She almost knows the book by heart. On the S-train to the office, during breaks, she opens it at random, reads, and is happy and relaxed. The Sufi Book of Life.<\/p>\n
\u00bbMy friend said I should stop: \u2018You have probably read it 500 times\u2019,\u00ab she said. \u00bbBut I am not obsessed. \u00bbIt is just that every time I open it, it gives me a new message\u00ab.<\/p>\n
This University Post reporter, uncomfortable with religion, sneers: Has anyone recommended you a psychiatrist?<\/p>\n
\u00bbThe psychiatrist talking to me would need his own psychiatrist!\u00ab she laughs.<\/p>\n
Kinza Haider, originally from Rawalpindi in Pakistan, is now doing her PhD at the Department of Geology and Geography at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n
She is measuring the amount of ground water seeping into Ringkj\u00f8bing fjord on the west coast of Denmark. Now and then, she and her colleagues sail out in a rubber dinghy. In one experiment, they stuff pipes into the soft ground at the bottom of the shallow waters.<\/p>\n
In another, the researchers measure fjord water temperatures. Ground water is always eight degrees Celsius, so if it seeps, it leaves a temperature imprint.<\/p>\n
Coming from a country like Pakistan, just devastated by the Indus River, serene Ringkj\u00f8bing fjord experiments seem somehow out of place. But her research is vital, she assures me.<\/p>\n
\u00bbEurope is blessed with water, and in Denmark you have loads of good quality ground water. Ultimately I would like to bring my work and expertise back home to take care of some of my own country\u2019s problems\u00ab.<\/p>\n
Karachi for example, Pakistan\u2019s largest city, has huge problems with brackish water coming through the water pumps.<\/p>\n
Sufism, the other object of Kinza\u2019s interest, is a mystical practice in Islam. <\/p>\n
Has living in a non-Muslim country changed your own perspective on being a Muslim?<\/p>\n
\u00bbI am a progressive Muslim\u00ab she says. \u00bbI was a strong Muslim before, just like today. But I guess I read more about it now. Basically I think that all religions are variations on the same message,\u00ab she says, adding that she has both the Bible and Quran at home.<\/p>\n
\u00bbYou need balance. Many youngsters have too extreme a religion. But every religion, I think, should teach humanity,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n
So how about reading something else?<\/p>\n
\u00bbA friend recommended me to read the Quran. I will start reading it when I find an edition that has the right size for the train\u00ab, she laughs.<\/p>\n
miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n