Khalilur Rehman Qamar claims talk show clash on 'Taghoot' was staged

Pakistani screenwriter and poet Khalilur-Rehman Qamar has made a startling claim regarding last year’s viral “Taghoot scandal,” stating that the controversial talk show confrontation was “pre-planned” and not spontaneous.

Speaking on a podcast this week, Qamar alleged that the televised clash between Islamic scholar Saahil Adeem and a female guest was orchestrated for dramatic effect.

The episode, aired in June 2024, had sparked nationwide debate over gender roles, religious authority, and freedom of expression.

Qamar claimed that the show’s producers intentionally staged the conflict to provoke public outrage and media attention. “It wasn’t an accident. The narrative was scripted to reach a certain climax,” he said.

According to Qamar, as soon as Saahil Adeem referred to women as ignorant, he was about to intervene to clarify that ignorance is not exclusive to women — he considers anyone who hasn’t read the Holy Quran with translation, whether male or female, to be ignorant.

However, before he could speak, a female participant interrupted, and the direction of the discussion took a sharp turn.

Khalilur-Rehman Qamar also expressed his astonishment at the woman’s demand for an apology from a scholar like Saahil Adeem.

In his view, everyone makes mistakes, but what triggered his anger was the perceived disrespect.

He stated that the entire incident clearly shows the producers' intention was to create provocation and extract a specific type of reaction — and that they succeeded in doing so.

The programme, aired in June last year, featured Saahil Adeem making harsh remarks about women.

He claimed that if 100 women were surveyed, he would find 95% to be ignorant, obsessed only with makeup and TikTok, and unaware of fundamental Islamic concepts such as “Taghoot”.

In response, a participant named Azbah Abdullah protested against his statements and demanded an apology.

The situation quickly escalated into a heated exchange.

Adeem questioned whether the young woman even knew the meaning of “Taghoot”. When she admitted she didn’t, he declared that this was precisely what ignorance was — and that she should accept it.

The argument didn’t stop there.

The woman countered that the reason many women are deprived of knowledge is due to a patriarchal society, but Saahil Adeem disagreed, insisting that calling out ignorance is a religious obligation.

During the heated discussion, Qamar also lost his composure.

He expressed anger at the young woman, stating that if listening to Arabic verses was painful for her, it was unacceptable. He then asked the host to cut her microphone — a moment that intensified the controversy.

The episode quickly went viral on social media. Now, nearly a year later, Qamar’s revelation that the entire incident was “scripted.”