5 Chances A Day

5 calls every day. Although now i can only hear them when i am at home with my laptop on, i still occasionally hear it.

5 chances a day to renew your faith.

5 gifts a day to put your mistakes and sins behind and have a fresh start.

Ramadan Goes Upside Down with School

I've been back in the US for one week now and because of my irregular and inflexible schedule at school Ramadan went completely out of control.

I don't eat enough (lost 2-3 kgms in one week)
I don't sleep enough (5 hrs a day on average)
I don't pray as i would like (no more tarawee7 in jama'a)
I don't exercise (not even once)
& I don't really work

The question is: If that wasn't the case would there be any meaning to Ramadan? Should i not resist?

Jum'a in Nairobi

Yesterday I thought I have to pray Jum'a in Kenya before I leave. This time I didn't go to the nearby mosque but I went to Nairobi's biggest mosque in the city center, Jamai Mosque.

It is a big mosque and it was full with people, at least 3000. It wasn't exactly similar to the Jum'a i would go to in an Egyptian Mosque.

At started with the normal call for prayer "Athan". It was a beautiful voice he gave the athan. Then an Imam started the "Khutba", Jum'a Speach. It was in Swahili with occasionaly Arabic references from the Qur'an or Suna. The imam had a calm voice and seemed quite fluent.

After he finished another man started another speech. It didn't seem like a relegious one. The man was speaking in a loud voice as if he's calling people to join a fight. People seemed more attentive. There was what seemed to be artificial cheering after some of his statements. He made some statements in English that made me realize he was some sort of politician. Statements like "democracy is not the rule of the majority but the respect of the minority", "Our power is still not reckoned", and "I have 10 million people backing me".

After that there was another "Athan" and the Imam came back and repeated his first speach but in Arabic this time. That was when a non-swahili speaker, like me, would typically come :). The Imam's Arabic was quite impressive, very similar to Saudi Imam's, and so was the arabic of the Mu'athen. Probably they are either Saudi's or have been trained there.

On the way home I asked Simon about that politician who made a speach. He said Muslim's in Kenya are supporting the oppositon lead by "Rayla". The muslims being 30% of the population are definitely a considerable mass. They are angry at Kebabki's goveronment because it didn't bring welfare to the Muslims as it promised, and because it arrests muslim suspects and hands them to the Americans who take them to Ethiopia to be unhumanly interrogated.

Dinner with a Kenian Disbeliever

I wouldn't have guessed that a group dinner with a group at work yesterday, an indian, two kenyans, a chinese, and myslef would end with a short debate over creation vs. evolution, a debate between a believer and a disbeliever, between myself and Mugathia.

Mugathia, or Samuel as everyone calls him, is a very intellectual Kenyan. He is a very strongly opinionated person. Through our interactions this month I was impressed by how knowledgeable he is and how good a reader he seems to be. He is 33 years old, married, studied commerce, and worked for different organizations in and outside Kenya, spent some time in the US, and he's an Atheist.

Mugathia, similar to other disbelievers, believes that all religions are man made to cover for their scientific shortcomings among other things. He says that as science uncovers different phenomenas we now know that there is a logical reason behind everything not a mighty creator. If someone from 1000 years ago saw someone talk over a piece of stone to another 100s of miles away, they would think this is God. But now that they understand its scientific explanation they wouldn't see any signs of divine power.

But advancement in science can only be explained in that sense if it makes us more knowledge. But the reality is that it only shows us how more ignorant we are. The ancient man had only the sun, the moon and the relatively few stars they can see as big mysteries. We might have known more about these objects today, but we also came to realize that there is a substantially bigger universe that lies beyond these countable set of objects. The amount of things we need to learn about today as we explore the universe by far exceeds what that ancient man thought he doesn't know when he looked up into the sky.

Our knowledge in absolute terms has increased. But it has dwarfed relative to the growing unknowns.

Remembering Ali - My Teacher

Every Ramadan as - like many people - I start reciting more Qur'an I remember Ali. The first and probably the only one who taught me some things about reciting Qur'an. His teachings come back to mind as I try to inhale from the gems of the greatest of all books.

Ali and I might have had our ups and downs. But it is for this that i will always stay grateful to him and ask him to forgive any wrong I might have done him.

"Jazak Alloh Khayran Ya Ali Ya Maher"

Rapped Women in Islam

An American friend asked me yesterday about women who are raped in Muslim countries and then get stoned to death. My eyebrows went up!! Without thinking I told her, "NO WAY". Then after some little thinking i said, , "Maybe, this happens if a woman claims being raped but can't prove it, so this means she had performed adultery - the punishment of which is stoning to death". Could this be true! That's how several online accounts report was the case in some muslim countries like Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, here is one. Despite the fact that the sentences have never been executed, this can't be true implementation of Islamic Lay . If it is, what is a rapped woman expected to do??? Just say she's raped and she can't prove who rapped her???

Ramadan at a Different Place!

I never felt in greater need for Ramadan as I am feeling this year. I am burdened with sins that can only forgiven by God, and I have so burning questions that need God's guidance.

Like last year, I miss the overwhelming spiritual atmosphere that hangs over Egypt at this time. However, Nairobi over exceeded my expectations for venues for practicing Islam. Despite its relatively small Muslim population there is no shortage of open mosques.

On the first day of Ramadan, as i was walking up to my room after "Sehour" I heard the Fajr call. Without much thought, i followed the sound and headed outside the hotel. This is quite unspoken of for a foreigner in Nairobi. To walking in streets you don't know at 5 am in Nairobi would not be advisable. It was about a 20 minute away. I took a wrong route at the beginning but found a watchman who redirected me to where the mosque is. The streets that lead to the mosque were quite deserted, not much on its sides. There were several people walking down the street who seemed to be workers hurrying in there long daily journey to work. It was so dark, i could hear the footsteps of anyone coming before seeing their face. I made it to the mosque. It was great. That was the first time i pray fajr in a mosque in over a year.

Later that day, i said maybe they do tarawee7 prayer too. This time i went to a different mosque. Simon, my taxi driver, showed me where it is earlier in the day. He told me the walk i did earlier this morning is very unsafe, and this new mosque is closer and the walk is much safer because it is along the side of a Military Base. I went there and I was very happy to find them praying tarawee7. It was a smaller mosque but it was full. It probably had a couple of hundred people there.

This morning i returned to that same mosque again to pray Fajr. There were less people, but still more than those in the far away mosque. Again, it felt soo good, I had missed that spiritual experience. I also didn't pray tarawee7 last year when i was in the US - there is something there that doesn't make me fully relate to Muslims' practice there as i do in Egypt or even in Nairobi.

Anyways, i have another week and I'll be in the US, so i will probably give it another try when i go back. Meanwhile, i'll keep enjoying my daily adventure to the mosques of Nairobi :). May God accept my fasting, my prayer, and good deeds, and May God forgive my sins, those that were commited and those that are yet to come, those that i know of and those that i am unaware of.

Where will our Weakness take Us?!

"Kolema Natoub Na'ood" - Whenever we repent we go back (to our sins). A phrase or statement that i always remember from Imam's Do'aa in Ramadan Prayers back in Egypt. "Kolema Natoub Na'00d".

Is it lack of faith? My mind tells me it must be. If u believe in hereafter, if u believe in all the rewards that await the obedient, there is no way u should disobey God's orders. There is no way any rational personal can give away an eternal paradise for a perishing life. There is no earthly pleasure, no matter how it lasts, that is worth moments in hell. If one believes.

Is it weakness? Are we so weak to resist earthly temptations? Are we so weak to pass the tests God puts in our way? Maybe not all of us just don't have those strong characters that enable us to pass those tests, the integrity to remain honest even if this will bring others resentment, to be virtuous even if u lake a devoted one, to be firm in the face of any assault to your beliefs.

Or is it God's Mercifulness that we're taking advantage of. Is it God's mercifulness that encompasses everything - "wase'at kol shay' "?. To believe that God would forgive everything other than ascribing a partner upon him is an integral part of our faith. The story of the blind man who was spared hell after he was destined to it just because he attested to God's mercifulness is good example.

But what does all that mean? As long as we believe in God, weakness would be forgiven so so long as we're repentful?! I don't think its that simple either.

Ibrahim Al Mojel, a Muslim @ Stanford

Ibrahim Al-Mojel is one of the people I got to know and is worth mentioning when speaking of the Muslim community at Stanford. He's a grad student from Saudi Arabia and appears to be an energetic, dedicated, and persistent visionary person.

The last week witnessed a great achievement by Ibrahim as he was the man behind the first Muslim Enterpreneurship Award that was honored by having Nobel Laureate Dr. Ahmed Zeweil as its first recipient.

On Wednesday the award ceremony was held, projectiing a different image about Muslims to some elite members of the Stanford community and making Muslims more proud.

Ibrahim's character reminds me with Muhammad Mu7tasib, another Saudi Arabian i liked very much. Both have this extra hyper energy, sky reaching ambition, open minded, extremely eloquent - a little peotry wouldn't hurt, and they have this exceptional sense of humor.

Jum'a @ Stanford

Quite different than Egypt. It has a magnified importance to me since it's the only time that i mingle with Muslims on a regular basis. It's like touching base once a week.

There is no mosque on or near campus, so the ISSU (Islamic Society of Stanford University) reserves a big room each week for Friday prayers. U have to check online each week to know where the prayers will be held. There are usually 80-100 people attending the prayers. The majority are males.

The khutba is not given by a scholar, because obviously there are no scholars. Instead, a difference community members, usually a student, volunteers each week to give the khutba. Sometimes it's prepared by a sister (as females are referred to) but is narrated by a brother. U can imagine the big contrast in content and manner of a khutba given by a EE post grad and one given by a government appointed clerk in Egypt.

The khutba is in English. It is usually presented by a non-native English speaker and a non-native Arabic speaker. I remember in one of my first jum'a's i couldnt' make sense of either the english or the arabic used when narrating certain Qur'an. But generally this is not a problem. All khutba's are recorded and made available online.

Generally I feel grateful to the ISSU for managing all the logistics each week and i am more attached to Jum'a than i was in Egypt.

Why do i believe in God?

Initially that is what i am indistinctly inclined to believe. Whether this is natural instinct or a result of my up brining, i can't tell for sure. But also when i try to think it over the world seems to be a very well coordinated creation that there must be a creator.

I don't know the specific argument against the nonexistence of God. I guess it is based on evolution and that at some stage we had a primary form of life - Amoeba - and then natural selection kicked in.

Two things make me not buy into this argument. The first is that for every scenario that could take a basic form of life thru a complicated evolutionary process until we reach the order we have today, there are millions or trillions of paths that could lead to chaos. It's just probabilistically impossible.

The second is that despite the differences within different species there is still a great level of homogeneity that can't be unintentional. For instance, why aren't there humans with 3 eyes, 4 ears, or 5 hands? It doesn't seem they are functionally disabling, so u would expect so from a random process.

Islam & Peace

Does Islam promote peace? As a Muslim, my instant response is, "of course". But as evident by the 3 ex-terrorists talk at Stanford a few weeks ago some people might have a different response. Can i defend my claim? My instant response will be, "of course".

But the truth is i can't. At least not through a solid argument. If you are a statistician you know from hypothesis testing that it matters a lot how you frame your test - what's your null hypothesis.

If you are a social scientists you r familiar with confirmation bias which makes you unconsciously bend evidence to reach the desired conclusion. Both of these effects are in play when a Muslim tries to answer the question whether or not Islam promotes peace.

What does it take for a Muslim to get rid of these biases and objectively answer the question? To be open to either of the two conclusions, not to take a defensive position, and to be prepared to reach the conclusion that Islam is a non peaceful religion, even if you initially believe it is a peaceful one.

Three ex-Terrorists Attack Islam @ Stanford

It was a full house at Kresge Auditorium with relatively high security measures surrounding the place. The event was publicized as a talk by three ex-terrorists who presumably had turned into peace activists. The fact was that it was more of three ex-muslims for some reason waving a huge attack on Islam and the Muslim world. The three speakers were Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem, and Zak Anani. Shoebat was the most eloquent of the three and thats probably why he's the one attracting media attention.

The three of them portray Islam as non peaceful religion that promotes violence and hatred towards Christians and Jews. They claim that Islam is a huge threat to the US. They say that there is no moderate Islam and mocked professors who make a distinction between Islam the religion and Islamic fundamentalists.

As a muslim, i saw how they manipulated Quran or Hadith to substantiate their arguments. But a non Muslim - the majority of the audience - can hardly notice that. They were focusing on specfic versus of Quran or Hadith either out of context, inaccurately, or in isolation from the whole text. Any scholar knows that the basis for Share'a (Islamic law) is to look at Quran and Hadith within context and in their totality.

Considering the one sided nature of the talk and a relatively uninformed audience it was clear how what they said appealed to the majority who stood up to applaud to them as each of them finished his piece.

Among others, I tried to use the Q&A to express as a muslim from Egypt how i find no ground to their claims. However neither the seconds we had to pose the question nor the sophistication of our background could counter their negative effect.

I was dissapointed to c such a hostile monologue take place a Stanford. I would have been happier if I had seed a dialog that fostered understanding rather than ignited hatred.

Most important, it made me think how sophisticated one should be to stand to such misleading claims and/or how active should one be in making sure the right views of Islam get their chance to be expressed.

Never Lose Hope. God is the most Forgiving and the most Merciful

In these two verses of the Qur'an from Sorat Al-Zumor God says "tell my worshipers who have transgressed against their souls, despair not of the mercy of Allah. God forgives all sins. God is the forgiving and the merciful. Turn to your Lord repentant, and surrender to Him, before there come unto you the doom, when ye cannot be helped."

I run into these verses in a time i needed them most. I am most grateful to Allah.

PS: I am neither a scholar nor a professional translator. The above is my own interpretation of these two verses.

Position of Parents in Islam

It's noticeable how these verses from Qur'an (Sorat Al Essra') position goodness to parents as a close second to worshiping no-one but Allah. It orders us, as our parents grow old, not to tell them any words of contempt or repel them but to tell them gracious words. It commands us to show humility out of mercifulness and to ask God to be merciful on them as they have raised brought us up when we were kids.

How often do we remember this when we're dealing with our parents everyday? I wish we remember them before it is too late. I'll go an call my mother and pray for my father.

Disclaimer: I am not a scholar nor a professional translator. The above is my own interpretation of these verses.

Aِِِn Unexpected Dissapointment

Since the shameless constitutional adjustments made by the ruling Democratic party in Egypt is not something new, it wasn't unexpected. My disappointment comes from how the Muslim Brothers have reacted - considering they are the only sizable opposition now.

First, they boycott the vote in the parliament. Even if they disagree their job is to voice their opinion. This seemed to me as a way of preventing the democratic process that they are supposed to be part of. If they think its useless they can give up their parliamentary seats.

Second, and more disappointing, trying to promote people to follow their position as a mater of religious duty. A REGLIOUS DUTY!! This is purely a matter of political tactics, and this si a cheep way of trying to manipulate people using Islam.

This only strengthens the fear of many of mixing state and religion. I thought MB had a different vision that what was revealed in this incident. I personally i am starting to questioning the idea of an Islamic State which i used to fancy.

Islam & Democracy : Is A Clash Of Civilizations Inevitable?

I Watched today a quite interesting talk titled "Islam & Democracy: Is a clash of civiliations inevitable?" by Noah Feldman & Hamza Yusuf.

Some of their thoughts ...

• Democracy doesn't mean absolute rule of the majority. If that was the case, majority discriminating against minority would have been a perfectly ok thing.
  
  
• Democracy is the the rule of majority abiding to certain guiding principles. Principles that transcends human preferences to more divine sources such as nature or God.
  
  
• Some of the most democratic countries don't separate state from religion. Great Britain and Israel are good examples.
  
  
• In an Islamic state, Islam is the set of guiding principles.
  
  
• This doesn't mean scholars should rule. On the contrary, during the epitome of the Islamic civilization the four most influential scholars where completely independent from the rulers and were often in conflict.
  
  
• The laws in an Islamic state become the understanding of the state of Islam with the help of scholars and are not considered a monolithic theocratic orders.

A nice way of understanding both democracy and the notion of islamic states. Two things that are currently causing huge turmoil nowadays.