Generous Peace

I got an invitation to attend Kareem Salama's concert in Al-Geneina Theater. I wasn't sure about his music and lyrics until I listened to this YouTube video, featuring one of his songs. The guy turned out to be quite popular in US that he was invited to dinner at The White House.



It was also my first time to see Al-Geneina Theater at Al Azhar Park (Cairo). It's a nice little open-air theater enclosed by walls of Saladin Citadel of Cairo. I'll make sure to post on Al-Azhar Park later, but let's focus on Kareem Salama for now.

I was surprised to find one-fourth of the ~250 attendees were foreigners. Kareem's performance was both amusing and strong. His songs were meaningful, purposeful and enjoyable. His songs tell unique inspirational stories. One exhibits two soldiers, each convincing his beloved person that he has to fight for justice. In the battlefield, their eyes meet and they realize they are actually brothers in humanity. Another explains that Muslims are normal people, not Nazis, not Racists. Kareem also knows how to gently treat his audience.

It was evident that Kareem has a problem with Arabic vocab, despite the strong pronunciation of Arabic words in his songs (he sings one of Imam Shafei' songs). I didn't also like the Sofeyyah dancing style in one of his songs. But don't get me wrong, I do think the guy is a rising star.

Kareem holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a graduate degree in Law from the University of Iowa. His parents immigrated to US in 1960s to attend graduate school.

P.S. Generous Peace is the literal English translation of Kareem Salama.

Changing The Stereotype of Islam

I'm a muslim. It always offends me how non-muslims associate Islam with terrorism and extremism. In fact, Islam doesn't promote any forms of uncalled-for fighting or terrorist actions. People's misconception about Islam is usually attributed to purposeful media reports. Islam should not be held responsible for some muslims acting against the true teachings of Islam; you will find good and bad people among the followers of any religion or belief. However, to tell the truth, few muslims are sincerely trying to correct this misconception.


Conveying Islamic Message Society (CIMS) is a small organization, located in Alexandria, trying to deliver accurate information about Islam and its true teachings. It does so -mainly- by sending free books about Islam in different langauges to interested people worldwide. Printing and shipping books is funded through local donations.

A few days ago, CIMS launched its official site Beta through which people from everywhere (with minor exceptions) can choose books about Islam in their mother-tongue language, and place free requests to get the books at their front doors. I strongly recommend you subscribe first because many pages require log-in. Some pages are still under-construction, don't make them distract you from the enabled services. If you have any comments, please communicate it here, they will carefully listen to your feedback; but try not to be too picky cuz the website development is completely voluntary work.