After a couple of hours on Tahrir, I finally meet somebody who has seen at least some footage from Innocence of Muslims. His name is Ahmed Ragab, and hes resting at the center of the square, his face mask pulled onto his forehead. He says that what he has seen of the movie portrays the Prophet as sex-crazed, which has nothing to do with the truth. He didnt even marry until he was forty years old, Ragab says. And his wife was even older. But he tells me that he doesnt really approve of whats happening here in downtown Cairo. Im against it, he says. I dont want people attacking the Embassy. But I believe that people need to make some statement about this. Americans need to know that the vast majority of Muslims are not extremists, but an incident like this can stimulate them and make them angry. We have to ask them to do something to prevent things like this. Make some kind of law. Like here in Egyptwe cant make a film that criticizes Jesus.
This is one of the most confusing aspects for young Egyptians. Earlier today, an eighteen-year-old said to me, The United States says that they are the strongest country in the world, but they cant stop this movie. How can that be true? They should either stop the movie, or they should stop saying they are the strongest country in the world.
Ragab seems thoughtful, and I tell him that even President Obama has no power over what films Americans make. Of course there is freedom in the U.S., and thats a good thing, Ragab says. But freedom has to have some limits. You cant make a movie just to hurt somebody elses feelings.
He is sitting in front of his parked motorcycle. He works as a night-shift deliverymanthis evening, he will start at 7 P.M. and work until 6 A.M. He is twenty-four years old, and he has a law degree from Ein Shams University. In Cairo this isnt uncommon: you often meet highly educated people doing basic jobs. I couldnt find a job as a lawyer, Ragab says. He makes about two hundred dollars a month as a deliveryman.
When I ask if hes religious, he says that he prays five times a day but doesnt consider himself particularly devout. Still, he says that religion becomes more important in hard times. We dont have anything in our life, he says. We dont have luxuries. We are not spoiled by good things. We just have our religion. Thats why we are here, to support our faith. This is the one thing we have and we cant lose it. Look at our life here! The food is bad, the water is polluted, the air is dirty, the education system is corrupt.
