According to the newsite Donia Alwatan, a female, Salafi candidate running for Egypt’s parliament, Mona Salah (pictured), asserts that “women are deficient in intelligence and religion,” and that it is impermissible for them to take over the presidency.
- Female political candidate says females are unintelligent: Not the best way to win the confidence of voters.
She is, of course, only quoting the words of her prophet Muhammad. After being asked why he said most of the inhabitants of hell are women, he replied:
You [women] curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.
Despite this unflattering depiction of her gender, Mona Salah defended her candidacy by pointing out that a position in the people’s council invests her only with “partial” authority, not “absolute” authority, as in the case of the presidency, which requires a male.
Yet, even a position with “partial” authority would not seem to get around Muhammad’s point that even “a cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you [women].” Perhaps that is why Salah was quick to assure that “she would strive to apply the Islamic Sharia, cutting the hands of thieves, preventing the intermingling of sexes, and having women dress in black garments, men in white.”
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