In a June 2, 2017 article titled "Why [Does] 'Black Crows' Series Anger Extremists?" on Al-Arabiya.net, Mamdouh Al-Muhaini,[1] editor-in-chief of Al-Arabiya's digital platforms, discussed a scene from the Ramadan series Gharabib Sood ("Black Crows") that is currently airing on the Saudi-owned MBC channel. He explains that this scene, showing an Islamic State (ISIS) mother's instructions to her little daughter, "addresses, in an artistic manner, the terrible atrocities being perpetrated by this extremist organization and other militant groups. It also exposes the ways and means in which they pass their negative ideas to children by using methods such as intimidation and reprimand." The series, he adds, "focuses on the nature of extremist ideas and methods of introducing and disseminating them."
The following is the article, in the original English.[2]
"In a scene from Gharabib Sood ("Black Crows") series, which tackles the ISIS ideology and is currently being aired on MBC, a female ISIS leader talks to a little girl carrying a bag with the photo of Cinderella on it.
"She tells her that she should not put the photo of this 'infidel' with bare shoulders in her bag and asks her to paint Cinderella's face in black. The child simply follows the orders.
"This scene in this important series addresses, in an artistic manner, the terrible atrocities being perpetrated by this extremist organization and other militant groups. It also exposes the ways and means in which they pass their negative ideas to children by using methods such as intimidation and reprimand. They create a dark image of life in children's consciousness, which is meant to isolate them and to make them vulnerable to control by extremists.
"This is one of the most powerful elements of the series and I advise everyone to watch also, because it does not make a point at the back of [i.e. using] gory violence and beheading of people. The series instead focuses on the nature of extremist ideas and methods of introducing and disseminating them.
"Fighting Extremism
"This is important and should be tackled first because terrorism is a natural and expected outcome of extremism. Fighting terrorism is like pulling a gun out of a murderer’s hand. The intent to kill will remain, and all the extremist has to do is to find another gun to commit his crime.
"The same applies to terrorists. If they are prevented from committing their crime in Iraq, they will do it in Libya. The suicide bomber who fails to blow himself up in Riyadh will try to do it in Medina and maybe even near the Prophet's Mosque.
"When we keep asking the same question as if we were surprised to see the emergence of a new generation of suicide bombers – who were still infants when 9/11 happened – we are disregarding something important. We are disregarding the fact that it is impossible to see teenage suicide bombers, the last of whom was Salman Abedi, if there was no extremist incubating environment for them.
"The suicide bomber does not blow himself up because he wants to kill others in vain, but because he is usually imbued with an extremist ideology that convinces him of the state [of] bliss that will be achieved as soon as he pulls the trigger. They teach him that life is full of sins and reiterate that the world is dominated by 'infidels' and is doomed to collapse.
"They convince him that the easiest way to escape this in a dignified and beneficial manner is by killing the greatest number of misguided people. All this will happen in just a few seconds and after that, worldly sufferings will simply end for him.
"With all of this deliberate mobilization, we should not be surprised with the number of suicide bombers queuing up to achieve this 'noble' end. The suicide bomber Fahd al-Qabaa, who blew himself up at the Imam Al-Sadiq mosque in Kuwait, got his passport and used it only once, for a one-way trip. This cannot be done by someone unless he has a strong and radical idea that was completely leading and controlling him.
"Shallow Interpretations
"Gharabib Sood succeeds in presenting this aspect and does not succumb to shallow and oft-quoted interpretations such as stating that ISIS is a Western intelligence apparatus. Extremists and terrorists have existed way before intelligence apparatuses appeared on the horizon.
"How can an intelligence apparatus that is plotting such terrible secret conspiracies remain unidentified? There are those who argue that terrorists are marginalized on the social levels, but marginalized people get frustrated and angry and can only kill themselves. But why would they kill others?
"We have never heard so far that marginalized people turn themselves into suicide squads. And even if we believe the marginalization excuse, why don’t marginalized people in other societies choose to run over pedestrians on the streets?
"These are mere excuses to shuffle the cards. This series has managed to avoid these excuses and this is why it has angered the extremists that are working these days to distort and defame the series.
"The reaction is an only expected [one], as this series points to the weak spot, which is the extremist ideology. In the scene that we mentioned above, the girl blurs the image of Cinderella and distorts the beauty of the drawing, but in fact, she only defaces herself.
"This is the moment when the girl chooses to close her mind, blemish her soul, and blur her world for the sake of an extremist leader who can be found anywhere."
[1] For other MEMRI reports on articles by Al-Muhaini, see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No 354, Saudi Press Reactions to the Arrest of Seven Terrorist Cells in Saudi Arabia, May 18, 2007; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 2241, Saudi Columnist: How to Keep Your Son from Becoming a Terrorist, February 18, 2009; and MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5732, Leading Saudi Daily 'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat': Jeb Bush Can Return The U.S. To A More Realistic Course, April 29, 2014.
[2] The English has been very lightly edited for standardization purposes.
