Saying

God says in the Quran:

"Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, We believe, and not be tried?
And certainly We tried those before them, so Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will certainly know the liars."

This verse was one of the first, if not actually the first to draw my attention to how the message of Islam approves my own feelings and common sense about the whole religion thing. I could easily say to my fellow Muslims that I am just like them, I am a Muslim and a believer, this is all I needed to put everyone at ease, especially my parents, who were sad and upset thinking that I was no longer a believer. When having a debate about religion, my fellow Muslims would easily jump to the conclusion that I had gone astray, and they still think the same sometimes when I say something that is not so "familiar" to them, although in everything I said and say, I always thought to be closer to the true message of Islam than they believe.

It is easy to "say" that we believe. But I thought that it was far better to try to name my feelings as close to what they are as possible. Instead of saying that I am a believer in God, I would say that I would be stupid to say that there is no God. I know how limited our human knowledge is, and it's silly to decide that there is no God when we didn't even leave the planet Earth. I like those who say: "we don't know", or "we are not sure." They are being honest, and I think that they are closer to God than someone who says loud: "I BELIEVE IN GOD" out of a heart that still seeks refuge in a lie, gets scared from a fellow human being, thinks that he is really in control of everything or feels deeply depressed for missing a pleasure or enduring a difficulty ("and despair not of the Spirit of Allah; surely none despairs of Allah's mercy except the unbelieving people" Joseph, verse 87).

The first step that would allow us to be accepted by God is honesty and true words. Whoever knows a little about God knows that He sees what's in our heart, and how insulting to God's knowledge is saying "We believe" while knowing we didn't exactly get there yet!

When this verse reached me, I felt assured that what God really cares about is for us to be honest with ourselves. And even after we really believe, here is what we are told in the Quran:

"O you who believe! why do you say that which you do not do?
It is most hateful to Allah that you should say that which you do not do."
Chapter 61, Verse 3

"O ye who believe! Guard your duty to Allah, and speak words straight to the point; (the right word)
That He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins."
Chapter 33, Verses 70-71

See how "saying" the right words results in God's help "doing" the right actions?!

The Begining

Welcome to my new blog :)

I had the idea to create this new blog just a few days ago. I am not yet sure if creating a new blog for this specific subject is the best decision. I already have an Englisg blog, which I named "Egyptian Mind". After all, I can't think of myself as a "fluent" writer in English. I studied French in college, and all my English comes from my school years back in Egypt (not even language schools), then my readings once I found myself in the USA, where buying English books was the easiest of options. In this blog, I want to share my experience with religion. I am a Muslim born, but I seem to be closer to a Muslim convert in heart and in mind. When I was about 20 year-old, I had an experience and I made a decision, which led to completely renew my relationship with my religion. I will talk about that in this blog, and I will try to explore and share with others why I have chosen to revert to Islam and why I am still chosing to remain a Muslim. I am not teaching anything to anyone, I am sharing what I know and what I believe. It's a way of self-discovery. It's also a little bridge to non Muslims who want to understand Islam from an insider, from a regular Muslim who knows why he has chosen to be so.