Irshad Manji: Woman, Muslim, and Lesbian!


I have something for courageous people, especially for strong ones who dont fear saying what they believe is right despite having a different unacceptable opinion of the majority of people around them.

Dr. Nawal El Sadawi grabbed my attention a couple of weeks ago with her intellectuality and strength in defedning women rights. (Read below in another blog about her).

Today, I came to know another amazing woman. This woman name is Irshad Manji. She didnt only wake up to a world where women are still classified to be 2nd class citizens, but she also came to realize that her sexual orientation is different than those of the majority of people around her which is not acceptable, and at the same time she was brought up to be a Muslim living in a western country where all know the perception of Islam these days around the world after 11th sep.

Irshad, stood for her womenhood, she didnt abandon her religion, and couldnt change her sexual orientation. She faced ignorance and hatred from all angles which drove her to search and read more in order to manage her own religion, sex, and sexuality and be happily living and comfortable with herself and people around her.

I recommend her personal website for everyone to take a look at:
http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/arabic.html

A product of nature missing piece


The other day, while enjoying my body under the shower, my mind was admiring the work of nature through millions of years.

My body grew up to form a nice manly shape. With some workouts through the past couple of years the muscles of different body parts grew larger, the shape of the chest, biceps, shoulders and legs reflect a good shape of a grown up man.

It is amazing how nature developed this beauty. What I am looking on is a product that have been in development for millions of years to be in this state. The work of nature seems so sacred.

Looking at this product with a naturally developed ‘Camera’ adds to this miraculous experience. A camera that takes shots every single second, and is working for years now, it doesnt just take shots but also send them through naturally developed wires to be saved somewhere in my natural memory.

I found myself singing, what a beautiful musical instrument I have! (I know many wont agree with this :)), but I got to enjoy my throat working with those sounds that added to the nice feeling under the drops of water falling on my body.

I touched my chest, feeling my heart beating. I startled to the fact that it hasnt stopped working for years! Even when I take some rest at night to sleep, it keeps beating beating and beating!

The same goes for my lungs, it works 24 hours! It gives my blood the oxygen necessary to fuel the rest of my body parts. For a moment, I felt guilty for my stupid habit of smoking argileh! It made me realize what a selfish person I can be! Those lungs work for years, they are stuck with me till the end of my life, they have enough work to do, they could spare that smoke that I insist to inject into them every now and then!

Finally I looked down between my legs, the words of Dr. Nawal El Sadawi that I heard few days ago came to my mind. Circumcision is not necessary! They didnt need to circumcised me! I suddenly realized that the product of nature that I admire is missing a part! It isnt not complete! A part was cut from my flesh when I was a child without consulting me. No one asked me! They cut my flesh without asking me! I felt betrayed. I want my missing part back. I want my complete version of this product of nature.

Sometimes you came to realize facts in life that you have never thought of. I have always knew that I m circumsized, but I have never realized that it meant being with an altered natural body. It stroke me hard as of the time I realized that my nose has grew to be larger than other people noses.

My washing machine didnt abandone me then, and is working now to make me accept the fact that they cut my flesh when I was little child.

Old Irish proverb


“Work like you don’t need the money; dance like no one is watching; sing like no one is listening; love like you’ve never been hurt; and live life every day as if it were your last.”

A couple of days ago I passed by this proverb, I dont know where, but I loved it, I then forget all about it. Today, I felt that I need it. Everyone is complaning about their love life, every one seem to be worried, no one wants to risk to get hurt, and so most of us end trapped in worrying without enjoying our life the way it should be.

Nawal El Saadawi


A month or so ago my hands caught those couple of novels that my mother was reading. They are Arabic Novels written with the famous Arabic writer Nawal El Saadawi.

Back then, I didnt realize the importance of this woman, but her writings grapped my attention with her liberal thinking and strong stand for women cause.

She is a novelist, a psychiatrist and a writer who is well known both in the Arab countries and in many other parts of the world. She fought hard against the ignorance of the Arabic society in Eygept and helped many many woman. She never feared of telling the truth, she even ended in jail at the Sadaat erra because she criticised his governemnt along with a lot of other political jornalists. They only
been released when he was shoot to death!

For 2 days, yesterday and before yesterday, Hala Sarhan hosted this amazing woman in her show on Rotana Cinema. Seeing her talking, defending her thoughts, and showing her intellectuality along with her writings made this woman like a role model to me. I came to admire her much.

She has been teaching the subject “Insurgence and Creativity” in college for many years. She says that creativity only comes by disobeying current systems, that is why we have lack of creativity and inventions in the Arab world because we are raised on fear of disobeying our parents and therefore our teacher, boss at work, and
political leaders!

What caught my attention, and I place it in the title is Circumcision. I have known for long the harm of circumcism to women, and read much about women activites in Eygept to stop this practice. Dr. Nawal has fought for this for 35 years till she succeeded in changing the rules in Eygept to protect those young women. BUT what
I found surprising is her stand on men circumcision (forgive me, I m not sure about the noun, verb, adj of the circumcise word).

She is against circumcision of men the same as for women. She said that science proved that it can be harmful and risky for men as well and doesnt recommend performing such operations. I have thought for years that it is better to be circumcised as a man! It came as surprise for me to know otherwise.

Nawal El Saadawi site URL: http://www.nawalsaadawi.net/

For more info about Circumcision: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcise

Trust your washing machine


My discovery of our built-in washing machine.

We all do share the same ability of absorbing and adjust to the new things we face in our lives. The ability to adjust differs from a person to person. It depends on how good is your washing machine.

For instance, you meet a person that you dont find his looks nice. Sometimes for a visual person like me, it doesnt give me a good feeling where I prefer to be looking at a better looking people, but then after a couple of days seeing the same person, and my washing machine working on the background, I start seeing him pretty.

It isnt just about looks. I had this guy who used to work with me. I knew him before. I couldnt stand him as a person at all. He likes to lie a lot making himself the best man ever lived on earth, and showing of every little thing he has. Not just that, his smell stinks, I couldnt bare to talk to him not only from his way of talking but also because of his smell. Then he didnt even have a good figure to look at. He didnt even how to dress to make a better sight of his fat body.

After a couple of week of him working with me. I started to adjust. I started to feel that he isnt as bad as I used to think of. After a couple of minutes you learn how to manage your breath in order to adjust to his scent. You learn how to talk to him in order not to get too involved and appailed of his lies. With time you also learn that he can have some good qualities when he did help me fix my car tire when I didnt have the necessary equipments to do so.

Another example is my best friend ex girl friend. When he first saw he, he fall instantly in love with her. He used to ask me what I think of her looks. At first, I used to see her as a goat with her hair style, nose, and chin. Then after a couple of months and with continous talking about how beautiful she is. I actually started to see her beautiful!

Guys, our washing machine makes things looks better to us. We tend to feel comfortable with familiar things. Maybe that is why some people stuck in time. You look at them you see a fashionable man/woman who supposed to be living in the 80s! It seems that their washing machine isnt efficient enough to absorb new things and make it familiar for them to adjust to current time.

Like those people who doesnt know how to forget and forgive someone else for a past mistake. Their washing machine is inefficient to clear those negative feelings. You can see all those negativity dishes waiting in their sink on queue where they became not able to move on and accept new things.

I also learnt that each washing machine of us is trainable. You all can work on yours. Use a better washing powder and get rid of your laundry to make you perception light of cleaness.