In a January 24, 2010 satirical article in the Qatari daily Al-Sharq that was harshly critical of the direction Arab society is going, Faisal Al-Qassem, host of the popular Al-Jazeera TV program "Opposite Direction," described a conference held by Satan and his friends, in which they drew up "protocols" for controlling and corrupting the Arabs and Muslims, and the world at large. Their satanic plan is based on what the author perceives as the characteristics of contemporary Western life – long work hours, women's emancipation which keeps them from devoting time to their families, and the constant pursuit of money and amusements. The purpose of this plan is break down the Arab and Muslim family unit and cause the disintegration of Arab and Muslim society.
The following is the translation of the article:
The Arabs and Muslims "Must Be Kept Busy with Trivial Affairs," So that They Pursue Only "Materialistic Nonsense and Transient Pleasures"
"I [recently] received an email titled 'Conference of Satans.' From the title, it was clear that the Great Satan was holding a conference to which he was inviting a group of friends from all corners of the earth, so as to discuss the affairs of the Arabs and the Muslims, and how these affairs should best be managed – from the satans' point of view, of course.
"[At the conference,] the participants' minds produced the most extraordinarily and satanic plans for taking over the Arab and Islamic societies and destroying them in the cleverest way imaginable.
"These satans compiled the following protocols, in order to take over the Arabs and the Muslims:
"1) They [i.e. the Arabs and Muslims] must be kept busy with trivial affairs, so that these become their main concern, as they fight day and night to obtain them, and thus the years of their lives will evaporate as they run frantically after materialistic nonsense and transient pleasures. They should be allowed to neglect their major problems as they are constantly swept up in the pursuit of the unimportant, and their minds are always engaged with useless things."
"Wives Must be Persuaded... to Work Very Long Hours, So that Their Main Concerns Will Be Material Pursuits and Female Emancipation, and the Family Will Go to Hell"
"2) They must be tempted to spend more and more money, and then encouraged to take out more and more loans. After that, their wives must be persuaded, by various means, to go out to work very long hours, so that their main concerns will be material pursuits and female emancipation, and the family will go to hell. Their wives must be tempted with foreign servant women, who will be the ones to educate the generations [i.e. the children], so that they will grow up alienated from their culture and their reality, and will not belong even to their own families, let alone their own homeland, culture, and religion... Just as economic programs not under direct oversight of their owners are doomed to failure, so is the upbringing of children whose [mothers] give birth to them and then leave their upbringing to others. Never mind; we as satans encourage Arab and Muslim women to fill their homes with nannies of all kinds; the results will be seen in a few decades. The same goes for the husbands: let them work all week long, more than 10 hours a day, so that they will be able to meet the demands of this hollow lifestyle.
"3) [The Arabs and Muslims] must be prevented from spending enough time with their children, even if they have the time. Don't forget that some Arabs live a life of luxury, and they have money and don't need to work or be away from home. [Even] they should be prevented from taking an interest in their sons, and from sitting with them around the dinner table. Thus, the desired satanic aim will be achieved – their families will disintegrate as rapidly as possible. Then, the home will become a hell for them, and will offer no protection from the pressures of life and work (for those of them who do work).
"4) There is no escape from encouraging them to fill their homes with television sets, VCRs, DVDs, CDs, and PlayStations, so as to preoccupy them and their children all day long. Thus, their sons will become violent, isolated, and irascible."
"They Must Be Showered with a Downpour of Diverse, Stupid, and Frightening News"
"5) They must be showered with a downpour of diverse, stupid, and frightening news, around the clock, so that they will get lost in the overwhelming sweep of events and idiocies that follow each other in rapid succession.
"6) Their email must be invaded by heaps of annoying junk mail, such as ads for libido-increasing potions, special offers, unnecessary products, and peculiar services. Let's create false hopes for them on a regular basis.
"7) The pages of the newspapers and the screens of the televisions must be filled with pictures of seductive, wanton [girls] and models, dressed and undressed, so as to make the men loathe their wives and think that only superficial beauty [counts]. The women should be preoccupied by numerous frivolities, so that they will show no inclination to meet their husbands' needs; then the husbands will seek alternatives outside the home so as to satisfy their passions. This will hasten the deterioration and collapse of the family, as the satans hope will happen.
"8) They must be lured into buying inane books and publications that will distract them from giving their sons a proper upbringing that will help them and society [at large]. They must have no time left to go out to nature to look at life and at God's creation. They must be encouraged to go [instead] to amusement parks, contests, parties, and the cinema – so as to watch the stupid films that pop up like mushrooms [after a rain], that the viewer leaves having accomplished nothing but wasting his time and laughing at ridiculous scenes.
"9) They must be preoccupied nonstop, so that they have no time to invest in deepening the spirit. If every so often they do to devote themselves to worshipping God, let them spend most of their time on [shallow arguments] and trite platitudes, so that they return home with a confused conscience.
"These are the prescriptions of the satans, which unfortunately we are actualizing in full without even examining them. Perhaps some claim that these satanic prescriptions are implemented worldwide, not only in the Arab and Muslim countries. This is true, because those with these satanic views are interested only in actualizing their own interests, and the world can go to hell and good riddance."
"Even in America... There Have Emerged Movements [Striving] to Correct Society's Path"
"But know you, even in America, which leads the revolution of consumption and materialism in the world, there have emerged movements [striving] to correct society's path. There are now in American many women's movements calling for the woman to return to the home, after her exaggerated emancipation and independence destroyed families and society.
"God forbid, I am not making these statements from an extremist religious point of view; I am all for emancipation and full rights for women. But a look at the result is what matters: What have the Western societies accomplished by functioning according to the above satanic prescription, and by too much liberation – except for the frightening disintegration of society and the family?
"Besides that – don't we, the Arabs and Muslims, always boast that we are the best nation given to mankind? Do we not always pride ourselves on our Arab and Islamic culture, bearing our rusted swords to defend it from the frightening progress of globalization? Are we actually ready or willing to go out [to fight] against the satanic prescriptions – or are we implementing them in full?"
