Life in Germany

Yahoo Geocities closing its free service - a saga comes to end

2009-10-27T13:22:00.003+01:00

Yahoo is closing its free web hosting service Geocities. It will, however, continue providing paid web hosting services. I don't remember when I started using Geocities service, but it was a long time ago. I really utilized it extensively when I became my batch's representative (2001), I put all information about my university on it. Later I put my teaching materials on it (2003). I also registered a domain www.yasirniaz.com and pointed it to it.

There were some good points in it and some bad. Good point was that it was one of the earliest and most reliable free web hosting. Bad point was uploading of html pages, which I had to do file-by-file, and since I used a desktop tool to make pages, I always had to upload many files related to its theme. One bad thing was also, that they were not increasing their webspace, unlike their email. Still it was the best solution available then and it served its purpose good. Even now I still come across many private websites using this free service. I guess the finanical problem is the reason for this closing. They also closed Yahoo Briefcase earlier, which was a free online storage service since a long time. It also had the same problems, but was the best service available and I also used it for a long time.

Now the question is: where to get free web hosting? The first name coming to mind is of course, Google. Google's web hosting is different, as it lets host multiple sites. However, they strip the html that is imported into a page, so much that most of the good dynamic features are gone. Is there any other reliable free web hosting service?

Gujranwala Light Rail Project

2009-10-23T00:14:00.004+02:00

Here I propose a light rail project for the city I spent my childhood in. It is not as good as a tram system, but it would certainly ease mass transit until a tram system is built. In western and central Europe, cities with more than 200,000 people have trams. Gujranwala has at least 8 times that population (2009 estimate 1.6 million).
Blue markers indicate existing stations, while yellow markers indicate new proposed stations:

View Gujranwala Light Rail in a larger map

Nationalism in Germany

2009-10-21T18:37:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I went to a foreign language class at the university packed with more than 50 students. The teacher required everybody to state their names and the country they come from in that language. Most of the students came from Germany so they said this. However, one of the German students said "I come from Bavaria". (Bavaria=Bayern, a Southern state in Germany). This was followed by a laughter from the class. Next time around, he stated that he came from Germany.

I heard before that people from Bayern are very proud of themselves and consider themselves to be true (or the only) Germans. I thought that was a thing of the past. But still, even the youth has that mindset. In Pakistan too, some people from some provinces think that way :)

Moving to another city in germany

2009-10-19T12:24:00.002+02:00

I had to shift to another city this summer. It seemed like a very big task, but two of my friends helped in packing. The city where I was to shift was about 2 hours away by car and 4 hours by train. The first option was to hire a small truck and ask someone to drive it with my luggage. This was very expensive. Second option was to pack all the stuff in boxes and post it through a packet service (Hermes Packetservice). This option was cheaper so I chose this one. I collected some packing boxes. But later, a close friend suggested that some of my friends can travel with me on train to deliver my luggage. Although I was reluctant to bother my friends, they agreed. So we started packing stuff into suitcases. We pack everything inside clothes and put them in suitcases. I collected a couple of suitcases from friends, as there was not much stuff to pack. But as soon as we started packing, we needed more and more suitcases. I kept running to friends to borrow their suitcases. When we finished packing, we had 9 suitcases and 2-3 boxes. We decided to leave the boxes and big items like microwave at a friend's and then contacted 8 friends to go along.

So our journey started with 10 persons, 9 suitcases and a pram. We had to change trains 2-3 times. It was really funny watching people stare at us. My friends ate lunch at the destination and then departed back. Thanks a lot to all of them.

btw, when we reached the departure train station with all the suitcases in two rounds of a big taxi, the taxi driver, an Arab friend, asked me why I didn't contact them before planning. They would easily transport all my luggage to the other city in a small truck. Tough (late) luck!!

Unity of Muslim world in starting Ramadan and Eids

2009-09-16T12:47:00.020+02:00

For long, we have had this problem of multiple Eids and Ramadan starts in almost every country of the world. Scholars are also divided on this. The debate is on whether to rely on scientific data or physically see the moon. However, there is already a solution. All Muslim countries came together around 1978 in OIC and decided upon a common criteria for starting moon calendar. Their decision was to start the new lunar month on the "first possible moon sighting anywhere in the World". This means they decided to rely on scientific data. Sadly, very few countries follow this decision. Germany has also started implementing this decision since 3 years. I present the following topics in this article:

Why rely on scientific data?
Why not leave it as it is?
But Prophet (pbuh) asked to see the moon!!!
What about scholars?
What happened in Germany?
Eid-ul-Fitr
What to do:
More examples from Sunnat:

Why rely on scientific data?

If we calculate a little, it is very easy to understand the decision of 40 Muslim countries in the OIC, that is why they rely completely on scientific data. Suppose they decide that Ramadan will start with the first moon sighting in any part of the world. Then on Thursday (20-Aug), the moon is sighted in South America (or Hawaii). At this time, day time/Fajr time has already started in Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and even in Pakistan. Which means Muslims cannot eat Sehri (eat) in these countries for the first roza (fast). Even in Middle East and Europe, if there is time to eat Sehri, there is no time for Taraweeh prayer.

Similarly, if the OIC decides that Ramadan will be started with a moon sighting in Saudi Arabia, then it is still too late for Muslims in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Eastern China, Eastern Russia and even Indonesia. It is also possible that the people in South America and South Africa have already seen the moon on the previous day. So unity of Ramadan start is not possible based on Moon sighting.

Why not leave it as it is?

Current situation is that every country sees its own moon. Well, we know how the situation is right now. There are disputes every year among Muslims living in non-muslim countries. Even in Muslim countries, Muslims are divided whether to follow their govt or Saudi Arabia. A brother from Indonesia told me they have the similar problem there, just like the moon problem in NWFP (Pakistan) etc. The solution is for all the Muslim countries to sit together and find a solution which is acceptable to everyone. This is exactly what was done in 1978 in OIC that Muslim countries sat together to solve this issue. There is a city in North (maybe Essen), where 7 mosques of arabs and turks started ramadan together on friday. If they can unite, why can't others?

So, is there any other solution to world's moon calendar problem?

But Prophet (pbuh) asked to see the moon!!!

There is an excellent example of this OIC decision. At an occasion, Prophet (pbuh) sent a group of Sahabah to a place and asked them to rush quickly and pray only after reaching that city. Sahabah got late in their way, the prayer time was expiring. Now some of them wanted to follow the words of Prophet (pbuh) as it is, and not pray till they reach that location. But some of them wanted to act on the logic of His command, not only the words, so they said that we should pray. Later, the Prophet (pbuh) declared both to be correct. Even the group which didn't follow the exact words of the Prophet (pbuh), but its logic. So, decisions can also be taken based on logic of Hadiths, not just their words. And this principle forms the basis of Hanafi Fiqh. Hanafi Fiqh is mostly based on the logic of Hadiths, that's why it is difficult to find good quality Hadiths with exact words as the Hanafi rules. On the other hand, Maliki Fiqh is mostly based on the exact words of quality Hadiths. Shafai and Hanbali Fiqhs fall between these two extremes. And it is our belief that all of these 4 Fiqhs are correct.

What about scholars?

Decision is to be taken always by scholars. But our definition of a scholar is a very relative one. Pakistanis consider Pakistani scholars. Arabs take arab scholars, Turkish will accept Turkish scholars, etc. In this way, we can never find a common solution. We need to see the big picture and listen to all scholars of Muslim world, and ask them to find agreement on these issues, and currently only OIC provides such a forum.

What happened in Germany?

Two years 4 Muslim organizations in Germany came together to decide on a common starting date for Ramadan. These organizations then announced agreed upon dates and about 200 mosques followed them. This is the start of the unity in Muslims (at least in Germany) that has been awaited for decades. This year, they have again agreed upon a common date for Ramazan to begin on Friday 21 August 2009. You can see the announcement here (German): http://islam.de/13657.php. There are four Muslim organizations including Turks, Arabs, etc, which have formed KRM (Coordination Council for Muslims, in Germany). The criteria for their decision making is the 1978 decision of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) on Ramadan and Eid. KRM gave a clarification of their announcement for starting Ramadan on Friday 21-08-09 (http://islam.de/13704.php).

I am also a very strong believer in physically seeing the moon. But if the Muslims agree upon one method or the other, I'll be more than happy to follow. If their decision is against my belief, the correct way for me is to talk to them and try to convince them, but still follow the decision of the majority. So we should make an organization and go to this meeting of Muslims in Cologne (Köln) and present our opinion. This is the correct way of differing, rather than create small groups in religion. This is the concept in all religious movements of our country, including Tableeghi Jamaat, which says that if you have a different opinion, come to the meeting (mashwarah), present your opinion, and then follow the decision made in that mashwarah. They even state that there should be no gossip after a mashwarah is complete. And this pattern is followed by all preaching groups.

Eid-ul-Fitr

Hence, according to them, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on 20-09-09 inshAllah.

What to do:

Please try to convince your local mosques and Islamic centers to follow this decision of OIC so as to unite us. I know it is difficult, but not impossible. Last year we also put some pressure on our mosque and they did it. However, please don't be harsh and fight. If they don't accept it this time, maybe they'll accept it next year, or the next year. Just keep on trying in the best way and keep changing public opinion.

More examples from Sunnat:

It is also stated by the Prophet (pbuh) that the majority of Ummah can never be wrong. Even the Prophet (pbuh) changed many of his decisions based on the majority opinion. And I am certainly not more right than the Prophet (pbuh). e.g. Umar (RA) recommended to kill the prisoners of Badar War, and this was also the will of Allah, but Prophet (pbuh) released them based on majority opinion. Then, it was the will of Allah and also of Prophet (pbuh) to stay and defend in Madinah during Uhud War, but Prophet (pbuh) decided to go out of the city based on majority. Prophet (pbuh) wanted to rebuilt Kaaba as Prophet Abraham (pbuh) had built it, but taking care of majority opinion, he never did it. (One Muslim ruler attempted it later on, but there was a lot of chaos, and the reconstruction was reversed). etc, etc. All of these wrong majority decisions angered Allah but he forgave the Muslims since their decisions were based on majority opinion. This means, that if Muslims take a decision based on majority opinion, then they won't be punished even if they are wrong.

We know how Europeans used to brutally fight amongst themselves and kill thousands of each other. Then, they all came together and formed a Union to compete with their rivals. Is it not time for Muslims to form such a union?

Karachi Circular Railway

2009-09-07T13:59:00.007+02:00

There is new life in KCR project with federal government's funding promise. I attempted to create a Google Map of the Karachi Circular Railway based on maps from Wikipedia etc. This map gives an idea of the railway routes. Since I don't live in Karachi, the map may not be correct. I am improving it with time as more info becomes available.

Wikipedia article with map

View Karachi Circular Railway in a larger map

Unity in Muslim World in sighting Moon

2009-08-27T12:47:00.004+02:00

OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) decided in its multiple meetings in 1974, 1978 and 1984 upon the issue of moon sighting and starting of Islamic months. All member countries (including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) agreed that an Islamic month will start on the "earliest possible calculated sighting of moon anywhere in the whole world."

Germany:

Last year 4 Muslim organizations in Germany came together to decide on a common starting date for Ramadan. These organizations then announced agreed upon dates and about 200 mosques followed them. This is the start of the unity in Muslims (at least in Germany) that has been awaited for decades.

This year, they have again agreed upon a common date for Ramazan to begin on Friday 21 August 2009. There are four Muslim organizations including Turks, Arabs, etc, which have formed KRM (Coordination Council for Muslims, in Germany). The criteria for their decision making is the 1978 decision of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) on Ramadan and Eid.

To my inquirey, www.islam.de gave a clarification of their announcement for starting Ramadan on Friday 21-08-09 (http://islam.de/13704.php). It is better to read their clarification, however, for non-German-speaking Muslims, here are some imp points they mentioned:

- the OIC decided in 1978 that an Islamic month will start on the "earliest possible calculated sighting of moon anywhere in the whole world."
- about 57 member countries agree to this decision and thus removed the doubt in physically seeing the moon. However, most of these countries are not acting on their promise.
- Turkey is one of the few countries that has been following this decision for many years now. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=month-of-fasting-commences-2009-08-19. (the issue was resolved in three conferences ... of OIC, in 1974, 1978 and 1984)
- The majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish descend. So their opinion carries a big weight in meetings for issues related to Muslims in Germany.
- European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) decided upon this matter in 2007 in Sarajewo.
- Because of the lack of unity, the issue of a holiday for Muslim children in German schools on Eid day is unresolved.

Eid-ul-Fitr

Hence, according to them, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on 20-09-09 inshAllah.

What to do:

Please try to convince your local mosques and Islamic centers to follow this decision of OIC so as to unite us. I know it is difficult, but not impossible. Last year we also put some pressure on our mosque and they did it. However, please don't be harsh and fight. If they don't accept it this time, maybe they'll accept it next year, or the next year. Just keep on trying in the best way and keep changing public opinion.

You can see the announcement here (German): http://islam.de/13657.php

Jazak Allah khayran

Lahore Light Rail Proposal Phase 2

2009-08-16T01:49:00.007+02:00

It was a while ago that I posted a proposal for a Light Rail project in Lahore until LRMTS project is developed. So here is the second phase of this proposal. This phase also makes use of the existing railway line in Lahore and makes some stations on it. This will use two existing stations and add four new stations. Additionally, it proposes extending the railway line just a few kilometers to reach the airport which is visited by a large chunk of population and is an important part of travel. This new line would be 6.5 kms and include 3-4 new stations.

View Lahore Light Rail Phase-2 in a larger map

Afraid of flying? Well, you should be...

2009-07-01T17:20:00.025+02:00

... when they are making three planes take-off at once!!!

This is Frankfurt airport with 3 planes taking off (along with their shadows):

I don't know how long will they keep this current view of Frankfurt airport on google maps, as I have been seeing it for an year or so. So enjoy...

View Larger Map

Lahore Light Rail Proposal

2009-06-26T00:47:00.010+02:00

The Lahore Rapid Mass Transit project has been on the table for many decades now, but is as far from implementation as ever. Probably, the government could try a much cheaper and faster solution first. By using the existing rail line running through Lahore, a light rail project could be started, where small (and thus fast) trains could run frequently on the existing train lines providing commuter service to the huge population. This project can teach valuable lessons and its success could trigger more support of the Rapid Mass Transit project. Using Google maps, I created a rough sketch of such a project. This would use 6 existing stations (blue markers) and require 7 new stations (green markers) to be constructed. So here is the proposal:

View Lahore Light Rail in a larger map

Lahore Tram Project

2009-05-28T22:53:00.014+02:00

The detailed google map of Lahore enabled me to create a route of the first tram line (Green line) of the long planned Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System. The route maps available around the internet are not very clear and differ from each other. So I just created a combined route map to get an idea of the first line. So here is my attempt:

Green Tram Line of Lahore

View Lahore Rapid Mass Transit in a larger map

Pakistan detailed maps on Google Maps

2009-05-26T09:55:00.015+02:00

Today when I opened Google maps, I was pleasantly surprised to see the detailed map of Lahore. Not only Lahore, it has all the major roads of Pakistan and also many large cities like Gujranwala, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and of course, Karachi. At least, I have been waiting for this for a long time and it was at time frustrating. But now this is excellent development. What is more amazing is that it shows bus-stops in Lahore. Also it shows mosques, schools, hospitals, markets, etc.

View Larger Map

My daughter

2009-03-02T23:25:00.002+01:00

On Saturday, I did an Aqeeqah party for my daughter. She was born on 14th of January 2009 at 2:55 pm. We named her Hadia Yasir. She is a real cuty. At the time of birth, she weighed about 2885 grams and had a length of 49 cm. Actually I inquired about her weight and height only after I met my friends who have children. They started asking me such questions making me realize that I am supposed to know such stuff.

The city hospital was really nice and took great care of us.

Finding Nemo

2008-12-07T22:33:00.005+01:00

Today i tried to find a friend in the streets of Germany. The story began with a friend inviting me over for dinner. My mobile phone's battery was low and i had never my friend's house before. As soon as I got out of office at about 9 pm, my mobile died. I tried to turn it on for long enough to call or read my friend's number, but the Sony Ericsson E900 refused to stay on even for a few seconds. My friend told me that his house was next to the city-park near the water-pump. I got to the pump and looked around. No sign of friend. I walked around trying to find some signs, when a window on a 2nd floor opened. I walked towards it with a ray of hope, but in vain. It was only an old woman who came out for some time.

Finally I decided to try the dare. I yelled "Farhan", and started walking. No windows opened. I walked a distance and shouted again. The woman coming from the front with her dog saw strangely towards (a bit scared as well). I turned in one of the probable alleys and shouted once again. Unfruitful, I repeated it another alley. Another man jogging in the park stared at me. I came home, charged my mobile, called my friend and enjoyed his dinner.

Trip to Nuernberg - trial place for hitler's generals

2008-08-20T16:31:00.011+02:00

Some time ago, the university took us on a trip to Nuernberg in eastern Germany. It is a big and old city with the city center enclosed in an oval city wall with castles, forts and watch towers. Much of these is still preserved. A river runs in the middle. It was a three day trip so we had plenty of time to see around. The King's castle has been excellently renovated and converted into a youth hostel. This is thus one of the most beautiful youth hostels of the country and this is where we stayed. It is located at one end of the city wall, high up a hill. The first day we wandered down from the castle into the city and went through the city center to the other end of the wall and back. We also went to the 3-D cinema there to get the schedule of their shows.

Second day, after breakfast, we were taken to a museum to learn about the history of the city through models and see the life of kings there. Then we went looking for a market of Turkish residents. Once there, we found restaurants and shops of Turks everywhere. We are roasted chicken from one shop and prayed in a mosque. We also went to the 3-D cinema to see a small 4-D animation where they violently shook our safety belt laden seats.

On third day, we were taken to the parade grounds outside the city, where Hitler used to gather and display his military strength. It was a very big stadium where about 500,000 people gathered every year before the second world war. There we walked on the long parade road, a large portion of which was a bridge over water. Then we saw the unfinished building which Hitler was building to become the largest of the World. There was also an audio-visual museum about the complete history of Hitler's rise and fall. Even two hours were not enough to go through it completely.

Middle of July

2008-07-22T10:08:00.001+02:00

It is a funny mid of July. There is no summer. The temperatures are around 15 C. People are wearing jackets. Its getting different.

A nation respecting its teachers

2008-06-11T18:47:00.002+02:00

During childhood I often heard the story of a policeman who stopped the traffic to let a professor cross the seat. Today I saw it in Germany. I was sitting in a bus coming back from the university, when a couple of professors got out of the car parking talking to each other. They were about to cross the road but then saw the bus and stepped back. The bus-driver stopped the bus and asked them to cross the road, even though it was no zebra-crossing. Normal cars may stop for pedestrians without a zebra-crossing, but buses never stop. This was the first time I saw this.

Travelling to Pakistan on Saudi Air through Riyadh

2008-02-18T20:47:00.007+01:00

This time around, I wanted to travel to Pakistan with Emirates Air, since my wife expected to fly back with me and i was thinking of touring Dubai. But this year, the ticket prices were too high as compared to last time. All airlines were offering above 700 euros prices. At last Saudi Air came to the rescue and offered a ticket in 550 euros. This was probably their debut flight. They too had a very busy schedule and I could barely get a seat in it for my required dates. The agent promised a seat for me, however, it required me to stay on Riyadh airport for 7 hours without hotel. I had to accept. But a few days before flight, the agent indicated that there are no seats from Riyadh to Lahore and I have to go to Islamabad. This required only a 1.5 hours stay in Riyadh. I had to accept it.

On my flight day, a friend was driving to Frankfurt airport and he offered to take me along. I took the offer although I would have to spend a few extra hours at the airport but would avoid the hassle of train change etc. I asked the airport staff if there is an internet connection on the airport, but it was too expensive. Then I asked for a power plug to charge my laptop and they prompted me to use the plug they use for charging their airport transport vehicles. So there I laid down on a long rest seat watching the Matrix. It didn't seem like a good idea for me to watch a movie with heavy gun fights on such a location, but never mind. When I passed through the security check point, I was overconfident. The security door didn't like that and protested. So they ran their handy scanner over my body and it too kept the view of its bigger cousin. I took everything out of my pockets, but it kept on buzzing near my feet and on my legs. So the guy asked me to came aside and take off my shoes. Then he felt my whole socks and I admired his courage (or strong smell nerves) :) I had put some money in polythene and put in my socks, but he ignored it and let me go. During boarding, my hand carry was over-weight (on the confidence of their membership, whose card arrived only after my departure), so the lady said that I'll get in trouble at the boarding gate. So, i waited to go last in the gate and avoided her while boarding.

The plane from Frankfurt to Riyadh was a Boeing 777 with personalized on-seat entertainment system. And the plane from Riyadh to Islamabad was a Boeing 747 also with the entertainment system, but this one was not friends with the remote control and was working for hearing-disabled people :) They distributed menu choice lists on both flights. Food was German-style in first flight and Pakistani style in second flight. Riyadh airport is beautiful but is under development as a new World's second largest airport. They have a beautiful fountain in the middle. The 747 to Islamabad was jam-packed. From there I took a Daewoo inter-city Bus to Lahore.

Married!!!

2008-02-03T21:20:00.001+01:00

I know I should have mentioned this a long time ago, but I would again blame laziness for this :) I wrote about my trip to Pakistan last September. btw, I got married in that trip :)

It is the beginning a whole new aspect of life. Although I only got "Nikkah-ed", still I feel somewhat different. Or at least I try to... When I returned to Germany, I attended a party where I had a chat with an Indian guy. During the chat I asked him if he was married. Upon his denial and back question, I also replied in negative. A few seconds later, I realized my mistake and uttered "yes, yes, yes, I am married". So, I have to feel that I am married. Marriage itself involved many processes. Deciding whom to invite and whom to postpone till walima. Then going to almost every home in Lahore to distribute the invitation cards. I had to sit formally with my wife for some hours on stage and it was difficult to find time to talk to her. Then came her sisters and cousins for the milk-drinking ritual, where they gave me and my wife some milk to drink and then demanded payment for that milk. A hefty 50k amount. We struck a deal of a much less amount. Services Club proved to be a good spacious hall for such a function attracting about a couple of hundred guests.

Notebook replacement from Dell

2007-12-18T14:57:00.000+01:00

I finally got my notebook replaced by dell. I bought this Dell notebook three years ago and it was having problems every often. In these 3 years, Dell replaced my hard-disk, DVD drive, processor fan and heat-sink, LCD screen and charging adapter. Now they wanted to replace my motherboard because of the problem. I refused to let it happen and asked them to give me a permanent solution to this time-waisting routine every six months. I asked them to either replace my notebook with another model, or to "tell me their office address so I could shift my home near them so that they can come everyday to my house to repair my notebook" :) This suggestion had the desired effect and they resorted to replacing my notebook. I did many upgrades to the free notebook they offered me and hence I got 2 GB ram, 160 gb hard-disk, bluetooth, integrated camera and metallic blue cover in 250 euros extra. The new notebook i got is an AMD Turion X2 TL-58 (Insprion 1521) with 15.4 inch wide-screen display and 3 years service warranty. I have formatted and packed my old notebook and waiting for the delivery service to pick it up. Dell Inspiron 1521

First snow in Kaiserslautern

2007-11-15T14:58:00.000+01:00

It snowed here today. Actually it snowed a little yesterday but the snow couldn't accumulate on ground. Today when we woke up in the morning and the ground was pretty much covered in snow. This was the first snow of this winter. Normally, in our area it snows for 2-3 months. But last year was an exception as it didn't really snow last year. There were snowfalls a couple of time but the snow was soon gone. So practically, there was no snow last year. This time, we have yet to see whether it really snows or not. We usually get one snowfall at the end of November and then the regular snowfall follows in the end of December or start of January. However, this time it snowed a little earlier than usual. Well, strange things are happening with the weather every year.

New life in Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) Rail Project

2007-09-28T12:48:00.000+02:00

The chief minister of Punjab Ch. Parvez Ilahi announced on 26-sep-07 that the Lahore subway train project will be started after Eid (14 oct). Many train lines are proposed to be built. The first line is the Green line covering 27km area from Shahdara to Hamza Chowk. This line will take 3.5 years to build and cost around 3 billion dollars. The original plan estimated the completion date in 2012 but the authorities want it to be built till 2011 before the World Cup.

You can find a lot of information about the project on the website: http://www.pakistaniat.com and in a forum thread at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com

Flying with Mahan Air through Tehran

2007-09-17T01:25:00.000+02:00

Last month I travelled on Mahan Air through Tehran. Mahan Air is a private airline of Iran having 24 planes and flying to 27 destinations. I was very cautious about it based on rumours but had no other option. It didn't fly from Frankfurt, but from Duesseldorf instead. They gave a train ticket so I took the journey of 4 hours to reach that city. Duesseldorf Airport is also a nice airport with landing/take-off viewing platforms. The train station is on one end of the runway and hence a hanging sky-train takes visitors between the terminals, the parking and the train stations. The plane from Germany to Iran was surprisingly smaller than the one from Iran to Lahore. They had far more newspapers than Gulf and Emirates Air. They also offered passengers coffee-toffees once on board. The flight was smooth and we were offered standard drinks and food. They presented kids models of aircrafts. We landed on the new airport of Tehran, the Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Before landing into Tehran for a plane-change, the pilot requested the women to dress properly according to Islam as required by law, even at the airport. They then presented all of the women pink long-shirts and white head-scarfs. It was fun to see European women wearing these nice modest clothes on the airport. Exiting the plane, they gave everyone a small box of pistachios. Once in the airport they gave us our next boarding cards and also coupons for a free burger/cake and a free drink. This was uniquely generous considering we had a stay of only two hours. Then we went to buy sweets from there. The first sweet-box I saw costed some 50,000 Rials. Their currency is extremely devalued and a Euro is equivalent to about 12,500 Rials. They had made very beautiful shapes filled with dry-fruit. The flight to Lahore was even more peaceful so that I slept and missed the meals. They always presented their own carbonated drinks similar to Coke, Sprite and Fanta. All food items were also made in Iran. The return flight was also ok except there was a delay at Tehran airport of about two hours which is normal with cheap airlines. Thank ALlah that I caught the last train to my city in time.

Muslim Students Group at University of Kaiserslautern Germany

2007-08-20T23:50:00.000+02:00

Some days ago we decided to attend a lecture in Karlsruhe. We being the Muslim Students Group at University of Kaiserslautern (Muslimische Studenten Gruppe, TU Kaiserslautern). This group existed before but ceased to be active some years ago. We reconstructed this group to actively arrange activities for all the students at the university. We are starting from smaller activities and progressing towards bigger ones. So first of these activities were an Islamic weekend. We went to Karlsruhe on Saturday to attend a lecture by a converted German named Pierre Vogel. The lecture was arranged in a sports hall which was full with audience, both Muslims and non-Muslims (including German) with as many women as men; reason being perhaps the topic: Position of Women in Islam. The lecture was in German and the speaker was a native speaker. So I understood less than my level of German understanding. Before going to the lecture we had lunch together and saw the Karlsruhe castle. We 10 men had travelled from Kaiserslautern with Train while about 8 women came in a van we had rented. Photos.

The next day we arranged a Bar B Que party for the members and potential members. Though it was summer, summer was nowhere to be found. It rained that day as well, however, with a bit of wind. So we found two covered places at the Uni for Grill. One saved us from the wind but not rain; the other saved from rain but not wind. After some to and fro motions, we opted for the second option. There were about 50 people at the party. We had beef sausages and chicken and people brought salads. We also gave small talks about our MSG in German, English and Arabic. As soon as we started the party, the weather got good. Photos.

Now we are planning a trip to Trier to see the city and attend a couple of lectures there.

Happy Independence Day

2007-08-14T23:57:00.000+02:00

happy independence day to all. The independence to be corrupt and to rob and kill each other. Let us promise today that we will never do corruption, never give or accept rishwat, never accept or do sifarish, see our fellows above the divisions of language, province, ethnicity, sect, etc. Only then do we deserve to celebrate our freedom. Otherwise: long live our new masters (internal or external).