Plagiarism: The Permitted Crime!

 Situation A:

Khaled and Samer are two well-educated thinkers who are discussing current matters. Khaled comes up with a brilliant idea that appeals greatly to Samer. The next day, Samer writes an interesting article and publishes it in a notable newspaper. The whole article is based on Khaled’s idea, but Samer doesn’t even mention that the idea isn’t his own.

 Situation B:

A famous writer and Islamic scholar writes a huge book that becomes very popular among readers. The whole book is based on a book by a distinguished “Sheikh”. The book sells very well…and no body notices the real writer of the book.

 Situation C:

A successful company director and manager browses the internet to “copy and paste” ideas, phrases, and whole paragraphs in order to create a new line for the firm. She is applauded day and night for her creativity…and, of course, no thanks to Mr. Internet!

 *****************

Unfortunately, the situations above are so common in the Saudi culture and temperament. Those “thieves” who live among us are never questioned or sued because we don’t appreciate the gift of thinking. We are not a thinking society and hence, we don’t consider stealing ideas a theft. Ironically and sadly enough, some of us don’t exert an effort to think, but seek others’ ideas desperately and attribute them to ourselves!

In a society that has such a careless attitude towards plagiarism, I don’t blame students who cheat from the internet or during exams! What they see in their supposed-to-be educational surrounding encourages them to lead an academic/professional life of “copy and paste” without a feel of guilt or shame (as long as no body knows or questions them!)

I think that we need to handle this matter seriously in order to contribute in raising an honest honorable generation of genuine educated beings. Why can’t we be brave enough to say that we liked a certain idea, and then worked our minds to develop it or even just used it as is? It is not disgraceful to use others’ ideas as long as we give them credit for it. I believe that education is not just about the number of certificates and achievements stuffing CVs; it’s about morals as well. I hope that we take a moment to remember to thank all the people who helped and inspired us to be what we are today.

 

One sincere inspiring word from a simple person is worth a whole book by a plagiarist!

I am thankful and grateful to every spark of idea that inspired me to write a short sentence. And…. oh! Sorry…I forgot to thank the thief who inspired me to write this article.

 

Maha

September 24, 2007

 

When I am gloomy and sad,
And try to hide my feelings from you,
You patiently understand
No matter how silly I treat you.

You embrace my withdrawing self,
You teach me how to overcome my defects and debilities,
And decipher my mysterious self,
Because you’re the only one who’s aware of my abilities.

You comprehend the feelings that I can’t reveal.
My inner powers, you help me discover,
With my weary heart, you know how to deal,
Because you’re not just an ordinary lover.

When I am not sure where I stand,
On you, I know I can always lean and depend,
As you compassionately understand,
You’re not just my husband; you’re my best friend.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

I am so proud to post the link below as it has an interview with me in a very unique blog.

I would like to sincelrey thank Chiara for all her great efforts and for having this interview.

http://www.chezchiara.com/2009/12/auto-biography-of-saudi-fraud-non.html

Hope you enjoy it

The Essence of Love

By Ahmad Al-Shugairi

Translated by Maha Noor Elahi

Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud says: “People usually perceive religion as a group of Do’s and Don’ts, regulations of punishment, and boundaries of the forbidden and the permitted. Yet all of these are secular matters whereas the concept of genuine religion is profounder and broader. True religion is that old love which we were born with; it is our spiritual thirst and need for the fountain from which we emerged. Love is the principal part of the issue, and if it is absent, then all pious worshipping deeds will not create a committed Muslim.”

In a few words, Ibn Al-Arabi sums up the meaning of religion: “You will not arrive at a satisfactory state in religion unless you treat all creations with reverence and do not disdain any being as long as God has created it.”

There is a great difference between worshipping Allah out of fear or need and worshipping Him out of love. If you claim to love God, then this love has to be obvious in the way you walk, talk, and act. Otherwise, it will be a fake deceptive love!

I like to dedicate a wonderful prayer that will wishfully spread love among all of us. Believe me, this prayer works miracles, so be keen on saying it everyday.

Oh God, grant us your love and the love of everyone who loves you. Grant us the love of everything that makes us close to you. Oh God, make the graces that you have granted me strengthen me to worship you. Make the graces that you have deprived me of spare space in my heart for what you love. Oh God, make my love for you stronger than my love for cold water in a hot day. Make me love you more than I love my self. Oh God, make me love you and love your angels, prophets, and good worshippers. Oh God, revive my heart by your love, and make me as you wish. Make me love you with all my emotions, and please you with all the effort that I can put. Oh God, make all my endeavors devoted to loving you and doing whatever pleases you.

Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) says: “If you love a brother (in Islam), tell him that you love him.

So, today, let us contact our brothers and sisters in Islam, and tell them how much we love them, without being embarrassed or shy. Let us follow our example; Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

2005

An astounding video I came to see by chance while I was searching for the image of women in America.

 

J String!

I hate to disappoint my readers because my article is not going to be about the you-know-what string! The string that you are thinking of doesn’t exist in my dictionary because I’m a good girl, and because I don’t like people who have dirty minds. So get that G-string out of your head and focus on my J-string. Assumingly, you’ve formed a negative idea about me from the words above, and that’s where the J-string starts. It starts in our minds, develops in our minds according to our limited understanding, and then spreads to the whole society as if it were the bare truth.  Judging others after having very few encounters with them is our aching habit. It’s like a string of misleading interpretations of others; every off-putting judgment leads to another, which makes our lives a series of unfair first impressions.  Unfortunately, the problem is exasperated when we tend to rely on our first impressions and our faulty judgments, which are based on appearances, gender, family background, and country or city.

If a lady is wearing (Hijab) with (neqab), she is oppressed and has no freedom of choice. If another lady is not wearing Hijab, she is free to some and cursed by others. If a girl is wearing Hijab, we assume that she is ugly and has something to hide, and probably cannot afford to dress up in a trendy style. If another girl is dressed up in a fashionable way, she is probably showing off or is planning on catching a husband.

If an employee succeeds at work and gets a promotion, he is definitely a suck-up; “don’t you remember all those hours he used to be at the manager’s office?”

If a female writer writes about love, she must be in love, and if she writes about women’s rights, she must have had a frustrating love affair with a man who dumped her for a younger woman.

If a woman is pretty, she is an air-head, and if she is successful, she must be a failure as a wife or mother.

If a man is Lebanese or Egyptian, he must be very kind and gentle with his wife, but if he is Saudi or Kuwaiti, he must be a womanizer or a drunkard who beats his wife day and night.

If a woman is British, she must be cold and arrogant, but if she is French, she is elegant and attractive.

If a girl sneaks away from a gathering to have a conversation on her mobile, she is most likely to be having a secret love affair with a married man (I wonder why no one interprets this behavior as an act of mobile etiquette!)

If a man takes his wife to have a romantic dinner, he is surly cheating on her and is trying to cover up his nasty secret!

If an acquaintance doesn’t reply to your email, they must be doing it on purpose because you are starting to mean nothing to them.

Our J-string continues to grow harsher, more serious, or more ridiculous depending on the situation, but in all cases it continues to happen. It seems that everyone is obsessed with everybody else’s business, and we _whether we like it or not_ are part of this demeaning and dehumanizing behavior as long as we keep watching it silently without doing something to stop it. I wonder why we keep busying ourselves with other people’s business; people whom we really don’t care about while we ignore the important details about the closest people to our hearts! I wonder why we keep judging others according to our limited understanding and knowledge of them, yet we never pause to ponder about our imperfections, losses, successes, and achievements that need to be fulfilled!

Saudi Women’s Oppression Vs Muslim Women’s Mission – Part III

Hind Bint Otba: The Free Woman

It might be surprising for some to know that Hind Bint Otba was one of Islam’s most fierce enemies, and that destroying Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was Hind’s sole goal in life. It might be even more shocking to know that Prophet Mohammad declared that killing her is lawful after she had killed his beloved uncle, Hamza, deliberately and distorted his corpse. That very woman turned out to be a true Muslim woman and the mother of one of Islam’s greatest leaders.

Hind Bint Otba is a descendant of a notable Quraish family, and her father, Otba, one of Quraish leaders, was known for his wisdom and insightfulness. Being brought up in a rich and prominent family contributed to making Hind a strong and well-spoken woman with great pride and perception. She was also known for her beauty and her love of poetry and literature. Yet the amazing woman was wounded when she got married to a man who didn’t appreciate her for what she is. She saw no other alternative but divorce, which affected her intensely.

After her divorce, she daringly asked her father to consult her whenever a suitor asks for her hand in marriage. She told him: “I am a woman of free choice, so don’t marry me off until you have asked me for my opinion.” The father could do nothing but agree on what his daughter had asked. After a while, her father talked to her about two suitors, the first was from an honorable family and was known for his weak personality , which would make him easily-led by his wife, and the second was also from a notable family but known for his reliable and leading personality. She chose the second saying: “The first seems to be an obedient husband as long as his wife loses her character and pride; don’t ever mention him to me. The second suits a free woman and can stand for the rights of his wife and defend her; I choose the second.” After her marriage to Abu Sufyan Bin Harb, one of Quraish’s prominent heads, she supported her husband significantly in his war against Islam and Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon him). In fact, she had a huge role in setting the war plan against the Muslim army in the battle of Ohud. Part of her plan consisted of getting rid of Hamza Bin Abdul Muttaleb, the prophet’s uncle, in order to deeply affect Prophet Mohammad’s spirit and weaken him emotionally as she knew how attached he was to his uncle, who was unbeatable in the battlefield as well.

After Hind and her husband’s victory, something surprising happened. Her husband announced his conversion to Islam after Prophet Mohammad had talked to him. Expectedly, the that announcement didn’t appeal to Hind, who went on talking to the med of Quraish and asking them to kill her husband as he turned out to be the worst of leaders. For a whole night, Hind was quivering with rage, and her fury dragged her into going to the Muslim’s mosque to take a closer look at those people who had killed many of her relatives and now have taken her husband to their world. The next morning, she went to her husband and asked him to take her to Mohammad (Peace Be Upon him), for she wanted to convert to Islam. With great astonishment, her husband exclaimed, “Wasn’t that the most contemptible thing for you yesterday?” Confidently, she replied, “I’ve never seen Allah being worshipped as He should until I saw those Muslims praying all night.”

Hind went to Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon him) with fear filling her heart because of what she had done to his uncle. Yet the prophet accepted and welcomed her, and when she was in the process of pledging allegiance to the prophet, she said what pleased him and made him forgive her. During his speech with the Muslim women, the prophet asked the women to do specific things and to avoid other things in order to be good Muslims. He asked them to swear that they will not commit adultery, but Hind was so alarmed to hear such a plea. “Does a free woman commit adultery?!” she exclaimed. Her question was a form of refusal for such an act that was known to be for slaves and prostitutes only; not for honorable pure women who have dignity and pride. As most of the Arabs used to think, Hind deeply believed that when a woman is free and has a choice, she never commits adultery, for only forced women do that despicable act. Free Arab women were raised on chastity and on refusing to be objects for men’s pleasure, and despite all the Arab bad-reputed traits, their appreciation of modest free women was immense. The concept of freedom at that time meant to be honorable, to rise above wanting what you cannot have or are not allowed to have. Women and men used to have the same desires that we have today, but a free Arab woman would never let a man touch her until he becomes her husband even if she was madly in love with him.

Hind’s pure strong soul grew more powerful after she had converted to Islam, and her hostile and bitter nature was transformed into positive energy that served Islam and produced a woman who fights steadily for Islam after she had been one of its most aggressive enemies. Her faith in Allah had made all the difference in her attitude and perspective, but she had always been a woman with a free soul who thinks and works hard in order to achieve her goals.

How does Hind’s story relate to Saudi women today? In what ways?

Part IV: Khawla Bint Thaalaba – Arguing with the Prophet (peace be upon him)

Saudi Women’s Oppression Vs Muslim Women’s Mission – Part II

If Saudi women are oppressed, it is because they’ve chosen the luxurious life that doesn’t require seeking knowledge or hard work. Stories of beaten and humiliated women fill the empty columns and pages of the fire-generating magazines and newspapers, but they also show the emptiness of  those women. Freedom, independence, and respect don’t just happen by default; these concepts are put into practice only when women put great efforts to earn them. In the early ages of Islam, women’s freedom and independence were taken for granted because the women at that time knew what it meant to be a woman. Following are glimpses of very few examples of great Muslim women who were never subject to oppression or cruelty because they realized they are not meant for pleasure but for a mission.

Aisha Bint Abi Bakr Al-Seddiq (Prophet Mohammad’s Wife “Peace Be Upon Him”)

To talk about Aisha’s outstanding personality and achievements needs volumes, but I will try to mention the most important characteristics about her.

Aisha (May Allah be Pleased with Her) was Prophet Mohammad’s youngest wife, and she was the only virgin among his wives. She was known for her beauty, wittiness, and brilliance. However, her youth and her charm didn’t make of her a shallow and spoiled demanding wife.

Apart from being a supportive loving wife, she was one of the most knowledgeable people of her age. She was one of the best and most trustworthy narrators of Hadith, and she was considered the teacher of Islamic scholars and narrators such as Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubair, Al-Qassem Bin Abi Bakr, Abu Salama Bin Abdul Rahman, and many others. The great companions of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) used to resort to her when they disagreed on something related to the narration of Hadith or related to general life issues. Notable companions like Omar Bin Al-Khattab and Othman Bin Affan used to ask her about the “Sunnah” and about different affairs that concern Muslims. Moreover, she used to argue with the companions and correct their misinterpretation of the Quraan and Hadith. She was daring, strong, patient, pious, and extremely generous with the poor and needy.

She used to have a specific style in teaching, which can be summed up in the following points:

1. Speaking clearly and slowly to make her listeners fully understand what she’s saying
2. Using the practical training method of certain principles of Islam like (Wodoo’)
3. Initiating explanations and advice based on her observations of current issues or situations
4. Encouraging people to question and ask in order to learn
5. Encouraging people to ask about everything and not to be shy to ask about embarrassing matters
6. Supporting her (Fatwa) with proofs from Quraan and Hadith

Yet the most important feature of Aisah’s personality is her consistent defense of women’s issues. She never agreed on treating women as less human beings, but she was keen on being modest and decent when dealing with men. Nothing used to make her furious like seeing women exposing their bodies or their beauty to men.

In addition, she used to be an eloquent speaker and poet. Also, she used to have general information on herbal treatment. Her life revolved around worshipping Allah, learning from the Prophet, reading and interpreting Quraan, narrating Hadith, and teaching others. She achieved all of this while living in an extremely simple and small house void of any sign of luxury and wealth.

This is only a very brief summary of Aisha’s role and mission in Islam, and I only want to emphasize that Aisha (May Allah Be pleased With Her) wasn’t respected and dignified because she was pretty and young, but because she was intellectual and giving.

Also read about Khadija Bint Khuwailid – The Prophet’s first wife

http://adnisa.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/role-of-women-in-calling-for-islam/

Part III: Hind Bint Otba: The Free Woman

http://saudirevelations.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/saudi-womens-oppression-vs-muslim-womens-mission-%E2%80%93-part-iii-hind-bint-otba-the-free-woman/

Saudi Women’s Oppression Vs Muslim Women’s Mission- Part I

A question that haunts almost every American I’ve known is whether or not Saudi women are really oppressed. Now I don’t know why we’re so important that everybody is so concerned about our well-being and our soft skin covered under the Abaya in such  hot weather, but I can clearly say to all the concerned and caring American friends that we are not oppressed in the sense that they hear about. Of course, many Saudi studies have shown that Saudi women are beaten and treated unfairly, but public places show something completely different.

A glance at some public places in Jeddah is a delight for the eye indeed. At malls, crowds of women hurl and rush searching for a find; a Fendi bag on sale or a make-up set with an offer. We are just so pretty and trendy that you can find us any time of the week or day at any up-town mall trying to fetch that small diamond that will make the difference!

At restaurants and cafes, the picture becomes more serious, however. Flocks of the most stylish and sexiest women sit around the tables smoking (sheesha) wildly with an empty mysterious look in their eyes saying: you can’t get me, bastard; you just get to see me and that’s enough for the likes of you! Not a single woman of those has that content and satisfied smile on her face. Why is that? Don’t be very pessimistic and realistic and start blaming men for that; it’s just that her royal highness, who happens to be the daughter of an ordinary employee, has not gotten the expensive house she wanted for her birthday.

In beauty salons, the fight for beauty seems to be fatal. Women there spend at least three hours to get the Nancy Ajram hairstyle, the Haifa Wahbi eye make-up, or the Elissa lips. Unluckily, the result is not always as expected. Yet the fight continues at the cashier in order not to allow the salon to take the money it deserves. When the result of the three-hour session is satisfactory another type of fight is inflamed; it’s show time! In fact, the show-off starts, and the jealousy among rivals is heated.

At the end of the day, the poor oppressed Saudi woman returns home to shout at her kids and complain about her husband who doesn’t really care about her. “Can you imagine that idiot! He bought me a Gucci bag for the second time!”

Those women are not always rich or married to wealthy men, yet they share a few alarming features. They are all spoiled, irresponsible, and spiritually, emotionally, and mentally empty. All of them haven’t been properly educated even though some of them have university degrees. Their lives revolve around stuff, not principles and values. Being superficial and materialistic is our greatest enemy; our greatest oppression. When a woman is well-educated and is well-aware of her mission in life, no man, judge, or religious police can humiliate her or deprive her of rights. It surprises me how some Saudi women have taken the wrong direction in their fight for their rights. We fight our fathers, brothers, and husbands, but few of us fight our triviality and ignorance. If Saudi women don’t start fighting for having a personality; for gaining the joy of fulfilling a goal, they will always be oppressed and obsessed with their things and toys. There is nothing Human Rights can do for women who choose to be forever consumers of goods, gifts, and pity.

Yet a question that very few people ask is whether or not this kind of oppression is from Islam. Is Islam for spoiling women and making them stuff-centered?

Stay tuned for part II.

Part II

http://saudirevelations.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/saudi-womens-oppression-vs-muslim-womens-mission-%E2%80%93-part-ii/