Under the “Saudi Arabia” episode under the show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, Hasan Minhaj has discussed the news coverage about Saudi Arabia and the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, or MBS, concerning the murder of a Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Minhaj begins the ‘story’ with MBS’s representations before and after he’s claimed to take responsibility for Khashoggi murder in which it’s significantly altered. In this case, American politicians promptly inverted their standpoints toward MBS despite their profound relationship with Saudi Arabia and the fact that American had commended him as a reformer of the Arab region.
Minhaj isn’t surprised about this. Instead, he uses it to introduces the ways American have seen Arab people as terrorists which I would refer to the ‘West spreads democracy while Islam spreads terrorism’ trope. Not only giving the terrorists passports, he said, “Saudi Arabia was basically the boy band manager of 9/11,” added with the alienation of Saudi people in American official military document. Likewise, Minhaj adds on with the ‘Islam is inherently violent’ trope by explaining Saudi political dominance that has been under control of the ‘Saud’ royal family for 87 years along with how MBS came to his power by arresting ones who potentially resist on his way. Minhaj also talked about BMS’s political convicts, the coming up exaction of more than 2,000 people due to MBS’s Vision 2030 and his influences over the Yemen War.
In the same manner, Minhaj illustrates that MBS has uplifted the ban for women driving in Saudi Arabia and arrested the woman activists standing against him. This suggests the idea of uniquely sexist in Muslim culture and the difference of basic women rights between Western and Muslim communities. Minhaj uses the music video of a woman driving to note his standing for women rights, meanwhile, he picks off the poor-quality of the MV that could infer to the illusive gender equality the country tries to promote.
Despite the critical commentary on Saudi Arabia and the crown prince, I deem that Minhaj uses comedy concept and his storytelling techniques to compromise the contents that seemingly violate the individuals and organizations mentioned in his show. Minhaj casually responds to these harmful tropes as if he’s making fun of it. His ironic, yet entertaining show challenges how American think about Islam as a whole by only looking at Saudi Arabia. At the same time, as a Muslim, his actions and critiques against the tropes have proved that not every Muslim fits in those stereotypes.