“You don’t need a group that wraps itself in verses while stabbing your future.” What a line that truly defines the nature of what the Muslim Brotherhood is all about. This eloquent spokesman does not defend the norms of many Islamic countries. He is proud to say that the UAE is the exception to the rule, the country with a bright present and future due to their rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood.
But it is more than just the UAE (or Bahrain). There are many millions of people in the Middle East who are not interested in a radical Islamic lifestyle. They are not necessarily very Western either. But they do not want to kill or be killed. They do not aspire to turn the world into a world dominated by Islam.
There are millions of Iranians who are dreaming for the rule of the Ayatollahs to end. There are millions of Saudis and Moroccans who are not interested in conflict with neighboring countries. But they are culturally very much decades behind most of the Western world. But as can be observed in many regions in China, this can be changed more quickly than many would think.
Donald Trump seems to be hedging much of his hopes for a more peaceful future in the Middle East on encouraging a drive towards prosperity as the leading incentive to curb the radical religious elements from dominaing their cultures. Historically, this has not fared very well. But, there are not that many instances over the last few decades of understanding the power of smartphones and other AI-filled gadgets on changing cultural norms. The new world is uniques in this regard. Voices like this brave Arab’s voice ought to be magnified, and then the UAE will not be the exception, but the leader of a growing trend.