A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, March 26, 2012

Now, the "Nose-Job" Islamist MP and the Belly Dancer, and the Growing Islamist-Belly Dancer Axis

Headline of the Day: "'Nose Job' MP Files Complaint Against Belly Dancer Who Says She's His Wife."

The story refers to this fellow. He is an Islamist, so the belly dancer bit adds to his already compounded scandal, More on the alleged wife here; also here. Just a little over a week ago, she was threatening to picket the press syndicate in her belly dancing garb,  regarding a new film she has out, so the words "publicity stunt" just might be appropriate here, too.

This raises new questions about the emerging Islamist/Belly Dancer axis. I earlier posted about how the belly dancer known as Lucy was donating some of her TV revenues to a Salafi sheikh raising money to replace US aid; that post included both a video of one of the sheikh's sermons and a video of one of Lucy's performances; I haven't checked to see which is drawing more viewers. Though I didn't link to it, actress Ghada Abd al-Razaq, who has sometimes belly danced in her films, announced she had voted for the Muslim Brotherhood. So there may be an emerging pattern here.

Is this a sign that Egyptian Islamists, like some US TV preachers, have an eye for unveiled women? Or a sign belly dancers are attracted to political Islam despite its general disapproval of their profession? Or what?

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