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ViewsMidEast

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
ViewsMidEast for Tuesday, March 16, 2010




Sunday, March 14, 2010
ViewsMidEast for Sunday, March 14, 2010




Thursday, March 11, 2010
ViewsMidEast for Thursday, March 11, 2010



Maniac Muslim
More fun than Masjid Politics.

Zionist Teacher Defends Right of Self-Defense
22 Jan 2009 at 3:03pm
NEW YORK - In what was an obvious act of self-defense at Filly Steen Elementary School, Emmanuel Schulmanburg, a teacher of Zionist persuasion was found with a pen mark across his shirt. “I can’t believe my shirt has this ugly pen mark… I just got it from Harry Rosen too.” The Zionist teacher felt [...]

Distractions of Prayer
27 Sep 2008 at 11:58am
You ever felt like you were totally in the zone for a prayer when something out of your control totally screws it all up? Sometimes in order to be pro-active we just have to simply avoid the external DISTRACTIONS OF PRAYER. Avoid ‘em. The Scratcher Sometimes I unfortunately get paired with extremely annoying people beside me in [...]

Controversial Game Show Gets Huge Ratings
18 Aug 2008 at 9:05pm
NBC?s new game show, Daleel or No Daleel, has taken network television by storm.  Many critics believed such a show would be cancelled after one episode, but its ratings continue to climb with extraordinary numbers. ?This show is a huge hit to Muslim and non-Muslim audiences alike,? says NBC Executive Jeff Yucker, ?it?s probably the greatest [...]

Annoying Marketing Initiatives
3 Jul 2008 at 7:47pm
Sometimes you hear about an event it seems so awesome you have to go because everyone else is going and the marketing seems clever. OR IS IT? Sometimes over-marketing a product can get on people?s nerves and cause massive boycotts or whatever. Muslims love boycotting things so you better watch out if you’re organizing an [...]

Really Bad MSA Event Ideas
10 Jun 2008 at 2:01pm
People fight tooth and nail to get the right people on MSA/ISOC executive boards. I always wonder why elections are such dramas in most organizations and I figure it?s usually because the people involved don?t want ?the others? to join in. You know, the crazy ?out there? ones. The ones too conservative for the hardcores [...]

Muslim Mobile At Record Growth
1 Jun 2008 at 11:24pm
NEW YORK ? The world?s fastest-growing cell phone provider aimed specifically to the Muslim population is now the second largest cell phone provider in the entire world. ?This is the beginning of something extraordinary? said Naureen Shah, CEO of Muslim Mobile. ?We are constantly getting so many people switching their services to Muslim Mobile that [...]

Signs That A Muslim Guy Needs To Get Married
5 Apr 2008 at 3:58pm
See the video for ‘Signs That A Muslim Guy Needs To Get Married’ here.

MVP - Muslim Volunteer Problem
6 Jan 2008 at 3:18am
So after attending practically every Muslim event in existence, I?ve realized a startling pattern. The volunteers are essentially the same. Regardless of the type of event or organization, you?ll see the same faces event after event. Some Muslims can?t get enough of volunteering. It?s like they get high off of it or something. They take [...]

Jinn Stories Frighten Class
31 Oct 2007 at 3:23pm
Halloween - Sally McDonnell?s class of Grade 3 students received a different kind of scare. ?I still can?t sleep at night,? said McDonnell, 33, who is the English teacher for Washington Falls Elementary School Grade 3 class, ?this is hands down the scariest thing I?ve ever heard in my life.? Abdul Malik Bukhari, 8, [...]

Four Dead in Hijabi Massacre
13 Mar 2007 at 3:22pm
Montreal - In breaking news, four people have died in hijabi-related choking incidents on the weekend during a soccer tournament. “I knew this would happen,” said Keith Johnson, a senior referee in the Girls under 12 Soccer Tournament, “wasn’t it a good idea to ban the hijab or what? I knew these kids [...]

Ummah Films
Ummah Films is a Muslim film company that strives to provide Halaal (Islamically permissible) entertainment to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are not affiliated with any particular movement, sect, group, etc. We absolutely condemn in the strongest terms terrorism and any extremism done in the name of Islam and we refuse to associate ourselves with those who practice and condone such behavior and thoughts.

Muslim Funnymentalists in Memphis
15 Mar 2010 at 4:57pm

Although I do the majority of my touring solo, I sometimes team up with Aman Ali and Asif Ali (no relation) and we tour as The Muslim Funnymentalists (www.funnymentalists.com). Last week, we did a show in Memphis and the event organizers advertised the show on a bunch of billboards. Being that the south hasn't always been non-white friendly (this is where they killed Martin Luther King), we weren't show who was going to show up at the event. Alhamdulillah the event went really well. About 40% non-Muslims showed up and they had a blast (not literally but you know what I mean). The show was oversold and by the crowd's reaction, it looked like everyone had a great time. They sold out early and over 200+ tickets were sold on top of that which made things a little hectic for the organizers.

After the comedy bits, they had a panel discussion where parents/youth were able to bring up issues for discussion. The topics were relative and that made the discussions interesting.

The crowd was amazing and I really enjoyed meeting everyone there. The southern hospitality was awesome. Next week, I'll be in Durham, NC.

Baba Ali on Billboards? Yeah on a bunch of them in memphis!
9 Mar 2010 at 10:11pm
I really hope people don't think that I'm on a wanted list or something. Usually when you see "Have you seen these men" on something, you really don't want your pic to be attached to it but in this case, I think its kinda cool :) The organization who is putting this weekend?s event together decided to go all out and put my face and the other two comedians (Asif Ali & Aman Ali) on a bunch of billboards in the city. I really hope we don't get hassled by Memphis police and airport personnel.

During the 1960s, the city was at the center of civil rights issues. I'll be performing with the other two Muslim Funnymentalists this Saturday inshAllah and I just hope that the crowd doesn't confuse Funnymentalist with Fundamentalist. I'm interested in finding out the demographics of the audience for this event. Either way, I think its going to make an interesting blog post.

What happened in Glendale stays in Glendale :)
9 Mar 2010 at 1:43am


I live in LA during the week but almost every weekend I'm traveling to some random city to perform at events. So when I found out that I would be in Glendale this past weekend, I was looking forward of doing a show that was just a freeway away. When I got to the event, I noticed the crowd was about 500 people, mostly dressed in suites. The had a free dinner (the type of food you would get a fancy restaurant) so of course someone asked if the meat was halal since it wasn't your typical fund-raising-biryani-dinner I guess :). They crowd was so noisy that they had to make announcement for the audience to stay quiet and listen to the speakers. By the end of the night, they were able to raise 400k for the new Islamic Center in Glendale. Once the fundraising was done, I was up.

Because the event started on Middle-Eastern standard time (late), it pushed back all the way to nearly 10pm (I was originally schedule for 8:55pm). When the MC was introducing me, most of the crowd was emerged in conversation with one another so when I went up, it was almost like talking to myself. It seemed like the room noise kept getting louder and louder, and I was basically talking to myself. I noticed my table was laughing at me instead of with me which made me laugh. Then a brother walked up to the stage and told me to make an announcement. Apparently, somebody had lost their shoes. Not sure how someone loses their shoes in a formal gathering but hey, with the way things were going that night, I wouldn't be surprised.

So I figured it couldn't get any worse so I told myself let me just try to wing it and then go home but it wasn't that easy because the crowd was just too loud. Then a guy walked up on stage on said "let me put this (wireless) mic on you". Now with two mics, I tried to start again but suddenly there was a loud feedback/interface coming from the mics. Next thing I know the wireless mic drops off my shirt. I tired to walk around the stage but mic the interference wouldn't go away. The brother got on stage again to put the wireless mic on me and the result was once again, interference...loud, uncomfortable interference. Still, I tried to pull off my first joke but the combination of interference and room noise made it almost impossible. At this point, I'm like in boxer about to get knocked out and all I can do is look around in the crowd. As I look down at the table in front of me, I noticed there were people take group pictures. So at this point, I'm not just bombing on stage, but the funny thing that I don't think most of the crowd is even noticing. Next thing I know, I'm laughing at myself on stage. You had to admit, i whole thing was pretty funny. You start to think to yourself, this is a prank. I mean, this is this stuff you see on the candid camera tv shows. You're looking around waiting for someone to say "hey you just got punked" but that wasn't happening either. So I just stood there with an awkward smile.

Finally, one of the speakers of the evening made an announcement and asked everyone to be quiet. It took him a few minutes to get everyone quiet since he had trouble getting everyone attention. He then proceeded by giving them a lecture on being quiet and by the time he was done, the room became strangely quiet. It was almost an uncomfortable silence. The kinda of quiet you feel when people are in trouble. He gave me back the mic and I didn't really know how to start. Usually the crowd is excited and looking forward to laughing but this crowd had just been told that they were not courteous and I almost felt like I was about to perform at a detention. So I did something I don't think I have ever done for a standup comedy event. I started off serious. Very serious. Eventually, I transitioned it into standup comedy but it was just weird. By the time it was all over, the crowd was laughing out loud (with me and not at me). At the end, everyone had a good time. As for me, I grew thicker skin after that event haha. Good times.

Alhamdulillah, the event was well organized and I actually enjoyed the night. The scholar was not just a great fundraiser but he amazing human being as well. More importantly, the event managed to raise a lot of money for the new center so I'm happy to be part of the such a night.

Baba Ali performing in Glendale this Saturday
8 Mar 2010 at 2:15pm

I was just invited to speak/perform in Glendale, CA this Saturday night InshAllah. The community is working to build a Masjid in the Glendale area so if you would like to help them, please visit icglendale.org

For details on the event, please check the flyer above.

I use to come out with video almost every weekend but these days I'm working during the week and busy on the weekends performing at various events. My weekend schedule is so crazy that from now till like mid May, I'm touring basically every weekend. In the past, I have been using this blog to just post new videos because I figured that's what people were interested in. I was wondering if the people subscribed to this blog are interested on touring side of things? If so, I can blog about that and that will allow me blog on a much more frequent basis. Anyways, post a comment and let me know what you think.

By the way, you'll find the Baba Ali standup schedule on www.alistandup.com

Kalimaat Review by Musilm Link
4 Mar 2010 at 11:29am
My game was reviewed by The Muslim Link in this week's paper which was kinda of cool. Click on the pic above to read the review. Over 1100+ games have sold and I have only had one return which isn't bad. Alhamdulillah.

Hajj Pics
3 Feb 2010 at 2:46am
My Hajj trip was amazing and here are some pics. I took the trip with Hajj Pros (http://www.hajjpros.com) who offered to give me a discount off their price of their site. They offered to give a discount to my viewers as well. Just tell them that Baba Ali said you would hook them up. In exchange, I ask you to remember me in your duahs when you goto Hajj InshAllah. JazakAllah Khair



Hajj with Baba Ali (New Ummah Films video)
30 Jan 2010 at 12:25am
Hajj is an amazing experience. It has a huge impact on so many people so try to go when you're young. You never know if there will be a "next year" so if you can go sooner than later, then please try to go and don't forget to make du'ah for me when you're there :)

For those interested in the group I went with, you can learn more about Hajj Pros at www.hajjpros.com

Hajj Part 1


Hajj Part 2


Baba Ali's Video Contest ($1000 Prize)
15 Jan 2010 at 6:35pm
With over 1000 Kalimaat games sold, I've decided to have a Kalimaat Video Contest and give away $1000. Grab your camera, find someone who has the game, and maybe call a few friends to put a video together. It doesn't cost anything to enter so give it a try.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to gather my thoughts from latest experience (Hajj) so and I hope to put a video together about that.



To get your $5 discount on the Kalimaat, just use the coupon code "YouTube" when purchasing the game from www.babaaligames.com

JazakAllah Khair for everyone's support. The Kalimaat reviews so far have been amazing! Alhamdulillah

Baba Ali at IlmFest this weekend
29 Sep 2009 at 5:54pm

I was invited to speak at IlmFest 2009 in Baltimore this Saturday (10/3/2009). I hope to see you guys there InshAllah.

Are you ready?? Kalimaat Tournament this Saturday at ICSGV
2 Sep 2009 at 11:16am

Baba Ali's Kalimaat: Tournament of Champions...only at ICSGV Young Adults Group Qiyam-ul-Layl event on Saturday, Sept 5th, starting at 10pm. See ICSGV.com for details...

I've been asked to host the first Kalimaat Tournament at the ICSGV (flyer). They made the trailer on their own. Pretty cool huh?

*NEW* Ummah Films video : Agree to Disagree
1 Sep 2009 at 1:40am
After receiving over 100,000 comments to the videos, I decided that it was finally time for me to comment on the troublemakers who use the comment section to start arguments. Unfortunately, many Muslims fall into the trap and end up fighting and even use the same foul language. Islamically, this is not the way we should be acting.

What is happening today isn't much different from 1400 years ago. People lie with the hopes of deceiving people about Islam but at the end they are only deceiving themselves. Actually, their false accusations of Islam has made others investigate, which has resulted in people accepting this beautiful Deen.

Kalimaat "how to play" video
22 Aug 2009 at 9:19pm

I often get asked how Kalimaat is played so here the answer.

Ramadan Video (Ummah Films' Ramadan Reruns)
21 Aug 2009 at 12:33pm

Ramadan Mubarak! Since most people starting fasting on Saturday, I figure its time to post up Ramadan Reruns video inshAllah.

Allah (swt) gave us another Ramadan so let's try to take advantage of it InshAllah so when the month ends, we stronger Iman and are better examples InshAllah. Remember there are many people who thought they would have another year and they have passed away so don't let the opportunity of gaining good deeds pass you by.

The point of the video is to make people more conscious of these silly actions so they will think twice before they do it. Reminding myself before anyone else, Ramadan is a blessing so let's try not to take it for granted but rather take advantage of it by increasing our Iman (faith) so we can become better Muslims, even after Ramadan is over InshAllah.

Finally, just a reminder for everyone (including myself) "If a person does not avoid false talk & false conduct during Siyam, then Allah does not care if he abstains 4m food & drink" (Bukhari & Muslim)

If you know someone who is fasting, please send them the video. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixN0qhN39k0 Feel free to post the video wherever you want. May we be the generation that makes the positive difference InshAllah.

Kalimaat on sale in UK & Canada
20 Aug 2009 at 8:06pm

With Ramadan around the corner, Eid isn't too far away. Kalimaat is now available in Canada and in the UK. Right now, when you order Kalimaat from outside of the United States from www.babaaligames.com, you pay $13.95 for International shipping. The good news is that Kalimaat is now sold in both the UK and Canada and you'll save a lot of money if you directly through these vendors.

In the UK, the game is on sale right now on this site for £16 delivered (savings of $11)

If you're in Canada, get it through this site you can get it $25 Canadian plus shipping (savings of $8)

Another plus is that you'll get your shipment much faster too. I'm all the way in the Los Angeles (that's as west coast as you can get so it takes 6 to 10 business days for international packages to arrive)

The game was launched just a month ago and around 1033 games have been ordered thus far. I've been emailing people who bought the game from me to get their feedback. The reviews have been amazing!

With Ramadan around the corner, Eid isn't just about 30 or so days away.

No more Ummah Films videos until further notice
13 Aug 2009 at 6:36pm

Ummah Films videos are on *pause* :(

When I made the Reminder videos, I kept saving money and buying better equipment so I could give the viewers a higher quality video. Although I made the videos for free, I didn't want to take the cheap route and wanted to do things with the same professional quality as if I was getting paid. The fruits of the hereafter are worth far more than whatever anyone can pay me in this dunya.

Anyways, the only drawback with buying high end equipment is that if something fails, its cost more than a few pennies to fix it. Long story short, my wireless mic isn't working anymore and until further notice, the Ummah Films videos are on hold. My goal was to record and edit Season 3 by the end of Ramadan but sometimes things don't work out the way you plan. Either way, we should always say Alhamdulillah.

On the bright side, my game Kalimaat has been doing really well. About 945 games have sold so far (Alhamdulillah) which is great considering the game launched a few weeks ago . Although Kalimaat from the outside looks like just a word game, it does have indirect benefits.

In a nutshell, the game is played like this: You have 60 seconds to give clues to your teammate so they can guess as many of the 10 Kalimaat words on the card. Each time they guess a word, they put a token down on the table. Once the 60 seconds is up, you'll have 30 seconds to remember what those words were. The words you remember, you get a point for...the words you can't recall, the other team will try to steal it by remembering them.

Of the 10 words, there are usually 1 or 2 words that are Islamic or Muslim-related.

So here are some of the benefits:

1. Communication: How many times have you seen a very knowledgeable person put people to sleep during Jummah. Just because one has knowledge doesn't mean that they know how to communicate that knowledge. As you know, there are some eloquent speakers that just speak nonsense but because they know how to communicate, they are able to get their message across while there are some very knowledgeable people that unfortunately do the opposite and don't get the attention they deserve. The game, Kalimaat, forces the clue-giver to speak at a level which the guesser can understand. When the Prophet (saw) spoke to people, he did it in a way so that person listening would understand. The way he spoke to a common person may have been different than the way he spoke to a Bedouin even though he was explaining the same Islam. Although the Prophet (saw) last Khutbah was short, it was effective because it was simple, informative, and to the point. These days, you can listen to a guy speak to the 30 minutes and its hard finding the actual point. Anyways, the game Kalimaat teaches you to communicate words to your partner so they will understand and because you're timed, you have to do it simple and to the point. Plus the pressure of being timed makes the game fun and entertaining (lots of laughs). You quickly learn that communication isn't as easy as you imagined and you have to adjust your words to get the other person to understand you.

2. Memorization. Even before Islam, people use to memorize hundreds of lines of poetry due to the lack of resources. Today, we can't goto the grocery store without a list and we still end up looking at the list a few times. This is because we don't use the memory part of our brain like we use to. If you notice the people who are Hafiz do really good in school because once you use the memory muscle on a consistent basis, you'll find it easier to memorize other things. Kalimaat encourages you to use your memory more and that can be very beneficial InshAllah.

3. Indirect Learning: Last but not least, players can learn indirectly. A little while ago, I was playing Kalimaat in Cleveland with some random brothers and the word "qiyas" came up and i was trying to explain it to my partner, but I ran out of time. Then one of the players from the other team later asked me what the word meant, and lead to a discussion. As you know, there is a Hadith that talks about the person who hangs out with the perfume seller vs the blacksmith. Even if you're just hanging out with the perfume seller, you're going to start smelling nice and if you just hanging out with the blacksmith, you're going to get you're clothes dirty. The idea behind Kalimaat is to provide a halal game that is fun, entertaining, and indirectly educational. Any by making things indirectly educational, people can naturally learn Islamic terms that they wouldn't normally learn.

The younger generation is constantly told this is "haram" and that is "haram" and we have to give them halal alternatives InshAllah instead of just saying every other thing is haram. I hope to make those alternative products like Kalimaat and I hope people will benefit from them as well InshAllah.

I posted some new reviews on Kalimaat from recent customers: http://www.babaaligames.com/reviews.html