Nothing says democracy like Sharia-compliant TV. I wonder if the $1.5 billion Barack Obama just gave the Muslim Brotherhood is helping to fund this first ever Egyptian TV channel featuring full face-covered women only? Even better, it’s due to launch on July 20th, the first day of Ramadan. I guess we won’t be seeing any cooking segments for awhile.
Ahram (H/T Susan K) The channel will be named “Mariya” after one of Prophet Mohamed’s wives, who was a Coptic Egyptian slave. A full niqabi film crew will manage and operate the channel, including TV presenters, producers, directors and correspondents.
The channel will air its programmes through the ultra-conservative Islamic Umma Channel for six hours every day. The majority of the programming will focus on the niqab (full-face veils) and married life. The channel will be exclusively managed by women. Men will be prohibited from working in or appearing on Mariya, and even participating in phone-ins during live programmes.
El-Sheikha Safaa Refai, a preacher who will head the channel, said that Mariyaprogrammes aim to educate Muslim women about their religion. ”Our message will be directed at Muslim women, to teach them the Sunna (practices) of the Prophet Mohamed,” Refai told Al-Ahram Arabic news portal Thursday.
She insisted that the niqab is the proper Muslim attire as stipulated by Islamic Sharia law. Refai went on to label any woman who does not wear the full face veil as “uncovered,” stressing that the niqab is a “red line” that cannot be crossed.
She indicated that Mariya plans to feature only niqabi pundits. However, if the channel airs a programme about an issue and cannot find a niqabi expert, they will host a non-niqabiand give them two options: either to wear the niqab temporarily during the programme, or have their faces blurred out while the programme is being broadcast.
However, Refai added that this does not mean that they will be “excluding anyone” explaining that Mariya aims to bring back the dignity of niqabi women who were oppressed and fired from their jobs over the past few decades.
Among the programmes that will be featured on Mariya is “Memoires of a woman,” which will discuss marital infidelity, with the focus on women cheating on their husbands.
The channel currently has 30 niqabi TV presenters. They also have a temporary male director, Mohamed Dunia, who will be replaced with a niqabi woman soon, according to Refai. Similarly, the “uncovered” camerawomen Mariya has hired for the timebeing will also soon be replaced.
The head cover (hijab), the more common hair-covering Islamic attire in Egypt, was banned on Egyptian TV channels during the Mubarak era. News about Mariya caused shockwaves across the Egyptian media sector.
Even Al-Jazeera TV anchor Mona Salman, who is also Egyptian, says that facial expressions are an important tool used by TV presenters when programmes are being aired. ”They are vital tools in connecting with your audience, including eye contact,” Salman said. She added that Mariya’s concept seems more appropriate for radio.
Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt has witnessed an ongoing Islamist ascendency. During the Mubarak regime there were heavy crackdowns on Islamists, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group, officially banned, though tolerated.
Members of the Brotherhood were routinely detained, their properties regularly confiscated, and they were often banned from running for political office. Islamists have since enjoyed a predominent presence in the political sphere, with the Brotherhood and the Safafist El-Nour Party winning 47 and 23 per cent of parliament seats respectively.
Muslim women look better this way. I never met one who would not look better without her gilette razor.
Wow ! I’ll just bet this will be an instant success ! Why, all the Egyptian women are just wiggling in their burkhas in anticipation. They just can’t wait for this great example of feminine freedom.
I wonder what the show will do once a month when the stars are locked up for five days and not allowed to associate with anyone ?
“who were oppressed and fired from their jobs over the past few decades.”
hmmm, I wonder why.
Since Obama is so generous with U.S. taxpayer dollars in funding our enemy, after his impeachment, he should be stripped of any and all possible retirement benefits.
We should kick his sorry butt all the way back to Kenya AND Moochelle right along with him….we could send Biden, Pelosi and Hillary as added bonuses; let them all “retire” there and NEVER set foot in this country again!! We should without a dubt bid adieu to ALL these sorry buttwipes come November, or ASAP!!
There are fat attention seeking American girls here that would love that show and want to help promote it.
WHOOO- BOY!!! I’ll bet THIS will be enthralling T.V., huh?
This looks like a friggin horror movie.
Saying that Muslim women are ugly will not increase the chance that they remove their covering and become Westernized. You are rubbing them in that they cannot compete in a free sexual market. That is very stupid. Personally, I think many Muslim women are very sexy, and a niqab, in a weird way, is very sexy, too. Let us not confuse the evil of a religion, with the looks of its adherents.
Col, you are starting to sound more and more like a lefties. That will get you banned.
Muslim men don’t like it when you want to have their women.
Holy Ghost! The Ninjas are coming to a TV near you! I love ninja fighting!
“She insisted that the niqab is the proper muslim attire as stipulated by Islamic Sharia law”.
Do we not hear, in western countries, that wearing the niqab (and the Burkha), a personal decision?
That paragraph needs to be placed in the book of “Quotes”.
The cinematographer is provoking me with her lack of Hefty Bag cover! And she has a job! Holding a camera as if a phallus!
Off with her head!
Etc, etc, etc ad nauseum.
I play RPG games and find that when a view appears that looks that these women in their bags the first thing I do is get a bigger weapon to erase them fast so nothing splatters. You know like the Sith in Star Wars.
Think this show was canceled on TLC for bad ratings and fat mean women. Now the brotherhood Sandi Arabia needs to kiss there ass good bye.
If Iran does what it said about blocking oil tankers on one end. And brotherhood blocks the canal before election Obama will piss his pants when oil shoots up.
He might end up bagging his wife in a bura.
What a depressing show to watch-women in black bags -discussing – marital infidelity with the focus on -women cheating on their husbands,men don’t have to cheat as they can have 4wives -a temporary marriage and now-sex slaves,I know -these women don’t care as to how they look,but to some, such as a friends little 3year who on seeing one of these -hags in bags said -mummy i’m frightened,they are very scary looking not only to children but adults as well,I wouldn’t want them in my lounge room of a night.