A Saudi comedian threatened with beheading by Islamic State supporters on social media, and accused of apostasy by a Saudi Imam, says he will continue to use humor as a tool against the extremist group.
Nasser al-Qasabi is a 53 year-old Saudi comedian. A recent sketch, entitled ‘Selfie’, which aired on the Saudi television channel MBC, takes aim at Daesh and caused a stir in the process.
Not everyone was laughing. Shortly after the sketch comedy scene aired, a Saudi Imam took aim at al-Qasabi. Sheikh Saeed bin Farwa, a Saudi imam, called al-Qasabi an “apostate” for making fun of extremists on his show. Other Imams followed, using social media to attack al-Qasabi.
Nasser al-Qasabi.
But as swift as the backlash was, the backlash against the backlash was more decisive. The comments by Sheikh Farwa led to a call by Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Affairs ministry for an investigation into him, and he has since stepped back from his comments on Twitter and has apologized.
Several of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent journalists have also come to the defense of Nasser al-Qasabi. Prominent Saudi journalist Khaled al-Maeena wrote a strong defense of al-Qasabi, saying that “for too long, we have kept quiet… We have allowed these imams a free rein to spew hatred and falsehood.”
Another journalist, Faisal J. Abbas, writing in Al Arabiya, proclaimed, “Je Suis Nasser!”
“An acceptable measure, I believe, is for clerics of such caliber to be stripped by the ministry of their credentials and banned from leading prayers or giving sermons,” wrote Abbas. “The bottom-line is as a satirist, he simply can’t be blamed for ridiculing the ridiculous! In other words, what some clerics need to understand is that the real problem isn’t the fact that someone has poked fun at extremist teachings, but that these extremist teachings exist and that those horrendous acts are occurring in the name of Islam.”
Arab News columnist Abdulateef al-Mulhim writes that al-Qasabi’s brand of humor is doing more to fight Daesh than other forms of media. “The show is faring much better in effectively exposing Daesh ideology as compared to thousands of articles and analyses we read daily in the print media or online. This man, Nasser Al-Qassabi, is doing a great job in his own way. He is exposing the deviant ideology that is wreaking havoc in the Muslim world. The show does not offer anything new about Daesh, it is the manner in which it is being done that is making all the difference.”
