Jun
24
WAFA World Flower Show 2011:Boston MA
Filed Under Art, Pakistan, World | 8 Comments
Imran H. Khan
When you put God’s creation of flowers and plants in the hands of some of the world’s most accomplished floral artists, you get amazing works of art. The World Association of Flower Arrangers (WAFA) held their World Show in Boston last week. The show was titled “This Glorious Earth” and was held at the World Trade Center on the water front. WAFA has over 150,000 members from over thirty countries. WAFA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of international floral art societies. It recently celebrated its 29th year as the global authority on floral design and aesthetics, acting as a governing body by coordinating floral art events and standards for member countries. Through its worldwide scope, WAFA enhances the diversity of the floral art form by transcending international cultural barriers and bringing together fresh ideas. Pakistan had been scheduled to host the last show, but it was canceled due to security concerns. Pakistani members made it a point to show their prowess in Flower Arrangement by sending over 40 members to this show and winning twenty awards.
Sep
29
Ecological Impact of Haj
Filed Under Technology, World, religion | 8 Comments
by Imran H. Khan
As Muslims across the world prepare for, typically, once in a lifetime travel to Mecca to fulfill their religious obligation, it is time to ponder upon its impact on our planet Earth. With the rapid growth in Muslim populations, the advent of aviation and relative prosperity, an increasing number of Muslims are performing Haj. Last year three million people performed it and the number of Hajis ( as they are called) are only going to increase with time as the facilities at Mecca are improved and the availability of aircraft like Airbus A380 and Boeing747.
Aug
9
Salman Ahmad’s Jihad
Filed Under India, Pakistan, Peace, US Policy, United States, World, education, religion | 1 Comment
by Imran H. Khan
Salman Ahmed is a well known musician out of Pakistan and South Asia. He is the founder of one of the most famous rock bands out of that region by the name of Junoon. He has recently written a book by the name of “Rock and Roll Jihad“. When I first heard about the book and the title it struck me as something odd. Rock and Roll and Jihad had until now not been said in the same sentence. Jihad in Arabic language means to strive. In the Islamic religious sense it means “striving in the cause of God”. Jihad has been classified either as al-jihād al-akbar (the greater jihad), the struggle against one’s soul (nafs), or al-jihād al-asghar (the lesser jihad), the external, physical effort, often implying fighting. Having had seen Salman grow from a cute little child to what he is now, it does not take much to understand how he has used his musical skills to achieve social activism in fighting injustices, bigotry, national animosities, disease, religious misunderstandings, religious radicalism and the list goes on.
May
20
Rethinking Education in a Connected World
Filed Under Technology, World, education | 3 Comments
by Imran H. Khan
How we educate ourselves from childhood onwards is something that has evolved over the centuries, and the processes are deeply ingrained in our psyches. There are some very good evolutionary reasons for the existing educational system that seem to work just fine amongst the well to do in the developed countries. At the same time we have seen that application of technology has revolutionized a number of other human activities and the old systems of doing business have either crumbled or have had to rapidly evolve with the changing environment. They range from journalism, advertising, health delivery, travel, communications and so on. So it should be not surprising that technology also rock the education boat. When we typically think of the application of technology to education, the image that commonly comes to mind is that of students using computers and accessing internet. That may have been a start, but now there are a host of other capabilities that allow for our creativity to wander freely to explore. My goal here is to make you think about the new possibilities to restructuring how we educate the all humans that inhabit this planet. I would like you to be audacious with me for a while. Read more
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