A Saudi comedian threatened with beheading by Islamic State sympathisers and accused of apostasy by a preacher says he is not deterred and will continue to laugh off his opponents’ rage.
Nasser al-Qasabi, 53, has caused a stir with his satirical sketch series Selfie, which is being aired by MBC, a pan-Arab broadcaster, during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Islamic State is caricatured in an episode in which Qasabi plays a father who travels to Syria in search of his son who has joined the group. In one scene, a group of fighters at a “girl market” pick concubines from a line of chained women abducted from the battlefield.
A fighter picks a slave “wife” who is actually a mustachioed man in a woman’s black robe, only for a comrade point out the apparent mistake. “No problem!” the first fighter says. “If he’s an infidel, he deserves this.”
One tweet sent to Qasabi since the show went out said: “The holy warriors will not rest until they cut your head from your body, in just a few days hopefully.”
Qasabi responded to the threats: “My Twitter is overflowing with people cursing at me, threatening me and hating on me. I’d like for them to calm down a little. Come on, Ramadan is just beginning!”
Fahd Deghaither, a writer at al-Hayat newspaper, tweeted in Arabic: “Two episodes have shaken Daesh [Isis] feelings. What would have happened if we had a whole production city with complete cinematic events? Who will stand against that?”
#القصبي_يستهزي_بداعش حلقتان هزت المشاعر عن #داعش، ماذا لو كان لدينا مسرح ومدينة إنتاج سينمائي وقاعات للسينما بكل مؤثراتها؟ من يقف ضد ذلك؟ 😜
— فهد الدغيثر (@F_Deghaither) June 20, 2015
Qasabi has received supportive tweets gathering around the hashtag #سيلفي (#selfie). Clips from the episode that mocked Isis were shared online:
#ناصر_القصبي يشغل الرأي العام ويختصر في لقطة عظيمة فكر #داعش الإرهابي الحقيقي الذي يدعو حتى إلى قتل الوالدين. #سيلفي pic.twitter.com/MwxbCLWgdL
— مصدر (@MSDAR_NEWS) June 20, 2015
Users tweeted their solidarity with the phrase انا مع ناصر القصبي (I am with Nasser al-Qasabi).
I'm Iraqi .. I'm #Human .. I'm with Nasser Al Qasabi ... انا عراقي .. #انا_انسان .. انا مع ناصر القصبي ... pic.twitter.com/WQ0F6aeQ5f
— FEATURES WOUND MAN (@FEATURESWOUNDMA) June 22, 2015
In remarks posted on MBC’s website, Qasabi said: “Allah will protect us. It is the job of the artist to say the truth, even if that is at his own expense. This is the price we have to pay.”
He said in an interview with al-Arabiya: “Warning the people about Isis is the true jihad [struggle], because we’re fighting them with art not war.”
In his first episode of Selfie, Qasabi mocks ultra-conservatives in Saudi Arabia by playing the role of a musician who repents and smashes a lute on stage.
Shortly after its broadcast, Saeed al-Farwa, a Saudi preacher, accused al-Qasabi of apostasy. The preacher has since apologised after criticism from the Saudi Islamic affairs ministry.
Qasabi, who has been a popular TV personality and comedian across the Middle East for a number of years, is a judge on Arabs Got Talent.
His previous best-known programme, Tash ma Tash, satirised a number of taboos in Saudi Arabia and wider Arab society.
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