Muslim Hate of Dancing
Clerics Oppose
Music, Dance at Pashtun Village Weddings
October 09,
2020
By Anisa Ajmal
Gandhara
Hard-line
Muslim clerics in a conservative northwestern Pakistani village have announced
a boycott of music and dance at weddings.
Clerics
representing three major Islamic sects this week announced that they will not
administer marriage ceremonies in Ghondi, a large
village in Khyber district on the Afghan border, if celebrations include music
and dance. The district, named after the historic Khyber Pass in northwestern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, was a hotbed of sectarian tensions and Islamist
militants a few years ago.
The
announcement is part of a wider morality campaign in which clerics,
conservative activists, and even government organizations have banned music,
television advertisements, TV shows, and mobile phone apps in the name of
battling vulgarity and immorality across Pakistan. On October 9, Islamabad
decided to block social media App TikTok for failing
to filter out "immoral" content.
Rights campaigners
and liberal activists, however, have opposed such bans because they violate
basic freedoms enshrined in the country’s laws.
Islamist
clerics in Ghondi see things very differently. “The
Ulema have decided to act against vulgarity because our area has suffered
tragedies and calamities,” Maulana Dilawar Darwesh, a senior cleric, told Radio Mashaal
while alluding to Khyber’s recent troubled past when attacks by Islamist
militants and the military operations against them killed thousands and forced
hundreds of thousands into displacement.
“People
complained to us because they were sick of the noise at night and the dance
performances by transgender people during weddings,” he said. “Our decision is
not arbitrary. On the contrary, we acted for peace and reforming the society.”
The decision
this week says clerics from the Deobandi, Brelvi, and
Panjpiri subsects within the larger Sunni
denomination have decided not to administer Nikah or the ritual Islamic
marriage ceremony that ties a couple into a wedlock if the wedding celebration
includes music and dance, particularly by transgender performers.
Jalil Afridi,
a local activist, says that while he doesn’t oppose the initiative, he is
surprised no one outside the religious circles among Ghondi’s
estimated 70,000 residents was consulted before the announcement.
“This
announcement was very sudden,” he told Radio Mashaal.
“They should have prepared the locals for such news.” Afridi says Nikah usually
precedes other wedding ceremonies and celebrations. “I wonder how they will
enforce this,” he said.
Amirzada Khan, a local journalist, says that in
recent decades clerics from the three Sunni subsects have consistently opposed
each other in Ghondi with their differences sometimes
resulting in theological disputes leading them to question each other’s faith.
“When they don’t even like interacting with one another and avoid praying in
each other’s mosques, how long can they remain united behind this initiative?”
he asked.
Lawyer
Shahabuddin Khattak, a rights campaigner in the
nearby city of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital, says Pakistani law
protects the freedom of speech and artistic expression.
“The current
laws do not prohibit anyone from celebrating weddings with music or songs,” he
told Radio Mashaal. “In fact, our constitution and
laws protect the freedom to hold such celebrations. So
preventing people from holding celebrations is a form of extremism, which our
government needs to curb.”
Jawad Ali, a
local government administrator, says the Ghondi
clerics have not informed them of the boycott. “It is everyone’s personal
choice whether they want music at their weddings or not,” he said.
Local media
reports indicate that in March 2019 the local administration in Jamrud, a major
town in Khyber near Ghondi, banned transgenders from
dance performances at weddings.
Iran
arrests teenage girl over Instagram video of her dancing in bedroom
Maedeh Hojabri, an 18-year-old gymnast,
admitted breaking moral norms in a state TV video
Maya Oppenheim
Sunday
8 July 2018
Independent
An Iranian teenage girl has been detained for posting videos of herself dancing
in her bedroom on Instagram.
Maedeh Hojabri, an
18-year-old gymnast, admitted breaking moral norms in a state TV video
broadcast on Friday.
She maintained that was not her goal and that she was simply attempting to
garner more followers, although it was not clear whether her statement was made
under duress.
Local news website Shabooneh said Ms
Hojabri – who has attracted tens of thousands of
followers – and three other individuals were detained on similar charges in
recent weeks before being released on bail.
She had posted around 300 videos on her account – many of which saw her dancing
in both Iranian and Western styles.
The teenager also appeared in videos without wearing the compulsory Islamic
headscarf.
Her performances had thousands of followers on various accounts bearing her name,
ranging from 12,000 to 66,000 followers. None of the accounts were verified.
Iranian police have said they plan to shut down similar Instagram accounts and
the judiciary is considering blocking access to the site.
Iran has already blocked access to many social media sites, including Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube and the Telegram messaging app.
However, millions of Iranians continue to use the sites through proxies and
virtual private networks.
Iran’s judiciary and security forces are dominated by hardliners who launch
periodic crackdowns on behaviour considered
un-Islamic. The latest arrests came amid a series of protests against the
government’s handling of the economy.
In 2014 authorities sentenced six young men and women to suspended prison terms
after they appeared in a video dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy”.
The video showed three men and three unveiled women dancing on the streets and
rooftops of Tehran.
The arrests sparked condemnation from international rights groups and a social
media campaign calling for their release.
Williams, whose song was nominated for an Oscar, criticised
the arrests.
“It is beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread
happiness,” he wrote on Facebook.
Egypt moves to ban alcohol, belly dancing
February
18, 2013
(The Daily Star ::
Lebanon News ::
http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
CAIRO: Two years after the Egyptian revolution that ousted President Hosni
Mubarak, liberals are increasingly concerned that the ruling Islamists are out
to curb personal freedoms and build a society in their own image. Nabil Abbas,
the vice president of the New Urban Communities Authorities, told Reuters
Sunday that the government would no longer issue licenses for the sale of
alcohol in new residential settlements on the outskirts of Cairo, Alexandria
and other big cities.
“NUCA has stopped renewing licenses to sell
alcohol but the current ones will continue until they expire,” Abbas said.
“Representatives of the residents in new
suburbs complained that the sale of alcohol leads to problems including
attacking women and randomly ringing doorbells of people’s homes.”
Islamist President Mohammad Mursi’s
government increased taxes on alcoholic beverages in December but then backed
down after the move was criticized.
Earlier this month, an Egyptian court ordered
the suspension of YouTube for a month for broadcasting a film insulting the
Prophet Mohammad.
And a court in Egypt Sunday ordered a TV
channel that airs belly dancing clips off the air for showing “sexually explicit”
content and operating without a broadcast license. The judge Saturday said that
ElTet airs ads that are “offensive” and can “arouse”
viewers. The station carries advertisements for sexual enhancement products and
matchmaking services.
A satirical poster circulated online Sunday in
response to the alcohol curb. It listed some of Egypt’s main problems including
road accidents, police brutality and poverty then showed a cartoon of Mursi dressed as Superman and that says “Must save Egypt
from porn, alcohol and YouTube.”
Separately Sunday, thousands of demonstrators blocked
access to the harbor and rallied outside state buildings in Port Said Sunday,
to demand justice over the deaths of dozens of people killed in anti-government
riots last month.
About 60 people have been killed since late
January in protests that erupted after the second anniversary of the uprising
that overthrew Mubarak.
Port Said was one of three provinces where Mursi declared a 30-day state of emergency.
Opposition groups have criticized Mursi’s perceived drift toward authoritarianism, which they
say fueled this year’s unrest.
Amidst the continuing violence, Egypt’s chief
of staff said Sunday that the country’s armed forces, which has for decades
been at the center of power, will avoid involvement in politics but could still
have a role if things became “complicated.”
Speaking at an industry event in Abu Dhabi,
Maj. Gen. Sedki Sobhi said that in a week or 15 days
some kind of national dialogue would take shape between the ruling Muslim
Brotherhood and opposition groups.
The army would not back any political party, he
said.
“We are not political, we don’t want to
participate in the political situation because we suffered a lot because of
this in the last six months,” he said.
“But sometimes we can help in this problem, we
can play this role if the situation became more complicated,” he said without
elaborating.
Liberal and Islamist political leaders met
privately Saturday to try to ease the latest tensions.
Politicians said Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent
liberal activist and leader of the National Salvation Front, met Saad el-Katatni, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ruling Freedom
and Justice Party. Another leader of the NSF, Sayed el-Badawi, also took part
in the talks.
Swat 'dancing girls' must leave
BBC
News
March 4, 2009
An agreement has been made in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley to remove dancing
girls from the main town of Mingora, a top official has said.
Malakand Commissioner Mohammed Javed told the BBC
that an agreement had also been made for shops and businesses in Swat to close
during prayer times.
Militants and officials recently agreed a truce as they try to implement a peace
deal that will bring Sharia law.
However, more violence on Tuesday has put the truce under increased strain.
Suspected militants shot and killed two soldiers and kidnapped an official.
'Talebanisation'
Mr Javed told the BBC that
the agreement to remove the dancing girls and close businesses during prayers
was agreed between him and Sufi Mohammad, the cleric who is brokering the peace
deal between the government and militants in Swat.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Pakistan says that critics of the deal see it as part
of the growing Talebanisation of Swat and proof that
the militants are increasingly exerting their influence despite President Asif
Ali Zardari's recent assertions that Pakistan has not
and will not negotiate with "extremist Taleban
and terrorists".
Our correspondent says that the decision to make the dancing girls leave
Mingora effectively means they have been sent into internal exile and that Swat
is now embracing an Islamic legal system that also pronounces on social and
political questions.
The Taleban have destroyed nearly 200 schools, most
of them for girls, during a sustained campaign against secular education in
Swat.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mr Zardari said that the "clerics" with whom his
government had engaged in Swat valley were not the Taleban.
"Indeed, in our dialogue we'd made it clear that it is their
responsibility to rein in and neutralise Taleban and other insurgents," he wrote.
"If they do so and lay down their arms, this initiative will have
succeeded for the people of Swat Valley. If not, our security forces will act
accordingly."
Mr Zardari said that
"this process of weaning reconcilable elements of an insurgency away from
the irreconcilables has been mischaracterised in the
West".
He said that Pakistan would "not condone" the closing of girls'
schools in Swat.
"Indeed, the government insists that the education of young women is
mandatory. This is not an example of the government condoning or capitulating
to extremism - quite the opposite."
Mr Zardari said Pakistan's
fight against terrorism was "relentless" and the government had
conducted a number of operations against militants.
Swat has been the scene of bloody clashes between militants and government
forces since November 2007.
More than 1,000 civilians have died in shelling by the army or from beheadings
sanctioned by the Taleban. Thousands more have been
displaced.
Belly dancing gets Malaysia all shook up
By Pauline Jasudason
Kuala Lumpur - To the hypnotic strains of Middle Eastern drums and flutes,
Nancy Bakhshy shouts instructions to nine students
shimmying, shaking and undulating in fluid movements.
"That's good, very good!" she says as all nine manage a move worthy
of a contortionist - gradually kneeling, then lowering themselves further by
stretching backward so the upper body is parallel to the floor, all the while
shaking to staccato drum beats.
Snaking its way into popular urban culture, belly dancing is becoming a hobby
among middle class Malaysians, despite a general perception that the dance is
too provocative for this conservative, mainly Muslim country.
Says Bakhshy, a dancer and
teacher: "In the beginning, they thought it was something like lap
dancing, something too sexy, for seduction. So it was
like, 'No, no!'"
Bakhshy, who is from Azerbaijan but has lived in Malaysia for 13
years, pioneered belly dancing classes here three years ago. Today, belly
dancing schools have spread over Kuala Lumpur. It's hard to estimate the number
of students, but even fitness centres and gyms offer
classes now.
"It's the most happening thing at the moment
thanks to pop stars like Beyoncé and Shakira, who incorporate belly dancing
moves into their routines," says Foong Yuh Ling, 35, an ethnic Chinese who also teaches belly
dancing.
Bakhshy draws about 30 students a day and performs at private
shows. She is experimenting with introducing fusion Middle Eastern-Indian
styles: belly dancing to the beat of the Punjabi music known as bhangra.
Her daughters - Mandana, 17
and Niloufar, 16 - often go along to her
performances, and she says the art has been passed down through generations of
women in her family.
Both her grandmothers learned it from their mothers.
She began taking lessons from her mother when she was 5.
Bakhsy's students range from
housewives to students to executives in their 40s.
She says she started off teaching the elite - even
some of the country's royalty - but more students now come from humbler
backgrounds, even from among conservative Muslims.
Believing that the dance would be better understood if
taught in the context of Middle Eastern culture, Bakhshy
has been organising "haflas",
or Arabian parties, meant specially for women, and introducing to them Arabian
food and music.
Still, the dance is far from being universally
accepted. Earlier in 2005, a Malaysian state's lawmakers came under fire for organising an official trip to Egypt that included a belly
dance show. The trip was cancelled following an uproar.
Harussani Zakaria, a prominent Malaysian cleric, says belly dancing
is forbidden by Islam.
"Firstly, because they show their belly and tempt
and arouse people and secondly they wear transparent
or too little clothes."
To Bakhshy, the dance is
empowering for women, especially in conservative communities.
"Women slowly come out of that shell that forces
you to believe that you cannot laugh, you cannot dance, you cannot move, you
cannot be too sexy," she says.
"I'm nearly 40, I'm fat... but it doesn't matter.
Size doesn't matter, age doesn't matter, I'm still hot." - Sapa-AP
Belly dancers shaking things up in Muslim
Malaysia; 'something too sexy'
Friday, October 28, 2005
Pauline Jasudason
Canadian Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - To the hypnotic
strains of Middle Eastern drums and flutes, Nancy Bakhshy
shouts instructions to nine students who shimmy, shake and undulate in fluid
movements.
"That's good, very good!" she says
when all nine manage a move worthy of a contortionist - gradually kneeling,
then lowering themselves further by stretching backward so the upper body is
parallel to the floor, all the while shaking their chests to staccato drum
beats.
Snaking its way into popular urban culture,
belly dancing is becoming a popular activity among middle-class Malaysians,
despite a general perception that the dance is too provocative for this
conservative, mainly Muslim country.
"It's not that common in Malaysia to have
this type of dance as part of the culture," says Bakhshy,
an Azerbaijani dancer and the most sought-after teacher. "In the beginning
they thought belly dancing is something like lap dancing - something too sexy,
for seduction. So it was like, 'No, no!' "
Bakhshy, who has lived in
Malaysia for 13 years, pioneered belly dancing classes in the country, starting
three years ago after being urged on by her Malaysian friends.
Today, belly dancing schools have mushroomed
all over Kuala Lumpur. Bakhshy said it is difficult
to estimate the number of schools or students, but points out that even fitness
centres and gyms offer classes, attesting to the
growing demand.
"It's the most happening thing at the
moment thanks to pop stars like Beyonce, Britney Spears, Shakira who
incorporate a lot of belly dancing moves into their routines," said Foong Yuh Ling, 35, an ethnic
Chinese who also teaches belly dance.
Bakhshy draws about 30
students a day at different dance studios. She also performs at private
functions of political leaders and tycoons, and is experimenting with fusion
Middle Eastern-Indian styles, including belly dancing to the beat of bhangra -
a lively folk music from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
Often in tow at these functions are her
understudies - daughters Mandana, 17 and Niloufar, 16.
Bakhshy said the art has been
passed down from mother to daughter through the generations in her family. She
remembers that both her grandmothers had learned it from their mothers. She
began taking lessons from her mother in Azerbaijan when she was five.
Called Raqs Sharqi in Arabic, the dance has been part of the tradition
in Iran, Egypt and other parts of Middle East since pre-Islamic times. Both men
and women took part, but the sexes danced separately.
Bakhsy's students range from
housewives to students to executives in their 40s who dance for fitness and for
fun.
"My husband told me to come," said
one student, Yulia Kiseleva,
a shy, 21-year-old Russian housewife who has lived in Malaysia for the past two
years.
Bakhshy says she started off
teaching the elite and members of the country's royalty, but more students now
come from humbler backgrounds - even conservative Muslims, who are not
comfortable with Western dances because it involves having a male partner. That
means, "they have to touch other guys and they're not going to do
that," she said.
"But with belly dancing, it's only women
dancing so they feel comfortable to come and expose and just come out of that
closed feeling."
Bakhshy believes that the
dance would be better understood if taught in the context of Middle Eastern
culture, and has been organizing haflas, or Arabian
parties, meant especially for women. She's introduced the women to Arabian
cuisine and music.
Now "they like it more and they accept
it," Bakhshy says. "They don't look at just
belly dancing and think: 'No! No! No!'"
Still, belly dancing is far from being
universally accepted.
Harussani Zakaria, a prominent
Malaysian cleric, says belly dancing is "haram," or forbidden by
Islam.
"Firstly, because they show their belly
and tempt and arouse people who are watching and secondly
they wear transparent or too little clothes," he said.
To Bakhshy, the dance
is empowering for women, especially in conservative communities.
"Women slowly come out of that shell that
forces you to believe that you cannot laugh, you cannot dance, you cannot move,
you cannot be too sexy," she says.
"I'm nearly 40. I'm fat, I'm not small,
I'm not shapely . . . but it doesn't matter. Size doesn't matter, age doesn't
matter, I'm still hot."
Muslim girl ostracised
for learning Bharatanatyam!
By S. Chandrasekhar
Kerala has always been a model to the world. While in earlier days it was
social reformers like Adi Sankara, Sree Narayana Guru, etc. in modern times it is its
predominance in education, health care, land reforms etc. Now Kerala is
becoming a model for the wrong reasons— Communalisation
and Islamisation of the education sector, thanks to
the dominance of the Muslim League Ministers in this crucial portfolio.
Majority of the schools, colleges, B.Ed. Colleges, Medical and Engineering
Colleges and Nursing institutions in North Kerala are under the control of
Muslims. In addition to these thousands of madrasas are functioning in the
State with funding from the state sponsored Wakf Board.
While last week it was the case of Muslim students of a Christian Management
School being prevented from going on their annual excursion because the itenary consisted Churches, this week it is the case of a
Muslim girl and her family facing social ostracism because she is learning
Bharatanatyam and Keralanatanam. V.P. Rubiya, daughter of Alavikutty is
a class 10 student at Morayur High School, Kondotty, Malappuram District. She started learning
Bharatanatyam, traditional Kerala dances and folk dances out of burning desire
to participate in the State School Arts Festival. The local Mosque ordered her
to desist from this move. When Rubiya resisted and
continued with her resolved, she and her family were subjected to ostracism.
They were kept out of the Mosque and other Muslims were warned against dealing
with them. They were denied the relief given during Ramzan. The parents fear
that they may not be able to find a bridegroom for the girl since no imam will solemnise the wedding of a family ostracised
by a mosque.
Undaunted by the threat and due to the support of her family and teachers, the
girl participated in the festival and won prizes in the categories.
We have heard of books on Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Indian Culture being
confiscated and destroyed in Airports of Saudi Arabia, but what is happening in
Kerala, a highly educated state, is shameful. Will the communists who shout
from the roof-top against communalism wake up or will they shut their eyes in
these days of vote-bank politics and elections.
Travolta's dancing is a danger to your
daughters, Hamza told his followers
By Duncan
Gardham
(Filed: 14/01/2006)
Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric, told
his followers that John Travolta's dancing posed a danger to their daughters, a
court was told yesterday.
The Hollywood actor was at the centre of an anti-West sermon by Hamza, who also told his
audience to rob and steal from non-believers.
In a taped address shown to the Old
Bailey, the former radical imam of Finsbury Park
Mosque, north London, said: "Now you ask a woman, 'Go, I have a good
husband for you.'
"This brother he's a mujahid
[freedom fighter] and she looks at him and says, 'Oh look, his forehead is
black, probably he's praying'. She likes John Travolta, who is dancing and
moving his stomach as quick as the - as I don't know what - and she likes that
because if he was wearing the proper dress which has been imposed on him by Muslims she wouldn't even think about him."
He warned that girls would learn
new words at school and would look their fathers in the eye and tell them:
"I don't care a tin monkey about you, father."
Hamza, 47, is accused of nine
counts of soliciting to murder, four counts of using threatening, abusive or
insulting behaviour and two further counts of
possessing abusive recordings with a view to distribution and possession of a
document useful to preparing terrorism.
Advising his followers on bringing
up their sons to avoid a "hashish life", he said in the sermon:
"Once a child reaches 10 years old then you have to teach him some kind of
thing which is scouting, sleeping rough, sleeping tough, going for training,
sweating, getting a couple of punches in his face. "Teach him the reality of life and then show him how
to become a good mujahid."
In another tape he added: "We
teach our wives through television how to answer back - is that clever?"
He also said: "We invite the Kaffir [non-believer] with all their
obscenity and dirty manners into our house and keep flicking channels to see this."
Hamza said selling "top-shelf
magazines" featuring "nudism" was forbidden and called on his
followers to kill anyone who gives out licences for
"wine shops".
"Kaffir blood is halal
[permitted] it means he can be killed, his money can
be taken unless he accepts shahada [witness]," Hamza added.
"Killing of the Kaffir for any
reason you can say it is OK, even if there is no reason for it. You doing
shoplifting and you break by force and you take it, this is OK."
Talking about immigrants, he added:
"If he came as a secular person, then he comes with a different name in a
false passport, calling himself Simon blah blah blah and he's Mohammad then he
can, he can, he can kill. He can everything."
A translation of a sermon allegedly
delivered by Hamza in Arabic was read out in which he was said to have claimed
that British people "hate Jews more than we do" and that Hitler had
punished the Jews for their "dealings and treachery".
In what appeared to be similar
lectures delivered at Finsbury Park in Arabic, Hamza
spoke of the "jihad [holy war] of the gun and the bomb and the
Kalashnikov."
Sexy moves upset some
FROM her name to her
famous hips, Inul Daratista
attracts controversy.
19 April 2006
FROM her name to her famous hips, Inul Daratista attracts
controversy.
Inul's real name is Ainul Rokhimah. Her stage name
means the girl with breasts.
Her famous goyang ngebor (drilling move) where she gyrates her hips at
pneumatic speed had made more than just her male fans hot under the collar.
Indonesian religious groups made her the poster
girl of immorality.
In 2003, the Indonesian Ulemas
Council (MUI) declared her performances pornographic.
It said that her rump-shaking encouraged
lustful acts, citing an alleged case where a fan raped a woman after one of Inul's concerts.
In the same year, the authorities banned her
from performing in Yogyakarta.
They declared that she would 'degrade the
morality of the highly civilised and educated
residents', reported Time magazine.
A ban was enforced in several conservative
towns and cities across Indonesia. The ban is still in effect.
Even Malaysia banned a musical that featured Inul from being screened.
CORRUPTING DANGDUT
In 2004, the women's wing of the Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organised a
parliamentary legislative team who proposed that sexy dangdut performances like
Inul's be banned under an anti-pornography Bill.
In January this year, she was attacked by Rhoma Irama - once considered
Indonesia's dangdut king- for her sexy performances.
Rhoma, who is retired and is
a Muslim cleric, said that Inul's hip swivelling is pornographic and had to be banned.
It corrupted dangdut, he said.
Rhoma has been credited for
cleaning up dangdut's bawdy lyrics and making it politically correct in the
1980s.
However, all these criticisms have not dented Inul's phenomenal popularity.
After all, she has fans in high places.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur,
was reportedly a fan.
So was Taufik Kiemas, husband of another former president, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Mr Taufik
was photographed dancing behind Inul and had
allegedly hugged her.
It became tabloid fodder.
'All these people who say that I am porno are
just jealous of me,' Inul told The New Paper.
The Last Egyptian
Belly Dancer
Rich Saudis are transforming Cairo's
entertainment scene.
By Rod Nordland | NEWSWEEK
Jun 9, 2008 Issue
Abir Sabri, celebrated for
her alabaster skin, ebony hair, pouting lips and full figure, used to star in
racy Egyptian TV shows and movies. Then, at the peak of her career a few years
ago, she disappeared—at least her face did. She began performing on Saudi-owned
religious TV channels, with her face covered, chanting verses from the Qur'an. Conservative
Saudi Arabian financiers promised her plenty of work, she says, as long as she
cleaned up her act. "It's the Wahhabi investors," she says, referring
to the strict form of Sunni Islam prevalent in Saudi Arabia.
"Before, they invested in terrorism—and now they put their money in
culture and the arts."
Egyptians deplore what they call the
Saudization of their culture. Egypt
has long dominated the performing arts from Morocco to Iraq, but now
petrodollar-flush Saudi investors are buying up the contracts of singers and
actors, reshaping the TV and film industries and setting a media agenda rooted
more in strict Saudi values than in those of freewheeling Egypt. "As far
as I'm concerned, this is the biggest problem in the Middle East right
now," says mobile-phone billionaire Naquib
Sawiris. "Egypt was always very liberal, very secular and very modern. Now
..." He gestures from the window of his 26th-floor Cairo office: "I'm
looking at my country, and it's not my country any longer. I feel like an alien
here."
At the Grand Hyatt Cairo, a mile upstream along
the Nile, the five-star hotel's Saudi owner banned alcohol as of May 1 and
ostentatiously ordered its $1.4 million inventory of booze flushed down the
drains. "A hotel in Egypt without alcohol is like a beach without a sea,"
says Aly Mourad, chairman of Studio Masr, the country's oldest film outfit. He
says Saudis—who don't even have movie theaters in their own country—now finance
95 percent of the films made in Egypt. "They say, here, you can have our
money, but there are just a few little conditions." More than a few,
actually; the 35 Rules, as moviemakers call them, go far beyond predictable
bans against on-screen hugging, kissing or drinking. Even to show an empty bed
is forbidden, lest it hint that someone might do something on it. Saudi-owned
satellite channels are buying up Egyptian film libraries, heavily censoring
some old movies while keeping others off the air entirely.
Some Egyptians say the new prudishness isn't
entirely the Saudis' fault. "Films are becoming more conservative because
the whole society is becoming more conservative," says filmmaker Marianne
Khoury, who says Saudi cash has been a lifeline to the 80-year-old
industry. From a peak of more than 100 films yearly in the 1960s and '70s,
Egyptian studios' output plunged to only a half dozen a year in the '90s.
Thanks to Saudi investors, it's now about 40. "If they stopped, there
would be no Egyptian films," says Khoury.
At least a few Egyptians say Saudi Arabia is
the country that's ultimately going to change. "Egypt will be back to what
it used to be," predicts the single-named Dina, one of Egypt's few
remaining native-born belly dancers. And it was a Saudi production company that
financed a 2006 drama that frankly discusses homosexuality, "The Yacoubian
Building." Sawiris has launched a popular satellite-TV channel of his own,
showing uncensored American movies. He's determined to win—but he's only one
billionaire, and Saudi Arabia is swarming with them.
With Gameela Ismail
in Cairo