
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?'"