The Age of Judgment (1) ... o o o o

An Ordinary Egyptian

I am an ordinary person.

I look at our old photos and I realize that the sinful world in which you now think that I am living, existed all along when we were little.

You and I.

We lived in this world peacefully and comfortably. You never thought it was sinful.

We co-existed.

You had your own ways and I had mine.

Neither of us thought the other had to change.

Neither of us used loud speakers to insult the other and label him as Kafer.


At the time when I was a child ... Egypt was full of people like me. Like us. Like you and me, at the time. Egypt, surprise surprise, was full of Egyptians ... Ordinary Egyptians ...

Then one day you decided you could not take it here. You decided you wanted to have more. So, you left. You found a job somewhere in the Gulf.


I did not stand in your way.

In fact, I wished you well.

I said that each of us had a role to play.

I stayed behind. Trying to make a living and plant a few more trees.




Years went by. How did they go by? They just went by and I kept on trying.




Then one day you came back.

You looked different.

Your wife looked different.

Your kids looked different from mine.




I felt a little strange, but I honestly did not mind.

But then you started to mind how I looked.

How my wife was dressed ... "safera" unlike yours.

But, brother, when we were little, you never thought that our mother was a whore because she did not cover her hair.

Now you mind how my kids play joyfully, sing, listen to music, whistle and smile casually at everyone in our little village.


Then, one day, after a long debate, you called me Kafer.

And you threatened me with hell and suffering.

Kafer, you said.

Misguided. Min Al Daleen.

My dear brother. Let me tell you this.

It is not my fault that you have gone all nuts and think that there are demons inside your own bathroom.

It has nothing to do with me that you now believe that music is the voice of Satan.

It is not my fault that you see evil where I see beauty.


That you see hell where I see heavens.

You were not like that.

We were not raised to be like that.

I am not like that.




Thank God I am not like that.




Now my brother. Either you mind your own business and let me live my life the way I do.

Or you get the hell out of my sight and go find your own paradise on earth elsewehere.

I am not asking you to change.

I am just asking you to stop asking me to change.