The office of the Islamic Assembly of North America was finally raided by the FBI last Wednesday Feb. 26th. Terrible adab though it may be to rejoice at another’s misfortune, I can barely contain the glee I’m feeling after hearing the news. Regular readers may remember that I’ve blogged about the IANA before. Based right […]
Author Archives: bingregory
Tajsim through the ages
Thanks to Bill Allison of Ideofact again for actually reading the books I only just like to talk about. He is digesting Stephen Schwartz’s “The Two Faces of Islam” and has put a few things together regarding Ibn Taymiyya and Sayyid Qutb. Reading his posts on the Mongol invasions put things in a historical perspective […]
Food Update
My adik biras, or younger brother-in-law, flew into Kuching for a day on business. That makes him the first relative to see my daughter, which is fitting, since I was the first relative to see his daughter who was born just last month when we were in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, he took those of us […]
KakYang
KakYang entered the world on 20 February 2003, making me a father for the third time. She opened her eyes wide and stared right at me as I called the Iqama in her ears. Now she and Ibu are recuperating at home. Here in Malaysia it is customary for the mother to remain confined in […]
The Waters of the Sungai Maong
Two weeks ago, the Maong River jumped its banks and swallowed my entire neighborhood. We were not alone. The Kuching District received its worst flood in 40 years. The Great Kuching Flood It had been raining daily leading up to the Chinese New Year. But the day after that, it really began to pour. I […]
Wireless Dial-up
I have finally, finally established an internet connection from home. I’ll spare you the sordid details, but the end result is I’m using a Fixed Wireless Terminal as a telephone. It’s a glorified cell phone really; large and boxy enough to be non-portable. But it can connect to Telekom Malaysia at 115kbps. Not too shabby.
Fried Green Tomatoes?
We were walking through the night market last night when, amid all the other fruits and vegetables, I saw a guy hawking from the back of his van what appeared to be big green-beans, chopped and marinated. Pickled green-beans, I thought; just like Dad makes. I few steps closer and I see that those are […]
Taski
My son just finished his first month of school. It’s a nice little Islamic preschool with about thirty other kids. The curriculum is fairly light, as you would imagine for a bunch of 4-6 year-olds. But they manage to teach abc’s, prayer instruction, aliph ba ta’s, and so on, in between snacks, play breaks and […]