recognize you from your profile picture even if you hide your other details from the public profile.

Many people on face book have their profile picture as a group photo where the actual object “THIS IS ME” is quite far off in the background that makes it difficult for people to recognize or even if its a single picture with a single pose, the one photographed is hidden in the background.

It should be remembered that if you hide your photo album from the public, which the case always should be, you should always have a closeup profile picture which would show “YOU” and not anything else in a thumbnail. That is, if you want to be recognized anyways.

The most absurd thing that anyone could do in the profile photo, which is not an avatar, is to use pictures of some celebrity or object. It does not prove anything. In fact it does prove that wanting to be something else is a waste of what you actually are.

Here are a few rules to keep in mind:

1. Always use a close-up picture that shows the face properly.

2. The picture should have an expression about the kind of person you are, pictures have a lot to say. If your profile is all about business have your picture in a ‘Suit” maybe.

3. Avoid group photos as profile picutes.

4. Better to avoid very High resolution pictures. The profile picture is supposed to be open for everyone and it should not be manupilated.

5. Try to avoid too much facial expressions, rather try to be recognized.

6. Last but not least, try to see yourself from the perspective of your visitor.

Social networks can promote you, your business and even make you a celebrity but then there are certain rules that should be observed.

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