.
>> CENK: Well, we got kind of a cat fight here.
It's Bill Maher and Reza Aslan.
Bill Maher, on his program, talked about how people were not giving enough attention to Islamic violence and oppression.
On which planet, Bill?
I believe that's all everybody ever talks about on TV.
And he blamed liberals for ignoring violence and oppression that goes on in Muslim nation.
A blanket statement about Muslim nations.
Does it happen in some Muslim nations?
of course it does.
And by the way, on our program, we talk about all the time.
Now, when you make a blanket statement like that, you're stepping into a minefield,
because it's not true.
Now, the guy who's going to correct your ass is Reza Aslan.
Aslan, in some languages, means lion.
So you're going to hear Reza roar here.
He's gonna go on CNN and take on Bill Maher's concept.
>> You know, frankly when it comes to the topic of religion,
he's not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks.
I mean, the argument about the female genital mutilation being an Islamic problem is the perfect example of that.
It's not an Islamic problem.
It's an African problem
>> Hold on one second.
'Cause he says it's a Muslim country problem.
He says that in Somalia --
>> Yeah, but that's -- yeah, and that's actually imperically factually incorrect.
It's an essentially African problem.
Eritrea has almost 99% female genital mutilation.
It's a Christian country.
Ethiopia has 75% female genital mutilation.
It's a Christian country.
Nowhere else in the Muslim majority states is female genital mutilation an issue.
>> CENK: Wait, what'd you say again?
Oh, that was freaking awesome.
Wait, wait.
What about the Muslim nations?
99% to 77% Christian nation.
Dude, if you're gonna (inaudible) Reza, you better come correct.
And he ain't halfway done yet.
>> But again, this is the problem.
Is that you make these facile arguments like that women are somehow mistreated in the Muslim world.
Well, that's certainly true in many Muslim majority countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Do you know that Muslims have elected seven women as their heads of states in those Muslim majority countries?
How many women --
>> Reza, be honest, though.
For the most part, it is not a free and open society for women in those states.
>> Well, it's not in Iran.
It's not in Saudi Arabia.
It certainly is in Indonesia and Malaysia.
It certainly is in Bangladesh.
It certainly is in turkey.
I mean, again, this is the problem is that you're talking about a religion of one and a half billion people.
And certainly becomes very easy to just simply paint them all with a single brush by saying,
yes, in Saudi Arabia, they can't drive.
And so therefore, that's somehow representative of Islam.
It's representative of Saudi Arabia.
>> CENK: She's pulverizing that.
Okay.
My favorite part was -- be honest.
It's a big problem in Muslim countries.
He's like, well, actually -- okay.
I'm sure Don Lemon doesn't know this.
Bill Maher doesn't know this.
Most of the people that talk about Muslim countries don't know this
, but Indonesia has a much larger Muslim population than any Middle Eastern country does.
Bangladesh has a much larger Muslim population.
India has a has a much larger Muslim population.
Women don't have any issues there.
Now, look in, countries where they do have issues, like Iran,
we called them out nonstop.
You know the sons of bitches in the Iranian government the other day executed a guy for heresy,
because they said he did he did innovations in Islam.
That doesn't sound so bad.
That sounds pretty good, right?
But they killed him for that.
So that drives us crazy.
We're secular.
We don't like that.
We hate that, right?
You got to be accurate in your criticism.
Who are you talking about?
Are you talking about some poor Indonesian Malaysian person?
Or are you talking about the government of Saudi Arabia.
You don't know a think, you're so uneducated.
It's sad.
But luckily, Reza's here to regulate.
Keep on going.
>> I mean, I think that Bill Maher's point is that these aren't extremists.
We often talk about extremists and that we should crack down on extremists and why aren't Muslims speaking out about extremists?
In Saudi Arabia, when women can't vote and they can't drive and they need permission from their husband,
that's not extremists.
Why aren't we talking more about what?
That's not extremists.
That's commonplace.
Why don't we talk more about the commonplace wrongs that are happening in some of these countries?
>> It's extremist when compared to the rights and responsibilities of women,
Muslim women, around the world.
It's an extremist way of dealing with it.
[TALKING OVER EACH OTHER]
>> That's the norm.
>> I mean, look, Saudi Arabia is one of the most, if not the most,
extremist Muslim country in the world.
In the month that we've been talking about ISIS and their terrible actions in Iraq and Syria,
Saudi Arabia, our closest ally has beheaded 19 people.
Nobody seems to care about that, because Saudi Arabia sort of preserves our national interests.
This is the problem is that these kinds of conversations that we're having aren't really being had
in any kind of legitimate way.
We're not talking about women in the Muslim world.
We're using 2 or 3 examples to justify a generation.
That's actually the definition of bigotry.
>> CENK: Damn!
Damn, that was good.
Okay.
And, by the way, again, the heart of what Bill Maher said is exactly wrong.
You know who are the only people talking about the executions in Saudi Arabia?
Liberals.
We've talked about endlessly on this show.
This is supposed to be our top ally.
Are you kidding me?
They do more beheadings than ISIS does.
How are they our ally.
It's because they have cheap oil.
And they're willing to blood the market when we tell them to to lower the price of oil.
So we let them get away with literally murder and decapitations and beheadings,
because why?
They got cheap oil.
We're the only ones talking about that.
They hate that.
We think conservatives bring that up?
They hate that.
You know what conservatives do?
They walk around Crawford holding hands with a Saudi king and kissing him on the cheeks.
That's what George W. Bush did, okay?
So now, get it right when you're talking about different countries.
But they're not done yet.
I can't believe they went back for more of this ass handing that Reza's giving them.
Give it to them one more time.
>> So Reza, you don't think that there's anything more.
The justice system in Muslim countries, you don't think is somehow more primitive or subjugates women more
than in other countries?
>> Did you hear what you just said?
You said in Muslim countries.
I just told you that Indonesia women are absolutely 100% equal to men.
In Turkey, they have had more female representatives,
more female heads of states in Turkey than we have in the United States.
Stop saying things like Muslim countries.
>> Women are the being stoned.
>> And that's a problem for Pakistan.
You're right.
So let's criticize Pakistan.
>> I just want to be clear on what your point is, because I thought you and Bill Maher were saying the same thing.
Your point is that Muslim countries are not to blame?
>> The actions of individuals in societies and countries like Iran
, like Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia,
must be condemned, because they don't belong in the twenty-first century.
But to say Muslim countries, as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same.
As though Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the same.
As though somehow what is happening in the most extreme forms of these oppressive countries,
these autocratic countries is representative of what's happening in every other Muslim country is frankly,
and I use this word seriously, stupid.
>> CENK: Oh, damn.
Did you hear what you just said?
You guys sit there and bleed all day or are you gonna do something about it?
Oh, that was an ass kicking.
Really, the likes of which I have seen in a long time.
That was awesome.
Nice job, Reza Aslan.
That's how you conduct a debate where you actually come with facts.
And you don't deal with their stupid talking points and accept them as true.
You say no, your talking points are incorrect.
Now, let me come correct you and tell you what reality is.