Al Azhar to review soap operas

In the latest development on the growing power of "official Islam" in Egyptian public life, the Ministry of Information has decreed Al Azhar will now review new soap operas:

Cairo - Egyptian television dramas will soon be subject to review by a panel of religious censors, sparking an outcry by authors who say the move is a threat to their creative freedom and livelihoods.

Information Minister Mamduh al-Beltagi told reporters that he wanted to ensure better quality Egyptian television series, which have been overtaken in popularity by Syrian productions in recent years.

He said that under the new rules, only shows that are "responsible" and "respect the values and traditions of Egyptian society" will be allowed to hit the airwaves.

"The media cannot be transformed into instruments to distill poison under the pretext of artistic licence," he said.

Certain programmes will now be presented to the clerics of Al-Azhar, the world's highest Sunni Islam authority, and the small but powerful Christian church before being broadcast, Beltagi said.

The minister has already axed a television miniseries called A Girl From Shubra, a tale of the relationship between a Christian woman and a Muslim man during the Egyptian struggle for independence in the 1940s.

The ban sparked a deluge of criticism from writers but Beltagi defended the move saying the programme "deals with relations between Christians and Muslims in a way that undermines national unity".

There are going to be a lot of different interpretations of this. It could be, as the article seems to suggest, that the current sectarian tensions in Egypt are making the state adopt a more cautious take on TV programming, especially after the brouhaha that followed 'The Girl from Shubra'. It could be simply yet another control freak aspect of the regime. A lot of people will see the US behind this, especially after the scandal of 2002's 'Headless Horseman' 'Knight Without a Horse' serial, which featured among other things the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a historical document. And I'm sure more reasons can be found. But it's rather worrying that at a time when Arab media satellite is exploding with new types of exciting content (good or bad), state TV is adding yet another layer of censorship and control.

There is another element to this, too: why is Al Azhar increasingly becoming the official referee on what is Islamically correct when Sunni Islam, at least, is not meant to be clerical?

Comments

[button]

'Headless Horseman' -? LOL !

I think it was 'Knight Without a Horse.'

My translator fell asleep in the middle of it, so I never found out how it ended. He said it wasn't too good; it was so boring, it put him to sleep.

I'm disappointed to learn that they're going to try to censor these programs on a seemingly capricious basis. Could this have anything connection to the recent flap involving Al-Manar TV?.

So, showing beheadings is still Ok? But showing a guy in his underwear getting caught in a closet with a bellydancer is going to be taboo from now on. Isn't this a bit hasty and arbitrary? If they stay home to keep up with the soap operas, they won't have time to cause trouble on the street.

[Issandr El Amrani]

Thanks for spotting that, I think I was half asleep when I wrote this. As for beheadings, I don't know -- I don't think they show them in Egypt at least, since there are no beheadings here. Probably only in Saudi Arabia, come to think of it.

[igfefoqaro]

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