An American in Cairo

We received the following email last night from an American student who is majoring in Arabic and Political Science. He wrote to give us his own first-hand accounts of travels through Europe. He is now in Egypt and says that everything we’ve said about the situation in Europe and in the Middle East has been corroborated by his travels this summer.

That’s unfortunate: I was hoping he would say we’re too pessimistic. Instead, his awakening on this journey has made him realize how vulnerable our country is now. The large majority are blind to the dangers he has witnessed for himself.

Meet Mark, student and world traveler (for the summer, at any rate):


I am a college student at Northwestern, majoring in Arabic/Political Science. I am spending my summer in Cairo studying Arabic. As a result, I’m getting a pretty interesting perspective on a lot of issues touched on in Gates of Vienna, which I follow closely, including the recent “Shaheed al-hijab” or “Hijab Martyr”.

As horrible as this incident was, it is tough for me to understand how people can riot in the streets over one murder. As grotesque as that killing was, the same people look the other way when a woman is murdered for “not being Muslim enough”.

This was the case in a number of brutal honor killings in Europe over the last few years. Or how about the other countless Muslim-on-European crimes that go on? I backpacked for three weeks through Europe before Egypt to see if all that I had read was true. Trust me, your blog is dead on.

The friends I made along the way told me of countless muggings, suspiciously all by young Arab guys. In Marseilles I saw the rocks thrown at a young girl. I have seen with my own eyes how real this threat is to our way of life.

Facebook has a page in Arabic here which really summed up the national (ummah?) mindset regarding Marwa El Sherbiny’s murder (my translation - Mark):
- - - - - - - - -

Victim of blind Terrorism,
Marwa El Sherbiny is a well educated Egyptian mother of 3 years old son, Travelled with her husband who study in Germany,
She did nothing,
She said nothing,
But she used her right to wear what she wants,
What she believes is good for her, The Hijab
She was brutally Stabbed to death by a terrorist
But this time a German Terrorist
She was killed inside a Court of Law
For 8 minutes the killer was stabbing her inside the court
in front of the Judge
Her husband tried to save her but he was stabbed too
And after a while the Police arrived
But what did the Police do
They shot her Egyptian Husband,
Because for the German police an Arab is most probably a Terrorist
Is this the German Law
The only Law in the world where the prey get hunted while everybody watch
Is the law of the Jungle

Obviously the English is far less poignant than the Arabic but the message is the same.

You should see the literature they have at the Al-Azhar Mosque.. “Islam is the fastest growing religion! Come see why!” and then in every language under the sun, all sorts of pamphlets and books explaining how Islam is a far better/more tolerant/less violent etc. religion than Christianity/Judaism/, you name it.

My favorite is the “Muslim-Christian Dialogue” in which by the third chapter any Christian immediately converts to Islam. As a Catholic, I would be enraged if I saw this kind of thing at the Vatican.

By the way, anyone I tell that I am an American immediately says “OBAMA!” This happened with the guy the guy holding the keys to the minaret at the Al-Azhar, which is one of the one of the foremost places for Islamic learning over the last thousand years. He came up to me and said, “OBAMA GOOD!” and gave me a thumbs up. He followed this with, “Bush…” and pretended to spit on the floor… inside his own mosque!

We better wake up in the West real soon.

This has been an education. Soon, I will be visiting Alexandria, coincidentally the hometown of the “Hijab Martyr.”

Anyways, keep up the good fight. I really enjoy your blog and have passed it on to a number of friends.