Young Egyptians Embrace Islam

Egyptian youth are rapidly embracing Islamic fundamentalism. This is a major trend in the region, where 60 percent of the population is under the age of 25. According to a report in the New York Times:

While there are few statistics tracking religious observance among the young, there is near-universal agreement that young people are propelling an Islamic revival, one that has been years in the making but is intensifying as the youth bulge in the population is peaking.In Egypt, where the people have always been religious and conservative, young people are now far more observant and strict in their interpretation of their faith. A generation ago, for example, few young women covered their heads, and few Egyptian men made it a practice to go to the mosque for the five daily prayers. Now the hijab, a scarf that covers the hair and neck, is nearly universal, and mosques are filled throughout the day with young men, and often their fathers.In 1986, there was one mosque for every 6,031 Egyptians, according to government statistics. By 2005, there was one mosque for every 745 people—and the population has nearly doubled. …”The whole country is taken by an extreme conservative attitude,” said Mohamed Sayed Said, deputy director of the government-financed Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “The government cannot escape it and cannot loosen it.”

Poverty and frustration are driving many to Islam. Unemployment and rising costs of living, for example, mean that marriage is now prohibitively expensive. A groom and his father from the poorest segment of society would have to save all their income eight years before the groom could get married and begin a home of his own. The government is concerned about the social unrest the inability to marry could cause.

The New York Times article continued:

Depression and despair tormented dozens of men and women in their 20s interviewed across Egypt, from urban men like Mr. Sayyid to frustrated village residents like Walid Faragallah, who once hoped education would guarantee him social mobility. Their stifled dreams stoke anger toward the government.”Nobody cares about the people,” Mr. Sayyid said, slapping his hands against the air, echoing sentiment repeated in many interviews with young people across Egypt. “Nobody cares. What is holding me back is the system. Find a general with children and he will have an apartment for each of them. My government is only close to those close to the government.”Mr. Sayyid, like an increasing number of Egyptians, would like Islam to play a greater role in political life. He and many others said that the very government that claimed to elevate and emphasize their faith was insincere and hypocritical.”Yes, I do think that Islam is the solution,” Mr. Sayyid said, quoting from the slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned but tolerated organization in Egypt that calls for imposing sharia, or Islamic law, and wants a religious committee to oversee all matters of state. “These people, the Islamists, they would be better than the fake curtain, the illusion, in front of us now.”

Egypt’s youth are becoming increasingly religious and anti-government. The Egyptian government under President Hosni Mubarak is becoming more Islamic to accommodate them. State television now contains a larger number of preachers, and Mubarak himself now makes more references to Islam.

Egyptian foreign policy has also taken on a more religious flavor. Though Egypt is Israel’s key ally in the region, it is increasingly distancing itself from both the Jews and the United States. At the same time, Egypt is strengthening ties with Iran.

And, of course, waiting in the wings is the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is an Islamist organization that seeks to install Islamic law as the foundation of Egyptian society and government. Although the political group is illegal, Brotherhood members, under the guise of independents, control nearly a quarter of the seats in the Egyptian parliament. An increasingly Islamic, radical and anti-government youth populace only increases their power. If the people have their way, it will not be long before Egypt is another radical Islamic state.

In his booklet The King of the South, first published in 1996, Gerald Flurry predicted a “far-reaching change in Egyptian politics,” based on a scripture that indicates Egypt will be allied with the king of the south, or Iran, in the end time. Conditions in Egypt are building toward this change in Egyptian politics. Watch for Egypt to follow its youth—toward radical Islam.