Happy Friday!

Don't you just love Fridays? I do, very much, since it's like a mini Eid for me every week. First, it's the last day of work, so get to enjoy the weekend, second, there's Jumma Namaz, third, we have our weekly classes for the Balkan American youth group in the evening, so we get to see all the kids and enjoy a great lecture by Huseyin Abiva, and actually learn something!


I think we are talking about the Ottomans tonight, this is why this particular Friday is so nice. I love Ottoman history. I remember reading a lot about the Ottomans when I was younger and I always wished and thought that I was Turkish or that I had Turkish/Ottoman ancestry. There was something about the Ottomans that I continue to marvel at. They seem like the only modern legitimate governing entity. Well, that's only to me, I still need that refresher tonight, when Huseyin will talk about how Islam came to Bosna, through the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. How a country that was primarily Roman Catholic, and partially Eastern Orthodox, came under the sway of Islam. No, it was not by the sword. That is rubbish. Perhaps today you can claim such a thing due to the ignorance of extremist groups such as the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.


In any case, Islam was brought to the people through the compassion displayed upon them by the Ottoman peoples. The poor were taken care of by the foreigners and were not taken care of by their own masters and rulers. It's not hard to pick a side when that side is the one feeding, clothing, and sheltering you. Islam is truly a religion of Peace, Love, and Compassion. Today, many have a skewed image, but I truly hope that who's ever life I have touched, they have seen this to be true, through me. Insha'Allah.


Insha'Allah, today is going to be a good day for you and me both. Maybe it will end with laughs and smiles and continue till tomorrow, and then the next day, and then the next day, and so on and so on, and by gone and by gone.


With Love,


Salman