Saudi newscaster: Kingdom brainwashes us

Saudi newscaster: Kingdom brainwashes us
Woman takes on sheik in heated exchange on Riyadh state television

In an interview originally broadcast on Saudi television, a female newscaster in the Islamic kingdom charged young people are brainwashed under the country's strict educational system.

In an exchange with a cleric, Buthayna Nasser reacted to the Saudi Shura Council's discussion of whether a woman's face should be covered if she appears on television. The debate with Saudi Sheik Nasser Al-Huneini also was broadcast March 25 on television in Lebanon.

Addressing the sheik, Nasser said that from the beginning of elementary school through university, students are subject to rote memorization and "whoever dares to argue or to question anything is called upon to ask for Allah's forgiveness. He is told that this will get him into Hell."

"You, who frighten people with Hell, have brought them a hell upon earth," she told the cleric. "You have banned books of the various intellectual streams. You've prevented the mind from operating, thinking, comparing, and choosing, even though it is the same mind that the Creator gave people in order to choose between Paradise and Hell."

Nasser's strong words in front of viewers who rarely hear such dissent recalled Syrian native Wafa Sultan's electrifying interview on Al-Jazeera television one year ago that spread across the Internet through a video clip produced by MEMRI. Sultan asserted the world is witnessing "a battle between modernity and barbarism which Islam will lose."

Nasser argued Allah gave man the freedom to choose his path in life.

"Yes sir, we are being brainwashed on a daily basis, through schools, through the Quran memorization schools," she said. "We always demand that these schools not be places of memorization, but for places for teaching, for interpretation, and for learning the keys to the Arab language, which is the secret to understanding the Quran and mysteries. Enough memorizing like parrots. Yes, we are all brainwashed, except for the few spared by God."

Earlier in the segment, Al-Huneini was asked by the interviewer if the appearance of Saudi women on TV runs counter to Islamic law.

"What we want is for women [to reveal] their culture and intellect," the sheik said. "We want women to play a role in the development of society. But a woman who insists upon appearing on TV insists upon showing her body. Why do we act unjustly towards women by saying that we can only benefit from them by presenting them to people this way?"

Al-Huneini said all Muslim scholars are in agreement "that if revealing a woman's face might lead to temptation and other things, it is forbidden."

Additionally, he said, "even when they permitted the revealing of the woman's face, they placed restrictions on this … only the face and the palms may be exposed. The woman is not allowed to expose her neck or her hair. She is not allowed to appear with make-up or jewelry. The religious scholars have all agreed upon this."

The newscaster Nasser objected.

"Sir, when I appear on TV, and when I claim my right to play a role in this professional field, I demand that my face, which constitutes my identity, be seen," she said. "Under no circumstances am I prepared to allow my identity to be obliterated."

Later Nasser became even more indignant:

Who are these people who wish to decide for me how I should behave? Why do you treat me as less qualified just because I am a woman? Why is there always a male voice deciding how I should behave? The Lord created me equal to you in my duties, punishment, and reward. When you fast, I fast. When you pray, I pray. When you steal, your hand is cut off, and when I steal, my hand is cut off. This is the greatest evidence that I am not less qualified. I know what I am doing, and I know how to maintain my honor.