Dear Fishy,

It is wonderful to hear from you!

During my "spiritual search," I had identified the essence of truth in all religions, but could not get at that "pure" word of God, and always had a part of me missing as a result. Just like most of us are, I was skeptical of Islam and shared the perception its "man-made-ism.” I didn't even bother with Islam, as to me, as a "Westerner," it was just too foreign. However, with an open heart and mind, it really didn't take much time at all for me to have the whole truth about life revealed to my mind, heart and spirit, as I am eternally grateful for the most precious gift of Islam, where I found myself and all the answers, where I finally feel liberated. 

In actuality, Islam is not a "man-made" religion. As Islam means "submission to God," and all the prophets and messengers "submitted to God," they were "Muslims" (those who submit to God). (The Jews and Christians really hate to hear that Jesus and Moses and Abraham, etc. were Muslims!) It is man that deviated from God's word and misused the many messages to control and corrupt the people.  

Don't get me wrong, Muslims are by no means perfect, and their defeat and humiliation is due to the fact that they have deviated from their faith.  But there are still some "Islamists" who follow the word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Qur'an, as well as the example set forth by the Prophet. It does take some serious research and filtering to find the truth, as there are forces out there whose sole purpose is to misguide and keep us away from the straight path.  When you can, check out this excellent site: www.harunyahya.com.  

If you ever come across anything regarding Islam you have questions about, I'd be happy to do my best to answer.

My activism work continues. I am the webmaster and am learning a bit about digital movie production with some upcoming educational projects we have planned, similar to the Shock & Awe Gallery.

You cannot imagine how good it feels to be out of that country of materialism and immoral confusion.  It's great that you plan to live and study in Africa. There is just so much more to life and the world that only can be discovered and achieved without the pressure, stress and distraction of a country like the U.S. 

Our phone number is XXXXXXXXX here in Cairo. We have a house here with my mother-in-law (quite the character!), who is always happy to have visitors, so give us a call if your ever in the area. Once we get settled and acclimated, I will be studying Arabic and Islam at Al-Azhar University, inshaallah (God willing).

I pray you find all that you are searching for.  

Best always,

Protest Girl

I know exactly what protest girl means. I remember how it feels whenever you travel outside of the US and you forget about all the materialistic pressures of life in the Matrix. It is just so totally full of shit in the United States. I am such a devout American, a big fan I am, that's for sure, but last night we were watching Sex and the City and I have to be honest, I just felt disgusted. Between sex and the city and the sopranos, the two most popular shows in America, one is about a bunch of idiot sluts and the other is about a bunch of murderers and thieves, and people wonder why every day we wake up to some more news about some serial killer or sniper or serial rapist or some mutual fund scam or large corporate stock scandal. I felt like my insides were being ripped out as I watched. Same thing when I watch the music channels too. they are just so completely dolled up and unreal. It is as if the point of being on them is to rip out all the humanity of the artists and create this totally fake plastic thing that no one can relate to so in turn every one tries to relate to it and can’t so instead they buy it. Something like that. kind of like McDonalds commercials. Insidious stuff. and the commercials on network television. You just don't realize how thoroughly fake and disgusting everything is here in the states until you get away from it for a while and then come back to it. it is just one big corporate sewer system trying to sell us something. and its not like “us” is innocent in this equation. For God sakes I'm the author of the ‘sleep with you’ album so who am I to be saying anything. I know that. I don't care. I am so wasted right now on this sangria that I can let this shit fly. Somewhere at some time something has to give. America has to come back to itself. It has to bring it all back home. Gotta take it back to the basics like good values, home, and family. And let all this other stuff go. Sheryl crow on the back of a horse riding through the fucking desert singing some old classic just so she can have another hit? Man this is some twisted manipulative shit. 

Current Spin: Sondre Lerche, good pop. Sounds like a new Donovan.