Another question:
Aren´t religions more deadly than tobacco?
Who can count the victims of religions, those who still live and those who have lost their lives?
But there is also the other side of it. Religions bring good things to people’s lives as well. They encourage to high moral, honesty, brotherhood, sobriety and mercy against the weak. These are things that we can’t read about in the news but they exist.
Egypt is a very religious country. I mean people are truly religious. Of course in an environment like this hippocracy blossoms also but my experience is most people are sincere in their beliefs. As a European it is a new experience for me.
When the results of Egyptian elections were reported in Finnish news the victory of Muslim Brotherhood and the salafists was explained mainly as the result of poverty and illiteracy. In my opinion this is only part of the truth and maybe not even the most important part of it.
I will tell you an example. Public schools are a problem in Egypt. Teachers are badly paid, they don’t take care of their duties as they should. They may leave the classroom and children on their own if it is hot and the air conditioning doesn’t work. Classes are huge. Physical punishment is forbidden but usual. It is an endless list of problems. Ok, many of them could be solved with better money and resources but people also have a lot to improve in their attitudes. Anyone who can afford it puts his children to a private school.
My 5-year old son goes to a private religious madrasa. It was close to home and there was a place for him. The madrasa is in an ordinary apartment. There are more than a hundred pupils in four rooms, no playground or yard, just a tiny balcony. But the people who work there are something else. They are all veiled women wearing black. They show affection against children, they don’t hit them or even threaten them. One lady is taking care of thirty 5-year-olds in one room. They don’t play, they study: recite the Qur’an, learn Arabic, English and maths sitting on their small chairs shoulder to shoulder. And they enjoy it. They admire the teacher and tell about her at home. They learn: my child didn’t know even Arabic letters when he came and now he can read. He can count ultil thirty and compare numbers. He recites big parts of Qur’an by heart. It is a kindergarten which makes amazing results for 80 Egyptian pounds (10 euros) a month per a child.
The teachers, these believing women, do their work in conditions which no kindergartner would accept in my country. They do it with their heart, hoping for a reward from Allah. My point is, if the candidates of Muslim Brotherhood and salafists were half this dedicated, disciplined and philanthropic one doesn’t have to be illiterate to vote for them. In Egyptian society believers often represent such personal qualities which every common man and woman would like to bring into his own life. This is the good fruit of religion.
Edited (3/7/2012) by Abla
Edited (3/7/2012) by Abla
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