CHICAGO,IL–Consulting-Specifying Engineer, an industry magazine, has announced that Ali Mahmood would join its editorial advisory board. Mahmood is senior mechanical engineer & Group Operations Manager with Stanley Consultants Inc., Chicago. His 20 years of engineering experience includes project engineering and management as a mechanical engineer.

He works primarily in institutional, industrial, and utility facilities. The majority of his project experience lies in quality control and quality assurance of bid documents. He has completed analysis, engineering, and design of mechanical systems encompassing HVAC,  plumbing and fire protection. Mahmood’s experience also includes conducting technical and administrative support activities related to the new construction or major modernization of hospitals, public facilities, research laboratories, commercial buildings, federal and state facilities, and defense facilities.

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By Sumayyah Meehan MMNS Middle East Correspondent

Blame it on our Internet Age with just about all the top websites delivered in English, the glitz of American cinema that plays out across satellite TV or a fading heritage that is lost on its own youth. Whatever the reason, the Arabic language is suffering an early demise in Lebanon and could become extinct in the foreseeable future. It is not uncommon for Lebanese people to communicate throughout the course of a day in three different languages, primarily Arabic, French and English. Arabic, however, is often spoken in fragments rather than a fluid line.

Over the past few years, parents and teachers have noticed a breakdown in fluent spoken Arabic with scores of children across Lebanon being unable to create a sentence in their own native language. Arabic is a centuries old language whose birthplace can be found in the Middle East and North Africa, however dialects of classical Arabic are as varied as the colors of a rainbow.

The decline in Arabic has been so swift and widespread in Lebanon that several social organizations have launched their own revival programs to bring the public, and especially the youth, back into the folds of comprehension. Last year, Lebanese poetess Suzanne Talhouk spearheaded the launch of an organization called “Feil Amer” which is designed to generate interest in the Arabic language. In a recent interview Talhouk revealed, “Young people are increasingly moving away from Arabic, and this is a major source of concern for us. The absence of a common language between individuals of the same country means losing the common identity and cause.” The organization routinely holds festivals and fairs in cities across Lebanon to get the public interested in Arabic.

For many Lebanese, the problem begins at home where parents speak to their children in either English or French. Many parents leave it to schools to teach their children classical Arabic. However, most Lebanese schools offer a choice between language courses. Most Lebanese children choose either English, which has the aura or glamour thanks to Hollywood, or French, which denotes an air of intelligence and sophistication. Unfortunately Arabic, whether spoken or written, is often deemed to be too complicated, time-consuming and old-fashioned for Lebanese youth.

The dangers of the wholesale loss of the Arabic language are very real. Some of the world’s greatest literary works of art are preserved in classical Arabic, poetry and prose as well. And the greatest book, the Holy Quran, is also delivered in Arabic. It will be up to this generation to preserve the Arabic language, by learning and passing it on, for future generations–before it is lost forever.

Lebanon is not the only country to see a decline in Arabic. Nearby Syria is facing a similar situation. With the influx of mass media and social networking in languages more popular than Arabic, the region as a whole may see a noteworthy nosedive in Arabic right across the board.

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By Akhila Raman

The Kashmiri Freedom movement is often portrayed as a communal movement where Kashmiri Muslims are pitted against the Hindus, but this is far from true. There is a rich tradition of Kashmiriyat – a composite cultural identity with the glorious traditions of communal amity, tolerance and compassion – in the Valley dating back several centuries.

In fact, when communal holocaust had been raging in Jammu, Kapurthala and elsewhere in India in 1947, Kashmir Valley was quiet and 5% Pandit minority totally safe. In 1990, when Pandits felt insecure given the killings of innocent community members, secular JKLF tried to explain that the killings of prominent Pandits were not communal but merely for political reasons like media bias and sentencing of Maqbool Butt. Kashmiris came out in large numbers and demonstrated in support of their Pandit brethren as they still do every time innocent Hindus are killed, as witnessed in the 2003 massacre at Nadimarg. There have been instances of Muslims helping build temples for Hindus- an example being the village of Ichhigam in Budgam.

What is clear is that Kashmiri civilians are not communal by and large and Kashmiriyat continues to flourish. What is not clear is: who are these communal forces which target minority Hindus periodically? It could be jihadi militants with an Islamic agenda; It could be Indian sponsored renegade militants to communalize the conflict. Opinion remains divided. Only an independent investigation by an impartial agency can reveal the true identity of these killers. Kashmiris have repeatedly demanded inquiry into these killings by unidentified gunmen and it continues to be ignored.

Is there a solution?

India continues to insist that the accession of Kashmir to India is final and complete; Till recently, Pakistan had insisted on the implementation of UN resolutions- a unitary plebiscite for the whole of J&K; Kashmiris are alienated from both countries given brutal repression by India and violence by pro-Pakistan militants. Is there a solution to this seemingly intractable issue?

One reason why previous efforts to solve the problem have failed is this: India and Pakistan have not included Kashmiris as a legitimate party in tripartite unconditional dialogues. Many observers think that UN resolutions are out-dated, since the dispute has evolved into tripartite. That other regional solutions should be considered given that various regions in Kashmir have evolved independently since 1947 and that the conflict is restricted to the Kashmir Valley whose area is less than 16% of the total area of Indian controlled J&K.

One compromise regional solution which could potentially work was proposed by eminent historian Alastair Lamb in 1998 called Andorran Solution and a similar variant was proposed by the Kashmir Study Group. Following the well established precedent of Andorra on the border between France and Spain, both Azad Kashmir and the Kashmir Valley could be declared as autonomous regions with its internal self-government but with its external defence and foreign affairs controlled jointly by India and Pakistan. Major advantage of this Andorran solution: No territory under Indian control would be transferred to Pakistan and no territory under Pakistani control would be transferred to India. Existing LoC will become the border. India retains Jammu and Ladakh, Pakistan retains Northern Territories.

Hearts and Minds

It is high time India reconsidered its continuing policy of holding Kashmir at gunpoint to showcase its secular credentials to the world. It is imperative that India puts an end to its present brutal occupation of the Valley and implements confidence building measures to restore the people’s trust. That will bring down the incidents of militancy considerably. Whatever be the final solution, it is worthwhile remembering the emotional speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru (ironically the very same leader who played a major role in the origin of the dispute, by way of his sentimental attachment to the Vale) in Lok Sabha on August 7, 1952:

“..Ultimately – I say this with all deference to this Parliament – the decision will be made in the hearts and minds of the men and women of Kashmir; neither in this Parliament, nor in the United Nations nor by anybody else …”

[The author is a Hindu, a researcher on the Kashmir Conflict. A Detailed Historical Timeline of the Kashmir Conflict can be found in the Kashmir Library website: http://www.kashmirlibrary.org.]

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By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Emeryville (Calif.)–As I was disembarking from a twelve-hour red-eye train journey from Southern Oregon, your stringer was handed, a thick packet that was within my past week’s mail from a Ms. Sarah Potts in the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  

The communiqué was a call to organizations and publications (such as the Muslim Observer) that most directly  “talk” to the American Pakistani community and the Islamic community at large on the United States’ efforts regarding  the tragedy and human misery brought on by the Pakistani floods, and how government and its Muslim citizens could support each others’ efforts.

As of August 9th, the American government has pledged $35 million dollars in relief funds.  To update Washington efforts, please navigate to www.usaid.gov– Keyword Pakistan Floods.
USAID recommends making cash donations rather than in kind contributions to legitimate (Islamic) charities and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who can purchase the required relief material on the ground.  Names of legitimate groups – Islamic & non-Islamic  non-profits– accepting such contributions can be found at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) above under the Keyword: Donations.

To quote Sarah Potts:  “…Cash donations allow disaster relief professionals to procure the exact commodities needed…locally…[thereby]…reduce the burden on resources …in [a] disaster [zone]…[also] support the economy of the…stricken region; and ensure dietary and environmentally appropriate assistance.”

More information on making donations can be found at the Center for International Disaster Information (www.cidi.org) or (703) 276-1914; Information to the humanitarian community (including the Islamic)  is found at www.relefweb.int.

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By Egon von Greyerz – Matterhorn Asset Management

No, there will be no double dip. It will be a lot worse. The world economy will soon go into an accelerated and precipitous decline which will make the 2007 to early 2009 downturn seem like a walk in the park. The world financial system has temporarily been on life support by trillions of printed dollars that governments call money. But the effect of this massive money printing is ephemeral since it is not possible to save a world economy built on worthless paper by creating more of the same. Nevertheless, governments will continue to print since this is the only remedy they know. Therefore, we are soon likely to enter a phase of money printing of a magnitude that the world has never experienced.  But his will not save the Western World which is likely to go in to a decline lasting at least 20 years but most probably a lot longer.

The End of an Era

The hyperinflationary depression that many western countries, including the US and the UK, will experience is likely to mark the end of an era that has lasted over 200 years since the industrial revolution.  A major part of the growth in the last 100 years and especially in the last 40 years has been built on an unsustainable build-up of debt levels. These debt levels will continue to swell for another few years until the coming hyperinflation in the West leads to a destruction of real asset values and a debt implosion.

In the last 100 years the Western world has experienced a historically unprecedented growth in production, in inventions and technical developments leading to a major increase in the standard of living. During the same period government debt, as well as private debt have grown exponentially leading to a major increase in inflation compared to previous centuries.

Until the early 1970s the growth in credit to GDP had been going up gradually since the creation of the Fed in 1913.. But from 1971 when Nixon abolished gold backing of the dollar, virtually all of the growth in the Western world has come from the massive increase in credit rather than from real growth of the economy. The US consumer price index was stable for 200 years until the early 1900s. From 1971 to 2010 CPI went up by almost 500%. The reason for this is uncontrolled credit creation and money printing. Total US debt went from $9 trillion in 1971 to $59 trillion today and this excludes unfunded liabilities of anywhere from $70 to $110 trillion. US nominal GDP went from $1.1 trillion to $14.5 trillion between 1971 and 2010.  So it has taken an increase in borrowings of $50 trillion to produce an increase in annual GDP of $13 trillion over a 40 year period. Without this massive increase in debt, the US would probably have had negative growth for most of the last 39 years.

Total US debt to GDP is now 380% and is likely to escalate substantially.

The coming hyperinflationary depression and the credit and asset implosion that is likely to follow will most probably lead to the end of a 200 year era of growth for the Western world. If only the excesses from the 1970s were corrected we might have a circa 20 year decline. But more likely we will correct the era all the way back from the industrial revolution in the 18th century and this could take 100 years or more.

So after the tumultuous and very painful times that we are likely to experience in the next few years, the West will have a sustained period of decline. All the excesses in the economy and in society must be unwound. These abnormal and unreal excesses are not just corporate executives, bankers, hedge fund managers or sportsmen earning $10s to $100s of millions but also a total collapse of ethical and moral values as well as a breakdown of the family as the kernel of society.

Most people believe and hope that this major trend change could not happen today with all the measures that governments have at their disposal. But very few people comprehend that it is precisely the government interference, controls and regulations as well as money printing that have created the problems in the first place. Power corrupts, and the more pressure a government is under the more they intervene. Because they believe that their interference in the economy will save the country – read Obama, or the world – read Gordon Brown. Little do they understand that each interference, each regulation or each dollar or pound or Euro printed will exacerbate the problems of the economy manifold.

Governments now have two options; continue to spend and print money like the US or introduce austerity programmes like Europe. Whichever way they chose will not matter since they have reached the point of no return. The economy of the West cannot be saved by any means. But governments both in the US and in Europe will still apply the only method they know which is to print money.

Government is Stealing from the People

Very few people understand that money printing is a form of robbing the citizens of their money and their work. Money is supposed to be a medium of exchange for goods and services equalling the value of the good or the service produced.  For example, an individual works extremely hard to earn an annual wage of say $40,000 which he receives in the form of paper money. The government, due to its mismanagement and incompetence simultaneously prints $40,000 in order to cover its deficits. So the government has by pressing a button produced the same amount of money that a man had to work a year for. This is what is currently taking place all over the world and which will accelerate in coming months and years leading to a total destruction of paper money. Paper money has completely lost its function as a medium of exchange or a store of value. This is why gold is gaining and will continue to gain value against perishable paper that is called money.

Deflation Inflation or Hyperinflation

The only reason that the US could build up such a major debt is that the US dollar has been the reserve currency of the world and therefore the US has been able to finance its debts and deficits internationally. The US has now reached a point when debts have to increase dramatically for the country just to standstill. Like all Ponzi schemes this one will also come to an end – and this very soon. The US dollar will decline dramatically and lose its reserve status and the US government will be unable to finance its deficit in any market. This process will lead to endless money printing, collapsing treasury bonds (substantially higher interest rates) and the dollar becoming worthless in a hyperinflationary black hole.

Let us just reiterate that hyperinflation arises as a result of money printing leading to a currency collapse and not from demand pull. The slight deflation that we are experiencing currently is a prerequisite for hyperinflation. The fear of a deflationary implosion forces governments to print money, leading to a collapsing currency which historically has always been the cause of hyperinflation.

Real M3 (source: Shadow Government Statistics) is falling at an unprecedented rate. This is the precursor to economic decline, quantitative easing and inflation (see early 1970s in the chart).

Many “experts” make the analogy between the deflationary period in Japan since the 1990s and the US today. In our view the US is in a totally different situation for the following reasons:

    * In the early 1990s Japan could still export their production to the rest of the world.
    * In the current downturn all countries (even China and India) will suffer and there will be no one to export the problems to.
    * The ability to export made Japan a creditor nation with major payment surpluses.  US are a major debtor and have been for 25 years. 
    * Japan had a very high personal savings ratio at the time (which has now disappeared). US has had a declining savings rate for years (the US savings rate is now going up which it always does in a downturn).
    * The balance of payments and the personal savings surpluses made it possible for Japan to finance their budget deficit without resorting to QE. Very soon he US will only be able to finance their deficits with QE and so will most of the rest of the Western world.
    * Japanese unemployment in 1992 was 2% and went slowly up to 5% by 2000 where it is now. Real US unemployment is 22% and increasing.
    * Many major sovereign states are now virtually bankrupt and the financial system is on life support. This was not the case in the 1990s.

The above are some of the reasons why the current US situation is totally different to Japan. QE will accelerate in the US and worldwide.

What will make this process so much more complex than the world has ever experienced is that the same development is likely to take place in many countries around the world simultaneously. It will most probably happen in the UK, the rest of the EU and most other European nations. Due to the total interdependence of the world financial system, it will be difficult to forecast which countries can withstand the coming worldwide tsunami of money printing but many Asian countries probably stand a good chance.

Can we be wrong in our forecast of a hyperinflationary depression? Yes, of course we can. But the alternative can only be a deflationary collapse which would be unacceptable to (dropping money from) helicopter Bernanke and deficit demagogue Obama as well as most other governments.

Conventional wisdom and most experts say that we will not have inflation but deflation. The problem with most conventional wisdom is that it is only conventional without an ounce of wisdom. When have the world’s so called experts, politicians etc ever been right on the current crisis? They will be wrong this time again.

The “conventional wisdom experts” also say that it will be years before we can see inflation or hyperinflation. In our view it can happen a lot faster. The world economy is resting on a foundation of matchsticks. All that is needed is a change in confidence or psychology for this fragile foundation to crumble. Falling currencies, rising bond yields and falling stock markets could very quickly result in a vicious and fast spinning hyperinflationary circle. The frailty of the financial system could make this happen like a flash fire.

Wealth Creation

Banks and the financial industry have throughout history existed in order to finance production and trading of goods. But in the last 100 years and especially in the last 20-30 years it has become a major industry in its own right and an important but unproductive part of the economy in many countries. Today, the financial industry is too a great extent involved in trading for its own and clients’ accounts, creating a raft of obscure instruments that only benefit the banks and as well as financing consumption rather than investment. All of these areas are totally non-productive and the only beneficiaries are the participants in the financial industry. And the rewards have been absolutely astronomical. In investment banking, hedge funds and private equity in particular, the most massive wealth has been created. Many players have become billionaires or created fortunes of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 10-15 years just by shuffling money around. In the past fortunes were created by building factories and industries. But today any normal employee working in Wall Street or the City in London will, by just showing up to work, make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. This is the proof of a world totally out of balance when people dealing in money become the richest segment of society. Since this activity contributes very little to the prosperity of a nation (but very much to its participants) it is not sustainable. The biggest reason why it exists is the massive amount of money that governments have created or printed and the fact that the financial industry has developed into a fractal wealth creation machine for the benefit of its participants.

For the last 40 years in particular the rich are getting richer and the average person has seen very little increase in real income. In the US, the real annual income of the bottom 90% of US families has increased by only 10% since 1970. And in the expansion between 2002 and 2007, median US household income dropped $2,000. The perceived increase in wealth for the majority of Americans derives from an increase in their debt level not from an increase in real earnings. So the improvement in living standards that the average American and many other Western countries have enjoyed in the last 40 odd years is primarily based on debt – debt that can never be and will never be repaid with normal money.

On the other hand, management has achieved a major increase in income and wealth. In 1973, chief executives in the US earned 26 times the median income. Today they earn 300 times. This enormous widening of the gap between the top few percent in society and the masses is morally and socially unacceptable. When the bad times start in earnest, this is likely to lead to major social unrest and violence directed against the privileged.

The Focus will Shift

For a major part of 2010 the focus has been on the problems within the EU starting with Greece, then Spain, Portugal, Italy etc. The problems in Europe are major and many European countries as well as the European financial system will lead to massive money printing. Although the problems in Europe are very serious, the US economy is in a much worse state. The diversion of the focus away from the problems in the US economy onto Europe has suited the US Administration perfectly. It can hardly be a coincidence, for example, that US rating agencies downgrade the Sovereign debt of Greece and Spain on the same days as Treasury auctions are held. But the problems in the US economy are deteriorating at a rapid rate; factory orders, consumer confidence, existing home sales, retail sales, the ECRI index (Economic Cycle Research Institute) are all falling more than expected and real unemployment, personal bankruptcies (will exceed 1.6 million in 2010), trade deficit, state and federal deficits are all increasing.

The ECRI index is an important leading indicator. It has now fallen for 10 straight weeks.

There are three insurmountable problems in the US economy that are of a magnitude and gravity which can only be remedied by money printing:

    * Federal and state deficits will soon escalate at an exponential rate. The US Federal debt has increased from $ 8 trillion in 2006 when Bernanke took office to soon $ 14 trillion. Many forecasts expect this debt to go up to nearer $ 20 trillion in the next 5 years. In our view it will be substantially higher. Add to that interest rates of 15% or higher and the American people will work just to pay taxes that don’t even cover the interest payments on the federal debt. This is why the US will either default or more likely print unlimited amounts of money.

    * The real unemployment rate is now 22%. Since 2007 over 8 million Americans have lost their jobs and it will get a lot worse.  Non-farm unemployment in the 1930s reached 35% and we would expect this level to be reached in the next few years.

    * The financial system is bankrupt. Banks are failing at a much faster rate than last year. To date circa 110 banks have failed. More seriously the assets of the failed banks are only worth an estimated 30-50% of their balance sheet value. Banks are valuing their toxic debt at phoney values with the blessing of the government. But even debt that today is considered safe will soon turn toxic with the consumer coming under enormous financial pressure. Add to that the OTC derivatives held by US banks of at least $ 400 trillion. A big percentage of these are worthless and there are virtually no reserves to cover potential losses.

Within the next few years, the three areas above are likely to result in the biggest money printing programme in world history and simultaneously lead the US (and many other countries) into the abyss.

Markets

There has probably never been a period in world history which has caused the amount of wealth destruction that we are likely to see in the next few years. If we are correct in our assumption that the West will see a correction of the excesses of the last circa 40 years but more probably of the last 200 years, since the start of the industrial revolution, we could see a total annihilation of the assets that have been fuelled by the credit bubbles. The spike in asset values in the last 100 years, which is unprecedented in history, is likely to be corrected by a waterfall which could start at any time. We will issue a separate report in the next 10 days covering our market predictions and the importance of physical gold for wealth preservation purposes.

– Egon von Greyerz

By Adil James, MMNS

Dearborn–August 15–The presidential appointment of a hafiz-Qur`an was, by itself and independent of any other facts, completely unpalatable to many on the extreme right.  Yet on February 13, 2010, President Obama appointed Rashad Hussain, an Indian-American born to first-generation Indian immigrants, as representative of the USA to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, with the rank and status of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. 

Rashad Hussain spoke this past Sunday at an event organized by Congressman John Conyers (D-14th-MI) at the Arab American Museum in Dearborn.  Many prominent Muslims were invited.  The audience appeared to represent many from the Muslim community and also many people from the African American community. Also, many of the leaders of Michigan’s Democratic party were in attendance, such as Debbie Dingell, wife of Rep. John Dingell, with immense influence in Michigan’s Democratic party despite her lack of an elected political office.

The Muslims in attendance represented the spectrum of politically and socially connected people in the Michigan area, such as Imam Baqir Berry of the Islamic Institute of Knowledge; Imam Mardini of the American Muslim Center; Farhan Bhatti, deputy campaign manager for Virg Bernero, (Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate); and several CAIR officials including Dawud Walid, CAIR-Mi executive director, Haris Ahmed, and Jukaku Tayeb.  The audience of about 300 packed the main hall of the Arab American Museum which was a jumble of people, tables and chairs. 

Hussain, in person, lacks the glossy charisma of a born politician–looking at the likely trajectory of his career it would be completely surprising for him to fail to reach very senior posts in government or in the judiciary, but very unlikely for him to seek elected office independently.  The stature of his mind and abilities is belied by his average height and modest bearing.

His background is spectacular.  His parents are from Bihar in India–his father an engineer and his mother a doctor.  He was born in Wyoming but was raised in Plano, Texas.  He won the Texas state debate championship with his debate partner Josh Goldberg while he attended the Greenhill School in Plano.  He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in only two years, with degrees in philosophy and political science.  He went on to earn a Masters in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard, and a JD from Yale Law School.  He was editor of the Yale Law Journal.

He co-authored a paper entitled “Reformulating the Battle of Ideas:  Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy” for the Brookings Institution, the paper advocates using Islam to counter terrorist ideology.

In brief, Mr. Hussain is possessed of a formidable intellect that vastly outweighs his 31 years of experience. 

Speaking Sunday, he gave an impassioned explanation of the Obama administration’s policy in relation to Muslims, using as its touchstone the Obama’s “New Beginning” speech given a year ago in Cairo, Egypt. 

In his speech Hussain pointed out major achievements of President Obama’s attempts to build bridges to the Muslim world, pointing to such achievements as April’s entrepreneurship summit at the White House (next year’s summit is planned for Turkey), educational exchange programs, with 7,500 English-access scholarships given to students from many countries, including Nigeria and Iraq.  He pointed to the US’s encouraging the OIC to do science and technology programs, with accomplished successes such as working with the OIC to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India.

Hussain emphasized the building of interfaith engagement through conferences, pointing to one in Jakarta.

He underscored the urgency of addressing the Israel-Palestine impasse, advocating “peace with two states.”

“America and Islam share principles of common humanity–the relationship with Muslism is not defined by only one framework, by Al-Qaeda.  No religion accepts killing of innocent men, women, and children,” he said.

He emphasized what appears to be a theme that underlies all of his and the administration’s policies in relation to the Muslim world, that improved economies will lead to undermining terrorism and the support for terrorism.  In relation to this, Hussain said that in speaking to people around the world he had found that their main concern which they had in common was not large political issues, but relatively simple:  “Jobs.”

Part of what was impressive in his speech was how it remained completely aligned with the broader message of the president and government he represents while also giving the ray of belief that the government sees Muslims as other than targets–a belief that Muslims found hard to maintain under President Bush.

Hussain ably dodged very pointed questions in the question and answer session: one by an Christian from the Arab world who challenged Hussain to confront Muslim regimes that mistreat Christians (Hussain said convincingly that he already had raised that issue and considered it vital); another by an Iranian Muslim who asked about Iran’s Muslims in relation to Obama’s attempt to reach out (Hussain responded, as he had to, with a restatement of the Obama administration policy in relation to Iran);  another question challenged the US policy of supporting corrupt regimes (Hussain responded with what is in fact a signature argument from him, that it is wrong to blame any specific foreign policy or government for all problems –there are huge problems unrelated to corruption such as terrorism–Hussain pointed out the July 1 Lahore bombing of a Lahore Sufi Shrine of Syed Abul Hassan Bin Usman Bin Ali Al-Hajweri, the Data Gunj Baksh–bombed about one and a half months before the disastrous flooding that has changed the course of Pakistani history). 

In short, Hussain earned his strong debating reputation Sunday.

The reaction of the audience to Mr. Hussain’s remarks and question and answer session was very positive.  Several times the audience applauded his remarks.  Ali Moiin, who attended the event, remarked that “it was a prepared speech, not from the heart–but he is an impressive person talking for the administration.”

But perhaps what was most inspiring about the appearance of Mr. Hussain was the kind of person that Mr. Hussain has proven himself to be.  Judge Keith said of Mr. Hussain in introducint him, that he is of course brilliant, but also that in the year he had worked with Mr. Hussain he had seen him to be “a great man and a great human being–he is like a son to me.”

He introduced Hussain to the audience with an emotional invitation:  please welcome Rashad Hussain, “he is my son.”

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By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie running back Abdul Deji Karim had his first opportunity to stand out in live game action and he made the most of that opportunity. Karim was put in charge of kick return duties in Jacksonville’s exhibition season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles and he didn’t disappoint. Karim handled the majority of the kickoffs for the Jaguars, and he consistently put his team in good field position, including a 68 yard kickoff return to start the second half of the game. He also had run-backs of 17, 27, and 41 yards in the game. Karim has already opened eyes in camp with his game-breaking speed as a running back, but if he can solidify his role as primary kickoff returner, then he has a much better chance of cementing a spot on the roster as a backup to star running back Maurice Jones-Drew. The Jaguars’ next preseason will be an in-state tussle with the Miami Dolphins this Saturday night. Jacksonville will host the Denver Broncos on Sunday September 12th to start the regular season. Let’s hope that brother Deji will be around on the squad to face the Broncos. That would make for a nice Eid gift for him, inshallah.

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By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

In a classic case of the Muslim world meshing with the western world, a suburban Detroit, Michigan high school football team has moved its preseason practices from the afternoon to the middle of the night to help its Muslim players during this holy month of Ramadan. Fordson High School in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn has shifted its practices to the never-before-used 11 PM to 4 AM time slot. But what might sound odd to the un-informed seems to make perfect sense in the Arab capital of America.

The head football coach at Fordson High is Fouad Zaban, a Muslim and a former Fordson player. He proposed this simple rescheduling of one week of August two-a-day practices to accommodate the fast and to beat the heat. We know how hot it’s been this summer — it’s not safe,” Zaban told the Associate Press. But making such an atypical switch was not a simple process. It involved getting the approval of school and district officials and local police. It meant winning the acceptance of players and parents. And it required appeasing the surrounding neighbors who would be fearful of added noise and light at night. But Zaban went on a letter-writing campaign explaining his rationale, and he subsequently won the hearts and minds of the populace. And Zaban’s sales pitch has been for the players to be able to break their fast at Maghrib and attend the masjid, and for them to be able to grab a light meal after practice and then attend Fajr salat at the masjid. It was ultimately hard for the school not to appreciate a plan so admirable.

The fact that they take their football seriously at Fordson High didn’t hurt Zaban’s cause. Fordson only lost one game last season, and they have achieved a total of four state titles and three second-place finishes in their 82 year history. Such logistical issues have come up now because Ramadan had not previously touched the late summer since the early 1980’s. But back then there was not nearly the number of Muslims in Dearborn as there is now, with an estimated 95% of Fordson High’s student body being Muslim.

“It feels really great,” Adnan Restum, a 17-year-old defensive tackle, told the Associate Press. Restum, who has been fasting since he was about 10, also added, “If we’re doing it during the day, we wouldn’t have water and it would be really hot and everything.”

Defensive tackle William Powell, one of the team’s few non-Muslims, initially thought the coach was “out of his mind,” but he’s come around. In fact, he’s even fasted.

“I’m around ‘em, so I’ve tried a couple times but it’s hard,” the 17-year-old told the AP.

Rami Fakih is a wide receiver and defensive back on the team, but more famously he is the brother of the recently crowned Miss USA Rima Fakih. He’s had to adjust mentally to these different surroundings, in which he can actually give in to the temptation of getting a drink from the water fountain in between plays.

“Oh yeah,” he told the AP. “Then I remembered, you know. I looked up. There’s no sun. I can drink. I can eat.” The times they are a-changing!

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The speed of sound is the rate of travel of a sound wave through an elastic medium. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343 metres per second (1,125 ft/s). This equates to 1,236 kilometres per hour (768 mph), or about one kilometer in three seconds and about one mile in five seconds. This figure increases with temperature (equations are given below), but is nearly independent of pressure or density for a given gas. For different gases, the speed of sound is dependent on the mean molecular weight of the gas, and to a lesser extent upon the ways in which the molecules of the gas can store heat energy from compression (since sound in gases is a type of compression). The speed of sound in air is referred to as Mach 1 by aerospace engineers.

Although “the speed of sound” is commonly used to refer specifically to the speed of sound waves in air, the speed of sound can be measured in virtually any substance. Sound travels faster in liquids and non-porous solids (5,120 m/s in iron) than it does in air, traveling about 4.3 times faster in water (1,484 m/s) than in air at 20 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, in solids, there occurs the possibility of two different types of sound waves: one type (called “longitudinal waves” when in solids) is associated with compression (the same as all sound waves in fluids) and the other is associated with shear stresses, which cannot occur in fluids. These two types of waves have different speeds, and (for example in an earthquake) may thus be initiated at the same time but arrive at distant points at appreciably different times. The speed of compression-type waves in all media is determined by the medium’s compressibility and density, and the speed of shear waves in solids is determined by the material’s stiffness, compressibility and density.

The transmission of sound can be illustrated by using a toy model consisting of an array of balls interconnected by springs. For real material the balls represent molecules and the springs represent the bonds between them. Sound passes through the model by compressing and expanding the springs, transmitting energy to neighboring balls, which transmit energy to their springs, and so on. The speed of sound through the model depends on the stiffness of the springs (stiffer springs transmit energy more quickly). Effects like dispersion and reflection can also be understood using this model.

In a real material, the stiffness of the springs is called the elastic modulus, and the mass corresponds to the density. All other things being equal, sound will travel more slowly in spongy materials, and faster in stiffer ones. For instance, sound will travel much faster in steel than soft iron, due to the greater stiffness of steel at about the same density. Similarly, sound travels about = about 1.41 times faster in light hydrogen (protium) gas than in heavy hydrogen (deuterium) gas, since deuterium has similar properties but twice the density. At the same time, “compression-type” sound will travel faster in solids than in liquids, and faster in liquids than in gases, because the solids are more difficult to compress than liquids, while liquids in turn are more difficult to compress than gases.

Some textbooks mistakenly state that the speed of sound increases with increasing density. This is usually illustrated by presenting data for three materials, such as air, water and steel, which also have vastly different compressibilities which more than make up for the density differences. An illustrative example of the two effects is that sound travels only 4.3 times faster in water than air, despite enormous differences in compressibility of the two media. The reason is that the larger density of water, which works to slow sound in water relative to air, nearly makes up for the compressibility in the two media.

The speed of sound is variable and depends on the properties of the substance through of which the wave is travelling. In solids, the speed of longitudinal waves depend on the stiffness to tensile stress, and the density of the medium. In fluids, the medium’s compressibility and density are the important factors.

In gases, compressibility and density are related, making other compositional effects and properties important, such as temperature and molecular composition. In low molecular weight gases, such as helium, sound propagates faster compared to heavier gases, such as xenon (for monatomic gases the speed of sound is about 68% of the mean speed that molecules move in the gas). For a given ideal gas the sound speed depends only on its temperature. At a constant temperature, the ideal gas pressure has no effect on the speed of sound, because pressure and density (also proportional to pressure) have equal but opposite effects on the speed of sound, and the two contributions cancel out exactly. In a similar way, compression waves in solids depend both on compressibility and density—just as in liquids—but in gases the density contributes to the compressibility in such a way that some part of each attribute factors out, leaving only a dependence on temperature, molecular weight, and heat capacity (see derivations below). Thus, for a single given gas (where molecular weight does not change) and over a small temperature range (where heat capacity is relatively constant), the speed of sound becomes dependent on only the temperature of the gas.

In non-ideal gases, such as a van der Waals gas, the proportionality is not exact, and there is a slight dependence of sound velocity on the gas pressure.

Humidity has a small but measurable effect on sound speed (causing it to increase by about 0.1%-0.6%), because oxygen and nitrogen molecules of the air are replaced by lighter molecules of water. This is a simple mixing effect.

12-34

State Dining Room

8:37 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good evening, everybody.  Welcome.  Please, have a seat.  Well, welcome to the White House.  To you, to Muslim Americans across our country, and to more than one billion Muslims around the world, I extend my best wishes on this holy month. Ramadan Kareem.

I want to welcome members of the diplomatic corps; members of my administration; and members of Congress, including Rush Holt, John Conyers, and Andre Carson, who is one of two Muslim American members of Congress, along with Keith Ellison.  So welcome, all of you.

Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars that goes back several years, just as we host Christmas parties and seders and Diwali celebrations.  And these events celebrate the role of faith in the lives of the American people. They remind us of the basic truth that we are all children of God, and we all draw strength and a sense of purpose from our beliefs.

These events are also an affirmation of who we are as Americans.  Our Founders understood that the best way to honor the place of faith in the lives of our people was to protect their freedom to practice religion.  In the Virginia Act of Establishing Religion Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion.”  The First Amendment of our Constitution established the freedom of religion as the law of the land.  And that right has been upheld ever since.

Indeed, over the course of our history, religion has flourished within our borders precisely because Americans have had the right to worship as they choose -– including the right to believe in no religion at all.  And it is a testament to the wisdom of our Founders that America remains deeply religious -– a nation where the ability of peoples of different faiths to coexist peacefully and with mutual respect for one another stands in stark contrast to the religious conflict that persists elsewhere around the globe.

Now, that’s not to say that religion is without controversy. Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities -– particularly New York.  Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of Lower Manhattan.  The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country.  And the pain and the experience of suffering by those who lost loved ones is just unimaginable.  So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders.  And Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.

But let me be clear.  As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.  (Applause.)  And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.  This is America.  And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.  The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.  The writ of the Founders must endure.

We must never forget those who we lost so tragically on 9/11, and we must always honor those who led the response to that attack -– from the firefighters who charged up smoke-filled staircases, to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan today. And let us also remember who we’re fighting against, and what we’re fighting for.  Our enemies respect no religious freedom.  Al Qaeda’s cause is not Islam -– it’s a gross distortion of Islam.  These are not religious leaders -– they’re terrorists who murder innocent men and women and children.  In fact, al Qaeda has killed more Muslims than people of any other religion -– and that list of victims includes innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11.

So that’s who we’re fighting against.  And the reason that we will win this fight is not simply the strength of our arms -– it is the strength of our values.  The democracy that we uphold. The freedoms that we cherish.  The laws that we apply without regard to race, or religion, or wealth, or status.  Our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect towards those who are different from us –- and that way of life, that quintessentially American creed, stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on that September morning, and who continue to plot against us today.

In my inaugural address I said that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.  We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus —- and non-believers.  We are shaped by every language and every culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.  And that diversity can bring difficult debates.  This is not unique to our time.  Past eras have seen controversies about the construction of synagogues or Catholic churches.  But time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values, and emerge stronger for it.  So it must be -– and will be -– today.

And tonight, we are reminded that Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity.  And Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been a part of America.  The first Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan —- making it the first known iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago.  (Applause.)    

Like so many other immigrants, generations of Muslims came to forge their future here.  They became farmers and merchants, worked in mills and factories.  They helped lay the railroads.  They helped to build America.  They founded the first Islamic center in New York City in the 1890s.  They built America’s first mosque on the prairie of North Dakota.  And perhaps the oldest surviving mosque in America —- still in use today —- is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Today, our nation is strengthened by millions of Muslim Americans.  They excel in every walk of life.  Muslim American communities —- including mosques in all 50 states —- also serve their neighbors.  Muslim Americans protect our communities as police officers and firefighters and first responders.  Muslim American clerics have spoken out against terror and extremism, reaffirming that Islam teaches that one must save human life, not take it.  And Muslim Americans serve with honor in our military. At next week’s iftar at the Pentagon, tribute will be paid to three soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq and now rest among the heroes of Arlington National Cemetery.

These Muslim Americans died for the security that we depend on, and the freedoms that we cherish.  They are part of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our founding; Americans of all faiths who have served and sacrificed to extend the promise of America to new generations, and to ensure that what is exceptional about America is protected -– our commitment to stay true to our core values, and our ability slowly but surely to perfect our union.

For in the end, we remain “one nation, under God, indivisible.”  And we can only achieve “liberty and justice for all” if we live by that one rule at the heart of every great religion, including Islam —- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

So thank you all for being here.  I wish you a blessed Ramadan.  And with that, let us eat.  (Applause.)

END