Archival: Egyptian Boy Slams Muslim Brotherhood Rule

Following are excerpts from an interview with an Egyptian youngster, which was posted on the Internet on October 12, 2012.

Boy: My name is Ali Muhammad.

Interviewer: How old are you?

Boy: I’m in my first year at Al-Azhar junior high.

Interviewer: Why did you come here today?

Boy: I’ve come to protest so that Egypt will not become anybody’s private property, and so that no specific group will take over the constitution. We haven’t gotten rid of a military regime just to get religious Fascism.

Interviewer: You’re using very big words for a kid of your age…I don’t even know what “Fascism” means.

Boy: In a nutshell, religious Fascism means using religion to your own ends, being a religious extremist, and doing things in the name of religion. None of this is in fact required by religion.

Interviewer: Did they teach you this at Al-Azhar?

Boy: No, I just know it. I hear a lot of things that people say, and I use my head. That’s it. I read newspapers, watch TV, and surf the Internet.

Interviewer: What do you think is wrong with this country and needs to be changed?

Boy: Politically or in society?

Interviewer: In society.

Boy: The demands of the revolution must be realized – bread, freedom, social justice, and human dignity. Right now, there is no bread at all. As for freedom, the police still tortures people in prison. How can we talk about social justice, when a TV host pockets 30 million Egyptian pounds, while people eat from the garbage?

Politically speaking – why isn’t there a constitution that represents us? Women constitute half of the population of Egypt. How come there were only seven or eight women in the Constituent Assembly, six of whom were from the Muslim Brotherhood? Anything built on false foundation sis also false. Even a good constitution – if its drafting is bad, it will turn out bad. You bring me 80 articles that are good, along with 20 that destroy the country, and you call it a constitution?!

Interviewer: Have you seen the draft constitution?

Boy: Yes.

Interviewer: Where did you read it? On the Internet?

Boy: Yes. It says that women are equal to men as long as it does not contradict the shari’a. But the shari’a allows a man to discipline his wife. This is unacceptable in today’s society.

Interviewer: Why, what’s the problem?

Boy: It’s inappropriate. I cannot beat my wife until she almost dies and call it “discipline.” This is stupid. The most important thing to say about the constitution is that it is null and void, because the parliament that ratified it was also null and void.

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