Year of the Golden Pig Reading 19: "Desperate Seeking Paradise"

This was quite an interesting ride through the travails that face the modern Muslim. So many ideas, some explosive, literally. The writer, Ziauddin Sardar, is searching for a way to make Islam work in the modern world, without the believer have to chuck logic in the process. His journey is an interesting one. He is grounded in the teaching of the classical Islamic world, and while he doesn't say the answers are there, he does imply that Muslims can learn a lot from their complete past history as a civilization, not just in the life of the Prophet and his first community.

As I search for answers in life, it is reassuring to see that others are doing likewise. As many of you know, I have often thought of becoming a Muslim. There is something about it that I find logical and supporting to what I really believe. But then I see all of the horrors that are perpetruated by people who claim the faith as their own. I find it so terribly disheartening sometimes when I see what people can do to one another in the name of God. I am sure Muslims are just going through the same things that other religions have gone to in the past, and will continue to go through in the future.


Well I highly recommend this book if you want to learn about the questions that trouble people of faith in these troubled time. It has been interesting to read it as well in this time of fasting, when my dreams are turning into the strangest visions. But I get to eat and drink water in a little over four hours, so I am happy. (Plus there is a little English football and a steak at the end of the rainbow to keep me even happier.)

Ramadan Kareim

Okay, so Ramadan is almost halfway over. I haven't logged on in a while. Been kind of busy I guess. This year I have tried my best at fasting. It is hard and it affects your dreams, let me tell you. But I have been good. I have been getting up at three in the morning to fix breakfast, before the first prayer. Then back to sleep and waking again at seven for school. Going all day without food is tough, but water is so much more difficult. Last year I managed to go eight days without giving in to the temptations of the tongue and lips and throat. Now I have managed to go almost fourteen (sunset isn't for about three more hours so I don't want to tempt fate by saying I have completed fourteen yet). Hopefully the remaining 15 or so will go as well.
The weekends are the most difficult days for me. Of course I can sleep a little more. Actually last Friday I woke up at three, ate, then fell back to sleep until almost eleven. After getting up for two hours I took a four hour nap. So fasting was easy on that day. I almost feel I owe God another day. A lot of Kuwaitis just reverse their schedules during Ramadan. They stay up all night and sleep all day. I don't have the oil reserves needed for that luxory.
Anyway, that is my Ramadan entry.

Year of the Golden Pig Reading 18: "The Thief and the Dogs"

Well, it has definitely been a year of Mahfouz. This is the fourth novel of his that I have had the good fortune to read this year. This one was about a thief bent on revenge against the woman who betrayed him and the friends who he felt were villains. It is mostly a psychological thriller or a man who needs some therapy. It was interesting to see how the lower class of Egypt lived after the revolution led by Nasser. Mostly it was neat looking into the head of a man who just doesn't seem to be able to get anything right.

This is also the last book I will finish this summer. Vacation ends tomorrow. Oh the horror of it all.

If you want to see a few pictures of Egypt to help you appreciate the novel more, then go to my flicker account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefflindstrom