It was a busy week

Now i am writing again keeping a diary. Maybe running away from studying this gynaecology that i can’t stand any more.. offf.. can’t wait for Saturday to unleash my potential.

So i went to Sharm EL-Sheikh.. attended SONA.. it was just awesome and life-changing.

Also i have finished and published my first iPhone application Hisn Al Muslim.

After finishing the coming exam inshaAllah i will be doing more. more applications.. more work.. more traveling and more studying of neuroscience!

pray for me..
Adham

SONA

So i finally registered in SONA from 8 – 12 December.

Also booked my flight from Cairo to Sharm El-Sheikh for 400 LE .. this is a good price.

Now it is time to go back to study!!

Apple iPhone Developer Program

Finally i got enrolled in Apple iPhone Developer Program. I got the chance to test my first application on my iphone. The graphics were nice but the performance was disappointing. I am now reading about CodeData to switch to instead of SQLite. Seems it will be faster, easier and less coding.

Also, i sent the payment to Nile Conference Center. Haven’t received any response from them. Mailed them again and still.

Tomorrow i will be calling them and try to be angry as i will be purchasing the flight tickets soon inshAllah.

Funny

I have been trying to solve a problem in coding my first iPhone app. I have been doing this for two  days.

and at a desperate moment when i was trying to remove my mess here and there from the code, i made a mistake that actually did the trick and made everything perfect 😀

al7amdolellah..

So I Wrote Him Back…

Dear Immanuel, 
FIrst of all, i am impressed.

I have travelled to a few countries, Muslim and
non-Muslim, and only very few people were interested in
such topics.
Actually one reason i am here in couchsurfing is to
establish this “bridge” 

It is true i wrote i am a practicing Muslim. I posted
this here so that you can expect what kind of person
will meet you.

I will try to answer your questions. But first of all,
let me tell you few important things i believe i should
say as long as you are interested in hearing:

I believe in Allah of course.. but why? there is no one
materialistic reason. No scientific evidence.. Only Signs.. And i
can’t feel Allah with my senses.. This is pretty
obvious. Because He is God.

So when i believe in God, i am simply doing something
that is higher than my senses! And the mind can’t find
a sure reason to prove God. You just see and believe
the “evidences” that God exists.. You see His
creations.. you see his deeds etc..

So, we believe in God  which is a very big task.. I
thank him for giving me this blessing after thinking
about it and not just inherit being a believer from my
parents..

Now, when you believe that there is a God up there. and
He is powerful, merciful and .. and .. and..
this is a bigger and more difficult thing to do than
following His orders.

Let me explain more.. Some of your questions might not
have an answer for me. But the thing is : i don’t need
answers all the time..
sometimes i need the answers to make me more
comfortable that Islam is the right way.. and that i am
not mis-guided. But following Allah’s orders doesn’t
depend on my understanding of the wisdom behind them or
the reasons of them.

for example.. Allah ordered us not to Eat blood..
in this case, the first thing to do is “NOT TO EAT
BLOOD”
after following his order, i will start asking “WHY I
SHOULDN’T EAT BLOOD?”
and my ability to find an answer doesn’t determine if i
will obey Him or not. Because these questions are easier tofigure out more than the biggest question “Is He up there?”
This is the rule i am following. And because i am a
medical student and a programmer in the same time, i
try to find answers for these questions using logic and
analytical thinking.

So, the answers i am going to give you are not Allah’s
answers  they are my answers when i try to understand
why Allah told us so.

Also i will try to explain why we believe Allah didn’t
explain the wisdom in many of His orders.

This is a bit long email but i believe the time i am
spending in writing will make both cultures get
closer.

So. i will try to answer your three questions here 
:

First Question:
Why Muslims don’t eat or drink Blood?
Before that, i need to make sure that you know the
following:
– we must cook meat very well so that it doesn’t have
blood in the arteries and vessels.
– we must slay animals.. chocking them or killing them
with smashing their heads is not allowed. we must cut
the neck so that all the blood in the animal goes out.
so we are not allowed to have blood in our meal ..

God didn’t say why.. This is a verse :

“” He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and
the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name
of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is
forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor
transgressing due limits,- then Allah is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. “” [16:115]

But because i am a medical student, i can tell you why
people shouldn’t eat blood:
Blood is the place where most of the bacteria, viruses
and germs stay in the body. simply everything. So, if
the animal is sick or anything, it will be a disaster
to eat this blood. Also blood has many elements that
are harmful to the body. by getting rid of the blood
and cooking meat thoroughly, you can eliminate most of
the infections.

Again, this is my own thought.. Not necessarily what
Allah thinks!

and there is a note, Qur’an was unchanged for 1400
years when Mohammed “Peace Be Upon Him” lived. which is
centuries before Microscope. before humans could
understand what is infection and what is a virus.
Qur’an is a book by God.. have to make sense all the
time. And 1000 years ago, it wouldn’t have made sense
to say ” blood can have some viruses” 

Second Question:
Why we want to stay buried and only buried?
In Islam, we believe that this life is a test (
obviously! ) so the other life is an extension of this
life. We believe that when you die, your journey
doesn’t stop..
so, we respect the dead bodies so much. They still have
the same rights as they are alive. you can’t burn them,
you can’t do anything except out of necessity (as in
organ transplantation or autopsy) but as long as there
is no need, the body should be respected and buried to
the ground.
And of course if it is burned or exploded even, this
won’t prevent the owner from coming back. lol. I think
it is just about “respect” to the bodies.
Actually not only the bodies. Gossiping and cursing are
also not allowed to the deaths.
We must treat them as if they were living.

Third Question:
Do I believe that non-muslims are going to Hell?
Before i answer this, we know that Allah is just. He
will be fair to everyone. And Heaven/Hell is his
business and not mine.
But, i believe if i follow something else other than
Islam, i will go to Hell.
WHY? because i deeply know that Islam is the right path
to Allah. Leaving it will be simply leaving the right
to the wrong.. which is the “problem”

for christians as an example or any non-muslim
religion:
if the person knows that “islam” is the right path..
and simply chooses not to follow it.. this is bad..
because this is “leaving the truth”
but let’s say, someone was born in some european
country.. never heard of islam.. or even when he heard
about it, he heard that the muslims are terrorists and
that they want to blow the world  then he certainly
won’t think that Islam is the right path..
In this case, Allah will deal with him with justice.
And mostly he will go to heaven if he followed whatever
he thought is the truth.

So, the point in Islam is ” Are you following what you
believe in?”
“Are you Obeying God after you believed in Him?”

Of course Islam is the right path in my opinion which one can’t chose between it and any other religion once he knows it is the truth. But knowing that it is the truth depends on life.. on Muslims to deliver this message and one’s search for truth. So we can’t judge people because the truth didn’t reach them. Allah will judge them if they got the truth and simply chose to ignore it.

as you might have seen, not all the muslims are
religious.. although they know the truth.. this is
bad.. because this is not following what they believe
in.

Actually i had this question and went to a religious
“sheikh” like scholar to ask him..
and that was his answer.

I know i have been writing for long and this is maybe
the longest mail i have ever wrote.
But this is my duty as a muslim.. and Allah will ask me
if i didn’t reply 
because we are responsible on changing this image that
the west has established for islam.. people need to see
Muslims.. they need to know that we are a peaceful
religion and that our teachings are nice and make
sense.

In the end, i apologize for the so-long mail.. but the
answers are always longer than the questions 

Immanuel, please feel free to ask me any question you
might have. i will be more than happy to spend an
amount of time everyday to try to tell you what i
know.

again, such a pleasure to receive your message and i
will be waiting for your reply..

Adham

 

So I Wrote Him Back..

Hello Adham!.. A Message From Germany

Hello Adham!
Ohhh wow! Yesterday I saw your profile by incident and
I thought that I should write to you. Today I was
searching for you again, but didn’t found you anymore.
Now I did by recovering my “last searches”. I’m quite
happy.

Okay, why? And Who I am?

I’d say I’m just someone, who’s interested in other
countries and cultures. 

Yesterday I saw that you wrote in your profile that
you’re an “practicing Muslim”. Really? You’re so
young and well, I’ve some questions. Hmm, I bet
you’ve much much to do and I bet you get tons of mails
every day, but maybe maybe you’ve a little time one day
and will write back to me!?

In Germany so many people are afraid of foreingers,
they are afraid of other religions and so many are very
racists. The thinking about Muslim is very negative.

Well, Adham, I was in Egypt before. I went from
Alexandria to the border of Sudan and I talked to so
many many extremely kind and friendly people, so I
know that so many things are not true!

And you know, I wanna be friendly and open, too.

I think we’ve to understand each other better. I mean
the countries and the religions.

And to understand something or someone you’ve to ask
and to ask. You agree?

So, hmmmm……. May I ask some things about being
Muslim? [I surely could ask many other people. BUT
like in Germany the most Christians don’t know about
their religion, most people don’t know toooo much about
the Cur’an for example. But to be honest they know much
much more than so called Christians about the Bible.]

– Do you know, if there’s a Sure in the Cur’an showing
why you shoudln’t eat blood? “God doesn’t like it!”, a
friend of mine said. Okay, but why? I also don’t eat
blood and I am sure that it’s holy for Allah, so we
shouldn’t eat it. Right?

– Today there was a newspaper article that Turkish
Muslims who died in Germany want to be burried in the
graveyard forever! But in normal German graveyards
you’re taken out after 20, 30 or 40 years.
So my question: Is it true that you’ve to be burried
forever? I mean….. What about “being burnt”? Not
good? And if so, why? And erm, you’ve the chance to
come to paradise after death, right? But you don’t
have your normal human body anymore, so why is it
important what will happen with it?

—

Ohhhhh, there was a third ‘deeper’ question…… I
don’t remember it, sorry. Maybe next time I know
again.

Ohh, maybe another one I was thinking about: Erm…..
I know it’s strange to talk about religion, but well, I
hope you are also open and will answer me. Okay: How do
Muslims see other religions? Do Non-Muslims have a
chance to come to paradise?

—

Asham, sorry for pestering you…..

Maybe you’ll never write back to me, ’cause you might
think I’m a strange guy. Okay, maybe I am, but I really
wish to know more. YOu know, for better understanding
and for being able to be something like a “bridge” and
to explain many things to others, too.

I’d be really happy to hear from you!

1000 best wishes and many many greetings

Immanuel

Estekhara Prayer Works

So i stayed up all night to catch the lecture today morning. At the end when i was like 30 minutes to go, i felt tired. So i prayed Estekhara to decide going or to cancel the plan. I almost promised some collagues that i will be recording the lecture to be released on facebook but this didn’t prevent me from falling asleep after the prayer.

Woke up a little late and went back to my iPhone Programming book. Then later tonight i found out that the electricity was cut in the lecture hall and they had no lecture for today. Postponed to tomorrow they said.

I just thank God for not wasting my day by going to Zagazig which could have taken my whole day.

Am I going to Sharm?

So i woke up a bit late. Showered. Then went back to my iphone programming learning book.

When i checked my mail i found that Prof. Ahmed El-Gohary replied to my mail telling me to contact the Nile Conference Center to register in SONA and told me to fill the application on NGE website… and i did..

On the launch table, that was me saying “Do you want anything from Sharm?” expecting the same reply from my parents : “are you insane?.. traveling now in the middle of the exams?” instead, mom said : “when are you going?” there was a big pause by me for this unexpected reply.

Morad was thinking the same as me in that time.. looked at me and said: are you thinking what i am thinking that you are thinking what should be happening 😀 that was a complex sentence of him but i grabbed it.. we understand each other.

Did i mention that i twisted my ankle and fell in front of the mosque door?

Neuroscience Group of Egypt and Society of Neuroscientists of Africa

Just woke up to find IBRO emails in my inbox. When i took a glance, i noticed the upcoming Conference/workshop in Sharm El-Shaikh this December. What brightened my day is that i found that we in egypt have a neuroscience group. Looks like they are a bunch of professors in Suez and Fayoum. The group is headed by Prof. Ahmed Gohar the Fayoum University President.

This is a good omen for my neuroscience career i am pursuing.. or hoping to start pursuing after i pass my exams – InshaAllah -.

Looks like i won’t be attending this conference because of my final exams.

Here are some interesting links:

The Conference page on IBRO:

http://sona.ibro.info/Pub/Pub_Main_Display.asp?LC_Docs_ID=4370

Neuroscience Group of Egypt:

http://www.fayoum.edu.eg/nge/index.html

SONA page on IBRO:

http://sona.ibro.info/Pub/Pub_Front.asp