‘ Reflections ’ category archive


Internet Personality Facade Syndrome

We think we have people all figured out. Some of us by the first encounters, but more commonly by a person’s writings online.

As bloggers, we tend to have an idea, a feeling, of how others perceive us based on our writing. And the more we write, the more people think they have us figured out. Sure there is the argument, “You judge by what is apparent.” But how much of what is apparent, is the reality of what that person is like? And how much of what’s “apparent” is misleading to how that person really is.

What if a person’s personality is a little different online than it is in person… does that make that person two-faced?

Not at all.

Just like every single human being tends to have a slight change in personality based on the person we are speaking to, the same goes for the “Internet Facade.”

You wouldn’t talk to a six-year-old the same you would talk to a 40-year-old.

I guess it’s kind of like Facebook, you see someone’s profile picture and you’re like, “Awww she’s so pretty!” then you check the pictures her friends tagged of her and you’re like, “Is this the same girl?”

See, she doesn’t have two faces.. it’s just the lighting makes her look different (often very different) sometimes ;) .

I would say that a person who reads my blog and has never actually gotten to know me in person, most likely has a 70% skewed perception of who I really am. Of course these numbers are based on my own estimation, and no actually research was conducted for that.

But I think bloggers out there really can relate to the “Internet Facade Syndrome.”

Sometimes, it works in the bloggers favor. They think they are better than the person actually is in person, and sometimes it’s the opposite.

The reality is, that we over simplify things. We make out people to be so one-dimensional, when in reality we are so complex, and have so much history as we grow older that anyone who thinks they have a person’s personality figured out just by their writing, is well, a little naive themselves.

While I was written my columns for “The Daily Reveille” about Islam, I really had to adjust my style of writing based on my target audience, 18-25 year old, mostly white, Christian and republican.

I tried to convey myself as understanding, knowledgeable about the subject I was speaking about, staunch on issues that Islam is firm on, and soft and gentle in inviting them to see the truth. Some people saw me as just that. But there were always those people who saw the opposite, either that I was too tough, too soft, too whiny, etc.

The point I’m making is that we are so quick to judge and label others. Of course we cannot help the persona we get when we read people’s works, but we should not use that as any basis to make any judgments about that individual.

Some bloggers are experts in a particular field and chose to talk about that particular subject matter. But does that mean that that person is obsessed and knows nothing other than their line of work? Of course not.

The Internet is a scary place. It’s almost unreal in a sense. It’s a place where someone can be anything they want to be. We hope, as Muslims, we can try to be as real as possible — but we shouldn’t judge others based on mistakes they make in public or even worse, think that someone is so amazing just based on what they write.

You can be fooled, and sometimes put in dangerous situations either in this life or the hereafter. Take everything in with a grain of salt, give people the benefit of the doubt, but be careful.

And I think we’ve all seen many times, that without a second thought, people will accuse brother and sisters in Islam of having some of the worst qualities a Muslim can have, “The brother/sister is too proud, arrogant, has no hiyaa, etc. etc.”

Let’s think about ourselves first, because we definitely know what we ourselves are like, before we decide to “figure out” everything about someone you most likely have never met in real life.

WAllahu alem.



Random, Often Shocking Keywords Bring People to EG, take a look.

A portion of the hits that come to any blog come from general searches. People type in keywords in Google and in the search results somewhere down the line, they see our site and click on it.

Often times, I like to see what people typed in to come to my blog and below I’ve listed some of the “more puzzling” and often bizarre ones:

effect of the turkish noor series on the egyptian society

facebook haram

i took off my hijab

i took off the hijab

hijabi girl porn (WHAT?!)

hijabi girls porn

kill mickey mouse

“khalid diab”

“off your hijab”

marriage between european women and egiptian men

am from egypt and i want to make a surgery to get back my virginity

any funny drama in urdu writing

computer haram

creating illusion that they were women

do egyptian women use deodorant (lol this is one of my favorites!)

do men still buy women in egypt? (lol, umm what?!)

egypt hijab women with boyfriends

egypt fatwa beat woman

egyptian honks (honks, not hunks? hmm…)

egyptians marry european women for other reasons (girlllll, tell me those other reasons!)

fiancee, virginity, other man

hijab blog thinking of taking it off

how to you fix a bad marriage proposal

it’s haram to space out your teeth

marrying an egyptian is dangerous (lol watch out people! DANGER!)

muslim friend lost her virginity

my wife wants to take off her hijab

niqab porn

sheikh mickey mouse (i’d love to get a fatwah from him)

should i tell muslim fiance i am not a virgin

what to do if you lost your virginity before marriage and are muslim

why is flirting haraam?
——————————————————————————-

and the list goes on and on….

This post can be both entertaining but very sad at the same time. Subhanallah, going through the past 100+ keywords was kind of disheartening to me.

If I were to say the top three issues that dominate what Muslims are searching for online are 1. Hijab and taking off hijab issues. 2. Virginity 3. Porn

Oh and if I have to add a #4- The Turkish soap opera Nour. Seriously people get a life!

Although I have no idea what links porn to egyptiangumbo, it’s still just sad to see what people are afflicted with. I guess I realize there is a need to write about some of these issues, so that at least when they end up here, they’ll have some naseeha to go away with.

On a lighter note, I had to have busted out laughing about 10 times reading some of these key words.

What kind of puzzles me is why people would search for “hijabi porn” or “niqaabi porn” what’s the difference between that and regular pornography?

Anyway, remember people, “Marrying an Egyptian is dangerous.” ;)



Too Powerful For Comment. Just Watch

Br. Abdullah speaking about his mother:

***Jazak Allah khair Albaraa for sending this my way.