Cairo, the 30th August, 2009

“Reactions”

First of all, I have to thank all the emails I’ve been receiving with comments on my BLOGS (both Portuguese and English).
It’s great to receive good – and bad! – reactions to my postings and, hopefully, open discussions that can bring more light and information to everyone (including me).
I don’t own the truth and my opinions are just that: MY OPINIONS (as far as I know, we live in a free world where we are allowed to think differently from each other).

As a general answer to some critics regarding my comments on Muslim Religion as it is practiced in Egypt and the Middle East, this is what I want to state very clearly:

I have nothing against any religion and, certainly, not Muslim religion.
Any religion, philosophy, theory, practice, art, whatever brings PEACE and A HIGHER PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL LIFE QUALITY to human beings is the BEST for me.
Theories and names are nothing when people still lie, cheat, kill and harm each other in so many ways. Isn’t it the goal of a religion to bring peace and love to Human Kind?!
Maybe I am wrong, as I always say. Do correct me if I am wrong.


What I DO COMMENT and criticize is not the Koran or Prophet Mohamed’s teachings (which arrived through the mouths and handwriting of his successors) but the way Muslim religion is PRACTICED and INTERPRETED nowadays in the country where I live.

Admitting that I don’t understand or feel confused by the way muslims practice their religion in the Middle East (where I’ve been living for the past 5 years!) is not an attack to the religion but a humble exercise of observing my surrounding realities, admitting my own ignorance and putting questions out there.

There was a specific comment from a lady called Kalli (thanks for all your comments and attention) who mentioned the following Kuranic comment :
Famous commentator Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (1149-1209):

"(God) created spouses for you of your own kind so that you may have piece of mind through them." (3:21) as "proof that women were created like animals and plants and other useful things (and not for) worship and carrying the divine commands...because the woman is weak, silly, and in one sense a child."


"Men are the support of women (qawwamuna 'ala an-nisa) as God gives some more means than others, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them)...As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing).

Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth...And for those women that you fear might rebel, admonish them and abandon them in their beds and beat them (adribuhunna)."


Dear Kalli (this is directly to you),
I would suggest you read my texts with a bit more attention than you already do.
These texts are COMMENTS on the Holly Koran (READ: Famous commentator Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (1149-1209):, not texts from the Holly Koran itself.
These texts exist – rather you like it or not – and are broadcasted and followed by many in Egypt.
There are a series of Koranic commentators – very famous and treated like superstars in Egypt – whom spread this message and so many others as being related to the Koran. They do it, not me (in case you didn’t notice, I am not a Koranic commentator!). I just point out the truth (even if it’s not pleasant).

I have never said – as you pointed out - or wrote these texts are part of the Koran.
Never.
Check the book where all this comes mentioned and inform YOURSELF better
( “No God but God”, by Reza Aslan).
Actually, part of my questioning comes from the fact that so little from the actual Koran is practiced nowadays, giving place to traditions and a mentality that was mostly created by men searching for power, not by God through the Prophet.

I also comment on what I live. My opinions do not come from the air but from real life.
I have been in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Egypt (for five years now) and I have gathered a professional and personal experience that allows me to comment on what I HAVE LIVED, SEEN, HEARD AND EXPERIENCED all together.
I cannot comment on women’s abuse in Canada or China because it’s a reality that I don’t know from up close. I am not commenting on the hypocrisy of Christian Church or the thousands of false gurus spread all over the world making business out of people’s desperate needs for a spiritual guidance because these are not subjects that are close to me, affecting me on a daily basis. I know they exist but I restrain my comments to my most immediate reality and that is EGYPT. That is MUSLIM religion because it permeates everything in this country.
No way to escape the subject.

Egypt is, indeed, a reality I know and if my perspective doesn’t look nice, there’s nothing I can do. Facts are facts and I will not embellish them in order to make any religion, country or culture look better.
I LOVE Egypt with all its contradictions. Otherwise, I would not be living and working here.
I’ve met good and bad people. Some were muslims, some were Christians, some were whatever you can think of.
Religions never defined – for me – the quality of a human being.

I keep thanking all the comments I’m receiving because they make me want to search more, educate myself more. Just wished all critics could be constructive and based on real facts, not just nagging (no patience for naggers! Sorry!).
That way, we all could learn and grow from each other.
That’s my challenge.
Thank you, guys (and Kalli, in particular)!