The New Year In My Life.

After a few hours I will welcome a new year in my life. Despite the blurry projections of the future due to the current plight and the exorbitant prices, I am looking forward to experiencing a better off tomorrow. I always learn good lessons even from the worst people I had to afford in the last years. Hopefully, the upcoming year will bestow me with like-minded people, rewards, and more contentment for what I already have. I am grateful for being a magnanimous learner through the last decade and ready to share and experience firsthand what I have learnt. Self-development is a must as ignorance and stagnation beget nothing other than hatred and parochialism.

The Current Plight

Another currency floating happened this morning moving the EGP from 24.7 to 26.7. I feel paraplegic unable to project the future or how starving most of us will be. Everyone in a position is held accountable for this plight and the humanitarian crisis we all face now. It was indeed our slogan “Bread, Freedom, and Social justice” in January 2011 not to get to the verge of destruction, not to transgress asking for food or out of fear of death. Despotism begets nothing but anger and justice from the mobs.

The situation is unbearable in Egypt now. I am not selfish but deep down I don’t care much about saving money or making calculations for tomorrow as I feel I will not stay much here. I feel grateful for the last decade for being a firm guru allowing me to gain more knowledge and master another language. For their veneer as an insurmountable hindrance to a blessing to another gate. My people are reliant on the relics of our ancestors bragging all the time of lineage, but life does not tarry with yesterday and today what matters only. Education illuminates us and helps us make a living not the opposite. Glad for snatching myself away from ignorance, parochialism, and laziness.

My Labyrinthine Job

It is disastrous to keep working in such a monolithic and hostile environment. Who can be productive among coworkers engrossed with making up stories about others?!. Instead of going to work in order to work and act as a linchpin in your community, you drag yourself to get there and exert your utmost effort not to mingle with them. Bullying, rumors, gloating, backbiting, and criticism are qualities and actions of those who can not move any step forward because they are imbecile, parochial, and toxic. I feel it is inherited, radicalised, and by far difficult to get rid of.

We work to make money and make our lives better off not the reverse!

We work in order to gain experience then we can climb up the career ladder rung by rung, not to face obstacles, dupes, or hatred.

Work comes second after our mental health and well-being, so please unleash yourself and leave.

Your mental health matters
Your happiness matters
Do not justify, mingle, or even respond to such superficiality.

You are a vicegerent created by Allah to instil something beneficial and to coexist. Those who choose to run amok, you cause trouble to yourselves only because of your insolence, ignorance, and animosity.

I feel it will take tens of years to be real humans in the Middle East and even in the west, we can not be treated equally because of stereotypes, hijab, and religious beliefs!

Miles to go before we sleep, and miles to go before we sleep!

The Seven Selves, Khalil Gibran

In the stillest hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whisper:
First Self: Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and now I rebel.

Second Self: Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given to me to be this madman’s joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts. It is I that would rebel against my weary existence.

Third Self: And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would rebel against this madman.

Fourth Self: I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was given me but odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would protest against serving this madman.

Fifth Self: Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the fanciful self, the self of hunger and thirst, the one doomed to wander without rest in search of unknown things and things not yet created; it is I, not you, who would rebel.

Sixth Self: And I, the working self, the pitiful labourer, who, with patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days into images and give the formless elements new and eternal forms-it is I, the solitary one, who would rebel against this restless madman.

Seventh Self: How strange that you all would rebel against this man, because each and every one of you has a preordained fate to fulfil. Ah! could I but be like one of you, a self with a determined lot! But I have none, I am the do-nothing self, the one who sits in the dumb, empty nowhere and nowhen, while you are busy re-creating life.

Is it you or I, neighbours, who should rebel?
When the seventh self thus spake the other six selves looked with pity upon him but said nothing more; and as the night grew deeper one after the other went to sleep enfolded with a new and happy submission.
But the seventh self remained watching and gazing at nothingness, which is behind all things.

Another Crime!

Gaza is the most segregated place in the world. Ordinary things like parsley, canned food and drinks, musical instruments, etc may not be allowed there according to the authority of the transgressor! They are under attack now. One million civilians are under threat and they are not less humans than Ukrainian and other vulnerable people in the globe!

Our solidarity and supplications with you!

The Meaning Of Religion As A Religious Woman

       Before the internet, the gap was wider as each community was well-versed in its traditional lore only. Now, you can make friendship with people overseas while you are plopping down on your sofa through your cellphone. Nonetheless, we are suffering from those trolls behind their keyboards!

      Two years ago, an Egyptian cook has decided to take her hijab off. I could not make out people’s demeanor when they scorned and understated her. She was called a spinster looking for a groom, they suspected her faith without any deference! Her decision was personal, but trolls insisted on making it a religious matter!

      Mo Salah, the Egyptian football player posted a picture of his daughter while she was playing on the piano. The comments revolved around religion and Islamic nurture. Their comments exuded their ignorance of religion and its essence.

      Dina Tokio has decided to take her hijab off as well. As a Muslim blogger, her decision was not her own. Therefore, people have decided to threaten, insult, and send their pernicious messages to her.

      A month ago, I read the news and there was a survey of British people’s acceptance of Muslims and hijab as compatriots like anyone else there. The majority claimed that hijab symbolised backwardness, and this would never represent their country, especially after its long-term battle to spread freedom and justice.

      For me, all these scenes have ignited an important question about religion, and whether we preserve it, or it protects us from that ingrained brutality. It was profound as I always thought of religion away from any tales or fecund imagination.

     In 2019, I was eager to read religious books away from any tales or prejudice. I have found some books and thankfully the riddle got unraveled. Every religious rifle was a result of a political conflict and a paranoid ruler. Religions are based on the same pillars of mercy, care, worshipping, fasting, alms, and the afterlife. The last messenger is our debate. There is another life in another realm and we all want to experience it as human beings, and monotheists with different hue, physiognomy, and religions. God wants us to be different, so we have to coexist with each other.

    After I read some books, I came up  with some conclusions;

• First and foremost, Everyone is held accountable for their deeds here and in the hereafter. This message is an allusion to dissuade those trolls as accountability is sole!

 

• The first cosmic covenant what matters the most. Allah enjoined Adam to worship, supplicate, and befriend all human beings.

 

• If religiosity does not better you, so you definitely misunderstand it.

 

• I have to neither witness your ugliness, nor make my phone kosher to stave off such things. Therefore, I have decided to give up using my Facebook  account.   

 

• Read the study Quran book. It is the best Quranic commentary I read, especially for those who have some ambivalence towards Islam.

 

• Read Reza Aslan’s books, no god but God, Zealot, and god; a human history. This author helped me fathom how we have disfigured religions with our chauvinism and bigotry. He is a Shiite Muslim who was Christian before. His books are page turners and enlightening, especially for a sunni woman who has never mingled with Shiites.

 

• As a feminist, kecia Ali and her books about sexual ethics in Islam. Some thorny issues such as the dowry, concubinage, and slavery. Kecia did answer a lot of profound questions as a Muslim woman.

 

• Good Muslim, bad Muslim book astounded me. The cold war, opium industry, the socio-economic mutation of Islam from a mere religion to a political identity, and the Middle East has become an arena. The inception of militant groups, explosions, and fundamentalism are expressed in detail in this book.

 

• Finally, who witnesses wars and survives, will suffer from its dregs until they pass away.

Thanks for your embrace and time!

We Are The Scum Of The Earth

That beautiful woman with curly hair has been deserted for more than sixty years. She is sitting on the floor, pent-up, bare with consternation. Before her eyes, there is a slaughtered sheep. It was brutally killed as it was, reportedly, rabid. There are two dogs. Ostensibly, they are making love but this is far away from the truth! They are two males; one of them is indigent, afraid, and straight. While the other one is powerful, bloodsucker, and homosexual. Therefore, the indigent has nothing to do but lying down with bile. It is everyday practice with humiliation and utter submission.

The military guardian looks stern and vigilant. His paunch elucidates how satiating his diet is. We are perplexed if he is standing for dignity, or watching spoils. The scene is full of gory details and gloom.

That woman is voluble, but she is not allowed to have a say. When she wants to open up, she gets scorned and understated. She is sterile, they always covet everything she owns albeit. A suspicion of having precious gems or mere trinkets!

Hopefully, you will understand my point as I can not explicate any further. We are still watching that farce.

This is Walid Ebeid’s painting

Hocus Pocus

Before the Arab Spring, we thought there were no individuals in the Middle East.

This was the prologue of a book about the Middle East before and after revolutions. This sentence was nothing but the reality. We are not the luckiest on earth, except those in North Korea, as we can emigrate to another country. Ironically, North Koreans are more welcome than Arabs and receive more sympathy. There are a lot of similarities between both of them; tyranny, isolation, and the tainted blood. The more you grow up, the better you learn how to shoo to not get caught. Blurting a word out may cost you a soul.

Isolation does not require fences because ignorance is a great castle to cram those who do not understand what is different. It is a win-win situation for both sides. One side can easily have the upper hand, whilst the other one gets satisfied with pennies as their world is limited.

My people do not know that word “ambition“. They always say “little is better than nothing”. They are not aware of moving up the ladder because they were born poor, therefore they have to be so until they pass away. The same theory of ranking in North Korea.

Once I had a conversation with a friend talking about harassment in Egypt. Egyptians have a good ranking in watching pornography. I replied that human beings always look for catharsis. The majority are unemployed, and if you are jobless, so you will be unable to marry. Job is your dignity, your own crutch, and manhood. Even though, salaries are meagre in Egypt, they represent safety as they are permanent even after the provider’s death.

We are not individuals. I mean not as humanistic as you are. You are first class citizens and we are Scapegoats. You have been invaded once, then you have decided to avenge and invade many countries as you would never forget! We are mere statistics getting used to witnessing gory details firsthand.

I am not trying to justify anything. I am another scapegoat belonging to the grassroots without any privilege. There is neither robust education, nor extraordinary talent. I only want to fly away. Maybe I want to be a predator to be able to fare well in this society.

Sorry for disturbing you, but it is only a glimpse and I want to share it with you. Someday, I will have my walled garden, and I promise you that I will share it too!

I highly recommend reading The New Middle East: The World After The Arab Spring book.

For me parliament is a circus, it’s big beard versus small beard, who can be more right-wing than the other, who can be more obsessed with sex and moral values than the other, and who can waste all this time talking about Internet porn and not teaching English in school, whereas the majority of Egyptians’ concerns are unemployment, poverty and security on the streets,’ said the writer and activist Mona Eltahawy.

One of the sentences that described the scene after the Egyptian revolution and encapsulated how Egyptians think and prioritize things. Sex comes first, then we can discuss science and education.

I have a say please!

Educate me well. Therefore, you will be able to curb my animalistic instinct when your actions rage me.

Illusory

Hello Omar,

I am Christin,

When I read your message, I smiled once, and grieved twice.

Smiled because of women’s instinct to like flirtation and compliments even if they deny it.

And grieved twice, once over you, and once over me. It is the curse of beauty, Omar!

The curse that kills everyone.

It inflicts love on men, jealousy and envy on women.

It inflicts loneliness and depression on beautiful women.

Everybody is racing to reach out to her, but they remain in the rally leaving her out of reach. If he gets the chance to be by her side, he will grow miserable because of her misery.

He loves a woman who is in everyone’s heart, until he feels that she is no longer his, but rather everyone’s!

Beautiful women are the most miserable ones, Omar.

They break ordinary men’s hearts, while well-off men break theirs.

Excuse me, Omar!

We, broadcasters, are not beautiful even if we have some beauty.

It is the result of sleight of hand, stuffed beauty, artificial features, and deliberated allure.

One of us grieves over the falling of her false eyelashes more than the falling of atrocities. She fears the mistakes of misspelling more than the mistaken bombing.

We are nothing but toys, or maybe a machine reading good news and bad ones with the same feelings and features. There is no difference between the inauguration of a cabaret or slaughtering hundreds of your children at night.

Sorry Omar!

I have not asked you about your life

Because I know it well

I know it is as bad as the country you live in

There are some thieves among you. They appear at the expense of indigent people. They live in upscale villas. They falsely claim to speak up on behalf of the poor and hardworking.

Their conversations are boring. Their standpoints contradict with diverse information.

They allow themselves to speak on your behalf to get 200 dollars after each harangue.

We suffer from them more than you do.

Maybe we curse them more than you do.

Nonetheless, I congratulate this miserable country for having you and such obscure poets, and send my condolences because that gang was able to disfigure your images.

Leave them aside now!

I know you envy our men because of having our beauty, but you don’t know that we envy your women because of having you, because of your feelings full of softness, because of your magical words that can conquer any woman’s heart.

Your women do not probably realize your importance as we do. Maybe it is due to their conservative nature or rather stupidity!

Your neighbor may have peeked out of the window and snatched your heart and messages.

Your colleague may have approached you at university or work. Hopefully, she would be able to get a bunch of your love and words.

Your friend may have stopped you asking for a souvenir shop to escort her to it.

My apologies for the flowers that die in your hearts before your eyes.

My apologies for the words that age in your tongues before your silence

My apologies for your kindled hearts when they dim because women want marriage more than love

One line of your message, Omar, makes me happier than traveling to San Francisco to take a photo with Donald Trump in front of the garden of the White House

A warm word of love compensates me for going skiing in Moscow

A sincere flower is better than a stroll in the gardens of Andalusia

I stopped wandering around continents and countries as I used to do so. Now, I am wandering between words and alphabets into your message. I have become more interested in freeing your messages than freeing any countries.

Finally my friend!

Do not be a cheapskate and send more messages to me. They are not mere messages as you think, but rather precious tickets to navigate through the cities that I love the most. Cities that we gain nothing from its visiting but great poets like you!

This was a broadcaster’s reply after she received a message from a Yemeni guy. He has written a poem describing her beauty and blonde hair. He has mentioned that her beauty overshadowed his country’s disasters and war when he watched the news. The Arabic poem is very rhetoric and full of metaphors. I tried my best to translate it accurately without ruining it. It touches my heart, so I hope it touches yours too.

May Allah abate these scourges upon Yemenis, Uighurs, Syrians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Libyans, and every free spirit on earth beyond any religions!

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The ousted Egyptian President has died. I believe that he was not our representative, but he was the elect. As we know the now- banned Muslims brotherhood and our former president’s affiliation with them. It reminds me of good Muslims and bad Muslims book when Mahmoud Mamdani illustrated the conversion of Islam from a religion to a political identity.

A devastating war between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, and the arena is the Middle East. You may say Islam commands Muslims to fight non Muslims. Well, you are mistaken, my friend! We believe in the first cosmic covenant between God and Adam when Allah enjoined him to worship, supplicate, and befriend all human beings. There were neither massacres nor brutality.

Muslims are enjoined to seek jihad. Ironically there are no crusaders as jihad is divided into two parts. The first one, the lesser, commands Muslims to seek knowledge wherever it is “أطلبوا العلم من مكانه”. The greater struggle enjoins Muslims to fight poverty until we get rid of it. Therefore, Al-Qaida, Taliban,ISIS, and Muslims brotherhood are intruders as we are not allowed to prosecute nor judge others as long as we do not witness ourselves nor they confess. We are not held accountable for other’s deeds. Everyone will deal with the consequences of their own behaviour in this life and will be accountable to God on the Day Of Judgement.

“Did Israel’s army, using dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers, along with hundreds of missile strikes from US-supplied Apache helicopter gunships, besiege Jenin’s refugee camp for over a week, a one-square-kilometer patch of shacks housing 15,000 refugees and a few dozen men armed with automatic rifles and no missiles or tanks, and call it a response to terrorist violence and a threat to Israel’s survival?” It was Mahmoud’s question about Palestine and Israel.

That book encapsulates what is going on now, and describes terror as a political and sociological mutation. Hopefully, we are going to bridge the gap someday. Our planet is oval with no dimensions and our intellect should do so. Homogeneity is gruesome and irrelevant to the first cosmic covenant!

Inner peace.

It Is Not Pleasant Being Arab

I have not been blogging for a couple of weeks. However, I was thinking of what should be the next topic throughout that time. I was watching some documentary movies about sex trafficking because of wars, poverty, or maybe illiteracy. In Yemen, a kid got married before puberty, which was according to her father “we wanted to get rid of a burden because of poverty, so we were compelled”. In Pakistan, there is a village where girls get slaughtered in the name of bringing dishonour. Dishonour, according to their loathsome viewpoints, is going out, talking with strangers innocently, or even disobeying their parents’ will. In Lebanon, men take advantage of Syrian women due to their disastrous circumstances as refugees.

Ironically, the society always suspects our entitlement as women as we are delicate and rely on our emotions. Nonetheless, women are their target to satisfy their needs in the most abhorrent way. I myself have been through a lot to correctly evaluate myself as a human being. I have known bullying from a man. I have got ridiculed from a man. Recently, I had a fallout with my mother. It was one of the fiercest and I opened up the most. She conveyed her desires, and I spoke frankly about my own desires which are totally different from hers. I love my mother, but I would never emulate her. Is it wrong to speak my mind? Is it vulgar to go after my dreams? Should our wings get clipped off to represent obedience and honour? For how long are we going to witness this farce?

This relic should no longer exist. Life is much simpler than this maze. The area is a stagnant pond of retardation. If you approached it. It would swallow you up without any changes apart from another corpse.

Hola amigos from the other side!