Metaphysical dualism is the idea that there is a material world and an immaterial world. We live and breathe in the material world while the immaterial world of spirits, gods, devils, djinn and angels interferes.  I spent many years chasing down every stories of the immaterial world.  This project tries to capture where the two worlds touch, God’s fingerprints on earth.

Modern Miracles has been published on National Geographic and was exhibited in Cairo, more photos are available on my website. 

Left: Thomas Hardwick, an Egyptologist, holds his lucky stone with ancient leather wrapped around it, which he found in shop in Luxor. It was tradition to wrap lucky stones in rare leathers hundreds of years ago. Now Thomas carries it with him everywhere. "When I brought it to the UK I showed it to a friend of mine who is collector and dealer in antiquities and ethnographic stuff. And we looked at it and agreed that it had been in someone's pocket for a very long time. It has this patina. And then she looked closely at the leather and said, 'I wonder what animal it came from? I can tell you it's not human.'"

Right: Nour al-Dein Zaki holds a stone with a natural formation that bears what appears to Arabic script. It reads: "Allah! There is no god but He."

Nour is a geologist, a scientist who knows how rocks are formed. There are many formations that he can explain as made by nature, and others that he can explain as made by man. But if the formation is so rare that it can't be explained by nature or man he calls it an ‘ayat,’ a sign from God. 

When he was a student at al-Azhar University, Nour once found the name of God in a boiled egg he was cooking for lunch. He showed the egg to other students and many were amazed. Soon students throughout the dorms were finding similar ayat when they opened their boiled eggs. 

Nour worked in the desert for a gravel company, identifying deposits to be extracted. He would relax in the evening by searching in the hills for stones. Over 29 years he collected hundreds of stones that had no explanation other than God. 

Nour is now retired and spends his time working on his collection and filling a folder with research for a book. The folder includes sketches of stones, clippings from newspapers about other ayat, such as cucumbers that reveal "Allah" in their seed formations, pumpkin seeds with words, even patterns found on a butterfly wing.

Left: The Rifa’i Tariqa from Dishna performs a ritual known as "dosa" at the Moulid Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili. Followers put a sword on their neck and a leader stands on top of them. If the follower is impure and does not fear God, the sword will cut his neck. Another similar ritual is putting a long skewer inside the mouth and piercing the cheek. When done by pure men, no blood is drawn.

Center: This is a bag of water that was prayed over by Oum Ziad, the daughter of Sheikh Fathala in Esna El-Dier. She gives water like this to most visitors, choosing a verse of the Quran according to their needs.

Right: A fire burns across a field in Luxor. It is said that djinns are not evil by nature but they can do evil things, especially if they are not controlled. Many people compare them to fire that is destructive but can be used positively when it is contained. This is the Sufi way of approaching djinns, because Sufis are generally better prepared to use equivocal methods in order to accomplish positive outcomes. For example, they may chant to reach a higher mystical state or work with djinns to heal, even if these methods are not intrinsically good.

Sheikh Sabat prays over a boy who has problems sleeping. The procedure was efficient: A consultation, a prayer, and a verse from the Quran written on a sheet of paper. The father should boil the paper into a tea and have the boy drink it for full effect. 

Sheikh Sabat said he deals with many kinds of issues, but lately the majority of the problems have been about marriage because, "Men these days get distracted easily and women don't keep themselves looking attractive after marriage." There are three faith healers in Esna al-Dier. Sheikh Fathala is considered the most orthodox, using the Quran and blessed water to heal. Sheikh Sabat uses the Quran to deal with believing djinn, while his brother Sheikh Ali works with disbelieving djinn. The orthodox methods are the least risky but the unorthodox methods can bring faster results.

Left: In an empty lot of 10th of Ramadan City, small groups gather between piles of refuse. Most are digging and collecting sand. Over the past couple days news of the fragrant sands spread across the city and reached Cairo. 

There is a contradiction between the garbage that is seen and the pleasant smell in the air. Some visitors attributed the scent to the remains of a sheikh or a martyr, or say that it is a gift from God in the sand of the 10th of Ramadan.

"Of course there are things like this of which the people say they are miracles. And they create myths or ignorance,” said an older man, “But this time the hole is really big… and the quantity of soap or a shampoo necessary to make all this smell… But if you want the truth, people want to feel that God sees them and cares about them. And it's possible this sand, even if it is just soap or shampoo, works to help people who do it on their own."

Center: After climbing to the top of Mount Humaithera, people stack stones and ask God to help them travel to Mecca or build a house. The Moulid of Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili occurs annually in the Eastern Desert. 

Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili predicted his own death when leaving Alexandria on the Hajj in 1258. He fell ill at Humaithera and died, so today Egyptians make the trip to Humaithera if they cannot make it to Mecca.

Right: Women line up their babies to be baptized at the Gebel al-Tier moulid. Many families visit the moulid to pray for children and return the next year with a child of their own. The room for baptism has so many babies that they are done in batches on an assembly line: One priest takes the oaths, another priest dunks in the water, and the last priest blesses with oil.

Every Friday the men go to the small mosque for the Friday prayer and women sit under the tree that bleeds. They wait until the end of the sermon then light small fires and swing their children over them seven times. Many of them are looking for answers to their problems of mental afflictions, fertility issues, or accidents like a concussion after falling down stairs.

Embedded in the floor of the mihrab of Sidi Marzouki Mosque are two footprints said to be from the Prophet Muhammad. I couldn't find anyone with knowledge of where they came from, nor how they arrived in Cairo but many people say that when Muhammad walked across sand he didn't leave a mark, but when he walked across stone he left footprints. I found two other footprints of Muhammad in Egypt, one in the Sultan Qaitbay mosque in Cairo’s City of the Dead, and another in the Said Ahmed al-Badawy Mosque in Tanta.

A road leading to the monastery of St. Anthony who was one of the first monks to leave civilization and start a monastic organization in the wilderness. St. Anthony's Monastery in the Eastern Desert is where some of the earliest monks went to live ascetic lives in the caves of the mountains. Anthony is known for healing infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases, and to this day many Christians visit and leave their prayers written on scraps of paper inside the caves.

Left: Sheikh Fathala is 92 years old and does not move any more, so his daughter carries on his work of teaching the Quran to children and praying with visitors. Sheikh Fathala memorized the Quran when he was seven years old. He became famous for helping people with all kinds of problems and teaching the Quran to the children of Esna al-Deir for many generations. Now his daughter Oum Ziad is in charge of the house. 

When people come to pray with the sheikh she will put their hands in his and say a prayer with them. Then she leaves for a minute to fill a plastic baggie with water, say an appropriate ayat from the Quran over it and tell them to drink it. I stayed for a few hours and there were many visitors: a young couple, an older lady, a small group of ladies.

Center: Father Saman holds exorcism services every week at the Simon the Tanner Church in Mansheyat Nasr. Beside the sanctuary there is a room filled with the wheelchairs and crutches of people who have been healed.

Right: This photo is from Bulaq in Cairo but it reminds me of my first attempt to track down a miracle in Ismailia: My search for the cat starts with a YouTube video titled “Miracle, flying cat seen in Egypt.” I click on it and there is a white cat with wings on the table of a simple home in Ismailia. The father stretches out the cat’s wings and turns it around, so the journalist can get a better view. The family says the cat landed on their balcony and that, “It is a sign from God,” especially as its arrival coincides with Sisi’s rise to power.

A woman walks under the banner of a Sufi order at the Moulid of Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili.

Left: A painting of the Virgin Mary hearing that she has been chosen to face the struggle of giving birth to Jesus remains on the wall of St. George church in Tanta after a bomb attack on Palm Sunday. 

"God chose my son, even though I was the sick one. They say a son should bury his father and not the other way around, but what can we do," says Naim, the father of Mina, one of the victims of the bombing of the Church of St. George.

Right: A small locked door holds the last book of a failed attempt to control djinns. In the village of al-Deir we were received in the house of Sheikh Bastawi Muhammad. "See the small door in the wall?" he asked us. "It's the safe. Inside is the only book that I keep from the books about djinn and witchcraft. Several years ago a djinn I worked with was in this room and fought with my son. After this I refused to associate with her. So I decided to quit working with djinn and I threw all of the books in the Nile. The books were written in Qarmat, the language of working with djinn and magic, and I bought them from al-Hussein."

Sa’id, a caretaker at the Sultan Hanafi Mosque in Sayeda Zeinab district in Cairo drops a bucket through a trapdoor in the floor. The keepers of the mosque say this well connects to an underground river that reaches all the way to Mecca. So the water has the same taste and blessings as the Zam Zam water from the al-Haram Mosque. During the week, people from the neighborhood stop by for a bottle of the blessed water. On weekends and holidays larger groups stop by and drink directly from the bucket.

Left: Exodus 3:2 - There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” Quran 20:10 - When he saw a fire, he said to his family, “Stay; I have noticed a fire; Perhaps I can bring you a torch therefrom, or find some guidance by the fire.” On Jan 25th revolution the security forces violently pushed protesters out of Tahrir Square. As I was running I saw the burning bush out of the corner of my eye.

Center: The Rifai Tariqa from Dishna performs rituals of faith at the Moulid Abou Al- Hassan Al-Shazly. Followers put a sword on their neck and the leader stands on top of him. If the man is impure and doesn’t fear God, the sword will cut his neck. Another similar ritual is putting a long skewer inside the mouth and piercing the cheek. When done by pure men no blood is drawn.

Right: The groom’s brother is thrown into the air at a wedding party in Matareya.

A priest takes a baby to be baptized at the Jebel El-Tier Moulid. Many families visit the moulid to pray for children, then return the next year with a child. The room for baptism has so many babies that they are done in batches on an assembly line, one priest takes the oaths, another priest dunks in the water, and the last priest blesses with oil.

Left: Every Friday a large number of people visit the Seven Daughters Shrine in Bahnasa for blessings. The location is well known for help in healing back pain, getting pregnant, or finding work. The land is holy because there are many companions of The Prophet and mujahid killed and buried nearby. At the shrines of Seven Daughters, it is said that they were Coptic girls who helped to provide food and supplies to the army of Islam during the siege of the city. The girls were eventually killed by their own people when they tried to run away.

Center: A woman holds her infant child over smoldering incense at the bleeding tree in Dishna, west of Qena. She says that her qarin started attacking the child when she refused to sleep with it. She brought her baby to the tree looking for protection.

Right: Gabriella Goldbrunner, a nun who lives on Mount Sinai, lights a candle and prays in the crevice where Moses and God met. Exodus 33:22: “When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.”

A member of the Burhaniya order participates in evening dhikr, group chants about God, at the Moulid Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili. To Sufis, dhikr is seen as a way to gain spiritual enlightenment and achieve union or be consumed by God.