Hey Women: Satan Can Enter You Through Your Chair

Although the actual footage is from December, this thread just popped up on Iraqcenter. 

In the thread, a user posts a video featuring the famous Egyptian TV presenter Hala Sarhan on NasBook, her popular TV show.  NasBook is a talk show aired on Rotana Masriya (Egyptian Rotana), in which Sarhan hosts famous Egyptian and Arab politicians, stars, etc. to talk about current affairs. As it's on Rotana, the show leans toward a younger look and feel, and it's one of my favorite talk shows to watch. 

In this video, watch as Sarhan discusses a particularly unusual fatwa from a Yemeni sheikh. The sheikh apparently forbids the use of chairs by women, saying that evil spirits enter women when they sit on chairs. He notes that chairs (and anything similar to them, like couches) are an unusual, Western invention, and how can we enjoy an invention from our enemy, the West? He notes that the original followers of prophet Muhammad never used chairs - they sat on the floor, so we should too. According to Sarhan, the sheikh even said that for women, sitting on chairs is equivalent to adultery. 

Interestingly, Sarhan, who is not very overtly religious and pretty liberal in her outlook, doesn't lay into the fatwa with sarcasm as much as I thought she would. She actually interprets it in various ways. In my opinion they're ridiculous, but they are definitely worth noting:

1. She says that originally, she thought the fatwa was an attack on حزب الكنبة (Party of the Couch) in Egypt. The 'Party of the Couch' is a term used to describe apathetic Egyptians that aren't involved in protests or don't actively participate in politics.  She says she thought that the fatwa was meant to get them to vote and prevent them from 'sitting on their couches' during the elections. 

2. She then says that wait, this guy isn't Egyptian, he's Yemeni, so he can't be attacking the Party of the Couch. He must be talking about the Yemeni protestors, who 'stood' (i.e. not sitting) in public squares, protesting their revolution. They never sat until their ruler was kicked out of his throne (the word in Arabic for chair is the same one used for throne). 

3. She then says that this fatwa can be interpreted as a warning to all Egyptian presidential candidates that Satan is calling them to the seat of power, basically noting the dangers of too much power and how, I assume, it can erase gains made by the revolution. 

Honestly, Sarhan's interpretations at the end definitely make this clip worth watching, but I really just thought she was going to rip into this guy.