How Does the Creator Manifest in the Hearts of Egyptians?

Since the beginning of this century, Egypt has witnessed major events and even greater challenges—political, economic, and social. Ordinary citizens have often borne the brunt of them. Yet God Almighty has remained an enduring refuge.

There is a direct relationship between Egyptians and the Creator that exists beyond the teachings and fatwas of religious scholars. Just as the late sociologist Sayed Oweis documented in the 1970s the letters Egyptian Muslims sent to saints and members of the Prophet’s family, particularly Imam al-Shafi‘i, German anthropologist and scholar of religion Amira Mittermaier traces the presence of the Creator in the lives of His worshippers in her new book, Ninety-Nine, drawing on a wide range of conversations with more than 100 Egyptians.

Just as God has 99 names, the author presents 99 short chapters based on her fieldwork and direct encounters with these individuals, exploring a central question: What does the Creator mean to them?

Without claiming to offer a comprehensive or definitive picture of this relationship, Mittermaier engages with people from different social, educational, and age groups. Each describes their relationship with God and how they perceive Him.

The book opens a window onto the many ways Egyptian Muslims contemplate the divine and its presence in their lives. These conversations are deeply connected to everyday reality and to the circumstances Egypt has experienced. Together, they reveal the different ways in which the Creator manifests in people’s hearts.

Nadia, a young woman in her twenties, once felt extremely close to God. She no longer feels that way. She believes that the accumulation of her mistakes caused Him to become angry with her and distance Himself. For her, divine closeness is connected to the extent of her moral and behavioral commitment.

In another chapter, a conversation with a beggar reveals how the marginalized understand divine justice, sustenance, and God’s everyday interventions in their lives amid suffering, poverty, and illness.

There is also a Sufi man, or “dervish,” who represents a more mystical and spiritual dimension. He speaks from a perspective shaped by divine love, miracles, and manifestations of the Creator throughout the universe.

Elsewhere, the book presents a conversation with a Salafi housewife who represents a more conservative current committed to religious texts. Her words reflect a traditional understanding based on strict jurisprudential rulings, the distinction between what is permissible and forbidden, and ideas of immediate reward and punishment.

The book does not examine the nature of the divine according to different schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Instead, it explores how God is imagined and experienced in the consciousness of a street vendor, a woman burdened by worries, or a young man struggling with doubt.

Religiosity does not take a single form. It cannot simply be reduced to Salafism or Sufism. Rather, it is a complex and remarkable intersection of different religious currents and orientations that may coexist and interact within the same individual.

Mittermaier explores how personal faith is affected by moments of both individual and national crisis. She concludes that Egyptian perceptions of the Creator are multidimensional and viewed from many different angles.

For Egyptians, the Creator is close and compassionate—a safe refuge and a cosmic healer who tends to wounded souls. His power is awe-inspiring and mysterious. Yet He can also be perceived as mighty and avenging.

The conversations demonstrate that faith does not follow a straight line. It resembles a living organism: it grows and contracts, changes over time, and passes through periods of drought and abundance.

In their everyday lives, people practice a form of religious flexibility rather than adhering literally to religious texts and teachings. They develop a personal relationship with the Creator that corresponds to their ability to survive and endure the hardships of life.

For Egyptians, God is the ultimate refuge amid hardship and social fragmentation. In a reality where justice and compensation may often seem absent, God alone is seen as possessing the power to deliver both.