Portrayal of reality ruffles feathers in Syria

Less than a month after Syria banned the niqab at universities — and prohibited teachers from wearing it — a controversial TV series dealing with the niqab and hijab made waves in Syrian society.

In the 30-episode drama, whose title Ma Malakat Aymanukum (What Your Right Has Possessed) is taken straight from the Quran, director Najdat Esmail Anzour portrays a very hypocritical, conservative society in Damascus, infuriating clerics, preachers, and seasoned Islamic figures.

Syria's influential Muslim scholar Saeed Ramadan Al Bouti, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, came out with a strongly worded condemnation, saying that the series "mocks God, religion and the religious". He added that it is a "curse coming from the skies" bringing "cancerous red spots over the skies of Damascus".

The series — a perfect mirror of what happens behind closed doors in Damascus — starts with a closed circle of women preachers giving Islamic lessons in private homes. All of them are wearing the strict navy blue or white hijab, popular in Damascus since the 1980s.

The students spend long hours in religious chants and are taught to lead a selfless and puritan life, free from lust, greed, or anything materialistic. Their teacher insists that the only love in their hearts should be for God, and instructs them never to mention the words "passion, romance, or love" in connection with anything but the Creator.

One girl, played by actress Sulaf Maamar, is covered from head to toe by the niqab, but has clearly been forced to wear it by her parents — like so many of her kind throughout the Muslim world.

She falls in love with a neighbour and they begin to date in secret. She takes off her veil when she is with him, and allows him to come dangerously close. Whenever she dreams of her love interest, or allows him to kiss her, she is overcome with guilt, thanks to the brainwashing of her teachers and family.

To overcome her guilt, she takes out a razor and cuts herself to inflict pain. Many viewers are left dumbfounded, asking questions such as: "Does this really happen in the Muslim world?" The obvious answer is yes — but it does not represent true Islam or true Muslims.

Her brother, a bearded shaikh who spends his days reading the Quran and haranguing people with advice, finds himself in a romantic relationship with a schoolgirl, whom he impregnates. He eventually drifts into Al-Qaida-style terrorism, killing civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Not gratuitous

The series, Anzour notes, is about abuse of religion, power and wealth and not, as its critics claim, sex, love and adultery. It exposes men and women who use religion to abuse those closest to them, in society at large and within their immediate family. Those who have already chosen the path of Al Qaida will never accept this portrayal of events, he says, but those who are neutral are his real target.

While admitting that such malpractice does take place in conservative Muslim society, Al Bouti argues that this is the case in no more than 20 per cent of the religious community.

By portraying these "outcasts", Al Bouti says the director is doing the true conservatives and Islam in general a gross injustice. Wrongdoers exist in any society, he angrily argued. Nothing could be said or done to right the wrongs done to believers by the TV series, he concluded.

If anything, however, the arguments over the TV series are radicalising members of both camps, making it increasingly difficult, or socially incorrect, to remain neutral. Moderates are speaking up, encouraged by people like Anzour, hoping that the harder they push, the more likely they are to convert the converted.

A few weeks ago, a popular Syrian website ran a report about prepubescent girls who were forced to wear the hijab by their parents. Another website ran an article about civil marriage in Syria, arguing that it needs to be authorised so that Christian men can marry Muslim women without having to convert to Islam.

The current situation is not a new one for the Arab and Muslim worlds. Decades ago, Nizar Qabbani infuriated clerics from different ends of the religious spectrum by publishing poetry with sexual overtones.

Hardliners feel increasingly isolated and victimised by challenging debates, which explains why a storm of articles have flooded Islamic forums on the internet, demanding that no Arab channels should air Anzour's TV series.

Shortly before the niqab ban, Syria ordered the transfer of over 1,000 teachers who habitually wear the niqab, arguing that they should not be allowed to teach young children and inculcate their radical views.

The niqab ban, after all, fits nicely with the theme of Ma Malakat Aymanukum — exposing those who hide behind religion to justify social and religious malpractice.

Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine.