This is a little test of the new upload feature of QTM (a blogging client for QT). I have used QTM to post my last three blog entries.

I’ve taken some interest in various forms of new-age spiritual enlightenment. It is not that I think they will enlighten me, but rather that I hope to gain some understanding of what draws people to them.
To clarify, I’m interested in new western groups (not necessarily cults) that often focus their attention to a guru […]

The militant-mickey, Farfour, famous in the Palestinian territories for teaching children via Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV, was mercilessly beaten to death by an Israeli soldier on live television. (That link goes to an article, not video footage. Sorry).
But, before you get out your flag-burning material, you should know that it was in the script. […]

It has been related that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him and his family peace) said:
A group of the people of Paradise will get worried about some of the people of Hell, and will (therefore) inquire:
“Why are you in Hell? By God, we did not enter Paradise except through […]

In the extremely unlikely event that you’re using Ubuntu and you can’t find the package you need in any of the vast Ubuntu repositories, there is a solution. Before you break out your source code compilation hat (unless you just want to), check Getdeb. They have a lot of the new software and […]

Why is anyone surprised or upset that Rushdie was knighted in the UK? I mean, it’s not as though knights have ever been known for their intelligence, wisdom, piety, or bravery for that matter. Isn’t it kind of like a badge of shame that someone whose fame is based on the publishing of […]

…model. As a web developer, I’ve noticed that, although many web sites appear to have happy customers brilliantly displayed on their sites using their products, most of those “customers” are actually stock photo images from sites that sell such photos.
Most of these photos are attractive, happy women holding laptops or other electronic devices. […]

I have started a new book by Sachiko Murata called Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light: Wang Tai-yu’s Great Learning of the Pure and Real and Liu Chih’s Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm.
Yeah, that’s a mouthful. It’s actually two books translated. It also includes Lawa’ih, translated by William Chittick and juxtaposed with […]

There are ways to know of God and there are ways to know God. What is known as ma’rifah (awareness, realization) must be achieved through self introspection.
Soon will We show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is […]

Last night, the wife and I watched an enlightening video of a lecture by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri given at Agha Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. The title was The Global Quest for Spirituality. His argument was that we essentially need spirituality (that is, nurturing and development of the spirt or ruh) more than […]