Arroyos's mercy upon Erap.. no more hope for the state?

I was so surprised to read the news last week, I mean, how come a single woman could easily forgive a man who had done so much topsy-turvies upon her country? A man who had destroyed lives of millions just because he loves to gamble. It was totally unfair. Well so far with America and Israel in power nothing is fair in this world anyway, but the promise of Allah will be kept and Estrada will not be able to escape the worst punishment ever.. the punishment of Allah.

Here are some extracts taken from BBC showing how the Filipinos too aren't the least bit happy with Estrada's pardon.


"We all know that the Estrada pardon smacks of a clever political move on behalf of the Arroyo camp, to turn the attention away from corruption scandals and the persistent allegations of human rights violations and political killings."
-DAVE RYAN BUARON, 27, BANK WORKER, MANILA


"If Estrada's removal was symbolic of our desire for a change for the better, then his pardon is symbolic of the fact that so very little has changed."
-DOMINIQUE CIMAFRANCA, 37, IT WORKER, DAVAO, MINDANAO


"When President Arroyo's own pardon powers were being awaited by poor female prisoners over the age of 70 last year, she took so long that some of these women died before she could pardon them. And some of these women were in prison for crimes as small as smoking pot.

But it took her only six weeks to pardon a rich, powerful and immensely popular man, who has been convicted for plundering the nation."
-FATIMA LASAY, 37, ARTIST AND WRITER, MANILA

"In this country everything is so distorted and confused because every leader in our history has twisted the law for their own convenience.

I was one of those pinning my hopes on Gloria Arroyo, but after this episode, I think there is no hope for this nation."
-JOSE LUIS LEGARDA, 50, LANGUAGE CONSULTANT, MANILA


You can read the comments in full at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7074878.stm

The Nail Keeper

Ok, so there was this nail keeper. He worked with an engineering company, a big one, where they have kilos and kilos and kilos of nails, which needed supervision. And he was happy to be trusted with the job. Wasn't that hard, keeping some nails and jotting down every piece which came in and out. Accidentally that day, he found that he brought back home with him a few nails, without realizing it. And no guard stopped him at the gate for bringing back home the nails, no harm was done. Anyway, what were a few nails compared to the hundreds and thousands kept in the store room? Soon the so-called accident, turned intentional. Every single day he'd bring back a few nails home, positively sure that they cause no harm, not to him, and not to the company. Every day he took not less than 5 nails with him.. what was there to a few nails? Finally, a year had pass. And the nails he brought back, some were used, others were given to his neighbours, while some just got lost. He had also overcome this bad habit of taking nails home for almost a month now. Maybe now and then when he needed them so much he'd take a nail or two. He was called to the director's office. Suprise suprise. He didn't know why, but it finally turned out that they had weigh the total kg of nails left. And they were short of 5 kilos. So where did this 5 kilos go? In the end, he had to pay for them, after all, he was in charge. 5 kilos of nails.
Our life is somewhat like the nail keeper's. Sometimes we take advantage of people without realizing it. And since Allah is Most Just, every advantage you took upon your friend, your partner, your neighbour, your children, you nieces, nephews, will all be recorded and in the end they'll be able to get back at you. It's way way better to repent now while we have the time, try patch things up and grant others their rights, before they ask for them on the very day you wish you had given everyone their rights for you to be able to go free.

.:should've waken up earlier:.

Never have I encountered another worse day in my life as this one, and it was all my own fault. The day started off badly as I woke up a wee bit too late, missing a great clinical class given by Dr Ahmad Hamdy, which was supposed to be repeated. When? I don’t know, I had to call the centre. Ok. Fine. Then I was torn between going to lovely lovely communications course which would have cost me LE300, but I could have gone for free, over a lecture given by the head of department of Psychiatry for the upcoming exams, true enough I made a bad choice, I chose to go for the lecture, and kulluh kalam fadhi. Ok. Fine. Then I was torn (again!) between going for Dr. Usamah or Mostafa Hosny. If I wanted to go for Sheikh Mostafa, I could, by going for Dr Usamah in the afternoon, just after the meeting with the HOD. Or, I could go back home, study a little, and head for Usamah’s class, in the evening, at supposedly 7.30pm missing el-Sheikh’s class. Once again, I decided to take the wrong decision, went back home, studied two pennies’ worth and had a little nap, finally waking up for el-asr, then got ready to take off for Usamah’s class. But oh, it was 5.00pm and suddenly I remembered wanting to call the centre about Ahmad Hamdy’s lesson, is it today or is it tomorrow? And at what time? With my luck, just as I called, the class had just ended and I missed it. Ooh lala! I got myself ready for Usamah’s class, confident that I’m going to be early and get a good seat, took off and got there. As I paid the centre, I heard Dr Usamah’s voice lecturing away in the hall. Was I late? No. Not again. I entered, with 300 people looking at my face, most probably wondering, why in the world is this goof here at this hour? But since I didn’t know exactly when the class started I didn’t mind, I took my seat and opened the page, seems that I had miss somewhat 4 pages of the lecture. Great. Absolutely. Then, in about 10 minutes, ok 15, el-maghrib entered. And Dr Usamah said he’s going to take 5 more minutes. Yes, he usually does that, he talks for another 5,10 minutes and down we go for our prayers, then we will continue. 5 minutes were up and he stopped talking. For good. That was the end. Yup I came all the way. For a 15-minute lecture. Which I thought would have started after maghrib. But started at 6.30pm and ended at maghrib. So today I missed a whole lot of things, which were all so important. QadarAllah ma sha a fa al. And anyway it was my very own fault. Should’ve waken up earlier.

He is not with us

Is it because he is not with us

That although we are named muslims

We try as hard as we can to follow the non

Is it because he is not with us

That what he says is of no value

As the words don’t come from his mouth

Not the mouth that we see

Is it because he is not with us

That the hadeeth conveyed

Seems to be just some words of wisdom

We could choose to use or to leave as we like

Is it because he is not with us

That so easily words from our mouth

Are poured

Saying “that was then and this is now”

Imagine if he was here, right now

And we are doing what we are doing

What’s he going to say?

What is he going to say

When he sees us lifting the fork with our left hands

Putting food into our mouths

Without saying basmallah

What is he going to say

When he hears the harsh words coming from our mouths

When he sees how we buy and sell

When he observes the way we treat our guests

What is he going to say

When he finds out how Muslim women are treated (by muslim men)

How Muslim children are taught (by muslim parents)

How the elderly are neglected

How Muslim men are forced to transgress

What is he going to say

When after all the years he spent teaching the right way

The way to keep the world in harmony and peace

We choose to astray

What is he going to say

When a brother leaves his house

Without saying salam

And instead just slams the door in the face of his other brothers

What is he going to say

When brothers don’t pray together

Don’t go to the mosques together

But rather to the video game centre

What is he going to say

When sisters don’t wear the higab

Because it’s not the trend today

What is he going to say

When brothers and sisters chat freely away

Using all the means that they can

SMS, YM, MSN

And say pooh! It’s just an innocent one

Do we really care

What Rasulullah has to say

‘Cause if we do

We’d have cared to all the words he had already said

We’d have tried

As hard as we can

To imagine that both his soul and body are here

As we listen to the guidance

As we read the hadeeth

As we go through history

To follow every single step

And turn out like Abu Bakr

And Omar

And Ali

And Othman

Just tell me what would have been his reaction

When he finds you and me (we are doctors, supposedly)

In front of the tv

While the ummah

Laying sick on her death bed

Waiting for the doctor, who…

Is in front of the tv

Finding out that his ummah

The ummah he cried for just before his last breathe

Are paying for the guns killing their fellow muslims

Finding out that his ummah

After the toil and soil he went through

To make sure Islam reaches them

Sits around watching movies

And liking them

Finding out that his ummah

After the fall of the khilafah

Made no effort to bring islam back

Is it because he is not with us,

We decided that we could recreate Islam

Directly or indirectly we do it

By leaving a few of what he had said and done

Saying it’s not relevant, not just now

We take the prayers, the fasting, the haj

And sometimes, when we feel like it,

We take the zakah

When it comes to muamalah

The Jews we go to

The same goes with entertainment

The tics that we do

Even the way we talk

The dressing and style

The food that we eat

The places we hang out

The values that we look upon

The people we idolize

I guess it is because he is not with us

He is not with us,

So we do as we like

But Allah told us in His Book

And Muhammad is not just but a messenger

And before him messengers had been sent

Is it that when he dies, you turn back from the path

And who ever turns his back will never hurt Allah even a bit

So does it differs

That he is

Or is not here?