Extremism is the main source of harm to Islam and Muslims worldwide. Blood is shed in the Muslim world and beyond.

Extremism brought us Islamophobia. Extremism brought us Pamela Geller, Steve Emerson, Zuhdi Jasser, and their ilk. Extremism brought us reactionary parties in Egypt as well as in other parts of the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Extremism took the self-confidence of our youth. Extremism took the pride in religion of our youth. Extremism took our ability to speak to the hearts and minds of people.

Extremism has us teetering on the edge of the black hole of irrelevance.

Compare the damage to Islam caused by Muslim extremists versus non-Muslim extremists. Sadly, the damage to Islam by Muslim extremists far outweighs any other damage. Thus, most of our energy and resources are used to control the damage caused by Muslim extremists.

The voice of the extremist few is loud. Their voice is cloaked in religious garb. Their voice carries religious jargon. The only power this voice has is to mislead with claims of religion. This voice exploits the uneducated to burn, destroy, and kill. This voice distorts Islam while disfiguring the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The extremist minority is organized and motivated. They have caused, and will cause, harm to the majority and to Islam.

Now, enough is enough!

• No longer will we allow fatwas contrary to reason, science, or human decency into the marketplace of ideas.
• No longer will we allow self-proclaimed preachers to insult and condemn those they brand as sinners.
• No longer will we allow the subjugation of women because men don’t want to lower their gaze or control their urges.
• No longer will we allow ugliness, deliberately deformed foreheads, or beards akin to Karl Marx or Santa Claus as signs of piety.
• No longer will we accept niqab as a farida when we know it is not.

These manifestations of extremism harm Islam and the majority of Muslims. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Amongst you are ones who are repulsive.”

Enough is enough. Now is the time to refocus and readjust our lenses. Our readjustment will avoid labels such as wahabi, salafi, jihadi, talibani. These labels are not conducive to clarity. We cannot and do not claim that all extremists fall into one of these labels nor that these labels accurately describe all extremists. Hence, we use only the term extremist without applying it to any particular group.

However, extremists do carry tell-tale signs. The following are the cardinal features of extremism:

1.   Lifestyle decisions are based on compulsion.

2.   Authority is monopolized by one or a select few claiming their authority from God.

3.   Any opposition to the authority figure is equated with opposition to God.

4.   The “will” of God is told to the people who no longer need to think.

5.   Tradition is paramount. Innovation and progress are condemned.

6.   All must conform to the status quo rather than act on their beliefs.

7.   Outward appearance matters more than personal convictions.

8.   Ethnocentric and insular attitude towards others.

9.   Self-centered and haughty thought processes.

10.  Ability to adapt or adjust is atrophied.

We offer an alternative. No one monopolizes the truth, including us. Our alternative offers happiness not misery. Our alternative offers construction not destruction. Our alternative offers benefits not harms.

We call on the silent Muslim majority. We call on those intimidated by the harsh voices of intolerance. We call on the scholars in their ivory towers. We call on the women who think they are second-class. We call on the youth who should build a better future for themselves.

Islam is to be enjoyed, not endured. We call on you to join us and to be united. We call on you to raise your voices in the unison of truth. We have nothing to lose but the lies of extremism.

It was shocking to hear the Salafi Dr. Yasser Borhami defending his understanding of lawful marriage law to the Television Host Wael Obrashi . I could not believe my ears listening to him fighting the clause in the constitution, which limits the girl’s marriage age to eighteen under any circumstances.  The legal marriage age practiced in any civilized country that places the female gender under the category of human with legal rights, and punishable in a court of law when violated.

The fundamental demagogues believe and preached that girls should be married once they reach puberty, with their full understanding that puberty could happen at the very early age of nine. The age where girls deserves the time to play, go to school and learn about the changes in their bodies. It seemed that Dr, Borhami does not understand that practicing sex with such a young girl is rape and perversion in most countries is a crime. Nevertheless, Dr. Borhami’s pervert mind desired more from young girls, he went on, using his own perverted interpretation of the Quran, saying that girls could even marry before puberty “if she can”. How do you know Dr. Borhami? You who declared a FATWA classifying Christian as infidels, and conducted secrets meeting with Ahmed Shafeik, the man you considered member of the old regime. The regime you and the Muslim Brotherhood stole the revolution that threw them out, that a girl in a younger age than puberty is able to practice sex.  Which in this case could be five or six years? If we follow Dr. Brohami’s logic in what he is saying, we have to; first; rape a young girl’s innocence to conclude if a child could sustain sexual intercourse.

Islam has not progressed.  With time, due to some inherent issues with doctrine of the religion (decreed that it is words of God written for all times), and due to historical events (Crusades had such a negative impact and forced the Islamic states inwards and totally rejected the foreign influences,..). In addition, the narrow Sunni interpretations rejected, since the 10^th century, any new interpretation of the faith.

Islam to the vast majority of the casual practitioners in the Middle East and to most observers is simply one entity with no axis, complexity and facets. This neither true nor meaningful but it shows how Islam is state of crises as it tries to shed its stifled and catatonic state of existence.

On deeper look at Islam, we can identify three spheres of Islam and like Babushkas dolls, each reside inside the other. The first sphere is the internal faith, the second is the outward manifestations of religious piety, and the third referred to as the Political Islam. The existence of these three spheres seems unique to Islam in the Middle East and does not match any other religion except some of the aspects of Judaism in Israel.

The first sphere is the inner faith and personal behavior. This would the core of all faiths that binds a person’s core believes to a particular faith. In Egypt, this is likely to be the weakest manifestation of the religion. Witness the chaos of the land, the outright acts of rudeness and deceit commonly practiced in the streets, the lies, the unrestrained accusations against all oppositions, the common practices of commercial cheating and thievery. The depth of personal faith that should be manifest in the first sphere is lacking.

The second sphere, is the outward appearance of the religion, these could be the rituals, the actual dress practice (like head cover, Niqab, hats, short men dresses), personal appearance (facial hair), public prayers, building mosques, and all manifestations of belonging to a special group.

The second sphere seems to be unconnected to the first sphere largely because the outward manifestations are not an indicative of the strength of the inward faith. For example, it could not be that a long beard is an indication of a deep religious faith. Praying five times and reciting Quran without one second of contemplation of the meaning of the words could hardly be an indication to the strength of the faith.

What about the blaring sound of the Quran broadcasting from a moving motorcycle with no one listening of course, but with the outward believes that the action is an act of piety! The Quran blasting out of speakers in a restaurant as if anyone is listening to words of God while eating kebab! How about the 1000 minarets of the mosques blaring azan (call to prayers) five times a day when people go hungry in the streets while the exploitation and abuse of women is rampant.

In general the second sphere is a manifestation of the Sharia (religious edicts), as interpreted by the learned ones. The second sphere does not allow the freedom for a person of doing his own interpretation of his faith as the dominant sect in Islam (Sunni) has declared the road to reinterpretation closed a thousand years ago!

The third sphere is the, so-called, political Islam

The third sphere is a recent rewriting of history of the glorious days of early Islam.  The theory goes that our current failings are due to our failure to live like our early fathers. Every failed culture during the history (from Ancient Egypt, to Middle Kingdom in China) attempted tact with a result of failing again. It is a reaction to the threat of modernity by looking backward as a mean for moving forward.

The third sphere contains a spectrum of position right from the Wahabi inspired Qaeda, to the Moslem Brotherhood to the more modern reinterpretation of MB that encompasses democracy. This third sphere is the most troubling to all of use and presents a threatening face to the modern world.

Below are some of the fallacies associated with the third sphere:

• There was Islamic State with well-planned state machinery from the beginning: There was no well-documented state with functioning army, bureaucracy, financial management, rules of successions or any other manifestation of a real state is the early history of Islam.  Governance during Mohamed’s life was fully conducted by him; he was the spiritual leader and the governor of the community affairs. The picture did not change much during the first four Khalifa’s (Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali). As the Arabs conquered most of the Persian Empire and parts of the Byzantine Empire, they allow the conquered people to manage the state affairs as this was highly developed.
• We need a new Caliphate is required because that how we enforce justice and fairness to our people: During the next 500 years of Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate the system degenerated into a more or less monarchy. It was mostly arbitrary and unjust system with few brief interruptions (3 years during Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz). The system was not inspiring, democratic or fair to the public.
• Islam encompassed democracy from the beginning: There is no historical proof for such a claim. The early Islamic society with a tribal society, and a highly stratified rank were well documented. Shura or consultations were conducted sometime between the upper class (the self-chosen elite) and was not necessarily followed. To be noted, that until recently, the Salafis (and, presumably, the Wahabis as well) specifically rejected Democracy as alien to Islam. However, more recently Salafis adopted the Democracy as means to gain power and enforce their agenda.

It takes not great discovery to see that these three manifestations are not necessarily tightly connected and in many instances are really disconnected.

The weakest is the first sphere, the second is artificial and only deals with rituals, the third is outright out of date and threatens the world peace as well the welfare of the people. Until the Islamic world fully encompasses the first sphere as the only what matters for personal faith and adopt a modern civil governance, there will be no peace or advancement.

This Arabic proverb has long described the plight of women in Egypt. Like the classic Pyramids of Giza, the culture of Egypt for the most part stands unchanged. Egyptian men continue to use the banner of Islam and antiquated interpretation of the Quran to justify controlling women. Egyptian women continue to believe God has ordered men to do so.
Yet Laila El-Sissi broke the pattern. when Laila, a shy and malleable 15-year-old, and her more rebellious 16-year-old sister Rawyia learn that they are betrothed to men they have never met, they refuse to live in the prison constructed by their society, hoping for a better life than that of their mothers and aunts. Running from their tyrannical father, an abusive brother, and arranged marriages to men twice their age, Laila and Rawyia risk their reputation and safety, and plot their escape.
Out from the Shadows of Men tells the story of two sisters as they find the courage and joie de vivre to risk their lives and stand up to forces seemingly as large, strong and ancient as the pyramids so they can choose their futures.
At its heart it is the account of two brave, intelligent girls not content to have their lives ruled by others—not even their father. It is a testament to the power of a sister, someone to stand by your side and help you realize your dreams.
Rich in details of the everyday lives of middle and upper class families in Egypt, this memoir reveals what life was like—and still is like today—for Egyptian girls and women. It exposes their subjugation, lack of autonomy, and battles with the antiquated marriage laws from which they have no recourse.

These women were not objecting to the truthfulness of my words, but they wanted no exposure like many girls who have been raped.  To avoid shame and loss of possible chances to find a husband, raped women opt for denial carrying within their sole a sense of shame and humiliation.  The prevailing culture burdened them with the belief that a woman’s hymen would preserve the honor of her family. 

I, myself, found it difficult to write about incest in my memoir for the same reasons.  However, after interviewing many women, I discovered that many have experienced one way or the other a sexual abuse from a family member or boyfriends.  Sadly, they all chose to live with it and its psychological effect to preserve the family dignity in their society, rather than point their finger at the abuser.  They knew they would be blamed just like Samira Ibrahim, the brave young girl who recently during the Egyptian Revolution has been subjected to virginity test by military police officers.  She raised her finger and pointed at her abuser unaware that the culture denial has not changed and that her chances to win the case are slim to none.

Just last week, a military court not only, postponed the case of Samira’s virginity test, but denied her witnesses from talking about what had happened. All witness who came from the military ranks denied the incident. Not a single women organization came to her defense or even lifted a finger to help. For a topping, the military persecutors slapped Samira with another lawsuit accusing her of misconduct and of causing public disturbance as means to threaten her to silence or dropping the case against one of them. On March 11, the anniversary of the virginity incident, the military court dropped all charges, and exonerated the Virginity test’s perpetrators.  Now, she has to face and defend her case against a public opinion that is in a state of denial and tend to vilify the victims of sexual cases.

Has the sexual abuse of Muslim women gone public now in the land of thousand Minarets and churches, the land of Al Azhar University, and the land of thousands speakers blasting the sacred words of God five times every day?  What do we expect from the Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood who are now in charge of Egypt?  Is it time for a new spark to ignite the women revolution?

A friend, who lives in Alexandria, expressed her worries about the Salafi’s intrusion in her neighborhood of Rouchdy. Pharmacies in Egypt, unlike in the United States, allow pharmacists to inject patients with necessary medication if asked. Salafis pharmacists now refused to inject insulin to diabetic women.  During the month of Ramadan, Salafi physicians left patients in the emergency room for two hours to perform the Taraweeh prayer (special long prayer after breaking the fast in Ramadan) in the mosque.

Recently, a Salafi representative had interrupted the Parliament session with the call for prayer (Azan).  Another Salafi sheikh advised universities students to marry four wives. Some Salfis are advocating restricting women rights from car driving to asking for repeal (Khol`)a marriage annulment law passed 10 years ago that gave women the right to initiate divorce or decriminalizing statutory rape if there was no active resistance. There was talk to reinstate the law of (Beit El Taa) House of submission, where a husband gets a court order to take his “disobedient (Nashez) wife into Beit El Taa.

For thirty years, Hosni Mubarak used the police institution as a mean to quell, torture, and humiliate the Egyptian people. The police took unethical measures against opposition like spying, rigging elections, hiring witnesses, and false imprisonment. Before and during the revolution the same police force committed atrocities against demonstrators; rape, snipers with live ammunition aiming at young revolutionaries’ eyes.

One of the revolution goals was to restore the police institution to its intended function protecting and respecting people’s rights.  Sadly, the Military Council (SCAF) who is holding the Presidential powers, resisted reformation of the Internal Security Ministry responsible for police.

In a more bizarre turn of events, as many as 150 officers grew beards as a common sign of Islamic piety.  A religious belief practiced by many Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood members in disregard to the military rule of conduct. The problem is not growing or not growing their beard, because the same officers stood silent or maybe joined in the torture orgies in the police stations, in Tahrir Square, and in the massacre of Port Said Stadium. No one heard them object or protect civilians.

Now suddenly the same police officers grew their beard to announce their holly fight, as if religious devotion is represented by facial hair and not by the substance of a person.

Mosques are everywhere in Egypt, and always crowded with prayers.  They rush to perform their religious duty whether inside the mosque or in the streets. The question is could this devotion reflect people’s attitude in their everyday lives? The answer is, No.  Most Egyptians follow their religious duties with conviction and devotion, but they don’t give the same devotion and respect to ethics in their everyday life.

When some individuals separate beliefs from attitudes, the inner core from the outward appearance, we judge them as hypocrites, but if this behavior is endemic in a society, then we need to analyze it further. People with such conflicts are not really hypocrites, but simple people who practiced religion the way they knew how. Egyptians follow their religious obligations like prayers, fasting and Alms but ethic is a word they all claim to follow, yet they don’t apply it in their everyday life.

Islam in Egypt has always been balanced and tolerant.  What we have now is the Wahabi intolerant version of Islam.  It was imported from Saudi Arabia.

For thirty years the oil money drowned Egypt with extremists Wahabi ideologies with political agenda.  The ruling Saudis rely heavily on the alliance with the Wahabi clergymen.  Hence the political system is stable in the Gulf countries.  In the mean time, millions of Egyptians migrated to the Gulf States seeking work and returned home saturated with Wahabi ideology.  In this society, Egyptians did not see mingling between men and women.  However, statuary rape, pedophiles and sexual crimes in the Gulf and KSA are some of the highest in the world.  Alcohol consumption prohibited, as well, to the masses. Yet, many in the Gulf drink in secrecy. Kings do not need to abide by the rules of law, and no one dares to prosecute them for any crime they commit.

Egyptians learned, in the gulf, that praying is not by choice, but mandatory.  If a person refrains from praying, he or she would face punishment. They, also, learned that a woman walking in the street next to her husband would be reminded with a stick by vice police, if her hair is not covered properly.  In spite of open show of religious devotion, most of the Egyptians workers in the Gulf have no rights in the court of law. Natives are favored and never found guilty. Here we see clearly the division between open exposition of religion and ethics.  We can conclude that it is a social disease brought to Egypt from the Gulf, and has spread like a virus outbreak infecting the population, and the political Islamic group in Egypt.

When the Revolution of January 25^th erupted in Egypt, none of the Islamic Groups participated. When the police retreated and left the country unprotected. However, to be fair, the Muslim Brotherhood moved in and joined the demonstrators in Tahrir square to protect them from the attack of Camels where many demonstrators were attacked by swords and guns. Now, we know, their move was a show to win the trust of voters. The Salafis on the other hand, stood against the revolution.  They claimed that to revolt, and demand democracy, is against Sharia. Obedience to the ruler, even if he is a dictator, is a sacred order from God, they stated.

When the revolution succeeded in throwing Mubarak out of office, the Salfis changed their ideology and quickly formed parties and joined the democracy, which they once, claimed to be against Sharia.

Then MB and Salafis struck a deal with the military council (SCAF). SCAF will help them win majority in the parliament and they in turn would allow SCAF to run the country form behind the scene. The military council rigged the election to favor MB and Salafis allowing a religion based parties, which the law prohibits, to set a constitutional amendments committee chaired and staffed by MB experts.

Here we found ourselves facing phenomena, the same extremists who would not miss a prayer, and get furious when they see a woman in tight clothes, are the same extremists who took advantage of the poor and needy; they donated meat, sugar and oil to win their vote.

At the end, the MB and Salafis victory in the parliament may not have been rigged.  But, surely, was not ethical or fair. The Egyptian people accepted the voting results believing they would have a new parliament that could trust to protect the revolution and fulfill its goals.  Unfortunately, they discovered that the parliament is crippled and unable to face the Military Council’s redlines.

The parliament became nothing than a podium for empty speeches.  Some Salafis refused to swear in favor of the constitution unless the word “Sharia” is included.  While the police is killing and maiming young revolutionaries in the street, a Salafi member interrupted the parliament session with a call for prayer (Azan) triggering another day of argument as to whether it is right to call for prayer during parliamentary sessions. Consequently, the Parliament discussed side issues that have little to do with the country’s priorities.

Fasten your seatbelts; Islamists have become a potent force in Egypt. The Revolution has not began yet.

My sister Hala  has two sons,  Shawki 29, and Sameh 31 are college graduates like many young men in Egypt, they cannot find jobs.  Hala’s two daughters, Samia  32, married with three children, and Sonia 26, a college graduate as well.  Sonia has accepted a job with monthly pay of less than one hundred dollars, not so much for the joy of working, but for an opportunity to meet a suitable young man for marriage.

Hala’s family is representative of most middle class families in Egypt.  No matter how hard life is, a college education is a priority.  Parents struggle financially to provide their children with a college diploma in the hope that it will one day help them achieve financial security.

Khalid Saiid was one out of the young generation that suffered under the deposed president Mubarak. His regime oppressed and suffocated their aspirations.  Mubarak, his son Gamal, and the government of Ahmed Nazeef looted the country.  They controlled and distributed its wealth among themselves, their families and friends.  They controlled the people of Egypt with 1.5 million secret police working for the Ministry of Interior. Young people were routinely arrested, tortured and thrown into prison and die without informing their parents.  

Fear kept my sister’s generation quiet and the generation before her.  Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years, and prepared his son Gamal to take over.  Not only did he rule Egypt with an iron fist, but he amended the constitution to make himself a supreme ruler and his son the rightful heir to Egypt. 

For years resentment and discontent brewed at  a slow pace.  But when the middle class disappeared, the discontent reached the boiling stage. Poverty hit every Egyptian family not connected to Mubarak’s regime.  The generation witnessed in silence the suffering of their parents as they struggled to provide them with education, computers and a comfortable life style. 

The parent’s efforts paid back.  The generation descendant from the great Pharaohs rose to the greatness of their ancestry on Janary 25, 2011.

“Take me with you, sister.”  I said and followed her down the hallway to the bedroom,

Hahla decided to perform a prayer, before joining me in bed, for Khalid’s family.

“I feel sad for Khalid’s mother. May God give her patience to get through this tragedy; Khalid is a martyr (Shaheed).  He is lucky. It is the will of God Almighty” She said and sat on the red velvet chair next to her bed to perform the prayer for the dead. Hala used the chair when she could no longer stand and prostrate during her prayers.

I envied my sister for her wisdom, and peaceful resignation to God’s will. I wanted to believe that the murder is the will of God, but I am not blessed with Hala’s angelic acceptance of such cruelty. 

When she finished praying, I asked, “Why did Khalid’s life had to end this way? If God wanted him, he could have taken his soul peacefully?”

“Don’t ask such questions, Laila, and learn to accept the will of God.  You will be much happier.”  She answered smiling.  She knew this was a subject that got me in many heated argument with her son Shawki during my previous visits to Alexandria.

Shawki believed we should never argue about the rules of Islam and I insisted that we have to interpret the rules logically and not put the responsibility of our action on God’s will.  Neither of us ever won the debate.

Hala and I lived on a different continent since I left Alexandria in the late sixties. When we met, we reminisced about our childhood, which we never got tired of repeating during my short vacations in Alexandria, Egypt.  I became very close to Hala and her four children Soheir, Samiha, Shawki and Sameh after the death of  our older sister Rawyia.  When Hala developed the debilitating disease Lupus, I committed myself to visit her as often as my busy life in California allowed me, sometimes leaving my sons, Omar and Shareef, behind.

Soheir, Hala’s youngest daughter, walked in breathless, slammed the front door behind her, and with shaking hands, removed the pins holding the silk veil covering her hair.  Her hair fell lose on her shoulders like a silk brown shawl.  She took off her heel sandals, and tossed them in the corner.  Then, picked up a Kleenex tissue from her purse, and before she sat down on the chair facing us, she wiped her tears dry.

Hala, and I looked at each in astonishment.  We were used to Soheir ‘s changing mood, and we both learned, during the past twelve years, to live with her  sudden outburst of anger.  “It’s her hormones.”  My sister often said to help herself deal with it.

“They killed him mommy.  They did.” She said in a broken voice, then reached for her big canvas purse with decorated with Mickey Mouse smiling face.  She pulled  out her HP mini Laptop, pressed hard on the power button, and began punching letters on the keyboard.

“The criminals killed Khalid Saiid!” Soheir exploded and got our full attention.

Hala and I faced each in wonder.

“Who is Khalid?” my sister asked and stood up, then picked up her reading glasses lying on top of the still unread ElAhram newspaper on the side table.  She squeezed herself on the Louis XIV chair she took with her, as a souvenir, when our parents died in the late 70^s.  The mini Laptop stole their attention from me.

“Can someone tell me who is Khalid Saiid?  Is he our cousin?”  I asked in frustration.

Soheir gave me a look of annoyance, and then directed her angry gaze to the mini screen.

“There is no news yet.  All my friends are afraid to post it on Facebook.  We were all there.  We saw everything Mommy.” Soheir spoke again with tears streaming down her face.

“Calm down my dear, and tell us who is Khalid.”  Hala took Soheir in her arms and read some verses from the Quran to help her stop shaking.  “I will make a hot cup of Yansoon.”

“Thank you Mommy.”  Soheir said at the mention of anise tea, but kept her eyes on her laptop.

“Laila, the country is run by Mubarak’s secret police.”  Hala’s voice reached us from the kitchen.  She, then,  walked in the room with two glasses of tea.  She handed me one and placed the other one on the coffee table.

“Soheir, drink and calm down.”  Hala handed my niece the cup of Yansoon, walked back into the kitchen, and got another glass cup of the steaming tea.   She sat on the sofa next to me, took off her reading glasses.

“Was it the secret police that killed Khalid? My conclusion got Soheir’s attention.

“Yes, Tante, they are the ones.  Khalid did not do anything.  He was playing games on the computer in the Cyber Café down the street.  Boys meet there to use the computer.  I was passing by with my friends, Sheri and Yasmine, when we saw five men barge into the Cyber café.  They dressed in civilian clothes, and asked Khalid for his IDs.  When we heard screaming, we stopped to see what was going on.   We heard Khalid asking them who they were.  Two of the five men lifted Khalid off the chair by his Tshirt.  They took turns punching and slapping him on the face, then dragged him out onto the street. “

She went back to her screen, her face fuming with anger  “I don’t understand why no one posted the incident yet.”

I kept silent, and tried to understand her incoherent mumbling.

“Laila, did you hear about the ship returning from Haj that sunk with 1500 passengers?   They all died.  The government helped the man responsible to flee the country.  When the people went looking for their lost ones, the secret police killed many of them.  The people in Egypt are angry.”  Hala, too, voiced her discontent.

I listened with fear and disbelief.  My sister and her children never talked about the government.   I turned to Soheir, curious to know more about Khalid.

“How did you know Khalid died?” I asked.

“We saw them smash his head on the marble stairs of the apartment building next door.  A physician who lived there, came out, checked Khalid’s pulse on the neck, and confirmed his death .”

I handed Soheir the Anis drink to slow down her frantic breathing.

“Where is the young man, now?”  my sister asked with a calm voice.

“The secret police took him in their car and drove way.”  She sobbed.

Hala turned to me. “This is Egypt now, my dear sister.  People live in fear.  The country is run by the secret police.”  Hala’s voice dripped with sorrow, and her eyes welled with tears.

Soheir broke her silence with a scream. “Here aunty, come and look!”  She poked the screen with her pointer finger.  Hala and I jumped from our seats, crouched on the Persian rug next to Hala, and glued our eyes to her laptop.

Messages popped on Soheir’s  Facebook page like flashing light, Hala and I couldn’t keep up with the pace.   She attacked the keyboard with anger jumping from one page to another.  All the while, Hala and I watched in silence waiting for her to show us something.

“No photos yet?” Soheir synchronized the words coming out of her mouth with her fingers punching the the keyboard.

Hala glanced at Soheir’s face.  Then, back to the screen.  I tried to read some words here and there, but failed to decipher the English letters typed in Arabic words.  I could not even read the Arabic writing.

“Mommy , many people witnessed the killing, and they are not afraid to post it on facebook.”  Soheir sounded proud.  She continued looking at Hala who moved to the sofa. “Someone took pictures on his mobile, and he will post it soon.”

“Don’t get involved Soheir.  Shawki, your brother, warned you before not to talk politics on the computer with anyone.”

“This is not politics, this is murder.”  She banged her fist on the arm of her chair.

“Your mother is right Soheir.” I said to support Hala who looked nervous.  But inside, I admired Soheir’s determination to spread news of the crime on facebook.

I got tired staring at the screen, and joined Hala on the sofa.  My sister,  picked up the remote control from the coffee table and turned on the plasma television.  She pressed the channels up and down with shaking hands.  “No news anywhere about the incident.  Maybe the young man is still alive.”

“No mother, he is dead.”