Tuesday, August 16, 2011

On Muhammad al Ar-Our

A few nights ago I had the misfortune of watching the Safa satellite channel that is broadcast from Saudi Arabia. It has shot to public attention because of the sensationalist Muhammad al Ar-Our, a televangelist kind of preacher whose speciality appears to be bashing the Shia. This is a trashy television station to the extreme and absolutely sectarian. The person I was visiting kept insisting we watch it; somebody I believed was quite intelligent and reasonable! Even more execrable than the programming were the comments from some of the viewers. Some of them would put: "Sunni and thank God" in brackets after whatever kind of sectarian drivel they wished to share with the world.


Thankfully such people really are a minority, though watching that kind of rubbish would have you think the entire world is awaiting the outcome of the channel's Sunni-Shia theological debates (if you can even call them that). This an example of the beneath-the-radar drivel that is funded by Saudi Arabia and encouraged passively. In this sense, at least, Iranian propaganda is much more sophisticated and intelligent. It plays the resistance-against-Israel-and-United States card, tugging at the emotions of Arabs and invoking a common Islamic identity. Of course today I am suspicious of both camps, and find them equally repulsive. Religious bigots and sectarian agitators are the same regardless of which side they come from. And no, there is not a chance in hell that this Ar-Our character or anybody like him will rule Syria. We've already had more than enough of sectarian clowns and their incompetent rule.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

u have no idea what effect this clown is leaving over syrians. day after day i discover i have on my list syrians baking him up. saying we shouldnt mix between his stands .. the shiaa and the revolution.. !i had so many christians who changed their openion regarding the movements coz of him and the wide number of syrians inside and outside syria believing in his scencerity for syria and many were heartbroken when his show stopped broadcastingg for a month or so. i cannot see how anyone cant recognize his high sectarianism. i cannot see how they wont in this baking up see that they r hurting the shiaa sect in syria. some stupid told me on twitter that since we are caling for a democratic syria not to vote for him when he comes back.. and thus not to worry myself.. meaning his fans are seriously expecting him to come back and run into election!!!!!!
umniyya

MJ said...

I've watched him once and he is a clown. There are people that support him but not most of the people in Syria he is a joke or just another person to mock. Those that are pro-regime accuse everyone of being "3ar3ouri or m3ar3er" and see him as the elected president by the "conspirators" that want to topple their beloved regime.