It seems like Mabrouk Attia can’t take a few days off without insulting someone, only this time, the Media Syndicate decided to take action, and he took Sherif Amer, host of his TV show, with him.

Yesterday, on March 3rd, 2022, the Media Syndicate decided to refer Sherif Amer and Mabrouk Attia for investigation after the latter made yet another provocative statement in last Wednesday’s episode discussing the issue of marriage in Egypt, including the society’s insistence on completing marriage despite the difficult circumstances nowadays.

What is the full story behind the decision? And how did people react to it? Let’s discuss. 

What happened?

Last Wednesday’s episode of Sherif Amer’s show on MBC Masr discussed the issue of marriage in Egypt, including the society’s insistence on completing marriage despite the difficult circumstances.

Mabrouk Attia raised saying the following:

 Marriage is obligatory in two cases: the ability to spend and have sexual intercourse with the wife, and three-quarters of marriages in Egypt are forbidden

Mabrouk Attia

Sherif Amer disagreed with the statement and said it’s inappropriate as it insults all the marriages in Egypt.

Mabrouk Attia’s statements were considered borderline fatwas, which made the Media Syndicate say that he said what he was not aware of, violating the truth and reality.

So Media Syndicate decided to refer BOTH Sherif Amer and Mabrouk Attia for investigation for insulting Egyptian society.

In addition, the media syndicate added in its statement that the content provided on Sherif Amer’s program and MBC Masr as a whole is under the observatory of the Syndicate and it doesn’t commensurate with the expenditure volume. And it usually insults Egyptian society.

People then took it to social media saying that Sherif Amer and Mabrouk Attia like to be controversial in order to be trending.

And also, people started counting how many times Sherif Amer was trending by hosting controversial people.

Therefore, Sherif Amer responded to the criticism

Amer defended himself, saying that he has always been professional in his work and didn’t ever make a fatal mistake that would insult Egyptian society. He said that the Media Syndicate didn’t watch either the full episode or the part of the episode they issued their statement about, as if they watched it, they would have seen him refusing these statements.

He also added that he studied the fundamentals of journalism under the supervision of the most prominent journalists in the Arab world. He included the name of the great Mohamed Hassanein Heikal.

Also, MBC Masr responded to the criticism

In response to the statement issued by the Media Syndicate, MBC Masr issued a statement confirming that it has not and will never seek to present any programmatic or dramatic work that offends society or its broad audience in Egypt and the Arab world.

And it added that the program presenter Sherif Amer applies all professional standards. His team includes the most prominent Egyptian media professionals, and he does not accept any professional transgression.

And they continued, in its statement, the Media Syndicate claimed that it had monitored the weakness of the programmatic map of MBC Masr channels and that the content presented was not appropriate to the amount of spending. However, it has no documented official numbers or statistics on which it can base its data. Therefore, what was mentioned in the union’s statement are unfounded statements by its sender.

However, Mabrouk Attia and Sherif Amer have a big portfolio of raising controversy

Mabrouk Attia has always been saying controversial opinions regarding women’s rights. So many of them were with Sherif Amer in his show, with hundreds of hashtags and boycott campaigns made to stop him from doing interviews and making live videos on his Facebook page. But they didn’t stop him.

So, here is a list of his opinions:

Previously, Sherif Amer hosted Mohamed El-Mallah, whose job is an intervening husband (The man who marries a woman who is divorced three times to return her after that to her original husband) during his program on MBC Masr. And as usual, Mabrouk Attia was a guest in this episode, and he stated this controversial statement.

The intervening husband is cursed according to religion

Mabrouk Attia

The episode was so controversial due to the statements of both Mabrouk and the other man as his job was extremely controversial as well, which made the public prosecution refers them for investigation.

People were blaming Sherif Amer for hosting this guy with the most controversial person, Mabrouk Attia, especially when Mabrouk said his opinion that was, for most people, considered against religion.

If your husband hits you, you should bear it.

Maboruk Attia

He said this in another episode with Sherif Amer discussing violence against women. And his statement is what we consider to be something that does not make sense because the marital relationship is supposed to be based on respect and love. Nothing in the world could force a woman to live with someone violent just because there are children.

Nevertheless, he said that hitting and violence between the spouses are considered secrets, and women shouldn’t tell anyone.

By this, Mabrouk Attia justified domestic violence and encouraged the beaten women to remain silent and not speak because it was not her right.

Stay with your husband; they’re all the same

Mabrouk Attia

In a previous episode of his program on Dream Channel, a woman once called him and said that her husband was with another woman in their apartment, locking the door. When she asked him to open the door for her, he refused and then at the end he told her that they were discussing a problem. So what made the wife ask him for divorce.

However, from Mabrouk Attia’s point of view, Mabrouk Attia’s tip for the woman whose husband betrays that she should live with him just because all men are the same. And he ignored blaming the man.

Any woman not veiled is not mentally stable.

Mabrouk Attia

Moreover, in another video posted on his YouTube channel, he stated that any woman not veiled is not mentally stable.

Also, in another statement, he said that.

It is the right of a man to marry a second wife without telling the first as it is the man’s right not to say to her and even to the whole world.

Mabrouk Attia

In the end, Sherif Amer, and Mabrouk Attia continue raising controversy on social media, and the feud between them and the Media Syndicate is still going on. Could it be the end?

We think it should. Not because of the opinions, but because the duo is using religion as entertainment content. They are using religion to find the next “trend,” knowing quite well who their audience is and that they will take their words for granted.

People like them are why many have been hating religion and drifting away from it because things like what Attia said are being normalized.

Religion is not entertainment, and it’s time we acknowledge that when a preacher adopts the celebrity status, then they stop preaching the words of god, and its all about making money.