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Published: April 2nd 2010
Hello, family and friends! I'm sorry that it's taken so long for me to update my blog--life has been crazy for the last week! I'm swimming in pretty choppy water right now in my MSA class since I wasn't actually prepared for it to begin with. My project for the weekend is to teach myself as much as I possibly can to get myself up to where I'm supposed to be; I have 10 printouts just about the grammar to look over! I briefly considered switching to Level 2, but I really think that Level 3 is the right place for me right now. I mean, these classes are thousands of dollars and in EGYPT--how stupid would I be to waste half of my time here reviewing things I already know? And I do understand most of the vocabulary and I can usually figure out what my professor is saying in class, so I'm not being totally left behind. And then in those times when I am totally lost, I just remind myself that it isn't because I'm an idiot--I will catch up!
My Egyptian Colloquial class is really fun, though! They placed me in level 2 even though I don't really have experience with colloquial Arabic, but I think that it was the right choice. The first day was really funny because the word for "yes" sounds remarkably like "Iowa" -- I was so confused! Why in the world are these people talking about Iowa?? 😊 So I have two hours of colloquial in the morning and three hours of MSA in the afternoon. I can't imagine what it would be like to take on this class load coming from somewhere other than Cornell--I would feel so overwhelmed! But I have become accustomed being in class all day and having several hours of homework every night, so I am not struggling with the schedule the way that some of my flatmates are.
In much more important news, something significant has occurred in my life. I have converted to Islam! Allah has been guiding me to this path for several years but until now I have resisted out of fear and uncertainty. Now, as time has passed, I have learned to trust and follow my heart. Since I have converted, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me. My close family (my parents and my sister) understand and accept my decision, and I hope that the rest of my family can come to understand as well. I know that they'll come around with time, but it's tough to feel alienated from my own family. I have felt very alone as I have struggled; converting felt like it meant abandoning everything I know and everyone that I love. It is still a struggle and I feel afraid and alone sometimes, but I also feel peace in my heart now. I had not felt that before! Before, I felt that I was ignoring and denying my true beliefs every day and that was much worse than the worries I have now.
To my family and especially to my grandma(s): please don't stop loving me now! As religious people, I know that you value the connection that you feel to God and the way that that relationship is structured by your religion. I have not felt that Christianity has given me the kind of connection with God that I have wanted for a long time, if ever really. But when I read the Qur'an, when I pray, even in my academic study of Islam, I feel closer to God than I ever have in my life. And it is important to know that "Allah" and "God" are identical terms in different languages--the only difference is that Allah has the definite article attached. So Allah means "THE God" in Arabic, which underlines the emphasis on monotheism and the unity of God in Islam. Arabic-speaking Christians and Muslims alike worship "Allah". So please do not think that "Allah" is some foreign idol; Allah is the God of Abraham and of Jesus, it's just a different language.
The first thing that I fell in love with about Islam was how in the Qur'an, people are repeatedly told to look at the world around them and recognize the signs of God. LOOK and THINK and you will be left with no choice but to believe. In the Qur'an, God invites people to reject blindly accepting the beliefs and values society imposes on them and to ponder by pushing aside all the prejudices, taboos and constraints on their minds. He tells people to look and see the signs of God that surround them. Each thing, the breaths a human takes, political and social developments; the cosmic harmony in the universe, and the atom are each signs of God and they all operate under His control and knowledge, abiding by His laws. Recognizing and knowing the signs of God calls for personal effort. Everyone will recognize and know the signs of God in accordance with his own wisdom and conscience. Here is a quotation from the Qur'an (not my favorite translation, but it works):
"It is He who sends down water from the sky. From it you drink and from it come the shrubs among which you graze your herds. And by it He makes crops grow for you and olives and dates and grapes and fruit of every kind. There is certainly a sign in that for people who reflect. He has made the night and the day subservient to you, and the sun, the moon and the stars, all subject to His command. There are certainly signs in that for people who use their intellect. And also the things of varying colors He has created for you in the earth. THERE IS CERTAINLY A SIGN IN THAT FOR PEOPLE WHO PAY HEED. It is He who made the sea subservient to you so that you can eat fresh flesh from it and bring out from it ornaments to wear. And you see the ships cleaving through it so that you can seek His bounty, and so that perhaps you may show thanks. He cast firmly embedded mountains on the earth so it would not move under you, and rivers and pathways so that perhaps you might be guided, and landmarks. And they are guided by the stars. Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? (Qur'an an-Nahl: 10-17)
The second thing about Islam that really resonated with me was the compulsion to remember God through every moment of life. Praying five times a day keeps God forever in the front of your mind and does not allow you to forget (at least not for more than a few hours) about God and your relationship with Him and your place in the universe and the nature of the universe (which should perhaps be spelled Universe) and all of the many many things that you are reminded of when you engage in a formal prayer to praise God. As a practicing Muslim, that is no longer possible for me to forget--as long as I pray with my heart and my head and not just my mouth. I try to praise God with my every action, but it can be too easy to become caught up in the complications of human life and to forget that every breath is (or can be) a prayer. Think about it right now as you draw in a deep breath. What force makes it possible for you to do this? God is the Air you breath, the Lungs you breath into, the Force that causes you breathe. How can we not give praise for that? And how can we ask any more than that? I cannot ask for more but to be guided to the Straight Way, the Way of those who live every moment of life as praise to God (which also means clean and modest living, of course!).
There are so many more reasons, so much I could say about this. I know that you probably have a lot of questions and I want to take time to discuss with you personally when I return from Egypt, but until then I thought that it might be helpful for you to have an introduction to Islam. I've spent HOURS scanning through the videos on YouTube trying to find a clip that I could link you to, and I have determined that only a combination of clips will work. Please watch these clips; you can spread them out and watch them over the course of the next couple of days if you don't have the time now. It will help you understand me and Islam without the lies and misrepresentation that have become too common in American media. (If links do not appear, then you can cut and paste these URLs in your browser manually.)
First is a very simple introduction to the general values and ideals of Islam at
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Next is a short clip of a Muslim named Moez Masoud speaking to a religiously mixed audience. When I came across this clip I couldn't identify what precisely it was that spoke to me, but it did speak to me and so I decided to share it with you.
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Reciting the Qur'an and listening to Qur'anic recitation is a very moving religious experience within Islam and so I thought it would be good for you to be able to hear what it sounds like to, in a way, actually engage in a spoken conversation with God, as the Qur'an is (according to Muslims) the actual Words of God. Please open your hearts along with your ears and you will hear the Beauty in this. You don't need to listen to the whole thing if you do not feel moved to do so, but please give it a chance to speak to you before you move on.
As salat (the ritual 5 daily prayers) is extremely important, I thought you might like to know what that entails. I am still just learning my prayers and so I am helped by a sort of cyber-imam who leads me in prayer. This is a dawn prayer, which is the most challenging (after all, it is DAWN!) but it is also the shortest and so I thought you might actually watch the whole thing. Hearing the dawn call to prayer waft in through the open window of my room is...there are not words to describe the feeling that arises in my heart. Here is the dawn prayer:
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Closely associated with this is the actual call to prayer. This is a clip of the call from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. What I really liked about it was that you can hear the calls from the neighboring mosque and you get a tiniest inkling of what is it like to hear the actual call, when voices calling from every mosque within earshot intertwine and fill the air in a beautiful flowing tapestry of sound that truly CALLS you to pray in a way that I had never experienced before. When I say CALLS, I don't just mean that it reminds me that it's time to pray. I mean that it reminds me of all of the Beauty in the world to be thankful for--it reminds me not just TO pray, but WHY to pray. It also reminds me of the community of believers of which I am now a part (another thing to be thankful for). It is an incredibly holy experience and one that I know I will miss terribly when I leave here.
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Lastly, I wanted to pick something that dealt specifically with the issue of terrorism in the thought of Islam. Too many Americans think that "Muslim" is synonymous with "terrorist", that Islam as a religion condones acts of terrorism and violence, that "jihad" means that Muslims are compelled by their religion to BE terrorists. None of these things are true at all and I really really want to dispel of these misconceptions. This particular clip is from a television show called "Sleeper Cell" (which sounds like it would be the kind of show that would CREATE misconceptions rather than correct them). The reason I chose it is because it does actually deals with the claims of extremists rather than ignoring them, so it shows how true Muslims respond to terrorists.
Well, I hope that you find these clips informative and I hope that you watch them with open ears and an open heart. I love you all very much and I hope that you will understand and accept my choice to follow the path of Islam to God.
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Letia Blanco
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How beautiful!
Alida what a beautiful and touching testament! I loved the verses that you chose, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the recitation. It was so inspiring that, not only I want to learn more, but even Charles wants to learn more! We've decided to read the Qur'an directly and evaluate the message ourselves. I love you so much! Call me soon so we can chit chat and you can recommend a good translation!