Sandcastles & Snowmen

by Sahar El-Nadi

Sahar El-Nadi's new book demystifies Islam and Muslims. From a female leader's worldwide perspective, Sandcastles and Snowmen explores faith through the story of a woman on a personal journey to search for spirituality, leading her to reconnect with Islam in a new, global context in the turbulent post 9/11 world.

While taking the reader on a beautiful journey to discover the self and the world, Sahar El-Nadi tells her personal story of life, faith, and triumph. A brave woman and an intellectual thinker, Sahar reveals in eloquent English the Islamic perspective of Reward and Punishment, Manners and Ethics, Human Rights and more.

This book is for the global reader, to inform and inspire and to help break barriers and encourage communication across divides of race and creed. It is also a good tool for addressing integration issues related to Muslim immigrants and asylum seekers. But most of all, this book is meant to show how women can help make this a better world, by reaching out and speaking up, to challenge ignorance and hate and to engage the world in a peaceful dialogue based on facts, mutual respect and friendship.

294 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

I'm a writer, wellness mentor, public speaker and instructor. I speak train and coach on relationship psychology, communication, creativity, and cross-cultures. For the past 25 years, I've spoken and trained in Europe, the US and the Middle East. I spoke at Harvard and the Swedish Royal Palace among many others. I've been writing in print and online since 1992. Many of my articles in Arabic & English have also been translated to German, Swedish and Asian languages.

I've published many books:

- The Book of Joy, a best seller, the first original design coloring book for adults in Egypt

- Sandcastles & Snowmen, how I apply Islam as a woman in the 21st century

- The Peacock Trap, a detailed guide of Narcissistic manipulation techniques and how to counter them.

I love people and travel. I'm photographer and an artist. I founded Cairo Coloring Club, the Middle East's first of a kind. I give a creative Stress-Management workshop for adults.

Here's my Aamazon author page to see my books
amazon.com/author/saharelnadi

Follow me on Facebook for your daily dose of thoughts and laughs ;)
https://www.facebook.com/sahar.elnadi

Reviews

[Ghada Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an engaging read and if I didn't have 3 monkeys to run after, I would have read the book in one shot!I even intend to pass it along to my nieces who are a bit struggling with the questions/comments they are faced with while wearing the headscarf in Montreal. The book will definitely be resourceful to equip them and myself answer those questions. The book's ideas are concise and very well formulated yet not boring to read. I feel I am reading a friend's personal journal. Sahar put on paper what many of us want to say but don't necessarily know how. Thanks for writing it!

[Yara Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I'll share one of my favourite quotes from the book:

“There's an overwhelming tranquility that comes from knowing you have found your centre. I felt that way when I found God and understood what he wanted me to know about the world he created and my place in it. I discovered that it made me happy to practice those values. My restlessness disappeared as I became at peace with myself and with the universe.
I remember saying to a friend in a phone conversation: ‘I feel as if I had been looking at the world through a keyhole for the past 30 years, thinking that's all there is to it, and then suddenly someone opened the door and let me in.’” - Sandcastles & Snowmen, Sahar El-Nadi

Sahar El-Nadi is one of the most marvellous people I've ever seen. The things I've been learning from her posts on Facebook are countless. I'm not sure how I ended up following her on Facebook, but let's say it's been one of the greatest things that has ever and will ever happen to me.

Sandcastles & Snowmen is a life transforming book. Like, I really wanted to quote the whole book and post it everywhere I can. The lessons this precious book holds are priceless. You know those moments when something makes you want to think? Learn? Unlearn and relearn again? This book encourages you to do all that and even more.

In this book, Sahar describes her journey of self-discovery. How she discovered her own religion once more, how she questioned, doubted, researched, learned, etc. The book is one of the treasures she shares with the world after a very spiritual and inspiring journey. The way she describes Islam and its values in a very simple way is so incredibly beautiful.

I had lots of questions that got answered through this book. I had lots of misconceptions that this book replaced with a lot more logical and convincing conceptions. This book excited, astonished, touched, inspired, and gave me a lot of mixed feelings that words can't describe. It's really sad how I can't find the right words to explain how I felt/feel.

This is a book everyone should read. If you're interested in religions, want to make use of a religion as beautiful as Islam to add to your own values and principles, and most of all if you've questions about Islam and its teachings, this book is definitely for you.

Sandcastles & Snowmen became one of my favourites of all time. May God give me the strength to practise what I learned from it.

[Mohamed]

I've been a follower of Sahar's Facebook page for many months, during which I enjoyed many of the debates on her wall, I've been enlightened by many posts and comments, and I've been moved to re-think and re-feel many things that I take for granted as I go by in my life, or don't get a chance to pause and reexamine them.
Last night, I finally decided to read her book! I'm still less than halfway through, but I couldn't hold myself from commenting on it. I never actually sat down and wrote a comment on a book before, although I thought of doing that many times. But I also haven't been "moved" so powerfully by a book before. I have "learned" a lot from books. I have "appreciated" many people, ideas, beliefs, struggles and so on as a result of my readings. But I don't recall ever being so "touched" so deep inside by a book like I felt last night. The depth and breadth of humanity in the book is almost overwhelming. The sincerity of the experience and the beauty and purity of the emotions that flow from her words are transforming. I personally respect very much "the human side" of us; people. I consider it a major source of power to our existence. And that book has poked that human side of me endless times in the past few hours. It turned on a fountain of emotions that kept gushing out time after time. Feelings of cleansing and purity, feelings of gratitude and joy at discovering a newer and better versions of ourselves, feelings of humbleness and modesty, feelings of love and comfort at knowing who we really are and who made us who we are and is helping us discover the path and stay on it. I related very much to many of the thoughts, inquiries, awes and pleasant surprises on Sahar's journey to rediscover herself and her faith. I lived these moments and enjoyed this journey before. Her eloquent, humane writing just sailed me through its vast seas all over again. It's been a lifting experience to relive it in her writings.

[Engy Fouda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this is an awesome trip in s book :)
I just finished reading it now, it is almost 4 am in the morning :)
I think this demonstrates how much I enjoyed the book.
Soon isA will add a detailed review with quotes isA

The detailed review:
The most interesting point that I found throughout reading this book is : I choose to be Muslim!
I question, think, judge and decided after that to a Muslim lady.
This is what was so amazing to me.
I was so happy that Sahar is my friend when I found finally someone else like me who read in other religions, searched for the right and the light and not inheriting it only and chose Islam.
Me too, I had that similar trip inside myself since I was a little kid and my Dad told me the story of Sayedna Ibrahim, since that time and I was asking, worried and looking, till finally found the light of true Islam inside my heart and "chose" not "inheriting" Islam as a religion.
From my point of view, this is the most important decision one must take in his life, but it needs a huge courage that very rare people are having it nowadays.
Proud that Sahar my friend, has such personal power.

I liked so much how she talked about the power of women in supporting the mission of Islam at its start.
We always forget to teach our girls that the first believer of Islam was a lady, Sayeda Khadija and the first maryter (shahid) for Islam mission was a lady Elsayeda Somaia.

I loved the demonstration of the straight path of of Fatiha that was mentioned in p.90 under chapter of ultimate goal of a Muslim, and started to use it in my teachings as well. Finding the shortest line between your place in this life and your place in the next is the focus of a Mulsim's life. Everything halal will keep you on this path, everything haram will get you wondering aimlessly in circles making your trip harder and risking losing the road completely.

The story if the African tribe mentioned in p.103 was v. Funny and interesting. It states that if someone did something wrong, the tribe would gather and mention all good things he did as a personal positive reinforcement .

I always was looking for ways of happiness and read many psychological and philosophical books about the topic. Was so glad to find a similar person like me :). Thanks Sahar you made me feel normal again :).
Let me quote from your book what I liked:
1. Happiness is not absence of problems but the strength to deal with them. The strength comes from consistently overcoming things you once thought you could never do.
2.happiness as emotion fades away, what really lasts is the Meaning.
3. People whose lives have high levels of meaning derive meaning from giving a part of themselves away to others and making a sacrifice.
4. Meaning connects past to the present to the future.

Was again happy to find someone still remembers that human components are: body, mind and soul. Liked the idea of the jogging life five balls: work, family, health, friends and spirit.

Was surprised by what Sahar found out of her research about who invented the words: Middle east and Third World !! You can find these started at page 127.

As a Muslim lady always was in contact with western people, so always had to answer questions about veil. Sahar demonstrated the idea nicely through her aunt's story Latifa ElNadi, first Egyptian woman pilot.

I liked Sahar's stories about her personal royal experiences: royal crown in Japan and royal Sweden family stories.

As a mother living in USA, the topic Sahar mentioned in p.282 was highly important, that I have to accept that my kid is no longer native of my culture. Her mission is different so her skills must be different, and how I must help her to balance between her religion commitments and the culture is bringing up into and how to be a role model and good Muslim example in that new society. One should not make his kids' lives harder than they are already are!! Help them understand them talk to them and appreciate what they face.

Was really impressed by writing that book in just 8 weeks, me and a group of friends tried to write a similar book, we started from may be more than a year and not yet finished !!!

[Mariam Zakhura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one book I keep going back to and rediscovering myself in... THE best I've ever read!!!

[Chighaf Bakour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book. I loved how the author presented the basics of Islam in the form of a personal narrative. In addition to being a comprehensive guide to the basic beliefs and practices of Muslims, the book offers valuable insights into the intersection of culture and religion and the similarities and differences between Islam and other cultures. It covers a variety of topics, from marriage to business, to science and many others, all through the lens of Quranic verses and teachings of prophet Mohammad. The authors provides a critical analysis of the status of modern day Muslims and the reasons behind the apparent deviation from many of the essential teachings of Islam.
Although I was familiar with most of the information presented in the book, I still enjoyed reading about these issues from a different perspective.
I highly recommend this book for non-Muslims who wish to learn about Islam, as well as for Muslims who wish to widen their horizons and gain new insights into current affairs and problems in the Muslim world.

[Saba N Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sandcastles & Snowmen was a wonderful read. It is a wonderful book suitable for both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences to learn and explore the Islamic faith through the author's eyes and spiritual journey.

I enjoyed reading Sahar El-Nadi's personal, work and travel experiences as a modern day Muslim woman in her field, the road to her rediscovering Islam, and her personal desire to become a practicing Muslim. She covers a diverse range of topics including, religion, science, arts, culture, politics, current events and so much more all the while tackling misconceptions and mispreceptions about Islam giving the reader a balanced understanding of Islamic faith and practices.

[omneya talaat · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's beyond a book; it's a long journey of rediscovering Islam's principals and values from an exceptional perspective. The book is concerned to present these values three-dimensionally rather than just using the typical speech to convey the message of Islam. You can compare evidently the perception of western and eastern mindset for the core rituals and values that we take for granted. I'd recommend "sandcastles and snowmen" for those are eager to enrich their impoverished soul and mind in parallel.

[Abdelrahman Wahba · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an awesome book, just like Sahar who is an awesome friend :D