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Reuters reports today that reformers in the Saudi royal family have pushed forward a new comedic soap opera for Ramadan that ridicules Islamic radicalism. The timing of the show is especially significant because Ramadan soap operas, called musalsalat, draw not only the highest ratings of the year (think sweeps), but because they serve as a ...

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Reuters reports today that reformers in the Saudi royal family have pushed forward a new comedic soap opera for Ramadan that ridicules Islamic radicalism. The timing of the show is especially significant because Ramadan soap operas, called musalsalat, draw not only the highest ratings of the year (think sweeps), but because they serve as a cultural touchstone during Islam's holiest month. The new tone is also significant because musalsalat have not always served as platforms from which to assail extremism. During Ramadan in 2002, Egyptian television aired the series A Horseman without a Horse, which was based in part on the notorious anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, stirring protest from both the United States and Israel.  

Reuters reports today that reformers in the Saudi royal family have pushed forward a new comedic soap opera for Ramadan that ridicules Islamic radicalism. The timing of the show is especially significant because Ramadan soap operas, called musalsalat, draw not only the highest ratings of the year (think sweeps), but because they serve as a cultural touchstone during Islam’s holiest month. The new tone is also significant because musalsalat have not always served as platforms from which to assail extremism. During Ramadan in 2002, Egyptian television aired the series A Horseman without a Horse, which was based in part on the notorious anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, stirring protest from both the United States and Israel.  

But this year the protests are coming from Muslim clerics who deem the comedy offensive to Islam (though perhaps it’s because the show ridicules militants at a clerical school). The Saudi response? They’ve pulled the show from state television, but are instead shipping it to the widely-watched (and Saudi-owned) Middle East Broadcasting Corporation in the United Arab Emirates.

Tags: Media, Middle East and North Africa, Religion

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