Saturday 28 February 2009

Lloyds TSB, strangler of Palestine charities feels the pinch

By now everyone would be aware of Lloyds TSB and its role in helping Israel enforce the seige of Gaza.

Back in November last year, Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) sent a letter to Interpal saying that they have been asked by Lloyds TSB to cease all dealing with them.

Many Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK took part in various demonstrations asking for them to withdraw their threats and to provide an explanation for this unreasonable demand but no explanation was provided.

The only thing we poor people could have done is to move our accounts and money if we had in this bank to somewhere else, to show our displeasure. And thats what we did. Bank insiders admit that they have seen vast amounts of money being transferred to other banks recently.

According to some estimates, around 230 million pounds have been transferred out of Lloyds TSB by people who have raised objections to the bank. Its estimated that around 150 million pounds belonged to Muslims.

This amount would not have made much difference to them normally except for the fact that they are having tough times due to credit crunch. Lloyds TSB decided to acquire another bank but the deal turned sour and they have recently reported massive losses of upto £10 billion. In this situation if more people move their money out of this bank then it will really hurt them.

When I asked few people who had already moved their money out, if they have informaed the bank what they have done and why, they all shied away. This I this is not good enough. We need to let them know what they have done wrong and as a result what we are doing to them.

Lets hurt this bank while we can and get an apology out of them.

As far as Interpal is concerned, they have again been vindicated by the UK charity commission as no inappropriate or biased distribution of aid was found.

Friday 20 February 2009

Beautiful Advice of the Prophet


Companion of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) , Khalid ibn El Waleed narrated the following:

A Bedouin came one day to the Prophet (pbuh) and said to him, "O, Messenger of God! I've come to ask you a few questions about the affairs of this life and the Hereafter. "

The Prophet (pbuh) responded Ask what you wish.

I'd like to be the most learned of men.
Fear God, and you will be the most learned of men.

I wish to be the richest man in the world.
Be contented, and you will be the richest man in the world.

I'd like to be the most just man.
Desire for others what you desire for yourself, and you will be the most just of men.

I want to be the best of men.
Do good to others and you will be the best of men.

I wish to be the most favored by God.
Engage much in God's praise, and you will be most favored by Him.

I'd like to complete my faith.
If you have good manners you will complete your faith.

I wish to be among those who do good.
Adore God as if you see Him. If you don't see Him, Know that He sees you. In this way you will be among those who do good.

I wish to be obedient to God.
If you observe God's commands you will be obedient.

I'd like to be free from all sins.
Bathe yourself from impurity and you will be free from all sins.

I'd like to be raised on the Day of Judgment in the light.
Don't wrong yourself or any other creature, and you will be raised on the Day of Judgment in the light.

I'd like God to bestow His mercy on me.
If you have mercy on yourself and on others, God will grant you mercy on the Day of Judgment.

I'd like my sins to be very few.
If you seek the forgiveness of God as much as you can, your sins will be very few.

I'd like to be the most honorable man.
If you do not complain to any fellow creature, you will be the most honorable of men.

I'd like to be the strongest of men.
If you put your trust in God, you will be the strongest of men.

I'd like to enlarge my provision.
If you keep yourself pure, God will enlarge your provision.

I'd like to be loved by God and His messenger.
If you love what God and His messenger love, you will be among their beloved ones.

I wish to be safe from God's wrath on the Day of Judgment.
If you do not lose your temper with any of your fellow creatures, you will be safe from the wrath of God on the Day of Judgment.

I'd like my prayers to be responded.
If you avoid forbidden actions your prayers will be responded.

I'd like God not to disgrace me on the Day of Judgment.
If you guard your chastity, God will not disgrace you on the Day of Judgment.

I'd like God to provide me with a protective covering on the Day of Judgment.
Do not uncover your fellow peoples faults, and God will provide you with a covering protection on the Day of Judgment.

What will save me from sins?
Tears, humility and illness.

What are the best deeds in the eyes of God?
Gentle manners, modesty and patience.

What are the worst evils in the eyes of God?
Hot temper and miserliness.

What alleviates the wrath of God in this life and in the Hereafter?
Concealed charity and kindness to relatives.

What extinguishes hell's fires on the Day of Judgment?
Patience in adversity and misfortunes.

Imam El Mustaghfiri said: "I have never heard a tradition more comprehensive of the beauties of religion, and more beneficial than this hadith. It collects all the good things of Islam but not put to use." (Related by Imam Ibn Hambal)

Via: IslamiCity

Wednesday 18 February 2009

A marriage is for life; not just for fun


Read this in the papers:


Rich men are rushing to get divorced as the worsening economic situation forces them to reassess their married lives, leading divorce lawyers and marriage therapists say.


Unprecedented numbers of men who have either been made redundant, or fear their jobs may go, are suddenly splitting from their partners because they know they will likely be asked to pay out smaller settlements if they are no longer earning big money.


Others going through marriage breakdowns are being forced to continue living with their estranged partners as the property market crash means they cannot sell their houses. Some women are even trying to make sure they divorce their partners before the credit crunch bites to save their homes from the debt collectors.


There are many reasons and credit crunch is one of them for seeking divorce but for Muslims they have to remember the words of prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Among lawful things, divorce is most hated by Allah." (Reported by Abu Dawud)

Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in his well-known book, The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam states:

"A husband must be patient with his wife if he sees something in her that he disapproves and dislikes. He should recognize that he is dealing with a human being with natural imperfections, and he should balance her good qualities with her failings. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Let a believing man not dislike a believing woman. If something in her is displeasing to him, another trait may be pleasing.”

And Allah Almighty says, "...And consort with them in kindness, for if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good." (An-Nisa': 19)

While on the one hand, Islam requires the husband to be tolerant and patient with what he dislikes in his wife, on the other hand, it commands the wife to try to please her husband as far as her ability and charm allows, and warns her not to let a night pass during which her husband remains angry with her. A hadith states: "There are three (persons) whose prayer does not rise even a single span above their heads: a man leading a congregational prayer while the people hate him, a woman passing the night while her husband is angry with her, and two quarreling brothers." (Reported by Ibn Majah and by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih)

Because of his natural ability and his responsibility for providing for his family, the man is the head of the house and of the family. He is entitled to the obedience and cooperation of his wife, and accordingly it is not permissible for her to rebel against his authority, causing disruption. Without a captain the ship of the household will flounder and sink. If the husband senses that feelings of disobedience and rebelliousness are rising against him in his wife, he should try his best to rectify her attitude by kind words, gentle persuasion, and reasoning with her. If this is not helpful, he should sleep apart from her, trying to awaken her agreeable feminine nature so that serenity may be restored and she may respond to him in a harmonious fashion. If this approach fails, it is permissible for him to admonish her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive areas. In no case should he resort to using a stick or any other instrument which might cause pain and injury. Rather this should be of the kind which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once when angry with his servant, said to him: “If it were not for the fear of retaliation on the Day of Resurrection, I would have hit you with this miswak (tooth-cleaning stick).” (Reported by Ibn Sa`d in his Tabaqat)

It was reported to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that some of his Companions beat their wives, whereupon he said, "Certainly those are not the best among you." (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and an-Nasa'i and classified by Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim as authentic)

If all of these approaches fail, and the rift between the husband and wife deepens, the matter then devolves on the Islamic society for solution. Two individuals of good will and sound judgment, one from the wife's and one from the husband's side, should meet with the couple in order to try to resolve their differences. Perhaps the sincerity of their efforts may bear fruit and Allah may bring about reconciliation between the spouses.

These various approaches are stated by Allah in the following verses: "...And as for those women on whose part you fear stubbornness, (first) admonish them; then refuse to share their beds; and (finally) beat them (lightly). Then if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance); indeed, Allah is Most High, Great. And if you fear breach between the two of them, appoint an arbiter from his family and an arbiter from her family. If they desire to set things aright, Allah will bring about reconciliation between them; indeed, Allah is Knowing, Aware." (An-Nisa': 34-35)

If all these efforts fail and every course tried proves to be of no avail, the husband may resort to the final solution permitted by the Shari`ah of Islam. In response to the bitter realities of life, when difficulties cannot be resolved except through the separation of the two parties in an honorable fashion, Islam has made the provision of divorce. Islam has permitted divorce reluctantly, neither liking nor commending it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Among lawful things, divorce is most hated by Allah." (Reported by Abu Dawud)

That a thing is lawful yet detested by Allah means that it is permissible under unavoidable circumstances, when living together becomes torture, mutual hatred is deep-seated, and it becomes difficult for the two parties to observe the limits of Allah and to fulfill their marital responsibilities. In such a situation separation is better, and Allah Almighty says, “But if they separate, Allah will provide for each of them out of His abundance...” (An-Nisa': 130)"

Monday 16 February 2009

Jews and Palestinians: The same people?


What if the entire tale of the Jewish Diaspora is historically wrong? What if the Palestinian Arabs who have lived for decades under the heel of the modern Israeli state are in fact descended from the very same "children of Israel" described in the Old Testament?

And what if most modern Israelis aren't descended from the ancient Israelites at all, but are actually a mix of Europeans, North Africans and others who didn't "return" to the scrap of land we now call Israel and establish a new state following the attempt to exterminate them during World War II, but came in and forcefully displaced people whose ancestors had lived there for millennia?

What if the entire tale of the Jewish Diaspora -- the story recounted at Passover tables by Jews around the world every year detailing the ancient Jews' exile from Judea, the years spent wandering through the desert, their escape from the Pharaoh's clutches -- is all wrong?

That's the explosive thesis of When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?, a book by Tel Aviv University scholar Shlomo Zand (or Sand) that sent shockwaves across Israeli society when it was published last year. After 19 weeks on the Israeli best-seller list, the book is being translated into a dozen languages and will be published in the United States this year by Verso.

Its thesis has ramifications that go far beyond some antediluvian academic debate. Few modern conflicts are as attached to ancient history as that decades-long cycle of bloodletting between Israelis and Palestinians. Each group lays claim to the same scrap of land -- holy in all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions -- based on long-standing ties to that chunk of earth and national identities formed over long periods of time. There's probably no other place on Earth where the present is as intimately tied to the ancient.

Central to the ideology of Zionism is the tale -- familiar to all Jewish families -- of exile, oppression, redemption and return. Booted from their kingdom, the "Jewish people" -- sons and daughters of ancient Judea -- wandered the earth, rootless, where they faced cruel suppression from all corners -- from being forced to toil in slavery under the Egyptians, to the Spanish massacres of the 14th century and Russian pogroms of the 19th, through to the horrors of the Third Reich.

This view of history animates all Zionists, but none more so than the influential but reactionary minority -- in the United States as well as Israel -- who believe that God bestowed a "Greater Israel" -- one that encompasses the modern state as well as the Occupied Territories -- on the Jewish people, and who resist any effort to create a Palestinian state on biblical grounds.

Zand's central argument is that the Romans didn't expel whole nations from their territories. Zand estimates that perhaps 10,000 ancient Judeans were vanquished during the Roman wars, and the remaining inhabitants of ancient Judea remained, converting to Islam and assimilating with their conquerors when Arabs subjugated the area. They became the progenitors of today's Palestinian Arabs, many of whom now live as refugees who were exiled from their homeland during the 20th century.

As Israeli journalist Tom Segev summarized, in a review of the book in Ha'aretz:

There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened -- hence there was no return. Zand rejects most of the stories of national-identity formation in the Bible, including the exodus from Egypt and, most satisfactorily, the horrors of the conquest under Joshua.

But this begs the question: if the ancient people of Judea weren't expelled en masse, then how did it come to pass that Jewish people are scattered across the world? According to Zand, who offers detailed histories of several groups within what is conventionally known as the Jewish Diaspora, some were Jews who emigrated of their own volition, and many more were later converts to Judaism. Contrary to popular belief, Zand argues that Judaism was an evangelical religion that actively sought out new adherents during its formative period.

This narrative has huge significance in terms of Israel's national identity. If Judaism is a religion, rather than "a people" descended from a dispersed nation, then it brings into question the central justification for the state of Israel remaining a "Jewish state."

And that brings us to Zand's second assertion. He argues that the story of the Jewish nation -- the transformation of the Jewish people from a group with a shared cultural identity and religious faith into a vanquished "people" -- was a relatively recent invention, hatched in the 19th century by Zionist scholars and advanced by the Israeli academic establishment. It was, argues Zand, an intellectual conspiracy of sorts. Segev says, "It's all fiction and myth that served as an excuse for the establishment of the State of Israel."


If we look back to an article in 2001:

A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal.

Academics who have already received copies of Human Immunology have been urged to rip out the offending pages and throw them away.

Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma.

The journal's editor, Nicole Sucio-Foca, of Columbia University, New York, claims the article provoked such a welter of complaints over its extreme political writing that she was forced to repudiate it. The article has been removed from Human Immunology's website, while letters have been written to libraries and universities throughout the world asking them to ignore or 'preferably to physically remove the relevant pages'. Arnaiz-Villena has been sacked from the journal's editorial board.

The paper, 'The Origin of Palestinians and their Genetic Relatedness with other Mediterranean Populations', involved studying genetic variations in immune system genes among people in the Middle East.

In common with earlier studies, the team found no data to support the idea that Jewish people were genetically distinct from other people in the region. In doing so, the team's research challenges claims that Jews are a special, chosen people and that Judaism can only be inherited.

Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East share a very similar gene pool and must be considered closely related and not genetically separate, the authors state. Rivalry between the two races is therefore based 'in cultural and religious, but not in genetic differences', they conclude.

But the journal, having accepted the paper earlier this year, now claims the article was politically biased and was written using 'inappropriate' remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its editor told the journal Nature last week that she was threatened by mass resignations from members if she did not retract the article.

Arnaiz-Villena says he has not seen a single one of the accusations made against him, despite being promised the opportunity to look at the letters sent to the journal.

He accepts he used terms in the article that laid him open to criticism. There is one reference to Jewish 'colonists' living in the Gaza strip, and another that refers to Palestinian people living in 'concentration' camps.

'Perhaps I should have used the words settlers instead of colonists, but really, what is the difference?' he said.

'And clearly, I should have said refugee, not concentration, camps, but given that I was referring to settlements outside of Israel - in Syria and Lebanon - that scarcely makes me anti-Jewish. References to the history of the region, the ones that are supposed to be politically offensive, were taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other text books.'

In the wake of the journal's actions, and claims of mass protests about the article, several scientists have now written to the society to support Arnaiz-Villena and to protest about their heavy-handedness.

One of them said: 'If Arnaiz-Villena had found evidence that Jewish people were genetically very special, instead of ordinary, you can be sure no one would have objected to the phrases he used in his article. This is a very sad business.'

Saturday 14 February 2009

A for Apache, B for Blood, C for Coffins, D for Destruction


Gaza Alphabet…A for Apache, B for Blood
By Ola Attallah, IOL Correspondent
Mon. Feb. 2, 2009

GAZA CITY — "A for Apache, B for Blood," little Shaimaa wrote in her colorful school notebook.
It was not a school assignment, but the new alphabet children in the bombed-out Gaza Strip are coming to terms with.

"A for apple and B for ball do not work any more, not in the time of war," said the 10-year-old elementary student.

In the notebook, Shaimaa puts a complete alphabet collection, all derived from the deadly offensive which killed more than 1,350 people, including 437 children, and wounded 5,450 others.

"C for Coffins, D for Destruction."

Insisting that her collection is more relevant to the vocabulary her schoolmates use in their every day life, Shaimaa says her alphabet should be incorporated into the school curriculum.

Many Gaza children, just like Shaimaa, are developing a new vocabulary based on the atrocities they witnessed during the 22-day Israeli onslaught.

Amal Yunis, a teacher, did not see Shaimaa's alphabet collection, but says many in her kindergarten class are already using the very same words. She recalls when she entered her class holding pictures of apples, flowers and rabbits, hoping that the bright colorful photos will cheer the kids."Kids, who knows a word that starts with 'F'?" Yunis asked.

"I know, Miss," young Amgad immediately answered. "It's 'F-16'." The teacher tried in vain to convince him that the right answer was "Flower". To her surprise, the other options put forward by the other kids were: Fear, Flee, Fire.

Scarred

Across Gaza, war-scarred children are speaking a new language that reflect the horrific experience of 22 days of air, sea and land attacks.
"War, bombardment and death are all what they talk about," Om Faras says about her kids.

Her three-year-old son, Faras, shakes so badly and screams in fear whenever he hears any loud voice outside their home.

"He instantly starts to cry 'mom, bombs'."
Alaa Al-Shawwa, 6, does not believe any of the bedtime stories her parents tell her.

"No mom. The girl in the red dress was not eaten by the wolf. She was killed by the Israelis," she rebuffed her mother.

A group of NGO's warned in March that "a generation of Palestinian children faces the danger of being psychologically damaged beyond repair." A study of Canada's Queen's University has concluded that the pattern of violence against Palestinian children is causing them serious psychological effects.

"The children's new vocabulary mirrors the horrors they endured for weeks," Fadl Abu Hayen, director of the Center for Social Rehabilitation and Crisis Management, told IOL.

He said many children have been traumatized for life by the Israeli aggressions that hijacked their innocence.
"They forgot all about joy, fun and peace. They only talk about war, blood and death."

Via: Islam Online

Wednesday 11 February 2009

Caution: Offer of supplication may offend others



A nurse was suspended after offering to pray for the recovery of an elderly patient, it emerged yesterday. Caroline Petrie, 45, was accused of failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after the incident and is awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.

The community nurse, who lives in Weston-super-Mare and carries out home visits, has been suspended by North Somerset primary care trust and could lose her job. Petrie, a Baptist who has two children, said she had not forced her beliefs on anyone, but had simply asked if the woman would like a prayer said for her.


In our western society, there are many people who are atheists and agnostics and will be offended if people try to tell them anything about religion. Hence this news does not come as a surprise to me.

Muslims believe in Supplications (or Dua's) and consider them very powerful. There is a nice little book titled 'Fortress of the Muslim' that can help a believer with nearly everything.

Once Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) passed by a people who were suffering from some affliction. "Why don't they make dua (pray ) to Allah for protection," he said.

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH), "The supplication of every one of you will be granted if he does not get impatient and say (for example): `I supplicated my Rubb but my prayer has not been granted'.'' - [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

`Ubadah bin As-Samit (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Whenever a Muslim supplicates Allah, He accepts his supplication or averts any similar kind of trouble from him until he prays for something sinful or something that may break the ties of kinship.'' Upon this someone of the Companions said: "Then we shall supplicate plenty.'' The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah is more plentiful (in responding).'' [At-Tirmidhi].

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: "Whosoever desires that Allah answers his duas in unfavorable and difficult conditions, he should make plentiful dua in days of ease and comfort." Also he said: "The person who does not ask from Allah, Allah becomes angry with him."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "A slave becomes nearest to his Rubb when he is in prostration. So increase supplications in prostrations.'' - [Muslim].

We should make dua not only for ourselves but also for our parents, brothers and sisters, spouses and children, relatives and friends, teachers and other benefactors, and destitute and struggling Muslims everywhere. We should pray for them for the good in this world as well as in the Hereafter. The Prophet (PBUH) said: "The dua of a Muslim for his brother (in Islam) in his absence is readily accepted. An angel is appointed to his side. Whenever he makes a beneficial dua for his brother the appointed angel says, 'Aameen. And may you also be blessed with the same.'" [Sahih Muslim]

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Tale of two Holocaust: Spot the difference

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS FROM WORLD WAR II ARE DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE TO THEM BY NAZI GERMANY…

BUILDING WALLS & FENCES TO KEEP PEOPLE IN PRISONS











CHECK POINTS NOT TO ALLOW PEOPLE BASIC FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT








ARRESTS & HARASSMENTS









DESTROYING HOMES & LIVELIHOODS




GIFTS (WITH LOVE) FROM THE CHILDREN OF PEACE-LOVING & CIVILIZED COUNTRIES













THE CLASSIC PROPAGANDA MACHINE - YOU WILL FIND THE PICTURE IN BLACK & WHITE IN ALL AMERICAN AND SOME OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES, HISTORY BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS… THAT DEPICTS A YOUNG JEWISH BOY WITH HIS HANDS UP WHILE NAZI TROOPS POINT THEIR GUNS AT HIM AND HIS FAMILY IN ORDER TO EXPEL THEM FROM THEIR HOMES… IT'S SUPPOSED TO MAKE YOU SYMPATHIZE WITH THE VICTIMS & TO SUPPORT THEIR CAUSE FOR JUSTICE & A HOMELAND.


THE ISRAELIS PRACTICE THE SAME TACTICS

FORWARD if you feel that there is no difference between human beings…


Via: An Email - Copyright and other information unknown.

Monday 9 February 2009

Shall we let Eluana die?


The Italian government has been plunged into a constitutional crisis over the fate of a 38-year-old woman who has been in a coma for the past 17 years. Eluana Englaro was left in a vegetative state after a car crash in 1992. After a decade-long court battle, doctors reduced her nutrition on Friday in preparation for removing her feeding tubes, which her father claims would be in accordance with her wishes.

But in an extraordinary turn of events, the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, after consultation with the Vatican, has issued an emergency decree stating that food and water cannot be suspended for any patient depending upon them, reversing the earlier court ruling. On issuing the emergency decree, Berlusconi declared: "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her. I'm not a Pontius Pilate."


Islam Online has a very detailed section called 'Euthanasia: Types and Rulings'. Regarding the situation at hand, it mentions:

As for facilitating death by withdrawing artificial resuscitating apparatus from the patient who is clinically regarded as “dead” or “practically dead” because of the damage to the brainstem or brain, with which human beings live and feel; if the action of the physician is merely stopping the treatment instruments, it will be no more than giving up the treatment, in which case his action is legal and permissible, bearing in mind that these instruments can preserve the apparent life of the patient - represented by breathing and circulation - though the patient is actually dead, for he cannot conceive, feel or be sensitive to anything because of the damage of the source of all that, namely the brain. Keeping the patient in that state would waste vital resources and would prevent other maybe curable patients from benefiting from the instruments being occupied for the practically dead patient.

But in the current situation, she is not really brain dead so would leaving her to die be justified?

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “Allah created no disease but created something to cure it.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

In another hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi we read: “O Allah’s Servants! Seek treatment, for Allah does not create a disease but creates a treatment for it.” In the hadith narrated by Ahmad we read: “Allah created no disease but created something to cure it. Some may know it and some may not.” So these Prophetic hadiths give us hope of discovering cures for what we term today as ‘incurable’ diseases.


You may have also read in past of the news that people who have been in coma for long time came out of it due to some or the other miracle:

From The Times:

A British company is to begin trials of zolpidem on up to 30 patients later this year, such is the promise shown by the drug at temporarily bringing people out of vegetative states.

Louis, a young South African, had been in a coma for more than three years when he was given the pill as a routine sedative in the care home where he was being treated.

To the amazement of his mother and doctor, within an hour he was awake and speaking again. The effects of zolpidem lasted for about four hours, before Louis, who was 31 at the time, slipped back into the permanent vegetative state (PVS). It was the first time that he had shown any awareness of people, and been able to respond to them, since a car crash three years earlier.


From the Independent:

A Polish railway worker has woken after 19 years of a coma to discover that his world has changed beyond all recognition.

"When I went into a coma, there was only tea and vinegar in the shops," Jan Grzebski, now 65, told a Polish news channel.

"Meat was rationed and there were huge petrol queues everywhere."

Mr Grzebski lost consciousness in 1988, after he was hit by a train. Doctors gave him only two or three years to live. But because of the tireless care of his wife Gertruda, who moved him every hour to prevent bedsores, he remained in good health. He was, however, completely removed from the dramatic changes across the world.

After regaining consciousness, he told his family that he had vague memories of family gatherings and of his relatives talking to him, trying to provoke a response. There was plenty for them to tell him about, if they had wished to startle him with amazing news.


From Sunday Express:

GRANDFATHER Sam Carter was rocked out of a 10-week coma by his favourite Rolling Stones song – the first single he bought as a teenager.

Retired baker Mr Carter, 60, lost consciousness after contracting severe anaemia but was jolted back to life when (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction blared into his ears.


From New York Times:

A 38-year-old Sicilian who spent two years in a coma before waking up has said that he heard and understood everything happening around him during the long ordeal, his family said. The man, Salvatore Crisafulli, emerged from the coma, caused by a 2003 road accident, three months ago but began speaking only recently


From the Telegraph:

A woman who was in a coma for six weeks was woken from her condition by her granddaughter’s scream.

Devbai Patel, 56, was left unconscious after she was hit by a lorry in a crash which killed the driver.

Doctors reduced her sedatives to try to rouse her and her family talked to her, but she showed no reaction, so the medical staff suggested she might respond to her granddaughter Leela, aged 23 months.

When they brought Leela in, she screamed to see her grandmother looking so ill, and Mrs Patel immediately opened her eyes.


May Allah help her and her family and make the right decision for her. Amen.