Any child could be turned into a young Salafi by using the right Internet search terms, writes Salonaz Sami Over the past year, Egypt's ultra-conservative Salafi movement has gained a lot of exposure through its unprecedented results in the first parliamentary elections to be held since the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. However, this win may be part of a larger plan, since the Salafis have been using various means, including the Internet, to sway Egyptian opinion. "The Salafis have recently been using every means at their disposal to get people to listen to them," says Rania Nassar, a housewife and the mother of two. Among such ways are the Internet and television, with 10 of 19 religious channels broadcasting in the Arab world representing the Salafi trend, according to the Arab Centre for Cyberspace Research (ACCR), half of these broadcasting from Egypt. Through channels like Al-Magd, Al-Nas and Al-Hekma and websites like Al-Salaf and Forsan Al-Sunna, the once-unheard-of Salafi movement has become something of a phenomenon. According to the ACCR, Salafi media affect people on different levels, including the emotional level, with the movement's talk shows, radio shows and websites helping to reframe viewers' feelings and affect their choices according to Salafi examples. Another way in which the channels and sites can affect opinion is by providing information about the Salafi movement and introducing Salafi ways of thinking on a variety of issues. Finally, the channels and sites can affect behaviour by emphasising different values and ideas to those of mainstream society, such as emphasising the wearing of the full veil, or niqab, for example, thereby perhaps influencing female viewers to wear it. However, in addition to such channels, which mainly target an adult audience, there are also websites aimed at a younger audience. These include "raising my young Salafi" and "Islam for kids". According to Mohamed Sadek, a pharmacist and the father of a baby girl, these can "offer poison in the shape of honey." While the sites can appear to be innocent, they could aim at reshaping the thoughts and minds of an entire generation, thereby possibly turning them into extremists. "I have nothing against the moderate sites, but there are also some scary sites out there with a lot of misleading information," Sadek said. These sites cut up cartoons on the grounds that their content might be offensive to Islam. "Islam is a beautiful and moderate religion, and our kids should learn this the right way and through the right means," Nassar said. "The important thing is that these sites do not turn young people into extremists." Some of the sites encourage the segregation of the sexes and tell children not to interact with the opposite sex because it is supposedly forbidden. The danger of the sites is that if they are viewed by children at an impressionable age, they could be affected by their content, notes psychologist Dorreya El-Sherif. "It is critical to understand the psychological effects of different kinds of media on children before introducing them to them," she said. Some sites might contain violent images, and these could be particularly damaging for young children, who may be tempted to try to imitate what they see. Young children may even be able to take more from such sites than older ones, and this could "shape and mould the way they think and feel about themselves and those around them," she explained. "Such sites may even help to build the foundations of children's personalities." What can parents do who are worried that what their children see on television and the Internet may be teaching them values opposed to those they hold themselves? "Prolonged exposure to specific websites could leave children confused about what is real and what is not," El-Sherif said, adding that for this reason parents should always keep an eye on their children's Internet activities. The early introduction of children to certain aspects of the Internet under close parental supervision is recommended by psychologists on the grounds that this may help them prepare for schoolwork in the future. What also helps, according to El-Sherif, is to keep the channels of communication open with the child. "Encourage your children to discuss the information they get online with you," she said. "Set clear rules for Internet use and use pop-up blockers to keep away offensive materials." It is also important that parents introduce their children to religion at an early age and that they know how to introduce it. "During the Mubarak era, there was a systematic destruction of everything related to raising a true Muslim," said Nassar. "Certain verses from the Quran were deleted from the curriculum, for example," she said. As a result, making sure that a child gets the right information is not always easy. "Children are more intelligent than we might sometimes think," explained El-Sherif, "and they may take information they are given at an early age and incorporate it into their adult personalities." However, if parents explain clearly what they expect of their children, they may very well get to see it. Parents usually focus on negative behaviour and neglect to see positive behaviour. But "focussing on your child's positive behaviour is the most productive thing you can do," said El-Sherif. If you see your child praying in the wrong way, for example, don't shout and punish him. Instead, you should show him how to pray correctly and then praise him for doing so. "Using positive reinforcement is important, and it has much better results than punishing and criticising," she added. Encourage your child and reward him using the right words or with a simple loving pat on the shoulder. The message your child gets is "doing good gets me noticed. So why not do it?" Moreover, many parents make the common mistake of using the word "don't" more often than the word "do". "We teach our children what to avoid and not what they should do," added Nassar. "Most parents know that saying 'don't do that' can encourage the child to do the thing even more." As parents, our expectations of our kids may be so high that we fail to see the things they are doing right because we want to see them doing everything right, she said. According to Sadek, creating an atmosphere where both the child's weaknesses and his strengths are highlighted makes the perfect learning curve.
