The controversial episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, succinctly titled Saudi Arabia, is filled with questions about the media’s representation of Islam and common stereotypes associated with Islamophobia. The focus of the episode is on Mohammad Bin Salman, or MBS, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and his suspected involvement in the killing of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Minhaj tells the events like a narrative with a backstory of the ‘character’, MBS, followed by the change in the media’s depictions of him, from his rise to power up until Khashoggi’s murder. It seems as if the media’s positive outlook on the prince is largely due to his appearance of being a progressive leader with more democratic values than his predecessors.
One instance where this is evident is in MBS’ decision to remove the ban on women’s freedom to drive. His actions appear to disprove the trope of Islam being a sexist religion, thus winning America’s approval. Minhaj devotes part of his segment to this story, using it to show the perspective adopted by Western media of MBS being “the reformer the Arab world needed” (Minhaj). Directly after mentioning MBS’ removal of the ban, Minhaj plays a clip of a Saudi woman rapping about her newly regained freedom to drive. He uses this video mainly to joke about its low quality, but he takes the opportunity to state his support for women’s rights, even if just in passing. His comment is undoubtedly there to make a statement against the notion that all Muslims are sexist. This is another way Minhaj addresses the trope. Additionally, the inclusion of the video might serve to comment on the absurdity of the ban in the first place. Later on, Minhaj mentions how MBS is responsible for the imprisonment of female activists who fought against the driving ban and remain in prison even after the lifting of the ban. This exposes an interesting contrast. While on the surface it appears that MBS is breaking the stereotype, upon closer inspection he is actually reinforcing it. Minhaj concludes by explaining that because Saudi Arabia is central to the Islamic faith, Muslims across the world become unjustly associated with the country’s actions.
I think that Minhaj’s case goes beyond questioning MBS and whether Islam is sexist and is actually meant to respond to another trope: the idea of Islam as a monolithic religion. By simply sharing his perspective as someone within the Muslim community, Minhaj does effectively challenge this trope as he makes it clear that many Muslims feel Saudi Arabia “does not reflect” their “values” (Minhaj).
Minhaj, Hasan, and Prashanth Venkataramanujam. “Saudi Arabia.” Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, season 1, episode 1, Netflix, 28 Oct. 2018.