In FrontPage this morning I discuss Egypt’s race toward Sharia:
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt announced Wednesday, according to the Associated Press,
that it was “committed to enshrining Islamic Shariah law as the main
source of a new constitution, seeking to mollify ultraconservative
Islamists who accuse the group of not advocating strongly enough for
Islamic rule.” It is hard to see how anyone can accuse the Muslim
Brotherhood of not acting quickly enough to bring Sharia to Egypt, but
if the group was indeed hesitating in any way, it is no longer. And thus
we shall soon come to the crowning end of Barack Obama’s “Arab Spring”
foreign policy.Obama, it must be recalled, applauded the “Arab Spring” from the beginning. He spoke with satisfaction in February 2011
about “the peaceful transition to democracy” that was taking place in
Egypt, and said that he was pleased that “the change that is taking
place across the region is being driven by the people of the region.
This change doesn’t represent the work of the United States or any
foreign power. It represents the aspirations of people who are seeking a
better life.” He vowed that “throughout this time of transition, the
United States will continue to stand up for freedom, stand up for
justice, and stand up for the dignity of all people.”The one thing the President didn’t explain was his justification for
believing that the Egyptian people actually cared as much as he assumed
they did in principles and rights such as the freedom of speech and the
dignity of all people, both of which are mitigated under Islamic law.
Nor did Obama touch on why he assumed that they held an understanding of
freedom and justice that was remotely comparable to that of the
American constitutional system.By now it is abundantly clear that they do not, to the dismay of
Egypt’s embattled secularists. In mid-September, Egypt’s National
Council for Women (NCW), according to Egypt’s State Information Service,
“expressed its profound dismay at statements made by some members of
the Constituent Assembly in charge of writing Egypt’s new constitution
on the possibility of sanctioning marriage of sexually mature girls even
if they were at the age of nine. The NCW described such viewpoint as a
setback to child rights and is only expressive of outdated traditions
still prevailing in the Egyptian society.”Those “outdated traditions,” of course, are firmly based in Islamic
law and the example of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. “The Prophet,”
according to an authoritative hadith, “wrote the (marriage contract)
with “˜Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage
with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine
years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88). Muhammad being the
supreme example of conduct for Muslims (cf. Qur’an 33:21), child
marriage is sanctioned by his example. So it is no surprise that Muslim
Brotherhood Egypt would be considering legalizing it.Several days after the NCW lodged its complaint about the prospect of
child marriage being enshrined in Egypt’s new constitution, the
Cairo-based Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression held a
press conference to protest against the arrest by Egyptian authorities
of atheist activist Alber Saber.Saber, according to Egypt Independent,
“was originally arrested over claims that he published the anti-Islam
film “˜Innocence of Muslims” on Facebook, but when it emerged that there
was no evidence to support the claim, he was later charged on the basis
of an atheist video that he had made.” After Saber’s Muslim neighbors
heard the claim that he had shared the video on Facebook, a mob stormed
his house — whereupon police arrested not the rioters, but Saber
himself. Saber’s mother, Kariman Meseha, explained: “Police forces told
me that he would be taken to the police station to protect him from the
angry mob, and that I could come by the police station the next day to
receive him.” But when she did, she found that he was being held on
charges of blasphemy.