Making sense of God and Islam – frequently asked questions answered

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Many people do not know this but Islam did not start at the time of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – it started at the time of Adam and Eve.

Muslims believe that there is only one God in this world, the same God that Abraham, Moses and Jesus worshipped.

What is your belief about God?

Muslims believe God is one and that He created the heavens, the earth, human beings, animals – everything in this universe.  He has no partners and there is no object worthy of worship except Him.  This means Muslims do not believe that a stone, a tree, a cow or a human being is God and they do not worship any of these.  In other words, Muslims cannot fathom Jesus being God or part of God.  This would go against the very nature of monotheism – of God being strictly one. He does not need anyone but we need Him.  He is the most merciful, He sees everything, hears everything and knows everything.  And nothing is comparable to God.

So why do you call Him Allah?

When Muslims use the word ‘Allah’, that does not mean a different god, a moon god or a cow god.  Allah is just the Arabic word for Almighty God in English or Theos in Greek.  Arab Christians and Jews also say ‘Allah’ because it means God.  We prefer to say ‘Allah’ because it accurately means ‘the God’, i.e. the One God without any partners because if you say God in English, some people might think we are talking about Jesus.

Why are there so many religions?

Muslims believe that all of the prophets from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, David, Solomon to Moses, to Jesus and Muhammad etc. (peace be on them all) came to teach the people the exact same message – that God is one, without any partners and to submit your life to God.  This is what we call Islam because the meaning of the word Islam is “submission”, i.e. submit to the will and law of God.  So, in this sense, we believe that all prophets were following Islam, or ‘Muslim’ – someone who submits to God.  Islam is more than a religion, it is a way of life.

Each time a prophet came, some people believed in his message and they established the religion (Islam).  Then after some generations, the original message was lost and people started creating their own religion, mostly creating partners with God (ex. a cow, human etc.). So then God would send the next prophet to bring them back to the original message of Islam and the cycle would continue.

So, this is why Muslims believe in all of the prophets and all of the books, which are the spoken word of God– the Torah, the Gospel, the Quran, etc. and also believe in God’s angels and the Day of Judgement.

You can say Islam is the pure Christianity that Jesus taught and the pure Judaism that Moses taught before some priests, rabbis and people changed it to manipulate their followers and control them.

If God created us, would He leave us to figure things out on our own?

Just like most mothers would not leave their babies to the streets to take care of themselves, God would certainly not leave his creation without taking care of them.  But how does God provide us with this guidance if we cannot hear Him?  Through the Quran and scriptures He left us with full instructions on how to live the best life in this world and in the afterlife and through the prophets He sent us to teach us the guidance.

Because submission to God is a way of life and not just limited to a religion that you practise once a week, the guidance of instructions from God must cover everything in our lives such as the spiritual, emotional, economical, social and family aspects etc.

So, when people ask Muslims why Islam is strict with so many rules, they do not view it like this.  They consider these guidelines as ultimate guidance in living the best life.  Imagine you were lucky enough to have the richest man in the world mentor you on how to succeed financially, the best family counselor in the world mentor you in family and marriage aspects, the world leader in civilization and politics guide your country on how to be the most advanced nation and the wisest spiritual mentor guide you in gaining the closest relationship to God.  Would you consider those rules and restrictions in your life or guidance?

What is the purpose of my life?

And the biggest guidance is to answer a question that most human beings ask themselves at some point in their lives – What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here?

God gives us the answer to this in the Quran.  The purpose of our lives is to worship Him and to submit our lives to Him.  Read that sentence again.  The purpose of our lives is to worship God and to submit our lives to Him. 

We will be asked about this when we die and are resurrected on the big judgement day.  We will be questioned about everything we did and if we followed God’s guidance and did good deeds.  God will reward those who submitted their life to Him will punish those who did not and this is the ultimate justice system.

 

Free will or not?

God knows everything that we will do but He gives us a chance to live out our lives and gives us the free will or choice in order to provide evidence to us when we are on the Day of Judgement.  In this way, on that day, no one can provide excuses that God’s verdict is not fair.

This is a glimpse to what Islam is so that when you ask a Muslim a question about Islam, you can keep in mind that he or she will answer you from this context.

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photo credit: NPCA Photos

Visiting Greece now as a Muslim – I was nervous and excited

 By Stefanie Danopoulos, 28 years old

The last summer I visited Greece was in 1999. That time I was already reading about Islam and did a lot of thinking. When I came back to Holland I decided to convert to Islam. And after a few months I started to wear the veil, hijab.

I lost contact with my family for almost two years. When I had my first child the contact slowly became better.

My parents always told me that it was not possible to go back to Greece with my hijab. And my biggest problem was that I don’t speak Greek.

My father is from Greece (Korinthos) and my mother is from Holland. I was born and raised in Holland but we traveled to Greece every year in the summer. I think that it is really important that you can explain to the people in their language why you dress that way.

A few months ago we had a conference in Holland and then I met Anna, a Greek Muslim sister. I was so happy and I even took her to my mother’s house to show her that there are Muslims in Greece. My mother was very surprised.

A few months later, they had a meeting in Greece for the Muslims Association of Greece. My parents and sisters were all in Greece and Anna told me that I had to come. And I told my parents I had plans to come and they said that I was welcome. So I booked my ticket and finally after 11 years I came back to Greece.

I was very nervous but also very excited.

The first two days I spent at the conference in Athens meeting other Greek Muslims, alhamdulillah! I had a very nice time.

And I thought that everybody would look at me in a bad way but they did not even care. 

Then I met my family in Ancient Korinthos. I was very, very nervous about the reactions. When I arrived some friends of my parents were waiting for me. They were very happy to see me and one friend of my father asked if I came from dancing because of my clothes. So my mother told him that it is a new fashion. I spoke to some relatives and nobody said crazy things.

I noticed that most of them speak English, so thank God, that was very nice. I didn’t really have the chance to tell them something about Islam because I was there only one day and my parents wanted to show me everything. They were so happy that I came.

I had a great time. And, God willing, next year I will go back to Greece with my husband and kids.

I spent my last day in the island of Andros. It was very beautiful and I even swam in the sea.  Also the people there were very nice and I did not feel left out or something.

In Holland, people look at you in a different way, but I think that it is because of the negative media attention. So most people in Holland see Islam in a bad way and they feel threatened by veils and beards and long dresses. In Greece I felt very relaxed.

I had a great experience and I will go back again for holiday, God willing!

I felt ashamed to ask questions but it led me to Islam

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By Iman Sotiria Kouvalis

I remember seeing Muslim women at my university and feeling sorry for them.  I didn’t know them but when we crossed paths at the cafeteria, I smiled at them because I thought they were oppressed.  I never talked with them but I just assumed that they were forced to wear the veil.

It’s funny that I thought this way because I knew nothing about Islam.  I mean nothing.  I actually thought that everyone in the world were Christians!  Remember, this was about 10 years ago (before 9/11).

But, my interaction with many Muslims made me reflect on my own disconnect with God and the Church.  Although I was raised in a typical Greek Orthodox family and attended church every Sunday for most of my life, as I grew older, church no longer had meaning in my life and there were a lot of questions that couldn’t be answered by the Church.

As I grew older, a dichotomy started to appear where life and religion were drifting to opposite sides.  I couldn’t see how I can make religion relevant to my daily life.  On the one hand, we were raised to think that in order to be successful, we have to go to school, get a good job and buy a nice house and car and on the other hand, we were taught all we had to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins and we would be saved to be successful. On this side, we were taught to always think critically, to question why, to negotiate and on the other side, we were taught to just believe and never question or it would be like blasphemy.  On this side, never do anything unless you know why and on the other side, perform all the rituals and never ask why. 

And that’s how I started to drift away from the Church.  It had no meaning anymore.  I always believed in God and I desperately wanted Him to be part of my life but I had questions.  And I was made to feel ashamed that I had questions. As if I was being a disobedient person.

So my only solution was to be away from the Church because I didn’t want to be seen as disobedient and at the end of they day, I was going to heaven anyway according to Christianity as long as I believed that Jesus died for my sins, it didn’t matter anyway.  I could do anything and get away with it.

But my interactions with Muslims in university years later and seeing how spiritual they were reignited my passion to become close to God again.  I guess you could say deep down I was a little jealous.  How were they so devoted and at peace and I wasn’t even though I was going to heaven and they were not?

I started getting into religious debates with them.  I was determined to convince them that they need to accept Jesus in order to be saved.  But to my surprise, they already believed in Jesus!  I started figuring out that they know a great deal about Islam and Christianity where I know next to nothing about Islam and even Christianity even though I attended Sunday school all my life.

Secretly, when no one was looking, I went to the library to read about Islam in order to convince them that they were wrong.  I only found some really weird and old books.  Remember, this was pre-Google days so there wasn’t that much on the internet either.  One day, I was walking down one of the university halls when I saw some pocket pamphlets on the wall about Islam.  I guess the Muslim Student Association put them there so after I made sure that the hall was empty, I quickly slipped a few of them in my bag.  When I got home, I started reading and was amazed.  One pamphlet even talked about Muhammad in the Bible.  The Bible?  I thought this must be a lie!  But I checked the verse in my Bible, and I didn’t know if it was true or not because I was just reading a translation in English.

I made a sincere prayer to God to show me which religion is the truth.  I wanted to know!  I surprised myself though that I did that because I kept saying, of course, Christianity!  I started attending church every week again, and then twice a week.  This was very strange because I was practically the only young person there.  I started reading the Bible again but this time in order to find answers to my questions.

After months of this, I couldn’t take it anymore and I decided to go to my priest.  Now, anyone who is Greek can understand what a big event this is.  I’m going to my priest to admit that I have questions in my faith and also to ask about the worst enemy of the Greeks: Islam.  My questions were three: 

1. If Jesus died for our sins and we only have to believe this to be saved and go to heaven, then how does that make sense?  That means I can commit any sin and be saved?
2. How can God be 3 in 1?
3. What do you think about Islam?

For the first two questions, he tried his best to explain but it was clear to me that there was a lot of ambiguity in his answers.  When we got to the third question, his eyes bulged out and his skin turned a little red and he told me to just stay away from those people!

I left the meeting disappointed. For the first time, it caused a definite crack in my faith.  I needed to find answers!  But now I was on my own to find them.  And I did.

After more months of intense reading, critical study of both religions and a persistent nagging of my soul to keep searching for God, the truth started coming to me, but I kept fighting it.  I kept telling it to go away.  I am Greek.  I am Orthodox.  I love my lifestyle.  I don’t want to give up everything I was raised upon.  But, in the end, it won.  I submitted to my conscience.  I submitted to the truth and declared that there is no object worthy of worship except God.  Because that’s literally what the word “Islam” means.

Later, I started to realize that I don’t have to give up myself, my family or my culture.  I realized that I can be Muslim and also be Greek, just like so many others around the world who are Muslim but also Pakistani, Arab, Somalian, Bosnian, Chinese or many other cultures.  And in the Quran, I read:

“They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture [i.e. Jews and Christians] is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and hasten to good deeds. And those are among the righteous. And whatever good they do – never will it be removed from them. And Allah is Knowing of the righteous.”  (Quran 3:113-115)

I understood that as Muslims we are to respect people of other faiths for some of them are really sincere and they live God-conscious lives.  In the end, it’s not me who will judge people, only God can do that.

I came to Islam through books.  Through a critical and intense study just like so many other converts to Islam and just like so many other Greek converts to Islam.  And I noticed that my story is not unique.  So many other Greeks that I know today have similar questions as me and the same dichotomy in their lives.  If you are in this situation, you owe it to yourself to find the answers now because we don’t know when we will die.  And to know that God gave us a mind to think critically.  It’s ok to ask questions and it’s ok to find answers.

That is why I started a website called Greeks Rethink.  It’s a website where you can ask questions and find answers about life and God.  You can go to www.greeksrethink.com and read about our stories and our lives or go onto the forums directly and interact with other rethinkers around the world.

Weird reasons why people fast and what your real reason should be

It was lunch time and we were eating, well, except for the host.  She told me she was fasting because it was Friday and every Friday she fasts, out of habit. 

I’ve seen weird things in my life but this one confused me.  A few conversations beforehand, I discovered that she didn’t believe in God anymore.  So, the obvious perplexing question I had was why she would keep fasting if she was not doing it for God??

I guess because as Muslims, we get this question a lot.  Why do you fast in Ramadan?  I usually say that we do it for God to gain piety as the Quran says,

“O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed upon those before you in order that you may attain taqwa.”[Surah al-Baqarah 2:183].

Notice that I translated “taqwa” as piety.  Well, that’s not quite accurate.  Recently, we were all gathered around and the same question came up, how do you translate this rich Arabic word “taqwa” into English?

Some say it is piety, some say fear, others say it is obedience to God.  I’ve heard many translations but nothing quite encompasses the original Arabic word.  The funny thing though is that if you leave it untranslated and just say taqwa, most Muslims know exactly what you mean by the word and sense a deep emotional feeling.

Here’s a good translation of taqwa I found:

Taqwa is obedience to God hoping for the mercy of God and it is staying away from the disobedience of God fearing the punishment of God. 

And just by fasting properly, you can automatically gain taqwa.  Before I fasted every year, I never imagined that would be the result, but when you do it properly, you would be amazed at how much taqwa you gain.

 But do you think that the lady who fasts every Friday out of habit and not for God can gain taqwa?  Most likely not. 

People fast for weird reasons but if we want to feel full and take the maximum benefit from things in life, we need to know why we do things and not just do them because our ancestors did so or society tells us to do so.

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photo credit: diekatrin

A letter from Romania

Now that we’ve been working for the Islamic community in Greece, I’ve been thinking about other Muslim communities in Europe a lot lately, especially the forgotten ones like in the Balkan countries.  For some reason, I keep coming back to Romania and just today, I stumbled across an article about the Muslim community of Romania!

I was touched by this article below and how similar it is to the situation in Greece.

 

Source:  The Balkan Chronicle

There are many countries in the world where Islam springs to mind when they are mentoned, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Morrocco are just a few. There are many other lands Islam reached that many from amongst the Ummah may not be aware of, such as Western China, Greece, Southern Italy, Hungary and maybe even Austria. Romania is also one such land that many may not be aware lived under Islamic rule for 800 years. Many may not even know where Romania is, it is only 275 miles from Turkey.

In Europe Romania is infamous for Transylvania – home of Count Dracula. Whilt this character has assumed a position archetypal vampire in populer Western culture; the character is based upon Prince of Wallachia. Vlad III, who came to be known as the impaler. Historically, Vlad Dracula became infamous for his resistance against the Uthmani Khilafah and for the cruel punishments he inflicted upon his enemies.

Vlad Dracula was sent in 1475 with an army of Hungarian and Serbian soldiers to recapture Bosnia from the Uthmani Khilafah. Whilst the Uthmani Khilafah lost this initial battle, the Uthmani’s entered Wallachia in 1476 under the command of Mehmed II to recapture the lost lands. During the war, Vlad was killed and, according to some sources, his head was sent to Constantinople to discourage the other rebellions.

According to most sources in Romania, Islam first emerged when the Sufi leader Sari Saltik came to the region during the Byzantine epoch. The Islamic presence in Northern Dobruja was expanded by Uthmani Khilafah who oversaw successive immigration. In Wallachia and Moldavia, the two Danubian Principalities, the era of Uthmani’s did not accompany growth in the number of Muslims, whose presence there remained small. Also the battles between the Uthmani’s and Habsburg Empire led to many Muslim to move to the Islamic heatlands.

Romania emerged in 1859 as a union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Northern Dobruja became part of Romania following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. However during the the communist regime, Romanian Muslims were subject to a number of harsh measures, especially supervision by the state. The Ummah in Romania managed to hold on to the deen and were able after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 to begin the open dawah to Islam.

Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, this equates to around 60,000 people, but has more than 800 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Uthmani Khilafah for almost five centuries (ca. 1420-1878). In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities.

The vast majority of Romanians are Sunnis who adhere to the Hanafi madhab.

97% of Romanian Muslims are residents of the two counties forming Northern Dobruja: eighty-five percent live in Constanţa County, and twelve percent in Tulcea County.  The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such as Bucharest, Brăila, Călăraşi, Galaţi, Giurgiu, and Drobeta-Turnu Severin.

In all, Romania has as many as eighty mosques, or, according to records kept by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven. The city of Constanţa, with its Carol I Mosque and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam; Mangalia, near Constanţa, is the site of a monumental mosque, built in 1525. The two mosques are state-recognised historical monuments, as are the ones in Hârşova, Amzacea, Babadag and Tulcea. There are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania.

After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, when Romania left the Eastern Communist camp native Romanians had the chance to discover Islam and taste its fruits. Today as many as 3,000 Muslim are converts to Islam and the number is growing day by day. Being converts they faced the particular problem in a society, in that society was not prepared to accept them. Most groups in Romania show little will to support Muslims generally. For these reasons the Ummah in Romania were forced to create an organisation capable of defending and maintaining the needs of the Ummah in Romania. The Alliance of Romanian Muslim was set up in order to protect and defend the Ummah and Islam in Romania.

When Islam came to Europe the continent was living in the dark ages. Eastern Europe was steeped in superstition, magic and sorcery. Islam came and brought a new rational belief that took the region from its misery and gave their lives purpose. Whilst in mainland Europe the challenge is to defend the deen, in Romania and many parts of Eastern Europe once again the people need liberation from capitalism and nationalism and it is here the Muslim of Romania are at the forefront carrying on the work the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم started and the Uthmani Khilafah expanded. Whilst the Ummah face the same issues globally, the Ummah from Romania stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ummah all over the world and await the day Allah sends his blessings.

Muslim female judge breaks barriers

(Watch YouTube video)

MAG press release: Israel murders civilians

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Gaza is bleeding and so are the people who support and love Gaza, but this time literally.

The Muslim Association of Greece highly condemns the hijacking of the unarmed freedom flotilla by the Israeli Navy in international waters. Thanks to the indifference of the world opinion, we were led to this bloody attack resulting in tragic deaths of passengers and dozens of other injured activists who were armed with nothing else but the sense of hope, justice, and the determination of a free Mediterranean.

We have actively participated since the beginning of the movement with plenty of tireless volunteers. The president, Naim Elghandour was on board of the cargo ship, Free Mediterranean, representing all of us.

People from every corner of the world, every age, ideology and status and religion have united for a just cause and now others are dead, others are wounded and some are prisoners. In the holds of the ship are dozens of electric wheelchairs for the disabled, prefabricated homes, desalination systems, building materials, and medical supplies which will never reach the receipts in Gaza who are in dire need.

Amongst the six ships of the “Freedom Flotilla” two Greek vessels and crews, the Free Mediterranean and Sfendoni were severely attacked in international waters as they also witnessed the bringing down of the Greek flag and its humiliation which is something that frightens us.

At least 4o Greek poeple are missing with Israel being the only one able to give us answers. Indeed, these are the very same poeple that killed so many civilians. How reliable can their data be and what is the fate of the hundreds activists?

The international community must act now because today civilians were killed while fighting in the name of liberty.

We express our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims, dead, wounded and prisoners and we dearly wish that one day Gaza will stop bleeding and the Mediterranean will be free.

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Photo taken from aljazeera.net.

Cargo ship to Gaza leaves Greece (full photo gallery)

Note from the people from the “Ship to Gaza”:

Subject: The Greek ships leave for Gaza!

First the truck (FREE MEDITERRANEAN) and after the cruise (Sfendoni) depart from Piraeus today bound for the port of Gaza. After weeks of preparation and hard work uploading the truck for three days and nights, ready to join other ships of the “Liberty Fleet” and become the means for breaking the siege of the Zionists, who threatened to stop it. The briefing will be ongoing and will be from the site and from the digital platform. They should be ready for mass mobilization, when it enters the latter part of the business (about four days). We want you all with us!!!

More information and digital broadcasts boat picture of the ships for all of us who can not travel, visit the site www.shiptogaza.gr.

Click on the photo to view the photo gallery from the Muslim Association of Greece.

Mosque designed by Greeks

I was told that the Bin Madiya Mosque in Al Nasser Square in Dubai is built by a Greek architect firm, www.meletitiki.gr.  Although it was built in 1990, its style is contemporary and different from the classical design you would normally think of. 

Actually, that’s why I like it.  It’s pretty cool.

 

 

Photos are taken from www.meletitiki.gr.

 

Construction of mosque in Botanical – green light after three decades

Source:  Kathimerini

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

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In the near future the tens of thousands of Muslims living in Attica (and the visitors as well) will be able to pray at the first official place of worship that will be constructed in the capital after about two centuries. The government announced their decision settling, in fact, a pending case of three decades.

 

Discussions, laws, plans on paper, bureaucratic obstacles, reactions of citizens and ecclesiastic leaders, in combination with the “political cost” intercepted every attempt dealing with a social matter that was putting the respect of human rights and religious freedom to trial.

“We are very satisfied that an official place will exist. It will be a significant step for the unobstructed practice of our religious duties,” states to “K” Mr. Naim Elghandour, president of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Already, in the last months, the issue was frequented in meetings with the participation of the related factors meaning the ministries of Education, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, City of Athens, Navy General Headquarters, and the Organisation for Regulating Planning of Athens.

As was decided in a meeting, the mosque will be constructed in an area of 17.000m² at the Votanikos area, where today the Maintenance Centre of Navy Vehicles exists. According to the plan, from the moment that all legal procedures will finish in order to bestow the usage of the area to the ministry of Education, it will take 6 -12 months to relocate this Navy department.

The mosque will be constructed by the expenses of the Hellenic state by the Program of Public Expenditure Fund. According to the relative law that was forwarded from 2006 by the former Minister of Education Marietta Giannakou, the building of the mosque must agree with the terms and limitations of building of this area. According to these terms, the building area should cover 839m², its entrance being from Iera Odos Avenue through to Asyrmatou Street and will be close to the church of Saint Christopher.

History

 

The matter of constructing a mosque in Athens was on the table for the first time since the late 30s. The discussion was forgotten after World War II began. After the change-over and particularly in the 80s, the issue was brought again by ambassadors from Muslim countries. In mid 90s the issue concerned the government again.

The negotiations between those who were concerned led to voting for law 2833 in 2000 that described the construction of a mosque and an Islamic cultural centre funded by Saudi Arabia. For this reason, the state bestowed an area at Peania, but was confronted by the citizens of the area and the deceased Archbishop Christodoulos, who did not agree that the first view of visitors landing to Greece from the new airport to be an Islamic minaret.

As the solving of the matter was not proceeding, the proposal of the former mayor (and right after Foreign Minister) Mrs. Bakoyiannis, to operate the Monastiraki mosque again that today is known as a popular art museum. Finally, after ‘fermentations’ in the internal affairs of New Democracy government the Votanicos solution was forwarded.

Associates of the former foreign minister expressed their satisfaction for the decision to proceed with the construction of the mosque.  Mrs. Bakoyiannis was always in favor of the construction of a mosque. She played a significant role in choosing the place and to the disengagement of the issue from the ‘protection’ of foreign interests,” they state at “K” associates of the former minister. In 2006, the minister of Education Mrs. Giannakou presented the existing law that describes the construction of a mosque with funds from the Hellenic state.

By Nikos Papachristou

Translated by Anna Stamou

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