From a young woman talking straight to the camera about her multi-layered relationship with her hometown Jeddah to an American Muslim asking people to literally lend them their ears so that they can learn about the Quran that they have heard so much about but never really listened to, these Arab YouTube stars make sure that their audiences never see the Muslim world the same way again.
Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiments are on the rise in the west, and these young Arabs are taking it upon themselves to fight them, and they’re doing it with passion and creativity.
1. Jana Vlogs from Jeddah tells it like it is
Jana was born in Jeddah and raised in the United Kingdom. Her videos range from discussing her makeup routine and trying candy from around the world, to her experiences in Saudi Arabia and the misconceptions people have about the kingdom. Calling herself “a friendly Arab,” Jana’s videos show just how perfectly normal Saudis and other Arabs actually are.
2. Adam Saleh brings the Quran to the streets of the USA
Born in the United States to Yemeni parents, Saleh has become a major YouTube star, with more than 1.5 million followers each on two different channels. Saleh often features pranks and experiments that highlight people’s prejudices or preconceived ideas about Muslims and Arabs. At the same time, many of his videos simply prank his friends or random strangers in ridiculous ways.
3. Yousef Saleh Erakat shows us the lighter side of#growingupArab
Born in California to Arab parents, Yousef is better known as Fousey. Although he has had several channels with several different content styles, Fousey found the greatest success when he began focusing on Arab and Middle Eastern themes. Featuring a lot of pranks and some of his own musical skills, Fousey has even found his way into American film director Tyler Perry’s new film “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”
4. Zade Abdullah breaks stereotypes down with spoken word
While he also has his own workout channel, Abdullah is better known for his role on the YouTube show HiddenReaction. The program features him and his best friend Kyle Nutt. Abdullah lives in the U.S. and his family hails from Jordan. This fact is only referred to occasionally in his and Nutt’s videos. Their videos tend to be conversational and address their bromance, issues with girls and a lot of good-natured humor. At the same time, Abdullah hasn’t shied away from addressing Islamophobia head on.
5. Karim Metwaly takes on Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric
Born in the US, Metwaly is of Egyptian descent. With his shows often portraying experiments focusing on people’s reactions to Muslims and Arabs in different scenarios, Metwaly has built a massive following with regular viral hits. Although much of his content is geared towards addressing Islamophobia, he also creates videos on topics such as Pokemon Go and social issues