Egyptian Cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri: A Woman Should Serve Her Husband Like a Maid; Women's Strength Lies in Their Weakness

Following are excerpts from a religious TV program hosted by Egyptian cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri, which aired on Al-Nas TV on March 22, 2009:

Al-Masri:The moment that the father's footsteps are heard on the stairs, the children should be happy that their father is home, and everybody should welcome him warmly. That is the mother's role as well. She should say: "My dears, dad will be home at two o'clock, and we should welcome him." About half an hour earlier, the mother should stop cooking, and get rid of the onion, the garlic, and all that. She should change her clothes, put on perfume, and make sure the children are wearing clean clothes. As soon as the father knocks on the door, he should see his children greeting him with smiles and hugs.

When the father comes home, he needs to recover from the problems at work. Where he comes from, there are intrigues, competition, and jealousy. You know what kind of problems there are out there. He should come home to find the children welcoming him nicely. He should find that the home is in order, the meal is ready, the world is beautiful, life is great, the wife is smiling... Life is beautiful... Western women – not Western, Japanese – put the husband on a pedestal. Imagine a woman worshipping an idol. This how she treats her husband.

When the husband leaves the home in the morning, she gets the children ready and takes them downstairs. They go downstairs to bid him farewell, to kiss him, and to wish him a good day. When he comes back, they should all welcome him. The wife should serve him his food as if she were his maid.

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Like I've told you 100,000,000,000 times – and I will keep on saying this to the very last moment of my life – a woman's strength lies in her weakness. The weaker you behave with your husband, the stronger you will be towards him. A husband does not want to live with another husband. He wants a woman, he wants a female at home. Okay? Two men cannot live together. This is inconceivable. The wife cannot be equal to the husband. She cannot say: "I'm just like you." She cannot raise her voice at him. That's not appropriate for a woman.