I like this statement: //Thus, a South Sudanese identity, if proven to be financially beneficial, will develop a national aspiration stronger than that of, say, how Bangladeshis feel about Bangladesh (although their country was born less than 40 years ago). //

I agree with Idris. Today we consider any person who has ancestors within 2 generations, who spoke Arabic, to be Arab.

Ethnically speaking Arabs are the decedents of beduins from the Hijaz.. We cannot ignore that before the conquest of the Middle East by Arabs, there were civilizations who neither spoke Arabic nor considered themselves to be remotely ethnically related to the southern desert tribes. Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Jews, Carthaginians, Nubians, and Yemenis, all had their unique racial identities and unique languages; until ofcourse they started using Arabic more frequently than their own mother-tongues.

Correct me if I am wrong, but maybe it is just the closet racists who would refuse to 'grant' Sudanese the 'honor' of being called Arab, becasue the Sudanese are black.

//Do you understand what this entails? That means the problem is in the HUMAN EYE itself, and unless you are suggesting there is another way to "observe" without using our eyes (the ultimate empirical evidence is see with the human eye), we have indeed, as Bohr inferred, reached the limitations of science. //
//I said, a scientist is like a man with a hammer who thinks everything is a nail (quote from Mark Twain). In other words, even when a scientist concludes, through the scientific method, that science has reached its limits, a scientist would naturally try to resolve this obstacle with, well, SCIENCE! Because that's what a scientist does! //

You, my friend, are clearly not a student of science. To your credit, you nearly had me fooled ;) ;)

LOL. Plz let us know his responses (if any).

Beautiful as always Sana. Enjoyed every bit.

These nikabi women probably destroyed the preconceived misconception of the docile and submissive burka-clad Muslim women to the main-stream media viewers.
"Ban more brukas Europe?" So much for religious tolerance.

Officials in China's western Xinjiang province have stepped up pressure on the region's ethnic Uighur population during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EU0EQlmfDY&fe...

Those youngsters at Kabob who still believe secular states can make Islam beautiful should watch this. They would probably have their belief reinforced. (?)

God bless these people.

They are still brave and committed, even after the 1982 massacre perpetrated by Bashar's father.

I feel you! I agree with you that accountability is crucial for good governance. And Islamists believe in that very strongly. Umar bin Khattab once stated during a khutba to his people to obey him when he follows the Quran and the Sunnah, but if ordered to do that which is against the Quran and the Sunnah, to not only absolutely disobey the Caliph but to also see to it that he is reformed. You will be happy to know that Islamists believe democracy to be an important tool for accountability.

A hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) states that when confronted with evil to stop it with one's hand if he has the power, if that is not possible then to protest with the mouth, if that is not possible then to hate it with one's heart. However to only hate with one's heart is to possess the lowest state of Iman.
Another hadith states that the best jihad is the voicing out against the injustices of an oppressive ruler.

Maulana Maududi (one of the pioneers of the Islamic movement of the 20st century, and an important theologian for Islamists) also covered on what you have stated above on the corrupt rule after the Khilafa Rashidun, in his book "Caliphate and Monarchy". http://tfclub.tripod.com/islam_democracy.html

When all's said and done, in the end one must agree that the system (no matter how sophisticated/good) is only as good as the people running it. For starters, American democracy is a case in point.
You will agree that high levels of education doesn't guarantee the effective participation of the masses in neither the running of the state (Bush's Crusade/Bankster Bailouts) nor the construction of just and effective legislature (Patriot Act). Democracy then just becomes another tool for the subjugation of the duped masses who believe they are free.
"Who is more enslaved than the one who falsely believe he is free" ~ Goethe

I apologize if I have hurt your feelings, but I was just stating a concept. The statements made were not intended to be a personal attack on you.