Anti-terror TV serial during Ramadan stirs the Arab World

A blockbuster Ramadan television drama telecast across the Arab world has broken new ground by daring to question the motives of terrorism committed in the name of Allah. The plotline of al-Hur al-Ayn (Beautiful Maidens), has proved enormously controversial with its makers denounced by an angry fundamentalist minority. But it has also been hugely popular with an Arabic-speaking public fed up with the cliched portrayal of all Muslims as gun-toting fanatics. By highlighting the way innocent Muslims can also become victims of religious extremism, the drama is challenging the stereotypes that bedevil the Arab world. Another recent drama entitled al Tareeq al-Waer, or Rugged Path, showed how those who try to attack non-Muslims in the name of Allah become corrupted and lose their moral authority. See the earlier related entry vide no. 171 “Good Jehad: Bad Jehad” dated 27 Oct 2005