cta-image

Donate

Donations from readers like you allow us to do what we do. Please help us continue our work with a monthly or one-time donation.

Donate Today
cta-image

Subscribe Today

Subscribe to receive daily or weekly MEMRI emails on the topics that most interest you.
Subscribe
cta-image

Request a Clip

Media, government, and academia can request a MEMRI clip or other MEMRI research, or ask to consult with or interview a MEMRI expert.
Request Clip
memri
Jan 06, 2025
Share Video:

Lebanese Sunni Islamic Scholar Sheikh Maher Hamoud Slams Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Season Festival, Featuring Jennifer Lopez: We Should Adopt Technology And Political Processes From The West – Not Prostitution

#11753 | 01:11
Source: Online Platforms - "Spot Shot (Lebanon) on YouTube"

Lebanese Sunni Islamic scholar Sheikh Maher Hamoud criticized Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Season festival during a January 6, 2025 appearance on Spot Shot on YouTube. He condemned the event, describing it as "dancers and whores" surrounding a model of the Kaaba, with Jennifer Lopez performing. Maher argued that this is not the kind of "progress" Muslims should adopt from the West, emphasizing that technology, industry, freedom of opinion, and political processes are what should be embraced, not "prostitution." For more about the festival, see MEMRITV clip no 11568.

Interviewer: "[Saudi Arabia] is a country that is revered by all Muslims and Arabs."

Sheikh Maher Hamoud: "Okay revered, but who would accept the 'Riyadh Nights' [shows]?

[...]

"Dancers and whores wrap themselves in the Saudi flag and they erect a model of the Kaaba, surrounded by whores... And whatshername Jennifer Lopez shows up... You call this progress? We want to benefit from the developments in the West. Fine, benefit from automation, technology, industry, freedom of opinion, political parties, elections... All you can take from the West is prostitution? You call this Islam, under the slogan of 'there is No God by Allah' and the 'Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques?'"

Share this Clip: