Random Thoughts From a Far Away Land curious #8 said:

People who have no manners or ethics, those who may have a master`s degree but their language is more crude than a common truck driver.

...and then he/she said:

The reason I can`t even imagine going back is because I don`t want to deal with pakistanis who think that it is their birth right to insult and judge every person they come across.

Now who is judging who...:-)) You are a Pakistani to the core! Just can`t resist it...eh

Why I am leaving Leave the country if you have to but at least have the decency to thank the country for whatever it gave you. If nothing else, you owe some thanks for an almost free medical education it gave you. When you start your residency in the US you won`t be in debt ($150 K - $200K) and you won`t have to try to pay off this debt in the meagre $2000/month you`d earn in your three years of residency.

You don`t have to justify the reasons for leaving the country as I don`t think anyone is begging you not to leave but to bad mouth the country like this just shows a defeatist attitude. You don`t need an excuse to leave the country...

During my graduate studies in the US, the Internation Student Office in my school used to organize regular information seminars for international students in order to inform them how to change their status from a student to a worker and then to a permenant resident. At least thirty percent of participants in these seminars used to be from Western Europe. These people don`t even have an excuse to leave their prosperous countries but still they want to make it to the land of opportunities...

...and these are the people you`ll have to compete against...so forget about the garam garam roti for a few years!

Vulcan.

Brahmin and Mullah Finally an article that touched up the subject of religious hierarchy in Islam. I`ve been trying to find more information on this subject and dig people with religious knowledge to talk to me about it but somehow I feel that either muslims don`t know much about it or are too afraid to give an opinion on this topic. I would recommend a very good book, which is actually a collection of essays by Muhammad Asad (an Austrian Jew reverted to Islam in the 1920s or 30s) `This Law of Ours`. Muhammad Asad, in his various articles tried to bring forth the point that Islam does not suggest a system of religious hierarchy at all but instead gives clear instructions on matters of religious significance through Quran and Hadith and the matters less important in nature are left to an individual`s own knowledge and conscience. The work earlier done by the great scholars (who are reverred as Imams) was a need of their time and it does not by any mean makes their opinions binding on the muslims of today. Muslims today have to find answers to the current problems according to their own needs.

Somehow I felt that you dealt with too many issues in this article. I hope that in the future you`ll write more on this topic without bringing Brahimnism, India, or Pakistan in it.

Vulcan.