Applying for Parents UAE Visa renewal

I recently "renewed" my dad's residency visa and here is the complete procedure I had to undergo.

1. Go for health check up at any of the three locations. More details can be found here. The fee is AED 250/- normal and AED 350/- fast track. The best time is to be at the center "early" in the morning. If you are visiting the center which is beside Khalifa Hospital in the morning, the report will be ready the same day in the evening. If you are visiting other centers, it might take up to 48 hours. You may check the status of the report online, but visit the center only when you receive an SMS confirmation that your report is ready for collection.

2. Renew Emirates ID (EID) at any of the authorized typing center.

• For me, they charged about AED 170/- for one year renewal. 
• This process usually takes about 15-20 minutes if you are the only customer the typing center is serving. 
• Make sure to carry the original passport and Emirates ID.

3. Visit the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department to obtain a certificate which certifies that the parent is "not working".

• Opening hours, location map and other contact details are given here. 
• Parking is very difficult to find especially during the peak day time. Although the parking lot is marked as paid parking, I could not find any pay station to get the parking ticket. 
• At the main reception, explain that you have come here to obtain the certificate for Daman and Immigration, and they will guide you to the exact location.
• At the counter, produce the photocopies of the passport and EID and ask for the form.
• You will need two Muslim witnesses to certify that your parent is not working. In the form, you will have to mention their names, EID numbers. The witnesses have to be present there physically. Please note that you as a sponsor cannot act as a witness.
• Fill in the form, attach the photocopies of EID, and submit at the counter. They will then verify the information and issue you the token.
• Wait for your turn, and once called in, submit your application, EID and EID of the witnesses.
• You will then have to go to another cabin, wherein the witnesses have to sign along with the parent.
• Ask them that you also need a copy of the certificate. She will give you a receipt for AED 210/- (AED 200 for original certificate + AED 10 for a copy) which you have pay to the cashier at the other counter. Make sure you carry change to have a smooth sail.
• Bring back the receipt and hand it over to the lady who will then issue you the certificate. Collect the certificate and hand them over to the security who will be standing outside the room, to have them signed by the Judge.
• Once signed, the security will deliver the certificates to you.
• Free photocopy service is available at the main reception.
• Make sure to carry original passport and EID for both the parent and sponsor.
• Total time required depends on how fast everything gets processed. Keep at least 30-45 minutes.

4. Renew Daman Health card

• Contact and other details for Daman are mentioned here.  
• Make sure to carry original + copies of passport, health card, and EID of the sponsor and original + copies of passport, health card, EID and court letter. Only submit the copy (originally stamped and signed by court) to Daman and original certificate has to be submitted at the Immigration.
• Charges will be AED 600/-
• Daman - Musaffah office has an ATM facility. You have the water dispenser as well, but snacks counter is not available. Carry some snacks to keep yourself occupied.
• Total time required depends when you arrive at the center. I didn't arrive early and spent about 2 hours to renew the Daman card.

5. Get your visa application typed at any of the authorized typing center.

• Normal visa process charges are AED 150/- and urgent are AED 250/-
• The process would take about 15-20 minutes if you are the only customer the typing center is serving. 
• Carry sponsors passport, EID, salary certificate in Arabic addressed to Adu Dhabi Immigration, Water and Electricity bill, and Tenancy contract
• Carry parents passport, EID, Health checkup report, letter from court, legal translation of letter from Embassy duly stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs* and Daman card
• The typist will file all the required papers and hand them over to you.

6. Visa application submission at the Immigration

• I believe they are open from 8AM until 7PM
• Carry the file which the typist prepared for you
• Carry all the original documents with you which also includes sponsors passport.
• If you are applying only for single parent, please carry the justification (for example death certificate) for not applying the visa for the other parent. (This is just in case)
• Submit the documents at the counter for verification and to get the token.
• Normal and urgent applicants will receive the same token. 
• When called upon, submit the application, if asked, produce the originals
• If you have applied as "urgent" the agent will stamp the passport right away and hand it over to you. If not, I believe, you will have to purchase Empost ticket, write your address and then the passport will be delivered via Empost in 2-3 days time.

*You should be having this document from the time when you "first" applied for the visa. This is a proforma that can be obtained from the Embassy. It basically certifies that you as a sponsor will take complete care of your parents and certify that there is no one back home to take care of your parents. Once this is issued from the Embassy, you will then have to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (office is located at the Marina Mall) to get this attested (I believe the charges are AED 200/-). Once attested, you will have to get it translated into Arabic through an authorized legal translator (fee I believe is AED 50/-). 

If anyone come across any information which doesn't hold good, please let me know and I will correct it.

Introduction to Sharia'a Transactions

In the name of Allah, most beneficent, most merciful.

Peace and blessings of Allah (swt[1]) be upon the last and the final messenger Mohammed (saw[2]).

Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah (swt) be upon you.

By the grace of Allah (swt), I got the opportunity to attend four lectures of Sheikh Ustad Sajid Umar on the topic “Introduction to Sharia’a[3] Transactions” organized by the Kalimah Islamic Center.

Before I share with you the experience and knowledge gained from the four sessions, let me please make it clear that:

1.       Whatever good is from Allah and whatever evil that occurs is from my soul and shaitan. (more info)

2.       Whatever I am sharing here is what “I” understood from the session and if there is any ambiguity/mistake it should be attributed to me.

3.       If you come across anything that is not in line with the Sharia’a, please let me know and I shall correct myself.

Although, the lecture series was titled “Introduction to Sharia’a Transactions”, it actually was an introduction to “Introduction to Sharia’a Transactions” as clarified by the Sheikh on the very first day.

The lecture series was based on a part/section of the book titled “The Book of Transactions (Sales/Trade)” (كتاب البيع).

The Conditions for Transactions (Sales/Trade)

The linguistic meaning of البيع is taking and giving something. باع   in Arabic means Hand.

The concept of Sharia’a is to increase benefits and remove harm both at the individual level and at the community level. The Sharia’a is so comprehensive that it looks at both the individual and at the community level.

The concept of Sharia'a in terms of Finance is to provide (financial) independence and justice.

Independence in Sharia'a is not only about physical/eternal/financial independence but also in terms of spirituality/soul/internal. (The soul should be independent of any worldly attachment; it should seek and attain an attachment with Allah (swt).)

Sharia'a wants us to earn Halaal[4], get independent of this world and get closer to Allah (swt).

Justice is about not going to any of the extremes but taking a middle approach/way.

There are three important points with respect to the transactions (معاملات). They are:

1.       From the outset everything is permissible, if it is something, which is not a direct worship (عبادة). For example, using a car for transportation, using a fork/spoon to eat food, etc. Someone has to produce a proof if they say something is not permissible. On the contrary, everything is impermissible with respect to anything that is of a direct worship. For example, we cannot pray five rakaah[5] (ركعت) for Dhuhar[6] (ظهر) instead of four. Someone has to produce a proof if they say something is allowed as a direct worship.

2.       Understanding the principles (ضوابط) of trade.

3.       Understanding the product itself. Having sound knowledge of the product which is being traded.

Definition of transaction (البيع) as defined by this book is:

Exchange of an asset (المال) for an asset or rights on a perpetual basis and it should not include usury (الربا) and it should not be lending.

Exchange could be done:

1.       Verbally (someone pitches in the offer and the other party says I accept. Typical example is of the marriage)

2.       Silently (someone comes into the shop, read the price tag, put the money on the counter and goes off. Things that we buy at a vending machine. Online shopping is another example.)

3.       [Even if][7] the product being traded is not physically present at that place. But, one has to describe the item/product/asset in a manner as descriptive as possible. All aspects that effect the price should be clearly defined.

المال (maal) in Arabic means to lean towards. Asset here refers to anything that is of value. For example, gold, pen, camel, etc. but it doesn’t include anything that is haraam[8].

Rights include every intangible thing and things that you do not own but have right to use them. Such as using the road, software etc.

If the exchange of an asset is not done on a perpetual basis then it is lending/borrowing. And, this type of transaction falls under another category in Sharia'a.

From here on, the points from the books are mentioned.

311- The general ruling for ‘transactions’ is that of ‘permissibility’. Allah (swt) says: “Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury.” [Al Quran 2:275]

312- Thus all tangibles, such as, property[9], animals, furniture etc. are permissible to place under (contractual obligation) if the conditions for trade are met.

For animals who feeds on public posture, the zakaat[10] on them is obligatory. For those who don’t, paying zakaat on them is not obligated. But if these animals are meant for trading, then zakaat is obligatory (even if the animals do not feed on public posture).

The presence of any of the following makes a contract null and void.

1.       Riba’a[11] (الربا) (usury)

2.       Gharar (الغرر) (deception)

3.       Jahala (جهالة) (uncertainty)

4.       Zero sum money/gambling/where one party wins at the expense of other

5.       Anything that causes wajib[12](واجب) to be left out or that makes us practice haram

6.       Oppression

7.       Or anything that leads to any of the above six points

313- From the most important of conditions are:

First Condition: Mutual Consent

Because Allah (swt) says: “O you who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves unjustly except if it be a trade amongst you by mutual consent.” [Al Quran 4:29]

Mutual consent prevents enmity and oppression. It is reported in one of the Hadith[13] that the wealth of one Muslim is haram for another except it is by mutual consent. Mutual consent also incorporates that the one (seller or buyer) should not be forced to get into a transaction. It should be done on free will.

There might be some exceptions to this rule, for example, in a Sharia'a court, if a judge orders that the wealth accumulated by a person should be sold so that he can repay his debt. In this case, if the person agrees or not, the wealth has to be disposed so that the debt can be repaid.

Another example for an exception could be when the Sharia'a court orders a person to sell his stocks/food items because he was retaining them with an intention that when the demand goes up he can sell them at increased price.

It is worth noting that the Sharia'a looks at:

·         Society’s benefit over an individual

·         Benefits outweighing the harm

Second Condition: Absence of gharar and jahala

315- That there is neither gharar (deception) nor jahala (uncertainty); because our prophet (saw) said “forbade the sale of gharar”.

Gharar is described as risky/deceptive, where details concerning the sale item are unknown or uncertain. Islam doesn’t want to cause any injustice or deceit against any of the parties.

The linguistic meaning of jahala is ignorance. Lack of clarity for either of the parties with regard to the terms and conditions, product, etc. Eventually, jahala may lead to gharar.

Based upon this (the second condition) the following transactions (sales) are forbidden.

·         The selling of a slave who has already escaped and a camel which already runaway.

This transaction carries gharar. The seller doesn’t know if he is going to find/catch the slave/camel.

·         A sale in which one says, ‘I will sell to you one of the following two items’

This transaction carries jahala if “following two items” are not the same. The buyer doesn’t know for sure as to what he is getting. (Is he getting a Toyota or a Mercedes? Is he getting a bag of rice or a bag of wheat?)

·         A sale that entails selling of an area of land determined by a stone’s throw, etc.

·         [For a master] to sell the unborn child of his female slave, or to sell the fruit of a tree before its condition is known.

This transaction carries both gharar and jahala. First of all the buyer doesn’t know if the child/fruit will born/reap or not. And if it is born/reap, what will its condition be?

·         To sell the unborn offspring of an animal.

If the deal is for the cow and if the calf is a byproduct of the transaction then there is nothing wrong. The deal should be on the mother as it doesn’t involve any gharar (deception) or jahala (uncertainty).

This condition of there being neither gharar (deception) nor jahala (uncertainty) in the sale applies to both the price of the commodity as well as the commodity itself.

If someone is selling a watch the conditions of gharar and jahala shall apply to both the watch and its price.

Third Condition: Either own or have permission to sell the product

316- For the seller to actually own the object being sold, or have permission to sell it, whilst having attained maturity as well as competency.

Few points to note with respect to the parties engaging in transactions:

1.       They should be free

2.       Attain age of puberty (either one of these condition applies to classify someone as they have attained the age of puberty. Which are age>=15 years, having wet dream, pubic hair growth, or having menses)

3.       Have sound mind

4.       Ability to handle money maturely and wisely

Fourth Condition: Free from riba’a

317- From the conditions that apply as well is for the transaction to be free from any elements of riba’a.

On the authority of ‘Ubaadah (ra)[14] the prophet (saw) said “Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt, (must be of) same quantity for same quality, (with the exchange being) hand to hand. However if these classes differ; seek s you please, as long as (the exchange is) hand to hand.” [Muslim]

Fifth Condition: Forbidden object

324- From the Sharia'a conditions of the sale is that the sale does not apply to a forbidden object by the Sharia'a.

·         Either due to the essence of the item itself, (for example) how the Prophet (saw) “forbade the selling of intoxicants, carrion and idols”. (Agreed upon)

·         Or due to the sale resulting in the severing of ties between Muslims. Thus, the Prophet (saw) forbade “buying and selling in opposition to one’s brother and likewise an-najash[15]”. (Agreed upon)

·         Likewise the Prophet (saw) forbade the separating of slaves that are members of one family.

·         Likewise a transaction where it is known that the buyer will perform a sin with the item purchased like (the purchase of) walnuts and eggs for gambling, or weapons to create fitnah (strife) or for travel robbers.

·         The Prophet (saw) also forbade going to meet those bringing merchandise into the market for sale before reaching the market. Thus, he (saw) said “Do not intercept incoming merchants; if a person intercepts (an incoming merchant) and buys from him, the merchant has the choice of taking it back when he reaches the market”. [Muslim]

·         The Prophet (saw) also said “Whoever cheats us is not from us.” [Muslim]

Note: Based on the above conditions the insurance and network marketing, pyramid marketing, chain
marketing are classified as Haraam in Islam.

May Allah (swt) guide us and make us among those who are righteous and God fearing. Ameen!

---

[1] Subhanahu Wataala (Glorified and Exalted be He)

[2] Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam (peace be upon him)

[3] A set of rules, regulations, teachings, and values governing the lives of Muslims

[4] Permitted or lawful

[5] Repetition

[6] The mid-day prayer performed by Muslims

[7] [Even if] signifies that there is difference of opinion

[8] Forbidden in Islam

[9] Real estate, house, land, etc.

[10] Literally means purification and growth. It is the third pillar of Islam.

[11] Effortless profit or that profit which comes free from compensation

[12] Necessary worship

[13] Sayings of Prophet (saw)

[14] Radi Allahu ‘anhu: May Allah be pleased with him

[15] This is where a person makes a bid merely to raise the price of an item not intending to buy it.

Opening address at The PI Toastmasters Club contest

Here is my opening address as the President of the club at the recently conducted The PI Toastmasters club contest.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

 

Respected Chief judge, esteem panel of judges, my dear Toastmasters and friends, good afternoon.

 

I welcome you all to the very first PI Toastmasters Club Contest.

 

Most often than not we take life as it comes and surround ourselves with that unrealistic, so-called comfort zone.

 

But today, it is going to be a different story.

They say, speak only when you can improve upon silence.

 

I believe, today, the time has come to show that we have mastered the art of speaking.

 

Today is the day when we will be going a step closer to the conquer the fear we had when we joined this Toastmasters club.

 

Today is the day when we will be going a step closer to live the dream we always had.

 

Today is the day when we will be going a step closer to taste the success we deserve.

 

Toastmasters and friends, let us go through the experience. 

 

Let us enjoy and en-live each moment of it.

 

Let us get indulged into the experience.

 

Let us learn from the experience.

 

And let us do something for the very first time!

 

Remember, competition is not against someone else. It is against our own-self.

 

What I was when I joined this Toastmasters club and what will I be after going through this experience, that defines success for me.

 

Contestants, pat your back and say "congratulations" to yourselves.

 

Why?

 

Because, today you are going to come out of that comfort zone .

 

Today, you are going to do something for the first time.

 

Pat your back and say "congratulations" to yourselves!

 

 

Installing Windows 8 on Windows 7 machine

Installing windows 8 from abdul lateef

Where's my Office 2003 option in Office 2007

Working in IT support field will expose you to different and very unusual issues to work on or to troubleshoot.

One of the user just called in and asked "Where to I find Tools command in Office 2007 which used to be there in Office 2003. I need to make a switch board and need help."

I could have asked him a few more clarification questions and answered his request, but then the old proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" crossed my mind.

I told him to give me sometime and check his email inbox. I quickly composed an email with the below link and sent it to him.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/office-ribbon-find-commands-FX101851541.aspx#2

When you follow the above link you will be presented with two options "Find Commands in Office 2010 | Office 2007". Select the version of Office in which you want to find the desired command and then select the specific product under "Interactive guides for Office 2010 | 2007".

That's it!

Installing Ubuntu

In the previous post we have seen how to install RedHat Linux on a machine which already had Windows OS. In this post I will take you through the steps involved in the installation process of Ubuntu. The machine I used didn't have any OS pre-installed.

Step 1: Insert the Ubuntu CD and boot from it





Step 2: Select the language and click "Install Ubuntu". If you chose "Try Ubuntu" the OS will temporarily be installed in RAM. If we think out of the box, this option is very useful if we want to retrieve some files in case of system crash. For example, the Windows crashes and would not allow us to log in (neither normal nor safe mode) to the system. In this case, I can install Ubuntu as "Try Ubuntu" and safe all my files on an external hard disk.



Step 3: Choose the desired options and click "Forward". You may either choose to install the update during the installation or install manually after the installation has finished. I recommend installing the "third-party software" as it will install some basic and required applications/drivers automatically.



Step 4: Select "Specify partitions manually (advanced)" and click "Forward"



Step 5: I have only one hard disk connected with out any partition. I select the hard disk and click "New Partition Table". When a warning message is received click "Continue". In the next image a new partition is created having the maximum hard disk capacity.





Step 6: Select the "free space" partition and click "Add". On the pop up screen create a "Primary" partition of 100 MB with "ext4" file system and mount it as "/boot". Click "OK" once done.



Step 7: Select the "free space" partition again and click "Add". On the pop up screen create a "Primary" partition of twice the size of RAM installed as "swap area". If you have read the previous post you must be knowing that the swap area is used as RAM.



Step 8: Select the "free space" partition again and click "Add". On the pop up screen create new partition utilizing the complete free space available with "ext4" file system and mount it to "/". Click "OK" and then "Install Now" to start the installation process





Step 9: Select the time zone and click "Forward"



Step 10: Select the keyboard layout and click "Forward"



Step 11: Enter the details and click "Forward".























Step 12: Click "Restart Now" to finish the installation



Once the computer has rebooted, select the user name and log in to the Ubuntu system.

Installing RedHat Linux with Windows already installed

The other day I was trying to install RedHat Linux on laptop and took some screen shots of the process involved. I will try to give each screen shot a short description for better understanding.

Step 1: Put in the DVD, boot the system from it and press "F12" to move forward



Step 2: Click "Next"


Step 3: Select the desired language and click "Next"


Step 4: Select the keyboard language and click "Next"


Step 5: If you have a subscription to RedHat please enter it here in the "Installation Number". It will by default install all the subscribed packages during the installation. In my case, I personally do not have any subscription so I selected "Skip entering Installation Number". Click "OK" to continue


Step 6: Click "Skip" to reconfirm that we do not want to enter any Installation Number.


Step 7: Select "Create custom layout" and click "Next"

If you have more than one hard disk it will be displayed here as h/sda, h/sdb, h/sdc,...'h' if it is IDE and 's' if it SATA (and each partition in the hard disk will be named as sda1, sda2, sda3,...). We have chosen the last option because we want to create our own layout and to make sure that the installation doesn't delete the Windows partition.


Step 8: By looking at the below picture we understand that my only hard disk has five partitions. sda1 = recovery partition, sda2 = Windows boot loader (created by default during Win 7 installation), sda3 = C: partition, sda4 = D: partition and Free = Free space. All these partitions are formatted using 'ntfs' except the last partition which is not formatted.

On a particular hard disk only 4 Primary partitions can be created. And to install an Operating system atleast one primary partition is required. If we analyze my hard disk all 4 primary partitions have been utilized so the only option I have is to overwrite any of the existing primary partition. (Ofcourse the 'Free' partition will remain unused. If I want to utilize that space then I will have to format that partition as ntfs and merge it with any of the existing primary partition.)

I decided to use my D: partition i.e., sad4 since I had already backed up that data from that drive.



Step 8: Once you have selected the partition and clicked "Next" the following option will let you create the root (/) partition for Linux (which is mandatory) and format it with "ext3". In Ubuntu we get the latest file system format which is "ext4". Click "OK" then "Next" to proceed


Step 9: It will now throw a warning message that the /swap partition wasn't created. It is recommended to create one with twice the size of RAM installed on the computer. In our case since we are already short of primary partitions we cannot create this partition. We will ignore the message and continue with the installation.


Step 10: Just a reconfirmation that we have selected sda4 (was D: drive before) and want to format it with ext3 format and it will be assigned as / (root) partition. Click "Format" to format the partition.


Step 11: The next step will let us install the boot loader and configure the boot sequence at the system start up. In our case there are two option already listed for us. The second option on device "sda4" is obviously for Linux. But what is the first option on device "sda2" for? If it is Windows 7, should it not be pointing to "sda3" (C: drive) where Windows is installed?

This might seem logical at first, but if we pay attention to the Step 8 above we have said that Windows 7 by default creates its own boot loader on a separate partition i.e., "sda2" in my case. Although the installation files are installed on "sda3=C: drive" the boot information that needs to be accessed at the system start up is stored on "sda2=Windows boot loader". That is why we see the device "sda2" already listed as an option. We can edit this entry (by selecting it and then clicking "Edit") and change its name to something appropriate "Windows 7 - 32 bit".

In the screen shoot I have selected Linux to be the default OS. At the system start up 5 seconds will be given to choose between these OS's. If we do not provide any option it will start the default OS.


Step 12: Select the time zone and click "Next"


Step 13: Provide the root password. Note that the "root" user has all the privileges on the system. Make sure you use a strong password.

Step 14: Select if any of the additional packages are to be installed. Office here refers to Open Office.


Step 15: Click "Next" to begin the installation








Step 16: Click "Reboot" to restart the system


Step 17: After the reboot the final configuration options are displayed. Click "Forward" to continue


Step 18: Agree to the license agreement and click "Forward"


Step 19: Here we can select the services that can be accessed from outside. We usually keep SSH service enabled for any remote troubleshooting.


Step 20: This is used at an advanced level. We may disable this option or keep the default option which us "Enforcing"


Step 21: kdump is used to capture the information if the system crashes. This is very helpful in determining/troubleshooting the problem as we will not have any access to the system resources. Click "Forward" and then "Yes" on the following screen.




Step 22: Select the date and time



Step 23: Click "Forward". You may apply the updates at a later stage.



Step 24: Create a user for regular use as we do not want to use the "root" user every time.



Step 25: For me the automatic detection for the sound card did not work. We may install the drivers after the installation if available.






Step 26: If you have any additional CD's, you may continue the installation or click "Finish" to complete current Linux installation and "OK" on the following screen to reboot the system.