Many Scientists Convert to Islam

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So, if you don’t believe in full it means you don’t 

believe. Words tumble onto the rock. A book 

happens. 

Okay then tell me about heaven’s beautiful 

food and women. Who are these women? 

My friend says, “This life is like a twenty-minute train ride.” 

He says, “I live inside my 

faith more fully every day.” 

I am standing on soaked pavement outside 

that majestic hotel in the center of town. Just before 

dark, the birds come in a furious swoop like 

hornets, stinging the sky to let in 

what is on the other side. 

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Then the next life is equally 

about the body, denied in the first? 

“Do you know the Prophet knew the exact number of bones in the human 

body? And why do you ask so many questions? You ask 

more questions than you take in breaths of air.” 

The birds beat. They crumple in 

rivers of sky. At the same time every day. Kierkegaard said that

every instant a man in despair is contracting it. My friend is not 

in despair; I am not in despair. 

3

Kierkegaard says there are three kinds of despair: despair 

at not being conscious of having a self, despair at not being 

willing to be oneself, and despair at willingness to be 

oneself. Listen, the train. Why complain about 

the seat, the air conditioner? Just do 

your best until you arrive. 

During Ramadan, I fasted a week. I went to the mosque. 

My friend’s uncle said: 

“So you are becoming Muslim?” I said: “No.” He said: “Shame 

on you.” 

In the cold November current, there is a whirring of wings. Sometimes 

they cloud into petals, sometimes they don’t. 

4

When the forehead presses to the earth, the blood moves 

down. In the joining, the self lightens. You must count the three perfect 

joints of each finger to keep time. Make no mistake, you leave the body only 

through the body. The train ride. This quiet voice that is borrowed or my own.