Archive for June, 2009
New site with resources on the Ash’ari sect.
There is apparently a new site out there offering information about the Ash’ari sect. Those guys are somewhat active in giving their da’wah on the internet, especially in the English language where they are more effective.
As always, my postion is that the key to knowledge of the Islamic religion and for the observant Muslim to [...]
More of the Hasa day trip
I felt like posting up some more of the pictures I took. The landscape outside of the urbanized area is quite beautiful. I suppose if you are from here it seems like just another day, but I find the desert quite interesting.
After climbing to the highest accesible point on the steep ridge, I looked up [...]
A day trip on the outskirts of Hasa
Yesterday we traveled to the outskirts of Hasa’s vast agricultural areas. We were looking for the Qaarah Mountain in particular. Because there are three mountains in the area that I know of, we had some difficulty finding our destination at first. Fortunately, all of Hasa’s natural landscape is picturesque and worth the trip.
This was taken [...]
Prince Nayef: The Ikhwan are the Problem
This is a letter floating around on the internet. A friend emailed it to me, and I believe a number of people are sending this one around. I thought it would be a good idea to post it. I remember back before I switched from the MA program in Political Science to the program in [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Comparing inflection and derivation
Derivation changes the part of speech of the base of the word, thus forming a new lexeme. Inflection simply modifies the same word grammatically. Inflection is also more suntactically relevant and productive than derivation.
With derivation, you may add both prefixes and suffixes as a means of performing the process; inflection within the English languages only [...]
Destination Derivation
Sometimes we may need to change a word from one part of speech to another part of speech. For example, we may be talking about work. If we want to talk about the person who does work, we may use the word worker. Deriving this word is a process known as derivation.
Derivation is a part [...]
Reflection of Inflection
Inflection may roughly be described as conjugation and declension in in traditional grammar. Inflection is distinct from derivation. In fact, inflection is not a means of word formation in the sense that ones forms entirely new words. If we take the verb work as an example, we can see that the phrase (he) works is [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )One size may not fit all
Perusing some of the latest writeups on the situation with Iran’s elections, I came across some comments that the Obama administration was hoping for something with these elections. Like the recent elections in Lebanon that saw the rise of a pro-Western party, the American regime was hoping for election results in Iran that would also [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )My first encounter with Sufism.
Just a few months after I converted to Islam, I graduated from high school and skipped town the first chance I got. I had lived within the same half-mile radius for all but the first six months of my life, and even then my parents only moved perhaps eight miles away into another neighborhood. I [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Another good (and sincere) line
From a student whose family owns a farm, and wants him to become a successful engineer after college:
“Teacher, I had to miss class yesterday. But I have a good reason.”
“What was the reason?”
“My sheep had a baby. It went into labor before the sun came up and I had to stay with her, then the [...]
