Why I believe in the Wikipedia:

"...as for taking the OED's word for it; well, if we are to just take the OED's or any other mainstream, establishment encyclopedia's word on things ... why are we wasting our time working on the Wikipedia? ... the main reason I associate myself with the Wikipedia is that I consider it a chance to receive and present a more complete picture of the world than I grew up having to read."

Wikipedia:Babel
en This user is a native speaker of English. ha This user is a native speaker of Hausa. Ya iya Hausa "kaman jakin kano". یہ شخص اردو کا صاحبِ زبان ہے۔ ur de-1 Dieser Benutzer hat grundlegende Deutschkenntnisse. BS-N This user is a native speaker of Bullshit.
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Community Affiliations

This user is a Citizen of the World (Terra, ⊕).

This user is a Pakistani Wikipedian

Born in Nigeria, Africa

This user is a member of WikiProject Nigeria.

This user is an active member of the Pakistan WikiProject.

Feel free to send me e-mail.

WikiProject Countering systemic bias open tasks This project creates new articles and improves neglected ones.

Review and Improve: September 11 attacks, Medical assistant, Hoda Barakat, Persian women's movement, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, Cultural Practice, Covance, History of East Asia, White pride, Ryke Geerd Hamer, Meta-Medicine, Joe the plumber, Western Painting, American exceptionalism, Mark Steyn American (word) Requests: Heather Dean, Philip A. Payton, Jr., Marcel Météore Expand: Henrique Abranches, Ti-Grace Atkinson, List of Muslim educational institutions, Muntaqim v. Coombe, Turbi massacre, International labour standards, National Unity Party, Álvaro Mutis, African Progress Union, Surojana Sethabutra, Rachel Foster Avery, Media Awareness Network Update: Ivorian Civil War, Cotonou, Banjul, Darfur conflict, Stay-at-home dad, Ituri conflict other tasks | edit

Contents 1 Protest: Pages I think need to be restored 2 Current: Working on 3 Material I disagree should have been removed/changed 4 Thoughts on Wiki-tude 5 Me, I, ... er ... 6 Updates 6.1 Wiki Pakistan! 6.2 Urdu Language Users 7 WikiWikiMe 7.1 Wikis 7.1.1 Genealogy 7.1.2 Pakistan 7.2 WikiProjects and Boards 7.2.1 Those I started 7.2.2 Those I am subscribed to 7.3 Categories 7.4 Pages I Started 7.4.1 Entries 7.4.2 Redirects 7.4.3 Projects, Notice Boards, etc. 7.5 Pages I have Butted In To 7.5.1 Entries 7.6 Pages I have Edited A Wee 7.6.1 Entries 8 WikiPedia Content I Recommend Highly 8.1 Entries 8.2 WikiHumor? 9 WikiContent I like to browse 10 To Do list 11 External links 11.1 Net sites I own/contribute to 11.2 Other places you can catch up with me 11.3 Links of interest 12 Placeholder 13 Awards

[edit] Protest: Pages I think need to be restored

The following pages, I believe, should be restored, not because they deserve it, but because if the Wikipedia is going to be live up to its promise of much less institutional bias towards Western issues and topics (which is why I choose to engage with and believe in this encyclopedia), it needs to help people learn about topics that help them understand the world they live in.

• Kafeel Bhai of Ghotki
  References:
  • http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/10/kafeel-bhai-ko-salaammashoor-e-zamana.html
• Mustafa Kamil (academic)

[edit] Current: Working on

• Adil Najam
• All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
• Tactical fixes where I can help. See my contributions.

[edit] Material I disagree should have been removed/changed

• http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sabu_Dastagir&oldid=191256012#cite_note-Portrait_of_a_Giving_Community-1

[edit] Thoughts on Wiki-tude

I am working on organizing my thoughts on Wiki(pedia) policy. The link below gives you and idea of where I am headed.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Sharif&diff=260638377&oldid=92063815

Most importantly, as I said above:

"...as for taking the OED's word for it; well, if we are to just take the OED's or any other mainstream, establishment encyclopedia's word on things ... why are we wasting our time working on the Wikipedia? ... the main reason I associate myself with the Wikipedia is that I consider it a chance to receive and present a more complete picture of the world than I grew up having to read."

[edit] Me, I, ... er ...

Starting out on the journey of self-discovery, (when I was young, and, well, cornier--cornier than this, you might ask ;)), I came up with the following characterization for myself:

I am a 2nd generation Pakistani of Arab extraction, Indian origin, and Nigerian birth.

or maybe I should say

I am a 2nd generation Pakistani of Arab extraction, Indian origin, and Nigerian birth.

That might give you an idea of how it is that I butt in on the things that I do.

A writer whose day job is as a technical writer in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area, I blog at iFaqeer and WadiWallah and a few other places (see http://www.iFaqeer.com). I have recently also started paying attention to a blog I started a while back: Rickshaw!, which captures the inscriptions on the back of Rickshaws (jinrickshaws, cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws). It's part of what drew me into the Wikipedia; looking for places with information on rickshaws.

I recently had reason to say the following in a discussion on an article:

...the main reason I associate myself with the Wikipedia is that I consider it a chance to receive and present a more complete picture of the world than I grew up having to read. (Source; for the curious.)

...and in another discussion:

Let me say the following up front by way of disclaimer: I am a Muslim and sympathise with Islam. And I also am not sympathetic to inflexible and/or extreme rationalist "devotees" of any ideology—be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Communism, Capitalism, Progressive philosophies or any other.

And I am also a strong believer in the importance of strict NPOV policies for an encyclopedia to really live up to its name. See, for example, what I am trying to do at Template talk:Timeline of Islamist militancy.

Which is why I spend time on Wikipedia.

[edit] Updates

[edit] Wiki Pakistan!

6/18/05
See: #Pakistan

[edit] Urdu Language Users

5/15/05 We are actually breaking some very interesting ground here on the Internet as the Urdu language starts to mature in its use on this medium. And Wikipedia is on the cutting edge. See: http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/urdu-speaking-wikipedia-users.html and http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-being-saahib-e-zubaan.html

---

I have just finally got to publishing my thoughts and translations on Urdu poetry, Sufism and related topics. For now, it will be mainly on the following page:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com

See #Net sites I own/contribute to below for more details.

---

Just posted the following at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countering systemic bias#Can_we_measure_Wikipedian.27s_Bias.3F

My personal bias (excuse the pun) is that bias is something that exists in every person—it's basically a function of our being human and being shaped by our own experiences and background. The High Road, IMHO, is to understand what one's own bias is and work from there—identify opinion as opinion and try to work with others to achieve objectivity and completeness is a priority, as it is for projects like Wikipedia. (And yes, I have worked as a journalist and do have a blog.) The way I do this on Wikipedia is to place an honest statement of my background and an attempt at describing my own bias on my user page. I know this will make me an easy target for people that want to discredit me or my contributions based on their perception of "people like me". So be it; it is the price of honesty.

—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 20:53, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

---

Starting to take interest in Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 20:55, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

---

Just discovered something while reading User:DigiBullet). As that user puts it, "Im among the Top 1000 users of Wikipedia by edits or something, despite me reducing my usage of the site. I dont know if this is an honor or an indicator of something else. The List".—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 02:21, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

---

Just started engaging with the Wiktionary Project, too--iFaqeer 08:47, Sep 15, 2004 (UTC)

---

Articles I created on September 20, 2004:

• NED University (my alma mater)
• Razia Sultan
• Sahabzada Yaqub Khan

[edit] WikiWikiMe

The very nature of the medium makes it difficult to list things like pages I have made a significant contribution to. And of course, on Wikipedia and in the wider Wikiworld, there is no such thing as owning a page, let alone a whole Wiki. Even pages one starts are communal property and contributed to by others, often extensively. And often that's the desired result. And things happen fast. The lists below are provided only to give you a small sampling and an idea of what I am interested and engaged in. They are, by definition, rather sketchy and out-of-date. You can check a list of my contributions to see what I have been up to lately.

[edit] Wikis

[edit] Genealogy

The Wikipedia re-ignited the hope in my heart and mind to try and work on a dream project of mine; to collect and overlay genealogies, sufi initiation chains and other information, starting in South Asia and work outwards to document people and other topics around the world. After discussions on Wikipedia:Help, I was able to make a case for its being hosted at WikiCities. Of course, like all WikiCities projects and all true Wikis, it is a community resource that I just have the honour being the founder of:

http://genealogy.wikicities.com

[edit] Pakistan

I have the honor of being the founder of Wiki Pakistan! Or "The Pakistan Wiki", PakWiki, or WikiPak, call it what you will.(You may want to avoid "Paki Wiki", since in some parts of the world, that first word is seldom used in affection.) It is at:

http://Pakistan.wikicities.com

The basic idea is a national project. A "Pakistan Information" database to which everybody can and does contribute...You can read more at that wiki's About page.

[edit] WikiProjects and Boards

[edit] Those I started

• Africa-related regional notice board

[edit] Those I am subscribed to

• Boards and lists of Wikipedia users related to Pakistan, (West) Africa, Urdu, etc.

[edit] Categories

• Category:Chiefs of Army Staff, Pakistan (and pages on Jehangir Karamat and Mirza Aslam Beg)

[edit] Pages I Started

[edit] Entries

• Ashraaf
• Asma Jahangir
• NED University (my alma mater--on September 20, 2004, see top of this page)
• Razia Sultan (on September 20, 2004, see top of this page)
• Sahabzada Yaqub Khan (on September 20, 2004, see top of this page)
• Turuq

[edit] Redirects

The (usually pre-existing) articles are in brackets. I have just added another way of people might be looking for the same information.

• Aurangzeb Alamgir (Aurangzeb)
• Chagatai Turks (Chagatai Khan#Chagatai Turks)
• Chagatai Turk (Chagatai Khan#Chagatai Turks)
• Chughtai (Chagatai Khan#Chughtai -- including the content for that section)
• House of Taimur (List of Mughal emperors)
• Lord Lugard (Frederick Lugard)

[edit] Projects, Notice Boards, etc.

• Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board

[edit] Pages I have Butted In To

[edit] Entries

• Adil Najam
• Afghan Wars
• Ashraf Jehangir Qazi
• Aurangzeb
• Baisakhi
• Babur
• Bahadur Shah II (moved/changed title from Bahadur Shah Zafar II and pointed Bahadur Shah Zafar to it)
• Barbary pirates
• Bey
• Chagatai Khan (including adding Chagatai Khan#Chughtai and Chagatai Khan#Chagatai Turks)
• Hina Jilani
• List of Mughal emperors (I am trying to add full names, not just short, common monikers)
• Mughal Empire
• Partition of India
• Tariqa
• Women as imams (including obtaining consensus and renaming the page)

[edit] Pages I have Edited A Wee

[edit] Entries

• Frederick Lugard
• Rajpath
• Sokoto
• Usman Dan Fodio

[edit] WikiPedia Content I Recommend Highly

The usual reason a page is listed here is that reading it will provides an insight that, in my humble opinion, is important in helping us all better understand (and be more understanding of) the universe around us.

[edit] Entries

• Urdu poetry
• Note on the Urdu-Hindi-Hindustani issue -- One of the best expositions I have seen of the issue.
• This image is very interesting:

Christian Denominations and their "lineage"

Just like the charts available off:

http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/index.html

[edit] WikiHumor?

• See Talk:Jean-Bédel Bokassa#Humor?

[edit] WikiContent I like to browse

• Category:New religious movements

[edit] To Do list

Please free to help—and let me know if you want to/are working on one.

• Compile List of Caliphs either as part of Caliph or separately. Also Category:Caliphs. Update: Under Construction at Caliph
• Compile List of Shia Imams either as part of Shia Imam or separately. Also Category:Shia Imams. Current template stashed at Talk:Shia Imam. See also work being done at Caliph
• Compile List of Sufi Masters/Murshids/Peers either as part of Tarika or separately. Also Category:Sufi Masterss. Current template stashed at Talk:Tarika. See also work being done at Caliph
• Add Hejaz to list of places whose names starts with "The".
• Merge Urdu#Urdu - Hindi - Hindustani and Hindustani--the former has more/better info.
• Merge Note on Pen Names under List of Urdu poets with entry on Thakhallus
• I have preserved version http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mohammad_Ali_Jinnah&oldid=18174021 of Jinnah, because I am on WikiVacation and can't engage fully right now.

[edit] External links

[edit] Net sites I own/contribute to

• http://www.iFaqeer.com, my website
• http://blog.iFaqeer.com iFaqeer; I blog, therefore I am
• http://www.wadiwallah.com, another blog I am experimenting with; might get merged with the previous
• Rickshaw! a blog that captures the inscriptions on the back of Rickshaws (jinrickshaws, cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws)
• I have just finally got to publishing my thoughts and translations on Urdu poetry, Sufism and related topics. For now, it will be mainly on the following page:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com

The blog's not really "mine", but a collaboration with some folks (among them manzoorkhan (talk · contribs)) who are mainly in Hyderabad (Deccan) (see Hyderabad, India and Hyderabad state), one of the homes of Urdu.

[edit] Other places you can catch up with me

[edit] Links of interest

[edit] Placeholder

 < nowiki >< /nowiki >]]—[[User:IFaqeer|iFaqeer]] [[User talk:IFaqeer|(Talk to me!) 

[edit] Awards

I present this Barnstar to you for your excellent contributions to articles related to South Asia. -- utcursch | talk 08:04, May 17, 2005 (UTC)