Ethics

The recent economic crunch has eventually led to international marketing culture consequently leading to the MTV network to target the Arabian market. News about MTV in Arabia came at around 2006 when Faisal Abbas revealed that they will be in the Arabian market within two years given that they will get the right local partners. MTV Arabia has since been launched in the cultural conservative environment of Islam. In attendance, during its launch in the year 2007, there were such renowned artists as Akon and Ludacris. MTV Arabia broadcasts from Dubai and is currently available on Nilesat and the Arab sat platforms (Jaafar, 2007). The channel is conscious about the regional sensitivity which is evident from the way it conducts a call to player during Maghreb.

However, the launch of MTV Arabia has brought about some mixed reaction from both the scholars and the Islamic religion. The scholars are of the opinion that the Islamic Doctrine has the capacity to provide some guidelines on the type of products that should be availed in the Islamic markets. They explain this by using the principle of equity and the unrestricted public benefit.

According to a team of management researchers, any international business has the legitimate interest of maximizing on its profits by targeting the right market. MTV Arabia targets two-thirds of the Arab World population which is dominated by the youth under the age of 30. However, there is a common agreement that while conducting such international business, the social cultural context should not be ignored and those conducting business in the Arab world should be just and equitable.

For the case of MTV Arabia, part of the Muslim community feels that its controversial content should be diluted in a manner that it will not interfere with the religious and conservative communities within the Middle East market (Madawi, 2004).

MTV Arabia wants to lay the platform for the Arab youth as well as form the foundation on what future programming should be made of. For instance, it is now playing both R  B and hip hop music which is a rare thing in other music stations. This leads to the question as to whether playing music is a violation of the Islamic Law or not. In Iran and Afghanistan, priests are now against the production of music.

The Muslims have expressed mixed reactions on the subject because some feel that music is a part of them while others do not want it at all. For instance, in the strict Islamic world music is not allowed but the Sufis in Pakistan believe that Allah can only be reached through cultural expressions such as music and dance. A further contradiction on the subject of music was displayed at a conference in Beirut where some Pakistani clerics were narrating about the life of a prophet in a documentary (Madawi, 2004). In the documentary, only the duff drum was played based on the argument that in the Islamic World the passion for music should not be cultivated.

Instrumental, metered songs and the non-Islamic music are the most controversial musical genres in the Islamic world. The split that is currently evident is between what the Quran defines as haram (forbidden) or halal (allowed). The question which now arises is whether rock, hip hop, jazz or the pop music fit in the group of haram. Further classification is needed as to whether the problem lies with the style or the kind of message contained in the lyrics. This has attracted response from Muslim scholars who share the opinion that music is about melodious words thus if the words are indecent then the music is classified as bad and vice versa. The scholars are part of the salafis which is an Islamic group responsible for interpreting Islam. They enjoy a close relationship with the Wahabi which is the dominant group in Saudi Arabia.

Most of the Islamic scholars such as Shaykh Mnajjid have classified listening to western music as haram. They explain this by arguing that the western music is associated with sensuality and lust. However, they are also of the opinion that if one is in a capacity to single out the kind of music which can uplift the soul and the spirit then one can listen to such provided that the music will not be a distraction towards remembering Allah. Other scholars have also classified the ring tones which are now common in the modern world as Haram.

Isam Bachiri who is a member of a pop group based in Denmark also supports the issue of prohibiting music and he does respect the opinion of Muslim brothers. However, he is also of the opinion that music should be about the message not about the money. He feels that other than banning the music, the music should be used to spread the truth which attracts a lot of audience and has a lot of inspiration (Madawi, 2004).

On the other hand, some individuals like Sheikh are of the opinion that though some lyrics are provocative but still should not be banned. He argues that most of the religious scholars are living in the former centuries and they only issue fatwas based on the ancient times (Jaafar, 2007). He recommends that since music is a universal discourse without nationality or religion, then banning music and stopping the objectives of such channels as MTV Arabia will only stop innovation which forms the basis of different cultures.
 
Muslims living in this part of the world are under the obligation of coming up with creative arts and music that do not associate with sin. This will go a long way in preserving the culture of the Muslims as well as shifting from what is currently being played in channels like MTV Arabia. The Muslim scholars are against any form of music or musical accompaniment which portrays any form of indecency and debauchery. This has served as a major blow to MTV Arabia whose targeted market seems to have a lot of cultural restrictions.

However, MTV Arabia is slowly adjusting to the needs of its market with the latest advancement being the 20th August 2008 event where MTV Arabia refrained from playing music videos (Jaafar, 2007). This came at a time when the Muslims were in the holy month of Ramadan thus it was quickly appreciated and seen as sensitivity to the beliefs of the Islam.

The management of MTV Arabia was quoted saying that this was a response to the needs of its clients in the Middle East who were fasting and focusing on their relationship with Allah. However, some viewers have responded by saying that the refrainment is just an empty gesture which will not be having any impact in conserving the culture of the Muslims. Such viewers as Samir, an IT consultant were of the opinion that the bad music videos on air should be banned for the whole year or else leave the decision as to whether to watch them or not to individuals.

Others felt that by switching doing away with the videos during Ramadan is mere hypocrisy because other channels like Melody and Mazzika. They feel that the decree to all music videos is inappropriate and they should only reduce the explicit content. In the United Arab Emirates, some citizens feel that turning off the music videos would amount to interference with their freedom of choice. They are of the opinion that everyone should be free to watch what fulfills his or her demands (Jaafar, 2007).

In conclusion, since the issue of listening and playing music as well as watching the videos is still a controversial topic in the Islamic Jurisprudence, I believe that it is prudent if we abide by the opinions of the jurisprudential rule. The jurisprudential rule states that where there is a difference of opinion then there will be no condemnation of it. MTV Arabia should be allowed to run its operations which will enable us to celebrate our cultural and social diversity. This will enable our brothers and sisters from the Islamic world to interact freely with the rest of the world. Also by embracing what is being offered by MTV Arabia, any emerging talent will be nurtured and this will enable even the artists in the Arabic community to compete with other artists. The 6040 mix of both international and Arab music videos has promoted the awareness that the channel is specifically targeting the youths who form the largest share of the population. However, measures which regulate the kind of content that is present of the media should be put in place (Jaafar, 2007). The brand managers involved with MTV Arabia should broadcast that what the youth within Middle East finds provocative and entertaining and also do some analysis using the event tree as shown in the next page.