A short video from a twelve-year-old boy in Egypt is going viral on the Web, approaching two million views on YouTube. Assuming the translation is accurate, the boy condemns the Muslim Brotherhood and its attempt to impose sharia law.
“We didn’t get rid of a military regime to replace it with a fascist theocracy,” he says. When the interviewer asks who taught him these things, he answers, “I listen to people a lot, and I use my own brain. Plus I read newspapers, watch TV, and search the Internet.”
The new constitutional draft, he says, states that “women are equal to men in all matters, except in matters that contradict Islamic law, but then Islamic law allows men to discipline [i.e., beat] their wives.” He says “this cannot work in society . . . it’s outrageous.”
The boy's thinking on this matter is remarkably astute, and would be even for an adult. Although he uses a few illegitimate ideas (e.g., "social justice"), he gets the situation essentially right.
Let’s hope this courageous young man’s use of his own brain will inspire many others in the Arab world to not conform to religious dogma and to keep sharia law out of Egypt’s constitution.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/QeDm2PrNV1I
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Related:
- Interview with Historian John David Lewis about U.S. Foreign Policy and the Middle East
- Interview with Cynthia Farahat on Growing Up in Egypt, Discovering Ayn Rand, and Fighting Islamists
Creative Commons Image: Takver
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