The following are selected MEMRI TV clips from The MEMRI Reform Project (visit the MEMRI TV Reform In The Muslim World project page).
Dr. Rita Faraj, a Lebanese sociologist and author, was interviewed on Abu Dhabi's Sky News Arabia TV. Faraj criticized extremist Islamist groups for embracing religious discourse that calls people to violence and martyrdom against the "other." She said that these groups develop out of crises, poverty, and ignorance of culture, religion and history.
Sky News Arabia (U.K./Abu Dhabi) – September 21, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Moroccan author Rachid Aylal said that Islamic heritage has become "like a grave, surrounded by flowers, with buried rot underneath." Those clinging to the heritage "have given us ISIS and people who accuse of heresy anyone who believes the Earth is round," he said.
The Internet – "Hamed Abdel-Samad on YouTube" – July 30, 2017 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Former Kuwaiti Minister of Information Sami Abdullatif Al-Nesf said that one of the “chronic and hereditary diseases” from which Arab societies suffer "is that we have no problem with lies, deceit, and the use of falsification and fake media."
BBC Arabic (The UK) – July 27, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
French-Algerian philosopher and researcher of Islamic thought Razika Adnani said that various Islamic rulings based on the Quran – such as the punishments for stealing and for slavery – had been abolished over history in order to adapt to the circumstances of the times.
France 24 Arabic TV (France) – June 25, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Paris-based Tunisian philosopher Youssef Seddik, interviewed on Al-Hurra TV on June 13, said that "since the death of the Prophet Muhammad and to this day, our history has been a pack of lies." He discussed the incompatibility of the Quran with modern man-made laws, saying that these laws were rendering the religious texts obsolete.
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – June 13, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
In a Saudi 24 TV interview, Jordanian journalist Yousef Alawnah compared his incarceration in Israel to prisons in the Arab world and said that he was ashamed by the comparison. Alawnah recounted that he had served 30 months in an Israeli prison for smuggling explosives, adding that "prison was like an institute of education," where inmates had "an opportunity to acquire culture, to read, and to study many things."
Saudi 24 TV (Saudi Arabia) – June 12, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Following Douma Attack, Egyptian TV Host Amr Adeeb Says: We Have Brought Shame Upon Humanity
Following the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma, Egyptian TV host Amr Adeeb gave an address, in which he said that as Arabs, "we need to take a hard look at ourselves." "We have brought shame upon the world, shame upon humanity, by what we are doing by ourselves and to ourselves," said Adeeb, speaking on the Egyptian ON TV channel on April 8.
ON TV (Egypt) – April 8, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Iranian cleric Seyyed Mohammad Anjavinejad recently delivered a sermon in a mosque in Shiraz in which he leveled harsh criticism against the Iranian regime. Denouncing the regime officials for what he described as widespread corruption among their families, Anjavinejad said: "They robbed you and me. We have no idea... how many billions each of those families conceals."
The Internet – July 7, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Bereaved Dutch-Moroccan Father Whose Family Joined ISIS In Syria: Not A Day Goes By When I Don't Cry
Hussein Snoussi, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan origin, recounted that his daughter Maryam had left for Al-Raqqa, Syria, to join ISIS without telling the family, and that a few years later, her mother had joined her, taking their son Elias, then 14, with her.
Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) – August 12, 2017 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
In a Friday sermon delivered at the Women's Mosque of America, activist Sumaya Abubaker of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California talked about sexual abuse in the Muslim community – sometimes perpetrated by imams and Quran teachers – and about the silence surrounding it.
The Internet – "Women's Mosque of America on YouTube" – April 24, 2015 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Iraqi TV host Anwar Al-Hamadani went on record as saying "that it is our duty to apologize to our Iraqi Jewish compatriots for the tragedy that befell them" during the 1941 Farhoud massacre of Jews in Baghdad and "to rectify that historic error," which he compared to the tragedies that befell the Iraqi Christian, Sabaean, and Yazidi communities.
Al-Fallujah TV (Iraq) – February 23, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
British-Palestinian human rights activist Ahlam Akram appeared on a Hewar TV show, where she said that the mosque plays a negative role in promoting acceptance of the other. "I have stopped going to the mosque," she said. "Why? The one main reason is the culture of incitement." Akram further said that "if we believe in the values of democracy, we should abide by the British laws, [which] guarantee justice, equality, and freedom."
Hiwar TV (U.K.) – March 10, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Dr. Nayla Abi Nader, a Lebanese researcher on Islamic thought, warned that the dichotomy between Muslims and non-Muslims was splitting society. Abi Nader said that "our interests do not lie in conflict, in fighting, or in classifying people as dhimmis or non-dhimmis," and called for reform in the field of education, in order to stop educating to backwardness, ignorance, and reactionism.
Alghad (UAE/Egypt) – March 20, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Tunisian poet Anis Shoshan, interviewed on Sudania 24 TV, discussed notions of citizenship and human rights, and said that while in Arab societies we are taught "to be passive, not to think, but to follow obsolete customs," there is a new generation that is educated and aware of human rights.
Sudania 24 TV (Sudan) – May 6, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Speaking at a conference held by the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, Egyptian-German scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad called to stop trying to please the Islamists and said that "whoever wants to embrace the heritage, along with its representatives and theoreticians, and to incorporate them in the enlightenment game is perpetrating a crime."
The Internet – April 5, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Sudanese Women Clash With Cleric Who Justifies Sexual Harassment Of Women Dressed "Immodestly"
A debate about the sexual harassment of women in Sudan took place on Shabab Talk, an Arabic-language TV show on Deutsche Welle TV. Professor Muhammad Uthman Saleh, who is the head of the Sudanese Islamic Scholars' Association and who participated in the debate, said that the statistics that demonstrated that Sudan is a dangerous country for women were from sources "hostile to Sudan."
Deutsche Welle TV Arabia (Germany) – September 18, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian Journalist And TV Host Ibrahim Eissa: Ibn Taymiyyah No Different Than Hitler
Talking about conflicts between Arabs and non-Arabs in the history of Islam, Egyptian journalist and TV host Ibrahim Eissa said that Ibn Taymiyyah, with his "abominable fanaticism," had "destroyed all the values of equality."
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – September 2, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi said that following the Unified Building Law, the Egyptian state has taken upon itself to build non-Muslim places of worship, including churches. Speaking at the World Youth Forum held in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Egyptian president said: "Every citizen has the right to worship as he pleases… [and] the right not to worship at all."
Channel 1 (Egypt) – November 4, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
During a segment on Abu Dhabi TV, Emirati cleric Waseem Youssef said that today's generation is growing up playing "Fortnite," which is about "killing, destruction, stealing, and slaughtering," and that "[it is] producing a generation of murderers."
Abu Dhabi TV – September 9, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian author Dr. Tarek Heggy said that it is not unreasonable for Westerners to draw their own conclusions when they observe that most terrorists are Muslims, even if not all Muslims are terrorists. He said that a secular state is not an infidel state, explaining that it is simply a state where religion is a private matter.
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – November 5, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
British cleric Nahiem Ajmal, also known as Mufti Abu Layth Al-Maliki, was asked during a Q&A session what his first piece of advice would be to Muslims. Ajmal answered that Muslims should stop focusing on bringing new converts to Islam through da'wa and criticized the "da'wa industry" for being run by people with "five minutes of Islam under their belt."
The Internet – November 1 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Layla, a nurse who had worked for ISIS in Syria, said that she had been forced to perform abortions on ISIS slave girls when they became pregnant. She described how she had sedated her children so that she could safely escape with them to Lebanon under garbage bags in the back of a pickup truck.
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – November 8, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian Filmmaker Khaled Youssef: Islamist Fascism Is More Dangerous Than Political Tyranny
Egyptian filmmaker Khaled Youssef said that religious fascist regimes are more dangerous than political dictatorships because anybody who disagrees with the Islamist regime is seen as an infidel who disagrees with God and must, therefore, be killed.
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – November 8, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Hicham Nostik, who goes by the Internet identity of "Moroccan infidel" on social media, recounted the transformation he underwent after coming to Germany. Spending time with mujahideen at the mosque where he was living, "I turned more religious and became acquainted with the dark side of Islam," he told Egyptian-German scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad, on whose "Box of Islam" Internet show he was interviewed.
The Internet – August 12, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
In a recent TV interview, Lebanese journalist Ziad Njeim said that the only thing he was sure of was his doubt that God exists. Zjeim refers to God as female "out of rebellion against the male-dominated religious institutions." "If men had any brains, they would not have brought the planet to such wretchedness," he said.
Murr TV (Lebanon) – January 4, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Former Kuwaiti Minister of Information Sami Abdullatif Al-Nesf said that throughout history, the Palestinian cause has suffered because of the extremists. "Lands are regained through peace, not through war," he said.
Kuwaiti Diwan Al-Mulla Internet TV – July 11, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Liberal Kuwaiti activist Nasser Dashti gave an interview on Sky News Arabia, in which he said that "when religion is presented as an ideological platform, it is more dangerous than a nuclear weapon." Dashti, a member of the Tanweer Center for Culture, said that in order to make progress, a nation needs to criticize its history and confront its old notions and ideas, but that the Islamic nation "to this day, employs rhetoric of veneration and glorification of what happened 1,400 years ago."
Sky News Arabia (U.K./Abu Dhabi) – January 12, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian TV Host Kicks Atheist Out Of Studio, Recommending Psychiatric Treatment
Mohammad Hashem, an atheist, was invited to the Alhadath Alyoum TV studio to participate in a debate with former Deputy Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mahmoud Ashour. However, his statement that there is no scientific evidence for the existence of God and his attempt to talk about the Big Bang theory met with a barrage of insults from Sheikh Ashour and from TV host Mahmoud Abd Al-Halim, with Sheikh Ashour recommending psychiatric treatment and Abd Al-Halim refusing to allow him to remain on the show.
Alhadath Alyoum TV (Egypt) – February 11, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Shiite Iraqi scholar Jawad Al-Khoei, co-founder of the Iraqi Council for Interfaith Dialogue, said that ISIS is deeply rooted in Islam and that "when [violence] dons the cloak of religion, it is a hundred times more evil."
BBC Arabic (The UK) – March 5, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
Egyptian journalist and TV host Ibrahim Eissa said that "the notion of the Caliphate is a commodity, which is shaped and sold by the merchants of illusion," such as Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and Turkish President Erdoğan.
Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.) – April 15, 2018 – View this clip on MEMRI TV here.
