Taboo-breaking Syrian soap causes Ramadan stir FEATURE 09/08/2010

Taboo-breaking Syrian soap causes Ramadan stir

FEATURE

09/08/2010
DAMASCUS — A Syrian soap opera that tackles such taboos as homosexuality, corruption and extra-marital sex in the predominantly conservative Muslim country is proving hugely popular during Ramadan.

The TV drama Ma Malakat Aymanukum, which takes its name from a verse in the Koran that loosely translates as “What your right hand possesses,” depicts the lives of young women struggling to cope in a male chauvinist society.

Leila, who wears the Islamic niqab, or full-face veil, is torn between virtue and vice. She eventually gets murdered and her body is found mutilated.

Alia ends up selling herself to help her family, while Gharam’s husband encourages his wife to forge ties with men in high places.

The program is being aired for the first time during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when many families spend the evening watching television after iftar, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100908com3.html