هواجس مغترب

الواحد طول عمره بيقول إنه عايز يحسن من أحوال البلد.. أنا من الناس اللي طول عمري بأقول كده.. بس لو بصينا بصة واقعية هنلاقي إن ماحدش فعلا بيعمل حاجة !!

أنا لما سافرت بره فهمت اد إيه الواحد فعلا عمره ماعمل حاجة تحسين بلده .. يعني أنا هادي مثال على المرور.. أنا من الناس اللي كنت معتبرة نفسي منظبطة في السواقة .. يعني عمري مامشيت في شارع بالشقلوب ولا كده .. ومع ذلك.. أنا أول ماجيت هنا اكتشفت إني مش بعرف اسوق أصلا !! .. بجد واللهِ .. عرفت إن السواقة مش مجرد إن الواحد يركب عربية وبس .. أنا فعلا اتعقدت من الناس هنا.. عايز تدخل يمين.. العربية اللي وراك توسعلك .. في حد بيفكر يعدي الشارع.. الشارع كله يقف !!! .. لو الساعة 10 بالليل ومفيش حد, الناس برده بتقف في الإشارة !!

مثال آخر .. الاهتمام بالصحة.. الساعة 7 الصبح تلاقي الناس كلها بتجري وتلعب رياضة.. وبعدين يروحوا الشغل.. أنا مش هأتكلم على الناس في مصر (علشان دول يا عيني مطحونين) بس هادي مثال بالمصريين اللي هنا .. ماشاء الله الكل نايم يوم الأجازة لحد 10 و 11 .. طيب العيب في إيه !! .. بالضبط , العيب فينا !!

مثال آخر.. خد بعضك هنا وروح أي سوبرماركت .. وإنت بتشتري هتقابل ناس في وشك لا تعرفهم ولا يعرفوك.. ومع ذلك فـهيبتسموا في . وشك !! .. وكانهم سمعوا حديث الرسول "تبسمك في وجه اخيك صادقة

حسيت بحسرة وانا هنا على بلدي.. إن احنا قدامنا كتير قوي لما نوصل زي الناس ديه .. والمشكلة الكبيرة إن معظم الحاجات تحت عنوان .. "ابدا بنفسك" بس احنا مش واخدين بالنا.. وفي ال آخر معتقدين إننا بنعمل حاجات تخلي بلدنا أحسن !!

Appreciation of Qura'an - Part 1

I was one of those persons who attended the 'Divine Speech' course by br. Nouman Ali Khan. The main aim of the course was to understand the beauty & marvelousness of the Qura'an. It was an amazing course so I thought about sharing somethings about it here.

First, Lets think about any other prophets -before prophet Muhammed peace be upon him-. For each prophet Allah sent, Allah gave him an unusual miracle to show his people.
For Ibraheem, Allah showed his people how Ibraheem survived through fire.

{قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ}

For Moussa, Allah split the sea infront of Pharaoh.

{وإذ فرقنا بكم البحر فأنجيناكم وأغرقنا آل فرعون وأنتم تنظرون}

For Eissa, Allah gave him the ability to talk when he was just a baby, beside other things.

{وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلاً وَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ}

When you hear about those stories, you find yourself wondering "How those people saw such unusual miracles and yet they disbelieved !! .. "How could Mousa's people see the sea split infront of their eyes and Allah saves them from Phareon & then they later on disbelieved and asked Moussa 'Show us Allah' !!"
{فَقَالُوا أَرِنَا اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً}

What I am trying to say that Allah gave every prophet a miracle, the same for prophet Muhammed. Allah gave him an amazing lasting miracle, it is the Qura'an. We still see that miracle between our hands these days & still we don't really do what Allah asks us to !! .. We disobey Allah like any person who saw the above miracles and yet didn't obey Allah and his prophet... so the aim of this blog post (& others to follow in shaa Allah) that I tell you some of the most amazing things in Qura'an that I learnt from this course. This may help you understand the Qura'an better & see how miraculous it is. This will help us love the Qura'an more & truly appreciate it :)

Stay tuned.

دع الأيام

واحدة من اروع القصائد الامام الشافعي

دع الأيام تفعل ما تشاء  ..::..  وطب نفسا إذا حكم القضاء

لا تجزع لحادثة الليالي  ..::..  فما لحوادث الدنيا بقاء..
وكن رجلا على الأهوال جلدا  ..::..  وشيمتك السماحة والوفاء

ولاحزن يدوم ولا سرور  ..::..  ولا بؤس عليك ولارخاء...
ورزقك ليس ينقصه التأني  ..::..  وليس يزيد في الرزق العناء..
إذا ما كنت ذا قلب قنوع  ..::..  فأنت ومالك الدنيا سواء..
ومن نزلت بساحته المنايا  ..::..  فلا أرض تقيه ولاسماء..
وأرض الله واسعة ولكن  ..::..  إذا نزل القضا ضاق الفضاء..
دع الأيام تغدر كل حين  ..::..  ولا يغني عن الموت الدواء 

Brand new !!

Like everyday, He rested in his bed at night sleeping deeply in a dark cold night.. but unlike everyday, he suddenly felt an inner call telling him to wake up..

He jumped out of his bed, not knowing why he woke up at that time !! .. It was just that inner call telling him to get up, go out to his garden & start digging near the fence..
Strange it was, yet he followed that mysterious inner call without thinking.. although his eyes were almost shut down & exhausted, yet, he continued his way out of his house's door towards his garden..
Step by step he walked, holding his spade towards the place where that anonymous call is leading him..
Everything was silent except for some sounds of night's bugs around... even if that sounded scary, he was carefree, concentrating only in digging..

He dug faster & faster... Although it was cold outside, yet he started sweating.. with an inner belief inside that he will reach something that deserves all this..

& yes, he was totally right ! .. After that tough digging journey, he finally found it !!!!! ... It was amazing .. no no.. much more than amazing !! .. It was something that no one has ever seen before..
yeah that's true.. for he can't even describe what he was looking at right now... It was simply a stone, but what was really different was its color !! .. It wasn't blue or red or any other color.. It was a brand new color... yes, can u believe it ?? .. he discovered a new color !! .. not the traditional colors we know.. It is a new color that nobody has ever known or seen before !!!

Yeah.. It was just awesome !! ... He kept there stunning not believing what he was seeing.. He never knew that he could see that in his life ever !! .. He never thought there might exist another colors he never saw !! .. wow.. did you ever thought about that feeling !! ..

After a few hours, he began to feel tired and sleepy.. although he was still much excited, he couldn't prevent himself from walking back to his bed..

Back to his bed, he put his head to sleep again.. dreaming about what will people do when they just see that amazing stone.

In the morning, he wake up full of energy.. headed towards his garden to get his stone and take it to the nearest journal or TV channel..

Arriving there beside that hole in his garden, he looked down.. but, ohhhhh, it wasn't there !!!!!
How could that be ?! .. He felt really stupid for leaving it down in the garden the day before.. but wait... could that be a dream !! .. no no, what about that hole in his garden.. also, he still remember that new color & how beautiful it looked !!

He stayed there for a while feeling so sad... Desperately, he walked back again to his home.. to go get ready for his work to start a new day in his routine life.. He felt so upset as for now he couldn't even narrate this to anyone.. cause no one would ever imagine or believe what he once saw.. nobody would ever imagine how beautiful the new color looked and even he can't describe it to others...
.. He headed back to his home, feeling sad, but different.. for he will never forget that new amazing wonderful color.. that color that nobody saw except himself !

You can eat an elephant !

I was playing among my things when I came to this light & funny poem that I read somewhere long ago, so I just thought about sharing it here...

You can eat an elephant.
Oh,yes you can it's true.
They may be huge but not to worry,
they aren't to big for you.

"Just how can I eat such a thing
that's so immense in size?"
"Just look at it in pieces
and make them all bite size."

You see to look from head to tail
can be a daunting task.
Many would just give up now
and let the elephant pass.

Look at it as if you can
eat it piece by piece,
It may take you a while,
but your goal you will reach.

So, next time you have a task
that is difficult to do,
Remember, you can eat an elephant
so take a piece and chew!
(Copied)

See the moral in that ;) .. Remember, you can eat an elephant :)

The Containers..

You were asked to fill a set of containers with a liquid... You have many different containers in sizes.. You were given the containers & liquid.. of course there will be many ways to pour the liquid in the containers.. Some people will pour it all in one container.. others will divide it on two containers & throw the rest of the containers.. others will fill them all with small volumes... & many other different reactions..

That's exactly how I see our lives... Your life is a set of containers of different sizes.. There is a container called "Family".. Another one called "Friends".. & also there are "Career", "Fun".. etc.. The number of the container is unlimited.. you can have many containers as you want.. but you have limited of amount of the liquid to pour into your containers.. That liquid is your time & energy..

In all your life, you are supposed to pour from your time & energy to fill your containers (fields of interests).. Some people cares about only one portion of their lives & dedicate themselves to it.. Others give the whole energy & time to all things they are engaged in.. Others divide their energy equally but yet they never end with any of the containers filled..

The problem is not how to fill your containers.. the problem is the the more your pour in one, the less the remaining for others.. another problem is the sizes of the containers, they depend on the person... there are some people who thinks about their career as the biggest container they have & want to fill... others puts highest priority to their personal lives..

Why am I saying all this.. I dunno.. but maybe deep thinking about my own containers ended up with these strange thoughts..

[From old drafts: 2/10/07]

Losing hope..

As I'm officially a graduate now, I had a flash back for my first days at college.. everything passed so quickly.. a lot has changed maybe & that's wt I wanted to dig for inside myself & figure it out..

I remember my first days at college, I was full of enthusiasm and hope.. I had that passion and energy to try to make a change in the community around.. I had hope that everything will go fine and with the help of all good people around, we will be better in shaa Allah.. I imagined that everything should go so smooth and fine.. I also saw people full of enthusiasm, & that gave me more energy to have more hope.. I remember my first summer vacation (when I was in first year), I spent it all in 'ACM training' with Dr Abdalla Gamal & in the 'Hacking tool box' sessions by Dr.Ahmed Safwat.. I saw hope in those people's eyes.. they had the passion to make a change.. & yeah.. those people used to make me feel there's hope..

.. But.. what truly happened inside me in those 4 years? .. mm.. I won't say I'm depressed, cause it is not that bad.. yet.. there's sth that changed inside me.. that 'hope' isn't there any more.. I felt like... mm.. I dunno..
One faced situations that made him see how much some people are so evil.. they are not only concerned by acting badly, they also prevent you from acting well.. In those 4 years I saw the people who used to give me hope, losing hope.. maybe they didn't, but that's the attitude I got.. and if they did feel so, they are right.. all circumstances here should make you feel so..

Small it is (our college community) in compared to our BIG community (Egypt), but I didn't feel much differences.. It is only a small clone.. Everything around you should lead you to great depression.. sometimes small things happen that awakens the hope inside you.. yet, most of the time you will just feel that you wanna let it all go !!

maybe I'm mistaken.. but that's how I felt the change in my attitude towards life in general after 4 years in FCIS.. I still have hope we can change, yet I'm now aware that we are not living in Utopia after all and I think the light of hope I see is not as sharp as I previously saw it 4 years ago...