My mother’s diplomacy led me to book reading

One evening when I was 5 years old I asked my mother “How I was born?”.
Looking with strange eyes, she kindly replied, “One day on the roof of a hospital an angel appeared and handed you over to me“.
Though this answer was not very satisfactory, I knew very well that after another question, the reply would be “you will know this by yourself when you become an adult”. So I decided to remain silent and start thinking about these questions. Many years later, I was told that only Muslims can afford the entrance fee to Heaven. On one side I was delighted to hear this good news of clearance but at the same time, I felt sorry for non-Muslims, especially, those who are poor and marginalized in this world as well. Incidents like these compelled me to know facts. To know things only a few people know. One of the ways to quench the thirst was, of course, book reading. I was blessed enough to open my eyes in an educated family where I was gifted books on some occasions. I began my book-reading journey with stories of Holy Prophets. I fell in love with the story of Bani Israel. Hence, Egypt became my favorite country at that time. I wanted to meet Jewish people as their forefathers were companions of Prophet Moses AS. Later on, In 2016, I read a book by Imam al Ghazali named “Alchemy of happiness”. This book opened a very peaceful door for me as it was about “Tazkiyah”, which means Purification. I started learning about the heart and spirituality. I also read some verses from Holy Bible and life Jesus AS. One of my favorite quotes about the purification of the heart is from Imam Ibn al Qayyam. He says:

“There are two diseases of heart, doubts and desires”

In 2021, I wrote an essay on “Poverty is the worst crime” and I was rejected by “the boss”. The reason was very clear. Poverty is a social phenomenon and I used to read spiritual books. This was a juncture for me. I discovered new genres. I switched from Imam al Ghazali to Sigmund Freud. Radical shift right? I start reading books about Evolutionary Sciences, Economics, Society, and Sexuality. Now, I often try to find answers in above mentioned disciplines.

Throughout this journey from my first book to the latest, one thing was common and that was “Curiosity”. I always wanted to know the back-end coding of the world rather than saying “yes sir” to every idea that is injected by social agents in my brain. This approach helped me a lot and gave me immense social credibility. I remember when I was in school, my class fellows asked me to talk to the headmaster for solving certain issues. So I can say that it is my mother’s diplomatic answer that paved my path toward book reading.