Qarni, a popular Saudi scholar, says he supports Naser Al-Qasabi and Abdullah Al-Sadhan – the stars of Tash, the popular Arabic television comedy series – in their depiction of corrupt officials, whatever their jobs and ranking. He said the show on MBC causes no harm in criticizing and uncovering negative aspects of society. “I laughed a lot when I watched online the episode where a corrupt judge claimed to be under a spell [having a jinn inside him] to avoid being pursued legally.” Al-Qarni said that criticizing a judge does not imply criticism of everyone in the judiciary or the religion. “Nobody is above criticism, including judicial institutions in Saudi Arabia, which are just like other government departments and administrations.” However, Al-Qarni thinks that Tash exaggerates its representations of religious people and depicts them as “insane”. “They suggest that this condition [being fanatic] is linked to religious people.” There are religious scientists, academics, scholars and officials who portray a positive image of the country, he said. He rejected the scenes where religious extremists used rulers to measure the lengths of people's beards. “This is exaggerated criticism,” he said.
