text: FacebookTwitterGoogle+E-mail "Mama, I am sorry that I am a very big trouble and difficulty upon you," my son (who was 8 back then) said to me as he entered the house after Jumu'ah. It was a strange thing for him to say! I noticed serious regret on his face, filled with remorse, and my heart cringed at the sight. Perhaps if it was any other time I would have taken advantage of his "realization" but he had just come back from Jumu'ah and that is the time when I usually appreciate and encourage him. So I asked him why he said what he had said, and he explained, "Today shaikh said in his khutbah that money and children are fitnah!" Ah! My son had become just another victim of misunderstanding the word "fitnah". Because he was called a "fitnah", he thought of himself as someone evil and wicked! Unfortunately, it is not only a misunderstanding of an 8 year old, but of a fair percentage of the Muslim world, and hence, the most commonly misunderstood hadeeth remains the one in which the Prophet, sallallahu alihi wasalam warned the men: "I have not left behind me any fitnah more harmful to men than women." (Bukhari & Muslim) It seems that some of my Muslim brothers, as much as they love the female species, equally love to demean Muslim women, put them under unnecessary restrictions, and psychologically butcher their confidence as "proud Muslimahs"using the above hadeeth as a "proof" for their actions. In reaction, some of the sisters, to justify and maintain their Muslimah pride, have gone to the other extreme of rejecting the hadeeth and denying its authenticity. The common notion of their rationalization is along the lines: "If I must believe in the fairness of Muhammad then I must deny…" and a number of ahadeeth are questioned in the name of "fairness and logic", the aforementioned included. I questioned the meaning of the hadeeth in an effort to understand if the negative view of women was justified. I could not argue with the hadeeth, since without a doubt, I discovered that, it was an authentic hadeeth. Therefore, rejecting it was out of the question for me. Hence, I was faced with a dilemma: should I miserably accept myself as a fitnah, inherently evil as portrayed by many Muslim clerics, and let them condemn me whenever they wish, by using the words of the Prophet, sallallahu alihi wasalam, as proof, or simply excuse away the hadeeth? It so happened that since I am a proud Muslimah and am very proud of every aspect of my deen, so accepting either option would have been a paradox. Did I have a third option? Was there any way the hadeeth could be understood rationally while maintaining the harmony of fairness. Of course, educating myself was the only option not only in this situation but in any situation when my belief, the Qur'an or ahadeeth are criticized; instead of denial and rejection, knowledge is always the key. After researching the matter, I discovered several of the following misunderstandings. Firstly, I focused on the word fitnah. Fitnah comes from the word fitan which means to separate. That's why one of the names of goldsmith is al-fattan because he separates the pure gold from its impurities. In sharee'ah this word has been used numerous times to indicate a test or a trial, because a test/trial separates a true believer from a non-believer. It is only through a trial that a person's true faith shines. As Allah azzawajal says: أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ "Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: "We believe," and will not be tested" وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ "And We indeed tested those who were before them. And Allah will certainly make (it) known (the truth of) those who are true, and will certainly make (it) known (the falsehood of) those who are liars." يُفْتَنُونَ and فَتَنَّا both are derived from the rood word "fitan". When something is referred to as "fitnah" it doesn't mean that it is inherently evil or an innate source of corruption, rather it only means that it is a mean to put a person through a trial. In fact, every blessing or favor of Allah is also a fitnah for mankind. For if a person is blessed with something, and that blessing becomes a reason for him/her to disobey Allah or become negligent of Allah due to the luxuries of it, then in of itself that blessing becomes a fitnah for that person. Likewise, if a person is put under a test (fitan) but he/she uses that fitnah (test) to come closer to Allah, increase his/her iman through worship, repentance, proper evaluation of himself/herself and improving his/her condition, then in fact that fitnah becomes a blessing of Allah upon him/her. Hence in the hadeeth, the Prophet sallallahu alihi wasalam, is simply warning the men against their shahwa (lust/desires) for women and that this shahwa (not the women) is one of the biggest trial for men. He, sallallahu alihi wasalam, is not labeling women innately evil or wicked rather he is warning the men that their lust for women will be a test for them. How they act with and around women can be a case for them or against them. Even in our rational world, psychologists have recognized carnal lust of men as one of the strongest desires and addictions. Nevertheless, the complicity in understanding the beautiful meanings of this hadeeth seems to come from the over zealousness of some brothers in many parts of the Muslim world, who have abused this hadeeth to enforce their male "superiority" over women, and use religious submission of women to satisfy their male chauvinism. Of the common ways this hadeeth is misused is by restricting women from going to the masajid and branding them a source of "fitnah" for mankind, by adopting a condescending tone or attitude towards the women during khutbah or by delivering lectures warning the men against females, as if they are the cause of the "original sin". I believe that psychological injuries are far worse than physical injuries and those brothers who demonize women in such a way will be held accountable for the harm resulting from misrepresenting the words of the Prophet, sallallahu alihi wasalam. They have obviously not understood the proper meaning of "fitnah" and thus have decontextualized it. Second, I looked for other verses that use the word fitnah to refer to things other than women. Allah azzawal warns against wealth and children calling them a fitnah for us: إِنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ "Your wealth and your children are only a trial." This verse is another proof that just because something is mentioned as "fitnah", doesn't make it inherently evil. No one considers money to be evil or one's progeny to be wicked. People will attain higher levels in Jannah because of how they spend their wealth in the way of Allah. Some will continue to gain good deeds even after their death through the righteous children they raised. The fact is that these two are blessings of Allah and the fitnah lies in how we take advantage of these two blessings, whether we let ourselves get drowned in this world because of them, or we become thankful to Allah for blessing us with these favors and use them to come close to Allah. Similarly, how men deal with their desires for women can either become a path to Jannah or path away from Jannah for them. The same men who condemn women because they are "fitnah" never condemn wealth or adopt a condescending attitude towards children. Furthermore, these men never restrict the usage or gain of money to keep themselves from the "fitnah" of wealth, nor do they distance themselves from their children to protect themselves from the "fitnah" of awlaad (progeny). It is quite interesting though that when people, both who abuse and those who reject ahadeeth, evaluate the hadeeth in question, they forget to search how many times and how many things are referred to as fitnah in Qur'an. In reality everything we own and everyone we know can become a form of fitnah for us, as described in this verse: وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً أَتَصْبِرُونَ "And We have made some of you a trial (fitnah) for others, will you have patience?" (25:20) How many times are men reminded that they too are as much fitnah for women as women are for men? If men are attracted towards women, women too are equally tempted to attract attention from men. Nonetheless, the world is as incomplete without men as it is without women, and women are blessings for men as much as men are blessings for women yet they both remain a fitnah for one another. Men are tested through their women as much as women are tested through their men, but neither group is innately evil. Hence, the notion that Islam considers women to be the innate source of mischief, inherently evil or inferior (based on the word "fitnah") is nothing short of a blasphemy and a result of sheer ignorance. Although there are a number of textual proofs opposing such a negative view of women, my favorite one to counter these unsubstantial notions regarding women's place in Islam is when the Prophet, sallallahu alihi waslama said: "Made beloved to me from your world are women and perfume, and the coolness of my eyes is in prayer." (Ahmad and An-Nasa 'i) Having said all this, I must remind those who doubt the Authority of the Sunnah, position of the Companions, and prefer to put their logical reasoning over textual proof that it is not upon us to bend Islam based upon our own whims and desires. It is sad to see Muslim women ridiculing the ahadeeth simply because they think they contain misogynist undertones. This type of intellectual arrogance is not limited to female Muslims, but even to Muslim men who like to show their sympathy towards women by picking and choosing ahadeeth. Any authentic statement of the Prophet sallallahu alihi wasalam is binding upon us to accept as much as it is binding upon us to accept the ayahs of the Qur'an. Simply because an authentic hadeeth does not make sense to us, does not mean that the hadeeth can be rejected. Similarly, just because some men misinterpret or misuse a certain hadeeth, does not mean that we deny it, to establish our place in our religion. People who have taken this path have endangered themselves with an understanding that is not in obedience to Allah. My son is not an affliction upon me; in fact, he is one of the biggest blessings from Allah, alhamdullilah, yet he remains a fitnah for me, just as much as I remain a fitnah for him. It was my turn to explain to my son the precise meaning of fitnah, and as I did, his remorse was replaced with relief. As the explanation sank into his little mind, it became obvious through the spark in his eyes and the big smile on his face that he had understood the reality of his "fitnah". I hope and pray that just as an 8-year-old understood what it means to be a fitnah, so too will most of the Muslims around the world , men and women, so Muslim men can stop demeaning women and Muslim women can stop rejecting the ahadeeth to find their place in Islam. FacebookTwitterGoogle+E-mail 73 Responses Farhan April 11, 2011 Excellent article, I like your reasoning. This kind of understanding and analysis is lacking nowadays… On that note, France felt it necessary to arrested some niqabis: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/police-detain-women-protesting-on-first-day-of-french-islamic-veil-ban/2011/04/11/AFXSjtID_story.html?hpid=z2 0 0 Reply MW_M April 11, 2011 Excellent analysis!!! I agree with the above poster, this kind of understanding and analysis is lacking nowadays. I've found many time, people reacting to the perception of non-Muslims (and, of course, some Muslims) as Muslimahs being inferior by denigrating and mocking brothers. Very balance article, alhamdulillah. 0 0 Reply Amman Abdul Adl April 11, 2011 Masha'allah Sister, you've written a great article…. Muslims need to understand how to put the Hadith together. Every ahadith must be understood with other hadith related to that topic; and then look at it with the Qur'an. Of course that is not easy, but I think this how Allah tests us. To see how much effort we put into our faith, and if we still stick around even though we don't have all the answers. By the way, is this hadith authentic?: "Made beloved to me from your world are women and perfume, and the coolness of my eyes is in prayer.†(Ahmad and An-Nasa 'i) Allah Knows Best… 0 0 Reply ahmed April 11, 2011 This narration is graded hasan in Takhrij Mishkat al Masabih: Øبب إلي الطيب والنساء ØŒ وجعلت قرة عيني ÙÙŠ الصلاة wa Allahu ta'aala a'lam 0 0 Reply Abu Noor Al-Irlandee April 11, 2011 It is authentic according to Shaykh Al-Albani. Allah knows best. 0 0 Reply Amatullah April 11, 2011 Fantastic, jazaki Allahu khayran. 0 0 Reply Mouyyad Abdulhadi April 11, 2011 Great way of explaining that Fitnah doesnt mean evil or bad, but is actually a trial from Allah (SWT). Our lives are filled with trials just like living in this country contains many trials such as building for our future as Muslims in America. 0 0 Reply Saba April 11, 2011 LOL…..what your son said was too funny. ….aww poor guy. very cute! MashaAllah awesome analysis! 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 11, 2011 jazakiAllah khair. We revisited this issue a couple weeks ago and I made him read this article. He had questions how a fitnah can become a blessing and vice versa, so I explained. Then he asked, "So TV is a fitnah, it can become a blessing?!!" kids these days! 0 0 Reply Bushra April 12, 2011 LOL! That's so cute! TV can be a blessing or a fitnah…depends on how its used. Same with internet, facebook, even reading newspapers or books. 0 0 Umm Reem April 12, 2011 and exactly how can TV be a blessing? :) (without Huda and Peace channels) 0 0 Hena Zuberi April 12, 2011 Sister Hebah debating on CNN= TV becomes a a blessing :) 0 0 Layla April 11, 2011 masha'Allah what an excellent explanation, Barak Allahu feeki! 0 0 Reply Abdullah April 11, 2011 Asalamu Alaykum Sister. Jazakum'Allahu khayran for your explanation. Another explanation of the Arabic word for fitnah that an Arabic teacher gave me was to be smitten by something. To be taken by something, so to speak. Allah knows best if this would also apply to some of the uses of the word in the Quran and hadith or ahadeeth, and it would be best to check with a teacher on this. Asalamu Alaykum 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 11, 2011 I have. So let's say is we were to take the meaning you are referring to, how would you explain the hadeeth then?? 0 0 Reply Sabeen April 11, 2011 Jazakallah Khair for clarifying the hadith and the correct attitude that we should have in such situations: Of course, educating myself was the only option not only in this situation but in any situation when my belief, the Qur'an or ahadeeth are criticized; instead of denial and rejection, knowledge is always the key I grew up in a Muslim country but never saw the inside of a mosque till I was twenty. It is truly unjust that the words of the Prophet (saws) are misinterpreted and used to exclude generations of Muslim women from the mosques of Allah. There are masajid named after the Mothers of the Believers such as Masjid Khadijah where no Khadijah or Ayesha or Fatimah is allowed to enter and pray. 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 12, 2011 I am not sure if this is the Eastern vs. Western mentality or what but I have particularly noticed a condescending attitude towards women among eastern muslim men. 1 0 Reply Mohamed al_mahaldheefi April 11, 2011 "I have not left behind me any fitnah more harmful to men than women.†(Bukhari & Muslim) You have chosen to focus on the word 'fitnah', leaving out the 'most harmful to men' qualfier that in my mind makes it misogynist. While other muslims are picking & choosing which 'hadeeses' fit their worldview you seem to be picking & choosing which parts of a given 'hadees' to intepret in a way tat does not conflict with your views (which is essentially the same thing right?) 0 0 Reply MW_M April 11, 2011 If you understand fitnah from the article, the rest falls into place…. 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 11, 2011 ^ Exactly! Br. Mohamed: I am obviously not being selective of which parts of the hadeeth I want to focus on, I focused on the part of the hadeeth which is most commonly abused and that is the word "Fitnah". The way people use it and the way the meaning is understood is as if fitnah=evil Concentrate on the overall mafhoom (meaning) of the hadeeth and that is "men's desires for women is one of the biggest challenges for them." I don't see any misogynist tone in this hadeeth! 0 0 Amatullah April 11, 2011 i was curious to see what the original Arabic of the hadith is..and subhanAllah, not that I am in skilled in translation but I would have translated it differently. Arabic says: (ما تركت بعدي Ùتنة أشد على الرجال من النساء) Which you can translate as: I have not left behind me any fitnah more difficult for men to overcome than women. There is no word here for 'harmful', "ashaddu" doesn't necessarily mean harmful…It means something that is hard to pass or difficult to overcome or has a greater magnitude (the structure of the word shows that it is a superlative). It is from shiddah, like shadeed, strength and power. Looking at it that way, it doesn't seem to tell us anything we don't know already, doesn't seem very controversial in my opinion. It's unfortunate the translation of "harmful" is the one that is used most often, there are so many other ways to translate ashaddu 'alaa than harmful. We must remember that translations are merely based on the opinion and understanding of the translator. Allahul Musta'an. and Allah knows best. 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 11, 2011 jazakiAllah khairan Amatullah for posting the arabic text. The problem is that the widespread translations of this hadeeth use the word "harmful", especially on the internet world…hence that's what commonly used by people/men. Besides, what is abused in this hadeeth is the word "fitnah" as if fitnah is equivalent to something/someone being evil. 0 0 HenaZuberi April 11, 2011 then it gets further translated into other languages ( fitnah fasad in Urdu) further confusing people. 0 0 Umm Reem April 11, 2011 True "fasad ki jarr"!!! :) But unfortunately even Arabs abuse the term as if there weren't any women there would not have been any "fitnah" for them! We were just watching a series of debates in my Arabic class where women were called equivalent to shayateen. Some Arab authors wrote plays, a while back, questioning the role of women in this world and how they are guilty of اغراء and اغواء etc. etc. I have some non-Muslims in my class and I was getting desperate to show them that this ins't really "islamic" so I asked my teacher exactly when did this mentality started changing in Muslim world from the time of the Prophet, sallallhu alihi wasalam? I was hoping to show them that how Muslim women really enjoyed their rights during the golden era of the Prophet and the sahabas… Unfortunately the teacher's reply was a slap back on my face! He said something along the lines that Arab culture is a "reflection" of Islamic culture so what you see in Arab world has Islamic roots…and that Muslim women really never had a clearly defined position in islamic society! 0 0 Bushra April 12, 2011 LOL @ fasad! I find that really annoying. Urdu is a mix of many languages, mostly Persian and Arabic and I find that a lot of the words have been mistranslated due to cultural norms as opposed to being used in the correct way. 0 0 ahlam April 12, 2011 In Arabic, fasad= corruption! Talk about lost in translation. 0 0 Amman Abdul Adl April 12, 2011 Sister Um Reem posed a really question. When did the mentality start to change? Not only about womens issues, but also about everything else that has spiraled out of control… 0 0 M April 12, 2011 The narration I found has اضر instead of اشد , which does mean 'more harmful' 0 0 Bushra April 12, 2011 As Amatullah said: We must remember that translations are merely based on the opinion and understanding of the translator. Allahul Musta'an. and Allah knows best. 0 0 Umm Reem April 12, 2011 Even then the word ضر is referring to the fitnah not the women… 0 0 Anon. April 13, 2011 Dear Umm Reem, i am wondering whether you agree that the hadeeth is merely a pretext of many men saying what they want to say anway, and in many cases do say without the misunderstanding of the hadeeth? Also do you agree that the only way to understand women's upsetness on this front , is if their confidence is premised on the nafs? Please do share your thoughts, Jazakallah khairan wassalam 0 0 Anon April 12, 2011 The most well known riwayah is: 'Adarr 3ala-r rijal.. Allah knows best' 0 0 Olivia April 12, 2011 makes you think twice about translations and how translators can color their translations with their own biases! 0 0 Ghazala April 11, 2011 Salamu 'alaikum Sis. Barak Allahu Feekum for such an insightful perspective. I simply loved it. Insha Allah I look forward to educating others regarding this Hadith. Along the same lines is another hadith about there being more women in hell than men. Can you please find the time to explain this to us ? Also the other day some non-Muslims asked me about the veracity of the ayah that speaks about men being able to beat women to discipline them, I did answer them but would love a better perspective from you or anyone else here at MM. Jazakallahu khairan Katheeran Ghazala 0 0 Reply Hena Zuberi April 11, 2011 Keep an eye out for our domestic violence series coming soon InshaAllah 0 0 Reply Meena April 12, 2011 I am very excited about that and feel that it is something that must be addressed in our community. Masha'Allah this post was AMAZING!! I <3 MM!! 0 0 Umm Reem April 12, 2011 wa alaikum assalam Ghazala, JazakiAllah khiar…MM team is working on these issues. Please make du'a for barakh in our time :) 0 0 Reply Olivia April 12, 2011 Just as a note, just by sheer fact of their being significantly more women in the world then men, that alone is enough to make them the greater group in Hellfire. although there may be other reasons, but we outnumber men greatly. Also, as my shaikh mentioned, there will also be more women than men in paradise =) 0 0 Reply Mariam E. April 11, 2011 Asalamu Alikum Great article and explanation, jazaki Allah khayr. 0 0 Reply Nahyan Chowdhury April 11, 2011 Great point and very well written 0 0 Reply Zari April 11, 2011 Assalamualaikum wa rehmataullahi wa barakatuhu Umm Reem, jazakallahu khayran for such a beautiful article – very well written mashaallah 0 0 Reply salih April 11, 2011 Alhamdulillah! 0 0 Reply salih April 11, 2011 Alhamdulillah! Allahu alim. 0 0 Reply Cartoon M April 11, 2011 Excellent article mashAllah. It's sad how some people misuse the sayings of our Prophet (s). 0 0 Reply HenaZuberi April 11, 2011 mashaAllah a few words mistranslated , misunderstood and half of humanity under duress. jazakAllah Khayr we need to keep revisiting these issues. keep them coming Sistah!! And tell your son to make dua for all of us. 0 0 Reply M April 12, 2011 Salaam, Why the link to the letter on Dr. Khaled Abou ElFadl's website, in ur sentence "but even to Muslim men who like to show their sympathy towards women by picking and choosing ahadeeth."? If thats meant to be a criticism of him, its kind of a cheap shot. 0 0 Reply Bushra April 12, 2011 I thought this article was fantastic and definitely much needed. I read that hadith and always translated fitnah = trial, as that was the only translation I knew. It only made sense to me to understand it to mean men's desire for women. The idea that women are innately evil is something borrowed from other religions, that there is a distinct fault in women, hence they must be brought into line and degraded all the time. SubhanAllah, this is not from Islam and if that was the case, then the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) would never have married, let alone mentioned that he loved women!! 0 0 Reply Sadaf April 12, 2011 The same men who condemn women because they are "fitnah†never condemn wealth or adopt a condescending attitude towards children. Furthermore, these men never restrict the usage or gain of money to keep themselves from the "fitnah†of wealth, nor do they distance themselves from their children to protect themselves from the "fitnah†of awlaad (progeny). This was a very good argument in favor of properly understanding this hadith and quoting it in its proper context. Wealth and children have been called fitnah too, yet we almost always want more. 0 0 Reply Bushra April 12, 2011 The idea of using the word 'fitnah' in this context is similar to what Umm Reem mentioned in the article…how we treat wealth and children in the dunya will either work FOR us or AGAINST us in the akhirah. And that's how we have to look at it. Wealth is a blessing, if used correctly to give charity, spend on family, invest in halal initiatives, not to mention that it has to be acquired in a halal manner. But will become a fitnah if it is shown off and will invite envy and jealousy, as well as children fighting over the inheritance. Speaking of which, children are a fitnah if brought up spoilt, and loving the dunya. But can be a huge blessing for the parents if they are brought up as righteous Muslims and will make du'a for their parents after they die. 0 0 Reply Yousuf Tafhim April 12, 2011 Nicely put sister.. 0 0 Reply someone April 12, 2011 The most outstanding part in the article is that you went ahead and educated yourself about it, instead of just ignoring or accepting the common interpretation about the hadith. This is what we should strive for as Muslims, the same though process and critical thinking that we apply in our daily lives and work. Even if most may not accept your interpretations at least we can jump start a discussions about it. 0 0 Reply nyla April 12, 2011 Totally agree. We put in a lot of thought into everything we do in our daily lives but when it comes to Islam, the majority of us tend to just follow the crowd and don't analyze what and why is a certain ayah, hadith or its interpretation, the way it is. By applying the same sort of critical thinking (not questioning the law though) and thorough understanding of our religion, we would surely be able to educate ourselves better in this Deen, apply it in all aspects of our lives the way it should be applied and be able to convey the true message of Islam to those around us. A reminder to all of us: [This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded. (The Holy Quran. 38:29) 0 0 Reply Ejaz April 12, 2011 You are merely assuming that fitnah is something evil. When fitnah merely means trial/tribulation. Now, a trial can be good or bad and Allaah tests us with both. I am not sure why you would assume that to "Muslim men" fitnah is necessarily something evil. When the Prophet (sallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said, "I have not left behind me any fitnah more harmful to men than women," how does that have even connotations that women are "evil"? Since fitnah merely means test/trial literally. So let's rewrite this hadeeth with the english word and see, "I have not left behind me any trial/tribulation more harmful to men than women." Clearly, what is being referred to as "harmful" is the trial NOT the women. I am not sure what all the ado is about. I am not sure how someone can even think this way, "Therefore, rejecting it was out of the question for me." Why even mention this point? It implies that you did have thoughts of rejection BEFORE you found out that it was authentic. Allaahu Musta'aan. 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 12, 2011 Fitnah (test/trials) is not something good and that is why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam taught us to make du'a seeking Allah's protection from fitan: اللهم إني أعوذبك من الÙتن ما ظهرا منها وما بطن We do not wish to be tested BUT if we are tested then we can turn that test into a blessing by coming closer to Allah. I am not sure how someone can even think this way, "Therefore, rejecting it was out of the question for me.†Why even mention this point? It implies that you did have thoughts of rejection BEFORE you found out that it was authentic. Allaahu Musta'aan. I'm not sure how you think it implies that I was going to reject the hadeeth, iyyadhobillah. And the reason I mentioned is, as I said in the article, there are people who reject ahadeeth if it doesn't make sense! 0 0 Reply Hassan April 12, 2011 This is shocking, I never knew the hadeeth was understood in any other way than what was mentioned in article. I would like to know if there any famous personality who said that. (referring to wrong meaning) 0 0 Reply Bushra April 12, 2011 Bro, that's exactly what I thought. Surely it's common sense that women are not innately evil and that the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) held women in high honour. By using the other meaning, the assumption is that he didn't and that women are evil. Sounds very Christian to me. 0 0 Reply Anon. April 13, 2011 Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullah, I 'm not sure how best you can answer tis without defamation…but I genuinely am struggling to believe that any sane practising brother would be saying that the nature of women itself is evil, (rather than the deleterious effect he finds on his eman – because of his weakness). Is there are examples of this that you can bring forth please? Otherwise we are either causing a storm in a tea cup , or quite frankly addressing the incorrect topic; the correct topic might be: why men (universally, except those who have been western influenced/brought up) often feel the sense of innate superiority (insecurity?) that makes them articulate the fact that they believe the male gender (in general) is better than the femal gender (in general). it seems almost part of their fitrah, and something that those who don't engage in, are in effect suppressing their inborn nature, from merely expressing. As for the (mis)usage of the hadeeth – if this does indeed exist, then unfortunately I think we have a red herring. jazakallah khairan for the article either way. 0 0 Inqiyaad April 12, 2011 As salaamu 'alaikum, Sister UmmReem, Jazakillahu khair for the article. I second what Hassan wrote, I never understood this hadith as a statement of inherent evil in women. Also, I would like to point out a few things, 1. The article, focuses exclusively on one aspect of the fitnah i.e sensual desires. I believe this was inadvertent but, it might be used to subliminally peddle the idea that 'all men are pigs' like it is used to demean women as being inherently evil. I will give you credit for making clear that this is not the case. At the same time, I disagree with you about the test being equal in the sensual aspect. In the sensual context, while women cannot and should not let their guard down, women can be a bigger test to men than vice versa. As in surah 'ali 'Imran زÙيّÙÙ†ÙŽ Ù"Ùلنَّاس٠ØÙبّ٠الشَّهَوَات٠مÙÙ†ÙŽ النّÙسَاء I do not claim any competency to exegete. However, Allah begins the verse by using the collective noun that is 'naas' but later in the aayah, Allah used the word 'nisa' when in other places He has used the word 'azwaaj' or 'ahl' that are interpreted to mean either men or women. For example, يَا أَيّÙهَا الَّذÙينَ آمَنÙوا Ù'Ùوا Ø£ÙŽÙ†ÙÙسَكÙمْ وَأَهْلÙيكÙمْ نَارًا In this regard, while both men and women are expected to lower their gaze, Hijab is mandated on women. InshaAllah, It will be beneficial if a scholar can comment on this aspect. 2. Women (as well as men) can be a fitnah in a lot of different ways. For example, a man might deviate from or under-perform in his responsibility as the primary person accountable for his family in the hereafter. Yes, both men and women will be questioned regarding the upbringing of children and what they did to influence their spouses, if they were going wrong. However, correct me if I am wrong, the man has a degree of responsibility over the women. This fact should not elate men rather it should scare them. What can be a bigger test than being responsilbe for someone else's dunya as well as akhirah. 3. I view this hadith as a warning to strike a balance. So is the case with wealth or children. In this context, men have a very difficult test. If striking a balance in anything was not difficult enough, add to the above what Rasulullah salAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam said about women in a Hadith from Sahih Bukhari: "Treat women nicely, for a women is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely." And in another narration, "The woman is like a rib; if you try to straighten her, she will break. So if you want to get benefit from her, do so while she still has some crookedness." Want to insert a tangent here. I wonder if what we are facing now with regards to women's rights and attacks on Islam is related to this Hadith? Have men, by not being able to perform well on this test, opened up the gates for attacks on Islam and scores of women being misguided in the name of gaining freedom? Now, before we think of making things 'easier' or 'tougher', know that this test is about balance. Yes, it is a very difficult test. 4. I will end by quoting, from Surah Najm Ù‡ÙÙˆÙŽ أَعْلَم٠بÙÙƒÙمْ Ø¥Ùذْ أَنشَأَكÙÙ… مّÙÙ†ÙŽ الْأَرْض٠وَإÙذْ أَنتÙمْ أَجÙنَّةٌ ÙÙÙŠ بÙØ·Ùون٠أÙمَّهَاتÙÙƒÙمْ Ùَلَا تÙزَكّÙوا Ø£ÙŽÙ†ÙÙسَكÙمْ Ù‡ÙÙˆÙŽ أَعْلَم٠بÙمَن٠اتَّقَى He knows you well when He created you from the earth, and when you were fetuses in your mothers' wombs. So ascribe not purity to yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allâh and keeps his duty to Him Allah has created us, as He willed. Men are susceptible to their sensual desires, a little more than women. Women, if you will, making things a little difficult for men. Now it is a test for us. وَقَدْ خَابَ Ù…ÙŽÙ† دَسَّاهَاOقَدْ Ø£ÙŽÙْلَØÙŽ Ù…ÙŽÙ† زَكَّاهَا Also, Allah does not test us with something that we are not capable of لاَ ÙŠÙكَلّÙÙ٠اللّه٠نَÙْسًا Ø¥Ùلاَّ ÙˆÙسْعَهَا Allah knows best. 0 0 Reply Amman Abdul Adl April 12, 2011 Masha'Allah Brother, this is a very good explanation on how things are different amongst the sexes. With Um Reem's post, it puts everything in perspective. Like you said it's all about BALANCE… 0 0 Bushra April 13, 2011 Want to insert a tangent here. I wonder if what we are facing now with regards to women's rights and attacks on Islam is related to this Hadith? Have men, by not being able to perform well on this test, opened up the gates for attacks on Islam and scores of women being misguided in the name of gaining freedom? Now, before we think of making things 'easier' or 'tougher', know that this test is about balance. Yes, it is a very difficult test. SubhanAllah…it's amazing that from one hadith being misinterpreted, history has taken such a turn. But we mustn't forget about the qadr of Allah. 0 0 Amman Abdul Adl April 12, 2011 Lets just assume for the sake of argument that Fitnah means corruption. Again, does that mean women as a whole are corruption for society. I mean why are people even taking it to that extent. Men and women both have the capability of corrupting society. Aren't men guilty of injustice,oppression,rape, and so on? Have they forgotten the stories of Pharon, Abu Lahab, and Yazid Ibn Muwayyiah. Were these men told by their womenfolk to do such heinous things in society? I don't see a scholar on a pulpit expressing such disdain for men? So even if the hadeeth implied that, it still doesn't exclude men from causing corruption in society… Allah Knows Best… P.S. – I think its amazing to see so many sisters educating themselvles about Islam. Even with all these "controversial" verses and ahadith, its wonderful to see women standing firmly to Islam (MASHA'ALLAH). 0 0 Reply Faraz Omar April 12, 2011 Salaam alaikum, Although I agree with the explanation (because that is what should normally be understood from the hadeeth), I really do not accept the view or charge that women have been condemned by clerics or by Muslim men in general as evil. Such a charge against your Muslim brothers requires proof. To be specific, a statement like "should I miserably accept myself as a fitnah, inherently evil as portrayed by many Muslim clerics, and let them condemn me whenever they wish.." needs evidence. I'm not asking about cultures here, but I'm asking if scholars have understood that women are inherently evil from this hadeeth? Men love women… a lot. When the Prophet (s) said to men there's no fitnah greater than women, we know he is talking in the context of temptation and desire, and not that women are inherently evil. And no, the fitnah is not at the same level for women. It is quite sad to hear of those who reject this hadeeth. Perhaps it's societal pressure and political correctness that leads women nowadays to view everything through a colored lens and in the process reject the hadeeth? Such problems may blur our way to understand Islam in its purity. May Allah keep us steadfast and guide us. ameen. From what I know, when clerics say women are fitnah, men very well understand in what context and meaning they are saying that. There should actually be a poll to check if men really consider women evil! And if what you say is true, then it must be happening in some remote place that is certainly not relevant to the society "we" belong to. As a Muslim man who tries to learn and practice Islam and who certainly cannot tolerate abuse of women, this piece comes across as another men-bashing post that pushes the blame of one's own personal misunderstanding of an issue or hadeeth on men. (I thought believing men and women were each other's helpers.) :Disappointing: Allah knows best. wassalam 0 0 Reply Amman Abdul Adl April 12, 2011 "From what I know, when clerics say women are fitnah, men very well understand in what context and meaning they are saying that. There should actually be a poll to check if men really consider women evil! And if what you say is true, then it must be happening in some remote place that is certainly not relevant to the society "we†belong to." Brother, you'll be surprised exactly what many EDUCATED MEN think about women. At least within the South Asian community, I was shocked to hear so many things come out of some men's mouths. I thought it was all exaggeration when women used to complain about what was going on. When you have chauvinism and misogyny that is prevalent amongst society, any ONE Scholar (even though if he lives in some remote location) can cause so many problems. Its simply adding fuel to the fire. This is not say that women are innocent in there exaggeration about men. "Men Bashing" has become very common in the western world. We are all victims here, but none of us are innocent either. 0 0 Reply Umm Reem April 13, 2011 Br. Faraz, There is no need to become defensive or take this post as men-bashing because that was not intended by the post. I am not sure which world you live in but this hadeeth has been misused enough times that many many sisters questioned the meanings of this hadeeth and there are some who have gone through great pains in writing against the authenticity of this hadeeth. I'm surprised that you have never heard it being misquoted. Perhpas you should ask Muslim women around your area, go to women shelter, ask local imams in India/Pakistan/Egypt/Africa/Morocco/Mauritania and other Muslim countries etc. I do not see the need of mentioning names because this article was intended as an explanation for those sisters who have heard the hadeeth being quoted in a wrong way and need answers, inshaAllah. The fact that you seem quite confident in men understanding this hadeeth in its proper context and not abusing it is quite disappointing itself. 0 0 Reply Bushra April 13, 2011 Bro, I think you need to get out more and see what's really happening in the world. A lot of educated families are very VERY backward in their thinking. It's incredibly shocking. 0 0 Reply Faraz Omar April 12, 2011 Ok that was meant to be *disappointing* 0 0 Reply Zakir Umar April 13, 2011 Masha'Allah sister, this is really beneficial. Even the internet is a Fitnah, and you've just showed how it can be a source of good. 0 0 Reply Omar A. April 13, 2011 MashAllah Jazakallahkhayr for the very beneficial post, brings a lot more clarity to the above mentioned hadeeth we hear so oftern! 0 0 Reply Mehreen Misbah April 13, 2011 Jazaakillah for this insightful piece, sister! It was enlightening and definitely epitomizes the lesson of moderation that Islam encourages so fondly. 0 0 Reply Mucha April 15, 2011 Amazing article! You have nailed it when you compared women to children and money!! It really upsets me when people de-contextualize words and use them to their own liking. Islam was never against women but people are trying to force their own thoughts by re-interpreting the phases of ayat and ahadeeth, and unfortunately lots of those are Muslims themselves. We need to re-educate ourselves about Islam and educate others about what we really are! Keep on writing we need more articles like yours, thanks for sharing! 0 0 Reply Sexual Harassment: A Muslim Problem | ISLAMIC SPOTLIGHT: ISLAMIC NEWS, STORIES, HADITH, DOCUMENTARIES, LECTURES, NASHEED AND MORE DEEN RELATED ARTICLES April 25, 2011 [...] changed but have gotten worse. There is also deep rooted hostility towards women based on misundertsanding of ahadiths, as well as resentment towards women who want to step out of the four corners of their [...] 0 0 Reply Yasmine July 4, 2011 I just wanted to thank you for your amazing articles. I wish that all muslim women were like you and all the muslims (men and women) read what you write. Jazakillahu alfa khair ! from Morocco. PS : In the arab countries in general, women do suffer from men's condescending and sometimes demeaning behaviours toward them and I know what it's like. I honestly think that the worst muslims are the ones living in the Arab world, because they are far far away from the teachings and the values of our beautiful religion (i'm not talking about the 5 pillars) 0 0 Reply Uzair August 22, 2012 I've never had an understanding other than the proper understanding of this hadith, nor have I ever met anyone, let alone a scholar, who labelled women as "inherently evil". May be its just the kuffaar trying to defame islam by misquoting this hadith… Anyways, good article, sister. May Allah bless you. Do you speak english as your primary language? 0 0 Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply


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Posts tagged 'adventure'
Wisconsin Racing and Riding
Pre-race pic, happy with 65th given this was only my second road event of the year.
Beautiful cool weather this year unlike last year's scorcher, so hydration was easy. Sad that this will be the last year for Madison hosting the race, but perhaps Northern California hosting it will be a good reason to take a trip out there in 2016. Next year, however, I am aiming for a Southern California trip for the Race Across America. Already starting my training for RAAM 2015, I thought it would be good to do the race and then do a long point-to-point ride while still tired from the race. With my wife's family in Northwestern Wisconsin, it made sense for me to ride up there from Madison for the rest of our vacation up here.
Race summary
I got a good start near the front, but not having ridden in a pack much this year I wasn't good at keeping my position as other riders edged beside me. By the end of the neutral section I was already near the back of the field. I felt good on the Cat 3 climb to finish the lap and started feeling more comfortable moving around in the pack. On the third lap, I found myself near the back again when the field slowed down on the county road before the climb. I noticed on the previous lap that the shoulder is very nice, rideable gravel. So I ended up passing almost the entire field in the gravel. In retrospect, I wish I had attacked instead of pulling back into line because there was still a few more miles of slow riding. How epic would that have been to have attacked in the gravel in the national championship road race. Oh well!
Instead, by the time we reached the bottom of the climb on that lap I had already slid back to mid-pack. I was running out of nutrition so I asked Kristine to feed me gels on the next lap. I was near the back the next time through the climb and pulled over to grab the gels. I grabbed them with no problem and chased back onto the back of the field, but by this point the back of the field had splintered and there wasn't enough of us to chase back on even though we tried an entire lap plus mixing it up with the large caravan of vehicles.
Many people pulled out, but Shawn Gravois (Lupus) and I soldiered on eventually catching Andy Scarano (UHC/706). Together the three of us rolled the last half lap until we caught a few more people coming off the lead group. The last person we caught was near the top of the climb, and he came back around us which was kind of the universal sign that we're still racing. I took off up the final climb to end up finishing 65th.
Annotated heartrate plot for national road race (click to enlarge)
Cave of the mounds
After the race, we wanted to check out the cave of the mounds since it was right by the course … an hour long tour was worth it even though my legs were tired and my stomach very hungry. By the end of the tour, we were practically running to the car to get to the nearest place to eat. We ended up at the Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb. Very good, in-house produced root beer and cheese curds. Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm.
Adventure in the hills of Southwestern, Western, and Northwestern Wisconsin
After dinner I drove Kristine and the kids on some of the routes through the hills between Blue Mounds and Middleton where we were staying – including Observatory Rd – the views are spectacular. One more trip to Starbucks, and I started this blog while the kids were swimming in the hotel pool. I tried to time my sleep so that I would get exactly 3 hours of sleep (two 90 minute sleep cycles) before getting up. Unfortunately, they were playing a replay of the highlights of last year's Tour de France so I think I only ended up with one sleep cycle.
"Heading out for a little ride across the state of Wisconsin – 1:15am" – my instagram caption from the hotel elevator as I headed out for an approx 350 mile ride through the hills of southwestern, western, and northwestern Wisconsin.
I've included my route map below. I tried to pick the hilliest route I could find through all the hills that was still relatively straight heading in the northwesterly direction. There were many climbs I had to skip because they went too far out of the way, but I was still surprised when I was riding at just how many hills and valleys I went through — totaling just over 20,000 feet of climbing. The upper midwest has had quite a bit of flooding problems this late spring / early summer from all the rain combined with snowmelt. This translated to many bridges being out. That makes for quite the challenge on a point-to-point ride. Only two of the bridges that were out were on my direct path. The first bridge out I came to was actually not completely out, and I was able to cross it by hanging off the side of the bridge. The second bridge was really out with no bridge left. I wouldn't have any problems with taking my shoes and socks off and fording the water, but it was very deep mud and grass that I would need to traverse — not something I wanted to do within the first 100 miles of a 350ish mile ride. The official detour was miles and miles out of the way, so I took an unofficial detour through several miles of gravel on steep rollers, whole fields of bunnies, and endless fields of corn. Some of the other bridges out meant that the larger roads were detouring onto the route that I was already planning on taking. Fortunately, this part of Wisconsin is really rural … no cellphone coverage for over 100 miles from Blue Mounds to Sparta. Then another 100 miles of no cellphone coverage until the outskirts of Eau Claire. So the traffic was minimal pretty much the entire day.
"All kinds of awesome on a point-to-point ride" – my instagram caption at the first bridge out … before holding onto the outside of what was left of the bridge to cross the creek. They had fenced off the bridge itself well enough that I couldn't just climb over or around the fence.
western wisconsin – ultra resolution annotated topocreator map (click to enlarge).
western wisconsin – topocreator county map (click to enlarge). my route traversed 13 counties.
I started out at 1:15 in the morning with the moon having already set. The Milky Way galaxy was bright enough to ride through open fields with no lights on! I tried this a couple times on the climbs up to Blue Mounds which have some stretches of open fields. Absolutely amazing. I had a four light setup for negotiating some of the fast descents in the dark – rear taillight, two handlebar mounted front lights (a 200 lumen and a small 50 lumen), plus a helmet mounted 200 lumen headlight. I thought I needed to conserve battery so on all the uphills I rode with just the 50 lumen light on. Then for the faster downhills I turned on the 200 lumen light at its lowest setting, and if the descent really started to turn downhill I flipped on the helmet light at its brightest setting. It turns out I didn't need to worry about battery at all because this far north, it starts getting light outside by about 4:30AM. By 5AM, you can ride without a light other than a blinkie light for visibility for cars. Plus, sunset isn't until 9PM with the afterglow lasting until about 10PM!
I also had two Garmins and a cellphone to keep charged during the ride. The cellphone was the most challenging to keep charged because there was so little coverage my phone battery was constantly draining as it boosted the signal to try to find coverage — unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, we had not anticipated so much non-coverage and Kristine was tracking me online. We pretty much gave up on the tracking after Blue Mounds, and I texted her in the two towns that had coverage (Sparta and Eau Claire).
I had split the route into five separate 70 mile courses, which I loaded onto my Garmin 1000. This was my first real course test for the 1000. It followed the courses with no problems, no crashes, no glitches. I know from much experience that my Garmin 800 cannot follow long courses with hundreds of turns without eventually crashing. But since I was doing all the navigation on my 1000, I was able to leave the 800 running without messing with it at all. It made it the entire 315 mile ride without crashing. I had to recharge both Garmins twice. I brought an Anker Astro Mini charger and a Gomadic Solar charger. I completely drained the Anker keeping the cellphone charged but it made it the entire day (21 hours) with a large part of the day spent searching for signals.
The Gomadic I split between the 800 and 1000 and was able to keep both charged although both ended the day with low battery and my Gomadic also with its low battery signal on. Also, in Sparta I knew that I might need extra battery so I bought a wall charger which I also used to charge the cellphone during an extended Starbucks stop in Eau Claire.
I'll finish this post just with some pictures showing the scenery and describing the road as mixed conditions, a lot of smooth pavement with minimal cracking, the occasional perfectly smooth road, some larger cracks on a few of the heavier traveled roads, a few rough gravel roads, and one smooth fast dirt road which I think was being prepped for paving (county ww outside of eau claire). The terrain was steep rolling hills, long gradual climbs and descents in river valleys, plus the occasional long and steep cat 3 climb up to some of the higher ridges. Usually the top of the ridge would be flat to gently rolling with sweeping views of other ridges and valleys dotted with farms, barns, silos, forests … in other words flat out beautiful.
Western Wisconsin annotated heartrate plot (click to enlarge – look at all the steep hills)
Catching up on some epic adventures
Life has been busy and is about to get busier, but I've had some pretty crazy adventures I wanted to blog about. These are ordered below based on when they happened, so you can jump to any specific one with these links:
American Flyers | Just a little commute | Grant ups and downs
March 8-9th – American Flyers – Rouge Roubaix
My all-time favorite cycling movie out of the two that I've seen is American Flyers. In the opening scene, the lead actor is racing a barge along the Mississippi River. Then he rides into his building and onto the elevator. I do the latter every day on my commute to work, but I've never gotten to race a barge on the Mississippi until my Rouge Roubaix pre-ride this year. The race itself was epic as always – read my race report, but man sometimes I think the pre-rides are more adventurous than the races themselves … see Hell of the South exception, though.
Racing a barge on the Mississippi River – I just "American Flyered" my ride.
One of the ironic things about the Rouge Roubaix race is how close the course is to the Mississippi River, but you can never see the river from any spot on the course unless it is in severe flood stage (see pic below)
Google street-view of the turn onto 2nd gravel. The Mississippi River was at flood stage when the streetview car drove by. During the race, you cannot normally see the river. For my pre-ride I parked at the store annotated in the picture.
This was my fifth year racing Rouge Roubaix, but I had never gone out of my way to see the river because my time spent there is usually so short. I wanted to include a trip out to the river in my pre-ride this year. I ended up picking a route onto Cat Island that veered off of the race course shortly after the third gravel section (Tunica Hills). My route plan was about 50 miles, which I thought would give me plenty of time to just cruise through the second and third gravel section. After a late start on the 7 hour drive from Birmingham plus a bit of a challenge figuring out where to park and not upset the locals (turns out I could have parked pretty much anywhere), I only had less than 3 hours of daylight left. Not exactly a lot of time to ride the 2nd and 3rd gravel sections plus the 2nd gravel section again on the return route.
I was enjoying a nice easy pre-ride, but as my brain ticked away at timing calculations I realized that there was no way I was going to finish before sunset. I picked up the pace and realized that I was probably going to be making it to the turn-around point of my ride sometime near sunset. Stubbornly, I decided that seeing the river this year was worth riding in the dark with no light. The next challenge was finding a way to the river. I knew that the road I picked out onto Cat Island swung close to the river, but not until pretty far into the island. The road kept getting muddier from rain and floods (pic below was from the early part of the road where it was still easily rideable … imagine entire short sections of road covered in thick mud), so I decided when I caught a glimpse of the river behind a gate with a short dirt road leading right up to the edge that I had found my entry spot.
Cat Island road – good practice for finding a good line for the rouge roubaix race
Dirt double track to the river – barge visible in the river
Right after carefully climbing the fence and setting my bike over on the other side, a barge started to pass by on the river. That is when I knew I had to get a pic of the barge. Unsure whether I was going to stumble into a herd of bulls or cows, I took off like a rabbit down the double track to get to the river's edge and get a pic. The pic at the top is what I was able to get. So in some sense the barge won because it made it past my access spot to the river, but in another sense I won because it was still close enough for me to get a pic!
As you can see from the lighting in the picture, it was near sunset by the time I had finally seen the river. I was taking a slightly different route back to skip the Tunica Hills dirt section, but I still had over 25 miles left to get back to my car parked at Fort Adams. Plus, the very last part of the ride would be the reverse direction of the 2nd gravel section (i.e., backwards down Blockhouse Hill).
Sunset happened before I even made it off Cat Island. By the time I made it out to LA-66, the main road to Angola Prison, it was dark and dangerous (from traffic). I spent most of the 5 mile stretch of road looking backwards ascertaining whether an approaching car was slowing down and/or moving over to pass me. Only twice did it look questionable and both of those happened to be near sections of the road where there was a shoulder so I moved over into the shoulder. When I finally made the turn off LA-66 onto Pinckneyville Rd, I was super relieved even though it was now way past sunset and very difficult to see. Pinckneyville Rd is an interesting chip/seal road that has some really nice sections interspersed with short rough "repaved" or "washed out" sections.
Ironically, the darker it got, the faster I went as I desperately tried to cover as much ground as possible while still able to see the rough sections with just enough time to grab the brakes and roll over them at a non-pinch flat inducing pace. When I made the turn onto the Blockhouse section, I had to rely entirely on the GPS and the fact that I could see a house up on the left to know that I had reached the turn! It was so dark that I could barely see the turn and could not even see the cattle guard. I was wondering if I had made a wrong turn when all of a sudden I bounced across the cattle guard … "yep, I'm good, this is the way".
The Blockhouse gravel was in great condition, and I knew this from riding it on the way out at the start of my ride. Also, it was a brighter, lighter color because of the sand mixed in with the gravel. This meant that this section was a bit easier than Picneyville Rd to ride in the dark. I could see two things – black and slightly less black which I knew was the gravel road split into a double track. I tried to stay to the left side of the road hoping that I was judging the right spot to end up in the lefthand track. I stopped at one point to try to take a picture of the conditions. These are three pics that I got:
Top – Blockhouse in the dark (with flash). Middle – My iBike and Garmin on Blockhouse (with flash). Bottom – the road ahead without flash, not even enough light to make ANYTHING out. Although this is partially because my Nokia Lumia 1020 with great low light photography doesn't always auto-detect its settings correctly. If I had manually set the exposure to a couple seconds, you would have been able to see the blurry outline of the road.
By the bottom of the Blockhouse Hill, the road turns from gravel to a partial pavement – which was in really bad shape. Fortunately, this was in a small community that had street lights spaced just far enough apart that I could safely make out all the potholes and slowly ride through. They were having a big party at one of the houses, and some of the kids shouted "hey biker dude" or something like that as I biked by. Epic. Adventure. Life.
March 24th – Short commute to North Georgia
Map showing my commute from Hoover, AL to Blairsville, GA in the North Georgia mountains. Click twice to enlarge and see all the annotations. The solid red line is an approximation of my route – the dashed red line at the end is the part that I didn't finish due to being way slower than expected. These maps are on the wall in our basement next to where I do all my work from home. I get to see some of my favorite places in the country in a raised relief map, including the highest points in AL, GA, TN, SC, and NC!
Kristine bought a groupon for three nights at the Paradise Hills cabins just outside of Blairsville, GA almost a year ago. The plan was for the two of us to go up there sometime in January or February for me to do some pre-riding of the Southern Cross course. Well, life happened and we couldn't schedule it, so we switched to a back-up plan of going over spring break and taking the whole family. With the Heart of the South 500 mile race coming up, I decided to ride what I thought would be 300 miles from Birmingham to the cabin as a "test ride". The route looks like it would have been about 285 miles, but I called Kristine in East Elijay and got her to meet me in Blue Ridge, GA when I realized how far behind schedule I was. The plan was then for her to follow me the last 32 miles in order for her to practice her role as support crew chief for the 500 mile race. But when we met each other at the Arby's in Blue Ridge, there was a much more traffic than I expected. Blue Ridge was hopping. The traffic combined with me feeling tired and the kids trying to stay up until I made it to the cabin made me decide to end the ride early, hop in the car, and drive the last bit with Kristine back to the cabin. The kids were still awake and I got to see them to bed, which was definitely worth cutting the ride short, seeing how excited they were to show me things in the cabin.
That is how the ride ended, but the adventure started about 18 hours earlier at 1:30AM after having gone to bed at 10:30PM the night before. I set my alarm for 3 hours after going to bed hoping to hit two of the magic 90 minute sleep cycles, which seems to fit well with my own personal sleep pattern. By leaving this early, I was hoping to make it to Blairsville before sunset or at least before the kids went to bed. Another benefit of leaving this early is that I would be able to make it through all of Birmingham and surrounding communities long before most people had even gotten out of bed.
I started out doing essentially my normal commute route, which includes the Vesclub climb (at just over 700 vertical feet diff, one of the biggest climbs in Birmingham) so that I could compare it to later climbs on the route. Doing that climb meant I would also be in good position to blast down Hwy 31, continue through Homewood, and climb over Red Mountain on the Red Mountain Expressway without any traffic on the roads. I had two Axiom 200 watt lights, one mounted to the handlebars, and the other mounted on my helmet. I barely needed them riding through Birmingham, but once I made it out towards Trussville/Leeds on Floyd Bradford and Blackjack, lights were essential. The helmet light is great for scaring dogs – perfect for the route I had picked through dog-infested Annie Lee and Blackjack road. Simply put the helmet on highest setting, turn and stare at a dog, and it will stop dead in its tracks completely blinded by the light. As soon as you stop looking, it will normally start chasing again, but it is still better than nothing.
Hwy 11 through Springville was awesome given that there was no traffic – so awesome that as I was flying along the valley I missed the turn to take Washington Valley road towards Walker Gap. I backtracked at the next major road to get over to Walker Gap because there was no way I was not going to do that climb. On top of Walker, traffic started to pick up a bit as the farmers and really far-out commuters had to start driving at about 5AM. I flew down the waterfall descent and when I made the turn in the valley to head over to Chandler Mountain, this was by far the coldest part of my ride. The temp bottomed out around 27 degF but felt much colder given that I was dressed for the entire day with highs expected in the 50s. As it turns out, I was way overdressed for most of the ride given that temps peaked in the mid 60s. At this point of the ride, I was freezing.
80 miles into the ride, I stopped for the first time in Gadsden and ate a full breakfast at McDonald's. The police officer in line in front of me asked me where I was heading, and later a couple other guys who had eaten breakfast also wondered where I was heading. You could tell with all the equipment I was trying to recharge and all the food crammed into my backpack that I was heading a long distance. It was cold when I went into the McDonalds and already getting pretty hot by the time I left.
I did the very first new road for me about 82 or 83 miles into the ride climbing up onto Lookout Mountain via a rough chip/seal road called "Scenic Dr". I followed this road all the way along the north edge of Lookout Mountain with two KOM goals in mind – Keener Gap and Flanders Gap. I didn't know if these were already segments or not, but I was hoping Strava would auto-detect both as Cat 4 climbs. Both of these climbs are from the narrow US Hwy 11 valley floor back up to the Lookout Mountain ridge line. So to get to both of them, I had to first descend off the mountain to each of them.
Keener was paved and had some beautiful rock formations, one house, and a couple of dogs. I went down the descent way too fast for them to bother with me, but on the way back up as I was trying to put in an exactly threshold effort (not too hard, but not too easy either) here they come out of the house in the middle of the one switchback. Fortunately, they were friendly dogs and let me scoot on by. At the top of Keener Gap, I turned left to continue on Scenic Dr, which abruptly turns from chip/seal to dirt and gravel. The climb still continued on for another half mile or so. I really started to get excited about the ride as I was flying up the gravel road laughing giddily at how I'm trying to KOM a climb with miles and miles ahead of gravel in the middle of what I thought at the time would be a 300 mile ride. The road stayed Alabama dirt/gravel (graded and fast) for the next 5 miles to Flanders Gap. I flew down the gravel descent partly because it was really steep and I couldn't go much slower and partly because it was easy to see good lines. At the bottom, the dirt gravel gave way to some other kind of large gravel that was not easy to ride. I slowed way down to make sure I didn't pinch flat. I turned around at the train tracks (low spot in the valley) and headed back up to go for the KOM. I drilled it hard and the climb reminded me a lot of the Blockhouse Hill climb in the Rouge Roubaix race.
Unfortunately, neither climb auto-detected even though they were both well within Cat 4 range. I went back and created the segments and after waiting a few days, it looks like only one other person has done the paved Keener Gap climb, and nobody else has done the Flanders Gap climb. I turned around at the top of Flanders and headed back down it again so that I could take Hwy 11 across the valley to Collinsville. I wanted to do the climb out of Collinsville because on the map it had a lot of switchbacks (somewhat rare for Alabama). I was completely surprised by what I saw when I approached the climb from the streets in downtown. The climb was a powerline cut! The paved road switchbacked across the cut 4 or 5 times, putting the grade at a fairly consistent 10% and closer to 15% in the switchbacks.
At this point I needed to cut across Lookout Mountain and down the other side to head into Georgia. If I headed any farther north on Lookout Mountain, I would have gotten back into some really cool roads I've ridden before – but the eastern crossing of Georgia becomes problematic as there aren't as many roads that head across the many ridges that run north and south through that part of Georgia. So unfortunately I had to just barely brush by one of Alabama's Hidden treasure – Little River Canyon. I ended up doing a super fun descent from a firetower down to the entrance to the canyon – a national monument called Canyon Mouth.
I took a short break here before heading on some really awesome valley roads (Co Rd 58 and Co Rd 41) northeast through Cherokee County. Somewhere through here I crossed over into Georgia and continued on a northeastern track eventually reaching Summerville, Georgia. After a quick lunch at Subway, I headed back out towards the Narrows Picnic Rd (Hammond Gap) knowing that this would be dirt – Google street view car turned around exactly at the transition to dirt. It turns out that this was the roughest road of the route. I didn't have any problems on the climb, but on the long descent I had to go slow or run the very likely possibility of pinch flatting AND cutting my tires. We're talking ruts and large granite rocks sticking out of the ground.
Up to this point in the ride I had felt great, but after going so slow for so long and letting my heartrate dip too low, I suddenly realized that I was tired. Looking back at my heartrate data, I never did get my heartrate back up to what it was before that descent. The route between the bottom of the descent to Dalton started to pick up some heavy traffic including after school traffic, so even though it was some beautiful scenery – being tired and dealing with a lot of cars doesn't make for a fun ride. One highlight was a smaller road just before the start of the Pinhotti climb. That climb was very steep and VERY busy with traffic. Fortunately, there was a nice clean shoulder to ride to the top. I debated about just heading on down the mountain, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to climb all the way up to the towers. This dirt climb is the final descent on the Snake Creek Gap mountain bike time trial course. It was a blast to climb (and clear!) on the road bike, and not too bad coming down either.
Dalton was a traffic disaster as I hit it during rush hour. Even with a stop for dinner at Arby's, traffic was still bad at about 6PM as I made my way over to Fort Mountain on GA-52. What a nasty road. Drivers were all pretty courteous, no honking or throwing things, but they passed you close, definitely not 3 feet. As soon as I left the town of Chatsworth, the traffic immediately disappeared. The climb up Fort Mountain was beautiful and mostly deserted. There were a few fast motorcycles, but you could hear them coming from a long ways away. I stopped and chatted briefly with three of the riders I caught up to at the overlook near the top. I did the climb pretty slowly, but was surprised that at 215 miles into the ride not to be struggling with cramps or any other problems.
I was hoping for a long 35+mph downhill for miles and miles, but instead the descent was very punchy with half-mile climbs and only lasted a few miles. After bottoming out, the road started climbing again. The sun had set a while ago so I put my lights back on and called Kristine to let her know I was running way behind schedule. This takes us back to the beginning of the post where she met me in Blue Ridge and instead of following me for the last 32 miles, I decided to just call it a day and ride in the car back to our cabin for the next few days. 253 miles instead of 285, but I got everything I needed to get out of the ride in terms of prep for the 500 mile race, and I also had quite the adventure!
After this ride, I took Tuesday off and then had two more fun adventure rides Wednesday and Thursday. Here are a few pictures from those adventures.
Family atop the Brasstown Bald lookout tower. I beat them to the top, but I did have a 3.5 hour head start. Wednesday.
View of the Woody Gap climb from standing below the firetower at the very top of the mountain. Click to enlarge.
March 29-30th – Grant ups and downs – Hell of the South weekend
As I mentioned earlier, this year's Hell of the South was extra epic, but Mark Fisher and I tried to outdo it the next day by conquering all 11 ways up the Grant plateau plus 4 additional climbs on the way back including one of the steepest climbs in Alabama for a grand total of 15 Huntsville Cat 3 climbs. Some of the climbs are rated Cat 4 based on where the segment starts, but they all have enough vertical diff to be made into Cat 3 climbs using a slightly different starting or ending point along our route. Huntsville has the perfect topography for hard training – lots of flat roads punctuated by 2-3 mile super steep climbs. This also makes for some fun descending. Check out that amazing topography in the two maps below. Double-click (or click once to load the large image and then click again to zoom your browser into the image) to see all the details and mountain names.
11 ways to climb the Grant plateau (click to enlarge, click twice to zoom really far in). The climbs up Grant are numbered.
11 ways up the Grant plateau plus the rest of our ride. All the climbs are numbered starting with the Green Mountain climb, then all 11 ways up Grant, followed by Blowing Cave, Tony Wilmur Trail, and finally Cecil Ashburne. Click to enlarge. After your browser downloads the image, click it again to zoom in and see the details.
I am working on a separate blog with a catalog of the 11 ways up grant plus the bonus climbs of Green, Blowing Cave, Tony Wilmur, and Cecil Ashburne, but I have a feeling it might be a while before I can finish it. So I'm just going to put in a teaser here with the Green Mountain front-side climb, the Swearengin climb, and the Blowing Cave climb (quite possibly one of the steepest paved climbs of measurable category in Alabama).
GREEN MOUNTAIN - FRONT SIDE Dist: 1.87 mi (0:14:36) Climbing: 886 ft Min Avg Max DFPM Pow 81 270.6 391 W Gravity -16 231.2 354 W Speed 5.2 7.7 13.7 mi/h Elev 578 1026 1468 ft Slope -0.4 9.04 19.2 % Caden 49 67.1 109 rpm HR 95 143.5 158 bpm NP:288W IF:0.98 TSS:24 VI:1.06 3/30/2014 8:06 AM 40 degF; 1022 mbar
SWEARENGIN CLIMB Dist: 1.61 mi (0:12:17) Climbing: 640 ft Min Avg Max DFPM Pow 19 246.9 385 W Gravity -48 201.2 372 W Speed 4.9 7.9 14.3 mi/h Wind 0.0 8.1 24.0 mi/h Elev 591 887 1244 ft Slope -1.0 7.70 19.4 % Caden 30 66.0 99 rpm HR 112 142.1 157 bpm NP:267W IF:0.91 TSS:17 VI:1.08 3/30/2014 11:41 AM 62 degF; 1020 mbar
BLOWING CAVE (COMPLETE CLIMB) Note: I was super tired and weaved up the climb. Dist: 1.73 mi (0:14:04) Climbing: 751 ft Min Avg Max DFPM Pow 0 251.5 451 W Gravity -387 202.8 417 W Speed 3.3 7.4 19.4 mi/h Wind 0.0 6.5 25.9 mi/h Elev 725 1122 1470 ft Slope -7.3 8.28 23.6 % Caden 34 60.2 112 rpm HR 120 141.2 157 bpm NP:282W IF:0.96 TSS:22 VI:1.12 3/30/2014 3:06 PM 65 degF; 1019 mbar
BLOWING CAVE - STEEP CAT 4 section only From a 2013 ride when I went straight up the climb. Dist: 0.29 mi (0:04:06) Energy: 74.7 kJ Cals Burn: 71.4 kcal Climbing: 300 ft Min Avg Max Power 187 303.6 398 W Gravity 189 284.2 372 W Speed 3.1 4.3 6.8 mi/h Wind 0.0 2.4 7.1 mi/h Elev 27 187 329 ft Slope 13.2 20.23 26.8 % HR 141 149.0 155 bpm NP:311W IF:1.05 TSS:8 VI:1.02 2/10/2013 10:03 AM 51 degF; 990 mbar
iBike data for the Green Mountain front side climb (click to enlarge)
iBike data for possibly Alabama's steepest Cat 4 climb – note the >20% average slope (click to enlarge)
iBike data for the Swearengin climb up to the Grant plateau (click to enlarge)
Cycling and Don Quixote
Two years ago, I raced all of the Tour of America's Dairyland including the Fond du Lac criterium. I raced well and crossed the line in first at the start of the last lap trying to maintain good position. Unfortunately, I managed to get passed by 20 people during the last lap to finish just out of the money. I was quite distraught after the race having blown such good position to end up outside of the top 20. I was hoping to redeem that performance with a top 20 finish this year, but with huge thunderstorms and rain showers all across the sky and approaching Fond du Lac before the start I was not very optimistic. We managed to start the first few laps dry, but then it started to rain, and I drifted to the back, off the back, and then expecting to be pulled was told that I could continue to race. I am never going to willingly pull out of a race again after a disasterous race in West Virginia in 1996, so I raced for another 20 minutes or so getting lapped 3 or 4 more times by the field. I used the opportunity to continue racing to work on my rainy cornering skills, as I have had several recent rainy slideouts losing a lot of confidence in the rain.
It was barely halfway through the race by the time that the officials decided I had raced enough and pulled me from the race. I just checked the results, and I was rewarded for my efforts by being placed in the results instead of a DNF — 59th out of 105 starters. Afterwards, wanting to get some kind of training in, I started wandering towards the hills, first looking for some good climbs, and then seeing windmills in the distance riding to try to get a good picture. The windmills are huge so that they appear closer than they really are. And then even when you start to get close to one, you find that the road is gated off or unrideable in the mud or the windmill you were heading towards was actually on a different ridge beside a different road. Eventually, as it was getting dark and as I was getting farther and farther away from Fond du Lac, I started to feel like Don Quixote chasing windmills, and I began to suspect that somehow for many people including me such is the lot of the bike racer. Finally, I found a cool valley with a bunch of windmills with a farm gravel road that was not only rideable but also quite pictureesque. It was amazing to be standing underneath something so gigantic and hearing the whoosh of the three blades as the passed overhead. Standing directly underneath it as the blades headed towards you was a bit disconcerting as you wondered unreasonably that you might have misjudged the length of the the blade and it would suddenly hit you standing there on the ground.
So, anyway, even as I was chasing the windmills I thought of Don Quixote. I don't know the story all that well, but I believe the basic idea is that poor Don thought that the windmills he was chasing and trying to defeat were actual enemies that needed to be defeated. He continued to pursue these windmills never realizing that they were unbeatable. Comparing this to bicycle racing, the idea is that we as bike racers try so hard to win or at least do as well as possible romanticizing that one good result to the point that it lures us back for more even after a series of really bad results. Often the level of competition is so far above and beyond our own capability that it is truly like Don Quixote chasing windmills – an impossible and illogical vain pursuit.
Again, I don't know the story all that well, but Don Quixote must have been fulfilled, fully alive, full of purpose as he chased after those windmills even if it made no sense to anyone else. The danger though is the damage that Don was doing to those around him as he sought after those windmills even as he tried to do good and help/rescue/save the world. I am fortunate that my family is supportive of my windmill chasing, and I do everything I can to turn bike races into family trips and family experiences, and I think the good far outweighs the bad, but the very real danger is pursuing too far without putting everything into context.
As I was trying to find a windmill I could ride right up to and set my bike against on my 10 year anniversary with my wife 100 miles away camping with her family in Door County, I realized both the beauty and the danger of bike racing. I had spent the night before camping with them and the morning of our anniversay was awesome with a nice trail run/ride with Kristine and the kids finding a cool boat landing and then a climb up to a tower overlooking Sturgeon Bay and the entrance to Green Bay followed by a little bit of caving with Josiah and then more trail riding and finally capped off joining Kristine's dad as he finished 1100 miles of hiking the entire Ice Age trail which ends at the tower we had found earlier in the day. All of this before leaving my family to go get dropped in a bike race, but then finding beautiful rolling hills, picturesque farms with barns, cows, and fields of corn, big sky with clouds from various storms on all sides aglow with lightning and the setting sun — surreal, almost perfect, forgetting that an hour or so earlier I had just gotten dropped and pulled from a bike race – I was content realizing that bike racing in the context of life is so small, but in the moment if you look in the right places you can still find something worth pursuing even if it looks like windmills to everyone else.
Pictures from earlier in the day camping with Kristine and the kids -
Fall adventure family style
A family picture before heading out on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.
We've gone to Old Baker Farm to pick out pumpkins and enjoy all the festivities for the past seven years. Check out our first visit in 2006. I left the house a couple hours ahead of Kristine and the kids to make it out there at about the same time. Nice ride out enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Lots of pics below, too.
Fall adventure on double oak way
At the edge of the helicopter hill descent – me and Simon – you can see the ridges all the way out to Hugh Daniel, which blocks the view of the Double Oak ridge line.
I posted a message to Facebook yesterday that I wanted to ride out to Double Oak Way today, and three brave souls (Russell Fulmer, Simon Prentice, and Jonathan Soto) showed up for the first cold ride of the season. Temps never got much above 50 degF spending a lot of time in the mid to upper 40s. Combined with a stiff north wind, the temp made for a chilly ride. But the ride itself, was a great adventure.
I set the bottom of Old Montgomery as the starting point for the ride because I wanted to put my Strava KOM shootout effort in for the week. Russell had gotten there early and already put his effort in so he waited partway up and got this video of me on my effort to get the KOM:
My legs were feeling great initially, but I botched the switchback in the video and paid for it later because I had to dig deep to keep my speed out of the corner. I broke my old time by 24 seconds and Boris's KOM time by 14 seconds. I set a new power record during the short 3 minute effort as illustrated below:
Critical power curve – KOM efforts highlighted – bulges in the curve. The only KOM I was going for on today's ride was the Old Montgomery one. (click to enlarge)
Afterwards, Russell and I rode back down to the bottom to meet Simon and Jonathan to start our ride. We immediately began with the Cat 3 climb up Old Montgomery all the way to the high point on Shades Mountain on Vestavia Dr. From there we worked our way over to the Healthsouth Helipad Hill, which is where the photo at the top and the video below was taken.
Then it was onto a long 280 section taking us to the Hugh Daniel climb up and over into the valley at the base of Double Oak Way. The climb started out well (video below), but shortly after the steep part and rolling section, Simon had a stick kick up into his rear wheel lodging itself between the spoke and the non-drive chainstay. The stick not only broke a spoke but also cracked the frame. Because of how out of true the wheel was after breaking a spoke, there was no way for Simon to ride his bike. Nearly a mile behind a closed gate meant a mile of walking for Simon. So the rest of us took off back down the mountain to head back to Mt Laurel where we figured we could find a wheel to borrow from the scheduled group ride that was just finishing. I carried Simon's broken wheel down and then returned with a loaner Campy wheel, which Simon was able to ride down to wait for someone to come pick him up.
During the wheel exchange (behind the gate), a property patrol vehicle came down and kicked us off the property. It was at the really steep part of the climb that the patrol agent was talking to us, so John pushed past not realizing what was going on — meaning that he was the only one of us who ended up making it ALL the way up to the top of the mountain. Luckily, the patrol agent wasn't interested in going after him and turned to go patrol some of the trails on the property. After we all got back together, we headed over to Old 280 to do the Ebsco parking lot climb. Then we turned around, descended 280 past Lee Branch, worked our way across 280 (backwards at one point), navigated a hilly route through Meadowbrook, left out the back entrance to the Spain Park baseball fields cut-through, flew down Caldwell Mill to the Cahaba River bluff wall, climbed up to Dolly Ridge and then continued climbing on up to Vestavia Dr before descending down to the Brookwood Dental launchpad office cut-under (you ride under the office building, which is on stilts), through the apartments and finally back down Old Montgomery back to the start. I said good-bye to Russell and John before turning around and heading back up and over the mountain get home. What a ride!

subset: commoncrawl


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The new year already is looking a lot like the old one for employees at The Enquirer.
Workers at Cincinnati's only remaining daily newspaper got some bad news Wednesday: They can expect to take another five-day furlough during the first quarter of 2011. Robert J. Dickey, who is U.S. newspaper division president at The Gannett Co., The Enquirer's parent firm, announced the latest round of furloughs in a memo sent to workers.
The audit found The Enquirer's average daily
circulation, which excludes Saturday and Sunday, down to 117,754 from
132,076 between September 2012 and September 2013. Sunday circulation
fell to 235,515 from 262,876. The numbers represent a 10.8 percent decline in average daily circulation and 10.4 percent on Sundays.
The Akron Beacon Journal and Youngstown Vindicator also saw negative trends, with average daily and Sunday circulation dropping.
Cleveland's The Plain Dealer lost some of its Sunday circulation, but comparable statistics weren't available for average daily circulation because the newspaper transitioned from daily delivery to three-times-a-week delivery earlier in the year.
But The Toledo Blade and Dayton Daily News actually increased their average daily and Sunday circulation.
The Columbus Dispatch also upped its average daily circulation, but Sunday circulation fell.
For newspapers, dropping circulation coincides with more readers getting their news from the Internet and alternative sources over the past few years. The alternatives have cost newspapers around the country readers and advertising revenue, and many have responded with cutbacks in staff and overall news coverage.
In August, The Enquirer moved and laid off staff from its Kentucky and West Chester offices. The layoffs came as parent company Gannett dismissed more than 400 workers around the country, according to estimates from Gannett Blog.
Other media outlets appear to be taking advantage of the new vacancy. The Business Courier reported on Monday that Cox Media's Journal-News is increasing its presence in Butler and Warren counties to compete with The Enquirer. The move follows Cox Media's decision to merge its Hamilton and Middletown newspapers into a single entity that covers both cities and counties.
Some major decisions are expected in the next few days, and we're not referring to how the dithering, ineffectual Cincinnati City Council will finally close a $54 million deficit.
Rather, the decisions coming soon are who will replace Republican Chris Monzel on City Council, and who will replace Tom Callinan as editor at The Enquirer.
Time Warner Cable will not be taking up Al Jazeera's newly acquired channel. The Associated Press reports Cincinnati's largest cable provider will no longer carry Current TV after its sale to the Pan-Arab news network.
After the buyout, Al Jazeera announced plans to gradually transform Current TV into Al Jazeera America by adding five to 10 new U.S. bureaus and hiring more journalists. But immediately following the acquisition by Al Jazeera, Time Warner released a statement: "Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service. We are removing the service as quickly as possible."
As AP reports, Al Jazeera has faced an uphill battle reaching American audiences. In 2010, Tony Burman, managing director of Al Jazeera's English branch, blamed hostility from the Bush administration for reluctance among cable and satellite companies to carry Al Jazeera.
But at least part of the reluctance is due to the perception from some that the Qatar-based network is anti-American. Dave Marash, a former "Nightline" reporter who worked as
Al Jazeera's anchor in Washington, D.C., left Al Jazeera in 2008, saying he sensed an anti-American slant.
Despite problems establishing a foothold in the United States, Al Jazeera has built a substantial following for hard-hitting news, and it earned multiple U.S. journalism awards in 2012.
Al Gore confirmed the sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera Wednesday. The former vice president cofounded the left-leaning Current TV in 2005 to provide what he saw as an alternative perspective in media through user-generated content. But the network always struggled, making multiple programming and personnel changes in its quest to become relevant.
TheBlaze, Glenn Beck's media company, also tried to buy Current TV. But the network declined, reportedly saying, "The legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view."
Enquirer reporters and editors should be satisfied with their initial tabloid effort. Today's inaugural edition — smaller and printed in Columbus — is a curious hybrid. It arrived on time. It feels and looks like a tabloid, but it reads like a familiar Enquirer rather than something exciting and new.
The New York Times is reporting today that Sarah Palin has been hired by Fox News to be a regular contributor to the cable news channel.
Uh, didn't she work there already? This is like reporting "Dog bites man."
For all the rhetoric about the United States' right to freedom of the press, the best reporting on the governmental secrets revealed by WikiLeaks, and the deeper issues they raise, has been done by media outlets in other nations. And the best and most in-depth interview with Julian Assange has been done by a British journalist for Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite news channel.
David Frost, who famously interviewed President Nixon a few years after his resignation following the Watergate scandal, now has a program on Al Jazeera, entitled Frost Over the World.
Jim Hopkins' Gannett Blog and some local sources are reporting The Enquirer has laid off between 5 to 7 people this week.
Two of the casualties were the person in charge of the incessantly promoted Moms Like MeWeb site and the assistant managing editor of operations, who performed the administrative functions in the newsroom.
Carolyn Washburn has been hired as editor and vice president at The Cincinnati Enquirer, the newspaper announced today. A Greater Cincinnati native, Washburn currently is editor at The Des Moines Register in Iowa.
Washburn, 48, previously worked with Enquirer Publisher Margaret Buchanan while both were at The Idaho Statesman. Buchanan will be Washburn's new boss and made the selection. Washburn begins her new job Jan. 10.
Leave it to TV talk show host David Letterman to tell it like it is.
Broaching a topic that is on most political junkies' minds these days, Letterman questioned the psychological stability of House Speaker John Boehner (R-West Chester) on his CBS show Monday night.


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i am an American. G Politics by Math: R: 1+1=2. C: 1+0=1. Libertarian: 1=1. D: (0)1 +(.1)(1)+(.98)(1)=9. Soc. 1+1=-3. Prog. 1+1=11. Com. 1+1=-9 #tcot #liberty


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Yesterday's post showed traffic stopped for the train at SE Powell & 17th Avenue. This photo from the following year shows the same area from the air, apparently part of an aerial survey in preparation for building the underpass. Lots of good detail in this image.
Tags: Aerial Survey, Historical Photo, Natural Gas Storage Tank, Portland, postaday2011, Ross Island Bridge


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lived through the 60's. retired early. love classic scifi and horror movies. fav authors king, little, lincoln-childs, koontz. big star trek and red dwarf fan


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Show your family team spirit with fan-favorite gear that says Team USA all the way!
Updated: Wednesday Jul 18, 2012 | 02:00 PM EDT
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Free Joomla Component - WST Grid Gallery is a flash based image gallery. Compatible with Joomla 2.5 and 3.0
WMT Flash Gallery 1
WMT Flash Gallery 1 - Is a Joomla 2.5 and 3.0 Flash based image gallery with Drag and Drop Effect , Unlimited number of pictures , Automatic Thumbnail , Slide Show , Zoom In/Zoom Out, Rotate Picture, Print Picture, Save Picture, History Preview.
Wmt Compact Gallery
Free Joomla Component - WMT Compact Gallery is a customizable flash based Joomla Component, compatible with Joomla 2.5, 3.0. Features on mouse over: Show Description, Play/Pause slideshow, Open link, Manual navigation
Wmt Square Gallery
Joomla Image Gallery Wmt Square Gallery is a free flash based image gallery. This gallery supports unlimited albums with unlimited images. You can add custom Title and Description to every image.
Smactive multigallery portfolio flash gallery for joomla 2.5 and 3.0 Features: Can load ten different galleries Every gallery can have different thumbnails size and thumbnails grid Images from a folder Automatic thumbnails generation user-custo ...
Smablufolio Flash Gallery Features: • 10 Galleries can be added • Images from a folder • Slide Show mode • Full Screen mode • background music with ON/OFF control (only 1 song) • Automatic Thumbnails generation • Navigation buttons • Fully custom ...
Smaphoto Flash Gallery Features: • 10 Galleries can be added • Images from a folder • Full Screen mode • Automatic Thumbnails generation • Info & Contact page • Navigation Button • Fully customizable


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Whether you've been writing for a while, or just thinking about getting started, everyone can use a boost of inspiration from time to time. This round-up of writing workshops could be just the thing to help you put your stories on the page. Many of them are one-day events too -- easy to ge ... More >>
Whether you're looking to become an expert on a subject or just want to have something to wow your pals with over drinks, here are five lectures for aspiring poindexters during December.5. The Sweet Science of BakingAvid bakers and aspiring Betty Crockers prepping for holiday bake-athons will g ... More >>
Thank goodness for creative power couples -- especially the ones who've decided to settle in Phoenix. These duos have created art galleries, revamped neighborhoods, and supported the local art scene. And on December 8, they'll tell you how they do it. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary A ... More >>
Most people go antiquing to nab that one-of-a-kind chair or coffee table. But local artists Carol Panaro-Smith and Josie Cirincione go antiquing to find ephemera, or antique paper goods they can use in their next projects.This Saturday, Panaro-Smith and Cirincione, both instructors at Gilbert's A ... More >>
Tucson: Isn't she a beaut?For a long time (and possibly forever), Tucson is going to be synonymous with tragedy. That's a shame. You see, our neighbor to the south is much more than a place where six people lost their lives and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was severely injured. Arizona ... More >>
Courtesy of a.ware.OMG, can I borrow that onesie?Naturally, I like to give a little background to the subjects I blog about. I mean, that's what writers do, yes?So today, I'm writing about the crafting duo, a.ware. And when I punched in some key words to a search engine, waddya know, an Arty G ... More >>
By orangeacid on flickr creative commons.What do you want to do with these?When I was a kid, I couldn't survive a summer here without discovering some kind of new craft to get my hands tangled in. There was the summer of watercolors, origami, Fimo clay, puffy paint...name any craft for kids that got ... More >>
Local duo arent your garden-variety artists
Minimize expenses and maximize culture shock
Class will tell in Mesa art educator exhibition
January 28 - February 3, 1999