I was reading Atallah's when I found these words. انا لا أشكو، ففى الشكوى إنحناء و أنا نبض عروقى كبرياء by Kamel el-Shinawy. Can one really live without complaining? I don't know if we can do that. Someone always tells me that you should know exactly where to direct your complains. Don't waste your time asking homage from the servants, go to the owner. Go directly to the source. He would know how to help, otherwise it is a waste of time. I agreed back then, but still had problems. Now I don't agree, and still have the same problems. I tend to conclude that these problems are my destined luggage that I need to get rid of but they are deeply rooted in me. I had to take a dive down. And yes, there is Boss, who isn't really a Boss. P.S. Some of the comments exchanged down here are meant to be funny. Nothing personal. Please continue with the discussion. My pleasure.
Comments
That brings us back to the question we were discussing at Hellme's a while back about whether there really is one Islam that you can talk about.
I think some Muslim nationalities have this identity crisis for a lot of political/cultural reasons. For Arabs this void used to be filled by Arab nationalism. During that period religion was very much in the private sphere. But Arabism failed in 1967 & started to recede so the search began for a new political/cultural identity & so political Ikhwan Islam is now the new identity.
Muslims from India & Pakistan have this issue also because they are a minority in the subcontinent compared to Hindus. They feel their identity as Muslims is constantly under threat so they respond by making it as pervasively public as possible.
Or it could be that Muslims still have this perception of themselves as one great Islamic nation or Caliphate. Since this global 'umma' was defeated & divided Muslims feel weak & under seige even if they happen to be a majority within their local community.
What I feel is that when religion moves from being a private relationship between you, your conscience & God the purity or the niya of is completely corrupted. When you start doing things to feel you belong to some religious/cultural/political club you're not doing them for God anymore.