Egypt’s Maria TV Pitches Strict Vision of Islam

THE WASHINGTON POST: CAIRO — Maria TV, a new Egyptian channel that solely features veiled women, might be the first in the industry without a makeup room.

The satellite television project debuted this summer, and the women who work for it say they hope their images on TV will empower like-minded women across the region who adhere to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Salafism.

But there is also a big role for men at the channel. Maria TV’s owner, Ahmed Abdallah, is a prominent Salafi preacher, well known in Egypt for his anti-Christian rhetoric. Abdallah and his son Islam, the channel’s chief executive, were arrested last month for burning a Bible during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11.

And while the women who work for Maria TV said they want to promote their belief that all Egyptian women should be covered, the channel also serves as a vehicle for what the CEO said was an effort to dim the influence of Christianity in the Muslim-majority region.

Those views would have met strong resistance during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who kept a tight lid on fundamentalist ideologies until his ouster in February 2011. But Islamists have perhaps reaped the most benefit from the country’s revolution, and with a new Islamist president, varying segments of society, including Salafis like Abdallah, are competing to define the role of religion in Egypt.

In September, a woman wearing a cream-colored head scarf read the midday news on state television, as officials here lifted a decades-old ban on veiled female presenters on state TV. » | Henry Shull | Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Egyptian TV Channel Caters to Fully Veiled Women

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: The only visible female face in the Cairo-based studio of a new Islamic TV channel for women is that of a puppet. The human stars are all veiled from head to toe, with only their eyes showing.

Maria TV is run primarily by women. They operate cameras, present shows and interview female guests ranging from doctors to students of Islamic theology. But they cannot show their faces during the broadcasts, and no men are allowed on air during the female programming, not even for phone-ins.

Shrouded in long flowing black robes and scarves known as niqabs, with black gloves to match the women are distinguishable only by their voices and the slits for their eyes.

The channel, which was launched on Saturday to coincide with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the brainchild of Ahmed Abdallah as part of a broader effort to expand his religious pan-Arab satellite station Ummah TV.

The shows range from beauty programs where presenters simply discuss make-up tricks without actually showing any to shows about medicine and marriage.

The puppet is used in a satirical show that pokes fun at major news stories.

"Even if you have the whole house lit with candles, do not be upset when your husband comes home from a long day at work and does not notice," said Abeer Shahin, the presenter of a show called "First Year of Marriage."

Abdallah, known by his nickname Abu Islam, said his goal is to show women that they do not have to reveal their beauty to the world in order to be seen. "I am broadcasting a new era for women who wear niqab, for a new kind of woman," said Abdallah, who wore a traditional white Egyptian robe for men known as a galabeya.

That effort mirrors the cultural changes under way in Egypt since conservative Muslims rose to power after Hosni Mubarak's secular regime was ousted during last year's revolution. » | AP | Wednesday, July 25, 2012