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| Banna – Egypt’s Sarcasm Society |
By Dina Alaa
Weird title, no? It’s just that whenever I hear some of the Islamists talking, I hear that phrase echoing inside my head. I did say SOME though.
It’s just that secularism, liberalism, atheism and other words have been so overused that they lost their meaning. No offense to anybody, but I’m one of those few who get really freaked out by some of the statements given out by Islamic parties. And I hate that whenever I express this sentiment, I get the epic “why do you hate God’s law?”. Well, it’s not my religion that I’m afraid of, it’s the people who took it on themselves to talk on behalf of my religion that freak me out.
For example, I am veiled, but I have a problem with somebody forcing me to a wear a certain outfit. And I have tons of problems with whoever calls my country’s ancient civilization “rotten” and thinks that such valuable monuments should be demolished.
I have no problems with liberalism, and NO it doesn’t mean that “ommy ht2l3 l 7egab!”. Whereas Secularism doesn’t convince me, but I don’t think that it’s okay for me or anybody else to refer to secularists as atheists.
I’m a Muslim Egyptian who refuses to support an Islamic party and that doesn’t make any less of a Muslim. On the other hand, giving my vote to a non-religious party doesn’t mean that I gave up on my identity. So please stop treating me like some non-believer that deserves “gohanam wa be2s al maseir”.
It’s just that secularism, liberalism, atheism and other words have been so overused that they lost their meaning. No offense to anybody, but I’m one of those few who get really freaked out by some of the statements given out by Islamic parties. And I hate that whenever I express this sentiment, I get the epic “why do you hate God’s law?”. Well, it’s not my religion that I’m afraid of, it’s the people who took it on themselves to talk on behalf of my religion that freak me out.
For example, I am veiled, but I have a problem with somebody forcing me to a wear a certain outfit. And I have tons of problems with whoever calls my country’s ancient civilization “rotten” and thinks that such valuable monuments should be demolished.
I have no problems with liberalism, and NO it doesn’t mean that “ommy ht2l3 l 7egab!”. Whereas Secularism doesn’t convince me, but I don’t think that it’s okay for me or anybody else to refer to secularists as atheists.
I’m a Muslim Egyptian who refuses to support an Islamic party and that doesn’t make any less of a Muslim. On the other hand, giving my vote to a non-religious party doesn’t mean that I gave up on my identity. So please stop treating me like some non-believer that deserves “gohanam wa be2s al maseir”.
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