it’s at least 40° degrees. The sun is scorching hot, burning up the rocky hills and mountains of this holy city where once lived and preached the best educator humanity has ever seen. However, today, the picture is different. More than 35 students are cramped into classroom “Alef 14.” The stench of the class can be felt from a 100 meters away; a mix of human odor and a variety of human gasses, the result of ill-prepared sandwiches the students eat during the middle break, “fos7a.” The celling fan is propelling at maximum speed, in a failed attempt to cool down the “samoom” air entering from the broken glass on the classroom windows. It’s stirring up all kinds of smell and pushing it through the nostrils of students who are semiconscious and eager to leave this hell. This was the scene in Al Zahra Elementary School in Makkah, 1975.

The disaster lies not in these horrendous conditions. Generations before us studied in far worse environments. The tragedy are the “educators” that existed in 1975 and still exist today. Although classrooms have now less students, air conditioned, equipped with air fresheners, have state of the art technology, and beautiful buildings, the teacher is still as stupid as he/she was 30 years ago, if not more stupid! I meant to use a harsh word to illustrate the suffering I endured to bring myself up from teachers and an education system that worked so hard to dumb me down! My creativity was put on hold for 12 years in the Public School System of Saudi Arabia. That was the bad news! I , with the grace of Allah, have prevailed and beat the system, at least I think so. But the question is, what about a generation that was dumbed down. Look around and smell the “egg sandwiches.”

The good news is that I hear things are going to change! Those who know me, will tell you I am not an optimist. However, for the sake of argument and for the objective of this appeal, I will have a rosy picture.

I am going to state the obvious. The key to change and the drive for a great society is the teacher. You can build great schools. Import the best curriculum from the most advanced eduction systems in the world. You can create state of the art technology schools, even use iPads for textbooks (a trend from the future). If the teacher remains stupid, we are doomed. But this can change (the optimist me is coming out).

DEMAND. GET INVOLVED. CREATE. Demand good teachers. Do not accept substandard teachers. Make noise and you will be heard! Get involved as a parent. Do not let the teacher cheat your kid out of a promising future. It’s happening everyday. Create an environment for your kid that encourages thinking, creativity and challenge to oneself. I have seen first hand the damage caused from killing creativity. It takes a long time to reverse the damage.

Take these 3 steps and the future could have less stench.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on education. I wrote this article because of an education system that failed me. I see the constant struggle with kids and parents. I feel the challenge as an employer in a highly creative field, constantly looking for talent.

So, with the Arab spring, everyone wants to create their own revolution. I have never seen a more beautiful, energetic, and an inspiring view like the millions of people who took out to Tahrir square demanding freedom, social justice, and basic human rights. From there on, every Arab Spring has been revolting, sickening, and out right nauseating.

Look at Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Tunis, and Syria today. They are more a mess than they have ever been. In the same time, look at Morocco. If you ask me, I would say, the most peaceful, organized and productive revolution has been the Moroccan one.

Every Arab Spring quickly moved from a demand for freedom to a power struggle between people who are power hungry, blood thirsty, and religiously arrogant.

There are two main victims in the so called Arab Spring

1. Islam
2. The people who demanded freedom.

The winners are

1. Special interest
2. Other governments who used the Arab S**t to tell their people how bad it is to demand freedom.

The question is why two years later, the Arab Spring is still struggling? The simple answer: people are religiously charged and believe that religion is the solution for everything and if you don’t have religion, nothing will work. They have no comprehension of what a Civil rule means. They can’t differentiate between Islam and power hungry Islamist.

The victims have become the victimizer. But they are now more dangerous because They use religion as their ammunition

Islam does not feed you, does not clothe you, does not build your economy, and does not empower you. People do, no matter what their religion is. It’s time to be civilized.

ضيق كثير ممن يعملون في الحرمين على النساء فجعلوا زيارتهم لأطهر بقاع الأرض مليئة بالكلمات الجارحة والتدخلات الخادشة، فأكثر النساء سواء عرب او عجم يخرجون من الحرمين وهم يرددون كلمة “غطي” وكأن المتواجدين في الحرم ليس من شأنهم إلا النظر إلى النساء

بيت الله ليس ببيتكم لتأمروا الناس بأهوائكم فالدين أوسع من ضيق افاقكم التي لم تتعدى شغفكم الجنسي والناس ألوان وأشكال ومشارب ليس من حقكم ان تجعلوهم على لون واحد وشكل واحد ومشرب واحد

اتقوا الله في بيته واتركوا شقائق الرجال يعبدون ربهم من غير تضييق ولا تغطية

لكم حق في بيوتكم و لكل مسلم الحق في بيت الله فلا تجعلوا بيت الله بيتكم

Have you ever tried eating Icing without the cake? I did and it’s nauseating. This is exactly the feeling when you see the behavior of people who lost their humanity but claim they are Muslims. We see immoral behavior everywhere we look in this country that is ruled by Islam. This is because we lost the Cake and we are focusing on the Icing.

Religion needs a base to prosper. Omar was a great human being before he was a Muslim. Abu Bakr had all the qualities of a great leader before he became a Muslim. Even the Prophet pbuh was human first, for 40 years, before he became a prophet for 23 years. They were amazing human beings before they become glorious Muslims. Islam was the icing on an already strong foundation, a well baked Cake.

Wether it’s Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist Icing, without the Human Cake, the feeling will be nauseating. A human being is created not to cheat, lie, or be bribed. It’s an instinct built into his/her DNA. There is no need for a religion to have a moral compass. Religion is the beautification process that someone uses to excel and exult into the realm of spirituality and fly high into the domain of the divine.

Until we go back to basics and start focusing on the foundation, humanity, we are never going to get over the nausea of eating Islamic Icing.

تشهد ان لا اله الا الله ، فانت مسلم تصلي فانت مسلم، تصوم فانت مسلم، تزكي مالك فانت مسلم، تحج فانت مسلم، فجميع أركان الإسلام ظاهرية ينطق بها اللسان او يتحرك لها جميع الأعضاء ويراها الناس وهذا هو الإسلام ، اقل الدرجات في ديننا ثم يأتي الإيمان وهو أعلى درجة وهو لا يظهر أبدا لان مكانه القلب ومن بعدها يأتي الإحسان وهو أعلى درجات ديننا وهو أعمق في القلب وكأن الله يقول لنا ان هذا الدين ليس دين ظاهر وإنما هو دين يتعمق في القلب وليس هو دين حركات وإنما دين سكنات