An unchallenged notion that seems to exist not only among individuals in the Global North, but also among elites and some of us in class, as well, is that the Muslim-majority societies, especially those in the Arab states, are largely conservative and close-minded.

However, a closer look may nuance and displace these notions. In Spring 2015, I enrolled in a class entitled: Arabs, Sex, and Modernity. For my final project, I conducted an analysis of Arabic newspaper reactions to the bombshell Turkish soap opera, Gümüş.

I present a summary of my findings in hopes that we can rethink our biases regarding conservatism across the region.

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For this project, I analysed YouTube comments, prominent Arabic newspaper articles, and Western newspaper articles.

Western newspaper articles framed the Turkish soap to be an educational tool that presented “a new image of relations between man and woman” to the conservative Arab. (BBC) Other articles create more nuance and schisms depicting some Arab countries as less conservative than others (yet all the while conservative). With the title, ‘Arab TV Tests Societies’ Limits with Depictions of Sex and Equality’, NYT’s writer Robert Worth sets up an equation in which Arab societies and equality are opposing elements. He states that, “a cultural gap between the producers and consumers of television” exists, in which producers hail from Egypt and Syria, while the consumers are Saudi. Worth makes this assertion based on statements by a number of Saudi clerics, who have condoned and encouraged the murder of TV officials who endorse TV shows, such as Noor.

Arab publications published a wider spectrum of opinions, many which focus on Arab women’s obsession with Muhannad.

In one article entitled, ‘Turkish soap star sparks divorces in Arab world’, the author scans the Arab world for dilemmas that are claimed to have occurred due to the Turkish show, Noor. Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia have all been affected by the show in the form of divorces, marital disputes, and jealousy. The left-leaning Lebanese newspaper, Al-Nahar questioned the Turkish show’s “invasion” of Arab audiences. Moreover, it states that, “in the midst of the routine of reality that the Arab woman lives, she has found [in Muhannad] a new world that is far away from this fatal routine.”

Additionally, the Saudi newspaper, Al-Yawm, has published at least eight articles pertaining to the matter. In an article entitled ‘Lamees and Muhannad ignite a war in Arab homes’, an author describes a quasi- epidemic of anxiety and obsession that is sweeping Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, due to men’s envy of and women’s fixation on Muhannad. The article concludes by stating that, “some have requested that Lamees and Muhannad interfere to solve the issues of Arab streets’ from inflation to the Palestine-Israeli conflict.” Another article is a letter to the Editor, featuring a plea from a reader, who is worried with the shifts in beauty standards due to “Muhannad’s eyes and Lamees’ hair”. To paraphrase the author, Muhannad and Noor symbolized the tipping point of an already fragile culture, producing a “generation with mistaken thoughts and low values”. Additionally, he describes the show as a “malicious poison”. Finally, he asserts that real beauty lies within.

Viewers’ YouTube comments, however, provide a more complex and multi-layered trove of reactions to the show. Most comments simply vocalize one-word adorations for the show, such as ‘Raw’a’ (loosely translated as wonderful) and “Waw” (wow). Some comments voiced rejection of the show, using religious diction, such as “Astaghfurallah”, “Noor and Muhannad are going to hell”, et cetera. Nevertheless, often these comments receive responses questioning the reason behind these commentators’ viewership of these videos, if they reject them. One YouTube user ‘Al-balwi ibn al-Iraq’ commented: “How many dirty Wahhabis watch this and then say may God curse them [The actors of Noor] … Why are you on this page…” on the YouTube video, ‘Very Romantic Scenes between Noor and Muhannad that MBC did not air’.3 Moreover, on the video of Noor’s finale, one user commented: “Indeed, this show has strong drama, with many paradoxes or contrasts reflecting the habits and traditions of society.”4 Another user posted: “ka3ba aka mouhaned hhhhhh” (‘The Holy Kaaba also known as Muhannad hahahahaha”).

Both Arab and English publications paint a close-minded image of the “Arab viewer”, one that is chaste and prude. However, the YouTube comments paint a different image that displaces this essentialized image of the Arab viewer.

Returning to the question of conservatism, it is important to

A) realize that waves of conservatism emerge in specific contexts

B) decolonize ourselves from the default conception that Arabs/Muslims are fundamentally conservative

It’s mind boggling how we can flatten out more than 200 million Arabs and write them off as conservative, and continue to do so.