Living in Egypt
by Amy Abdel-Razek
July 16, 2005

I have decided to write about Egypt because so many people have a lot of misconceptions about Egypt and Egyptian people. That became quite evident to me in the camp here, as there is a big diversity of nationalities. Everyone has the same misconceptions! To set things straight: Egyptians do not have multiple wives, they do not ride camels and the women do not walk around in black tents! Having said that I would like to explain what is behind these misunderstandings. Hundreds of years ago before the car was invented, camels were used for transportation but now only the Bedouins (a minority that live in the desert) are the ones that ride them. The most famous image I think people have of Egypt is a man with several wives (at the same time). In Islam it is permitted for a man to marry four women but it is discouraged. The reason it is allowed is if the woman is sick or unable to have children, the man still has the opportunity to have children and live a normal life without divorcing her. The wife has the right to divorce if her husband marries another woman; it’s her choice. Both women and men have the right to divorce if the other is unable to conceive. It is also important to keep in mind that before Islam there was no limit on the number of wives one could have.

A large percentage of women in Egypt are veiled (i.e. wear a head scarf) but only a very small minority cover their faces. The notion of dressing conservatively in Islam stems from the idea that women are precious and their bodies should be hidden and protected. One last point, the average Egyptian does not believe in terrorism and thinks that terrorists are murders like most people in the world.