First Change Yourself

Hillel, a famous Jewish scholar was once visited by group of pagans, and they told Hillel that they will convert if Hillel can recite whole Torah standing on one leg.
Hillel stood on one leg and said "do not do unto other, what you would not have done unto you, this is whole Torah and rest is commentary, go and learn"
Religion is not only about believing on things, it is about believing and then practically implementing those things in your life. If you preach people to speak truth and you, yourself do not bother telling petty lies then first you need to look into yourself.

(Karen Armstrong quoted Hillel in one of her interview)

A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Book: A history of God
Author: Karen Armstrong
Info: God as explained by philosophers, mystics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Review:
I took a lot of time to finish this book, and truth is that it is not an easy book to read. Parts in the book which highlight work of Muslim philosophers, mystics and other personalities were easier as there names sound familiar to me.
To enjoy this book, either you should have good knowledge of historical figures who contributed in  Judaism, Christianity and Islam or else you should prepare yourself for a lot of googling.
I must say that after reading this book, i learned many new things and it made me think about God in a different way, it helped me in better understanding of my God. Those interested in the religion, philosophy, Mysticism should read this book. For the first time i realized remarkable similarities in the three Abrahamic religions, and specially the similarities in Islam and Judaism.

Here is a review by Gohar: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1413757549

My Name is Red- Orhan Pamuk

BOOK : My Name is Red
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Info: original version is in Turkish, My Name is red is a English translation. In Pakistan Urdu translation is available 'Surkh Mera Naam', Urdu translation is by Huma Anwar
Review:

For me this was the first time reading a novel written in a style in which every character is speaking to you, and i liked this style, as it helped me in building a better connection with every character.
I believe this is not a book which you can finish in two days, it requires time and careful reading and as in my case where i am not at all familiar with painting and other related stuff, i had to keep my focus to absorb the fine details.
To enjoy the book you should picture yourself as someone having a cup of coffee and listening to a friend across a table. This is a must read novel for all those who have interest in painting/ sketching etc. Specially young artists growing up in central Asia, middle east and south Asia must read this. I am sure they will understand few things quicker than many other.
This book introduces reader with Islamic style of paintings and how that is different from western style or as in the novel it is called Venetian style. Before reading this, i saw miniature art many times but i never realise the depth in them, i never thought about the reason behind the development of this form of art. i never thought the stories hidden in them, it has introduced me to a wonderful form of art and for that i am grateful to orhan.
In addition to a book on art, i also consider this a book in which the concept behind the use of certain color, certain way of sketching, certain style of painting and use of certain tools is explained in a different way.
after reading this i realised that majority of artist across globe now follows Venetian style which was presented as something substandard and against the Islamic principle throughout the book.

Here is a review by Gohar: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1386793271

Surkh Mera Naam Bu Huma Anwar

Right choices for Right destiny

Do you believe in destiny, or do you believe that everything is in the hand of an individual, and its the person himself who make his/her destiny. Its an old question, but there can be only two answer, either you believe that some supreme power is holding the strings of your destiny or you do not believe at all on any such power and firmly believe that it is your own effort and struggle that will make your destiny. If you are an atheist most probably you will go with the later thought, else if you are a traditionalist in religion, you might prefer the former.

I consider myself in second group, but i also believe that destiny to much extent is in our own hand. God has definitely marked two end points i.e. our beginning and our end, He has also marked various paths that leads to that end point, but He has left the decision to choose the path upon an individual. In the end we will reach that pre-determined destiny but the path to that destiny is all dependent on our choices. It is extremely important for any individual to make the right choices, because ultimately he will get what is there in his destiny, one way or another. 

Right choices varies from person to person, it can be considered as a mathematical equation with more variable than number of equations, there are absolutely no definite right choices, its a very subjective term. Important is to study, to explore, to observe, to read, to ask, and then determine right choices in the light of your own thoughts.

Start looking at choices you have made so far, and the choices you'll going to make in near future. Doesn't matter you identified yourself as an atheist or a believer. 

Inter-religion Similarities

Today when we look at prevailing rituals in different religions, we realise the similarities between them, irrespective of the monotheistic or polytheistic religious philosophy.
I believe the reason behind it is that every religion which exist now or the religions which are dead now, they all got the basic learning of their belief from one common source, a source which is known by different names in different religions.
Monotheist believe in one God, and that one God of monotheist is also at the core of polytheistic religion, only difference being that human since birth are prone to believe on things which they can physically see, to make them sound more confident of their belief they started creating Gods and Goddesses for their every need. This lack of faith gave rise to mythical stories related to Gods, which ultimately paved way for mythical religion of past and present.
Going by the concept of monotheistic belief i can say that since beginning of time there was only God, and that God conveyed the same message to every human through His prophets, messengers, saints etc. Human due to their lack of understanding and faith, started creating their own Gods and forgot the teaching of that one God which were conveyed to them by their ancestors.  I feel this is the primary reason that today we see the similarities in various rituals performed by the followers of different religions.

Car Registration Renewal, UAE

From financial point of view last month was worst for me, my car registration was expired and i thought to renew it, i paid for the insurance and over speeding fines before going for registration, in fact it was due to fines that i didn't go for renewal in time otherwise registration do not costs you a lot.

At the registration office i got the token and left my car in the inspection & testing bay and went inside the waiting lounge to get my test certificate. A shock was waiting for me, the woman handed me the test report and told its fail. This was the news i wasn't expecting. After reading the report i found it was due to rear tires both needed to be replaced.

I went to the tire replacement shop and asked them about the price, earlier i thought to change only two but then i decided to change all four. Got four new tires and went back again for inspection. I was praying to get a pass certificate this time, which i did. Later i waited for almost two hours for my turn to get to counter and get my new registration card.

Before i left for registration office i expected to come back in two hours but unfortunately it took me six hours.

My advice is to avoid over speeding, always look for speed limit when you go to a new road or when you are unsure of speed limit, inside city do not go above 80 in all cases you never know where is the camera. Before entering any city like abu dhabi, fujairah try not to go above 100.
For tire replacement better to go to ENOC, Emarat they have tires in different price range and they offer tire change and balancing after every 10,000km.

I got my insurance from RAK bank, i guess many other banks also offer car insurance and price range is almost same for all except those who getting from Zurich insurance which is super expensive.

With time we change

وقت انسان کو اپنے حالات سے سمجھوتہ کرنا سکھا دیتا ہے، ایک دور تھا جب دل میں کسی ذمہ داری کا خوف نہ تھا،کسی فیصلہ سے پہلے اس کے اپنی زندگی پر اثرات اور اپنے سے جڑے دوسرے لوگوں پر ہونے والے اثر پر کبھی غور نہیں کیا تھا، خواہش تھی کہ زندگی ایک آزاد پرندے کی مانند ہو،  ایسی زندگی جس میں کوئی معاشرتی و معاشی قید نہ ہو،  زندگی جس میں کوئی سوال و جواب،  کوئی روک ٹوک نہ ہو،  مگر وقت بہت بے رحم ہے یہ جہاں زخموں کو مندمل کرتا ہے تو وہاں بہت سے خواب ٹوٹنے پر اپنے حالات سے اکتفا کرنا بھی سکھا دیتا ہےاور ایسی ہزاروں حسرتیں انسان دل میں لیے زندگی کے کاروبار میں ایسا مصروف ہوتا ہے کہ وہ خود اپنے ہاتھوں سے اپنی بہت سی خواہشات کا قتل کر دیتا ہے اور یہ کہ کے اپنے آپ کو تسلی دے لیتا ہے کہ یہ شاید میری قسمت میں ہی نہ تھا اور جو ہوتا ہے اسی میں کوئی بھلائی ہوتی ہے.