Islamic Televangelist Risks Popularity

CAIRO, Egypt, AP – Islamic televangelist Amr Khaled is young, smiling, teaches love and mercy, and is so popular he’s credited with inspiring thousands of women to take the veil.

Now he’s putting his popularity on the line by trying a new role, as a bridge between Islam and the West at a time when many are talking about a clash of civilizations.

In the process, Khaled is telling the faithful something they’re not used to hearing from clerics — that Muslims aren’t blameless in the tensions, that the West is not always bad and that dialogue is better than confrontation.
“A young Muslim goes to Europe with a forged visa, takes unemployment insurance there, then goes on TV and says, ‘We’re going to expel you from Britain, take your land, money and women,’” Khaled said recently on his weekly program on the Saudi satellite TV channel Iqraa, trying to explain the mistrust of Muslims in Europe. “It’s a rare example, but it exists.”

This article, published in the Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat takes a look at Amr Khaled, an Egyptian preacher who has a regular program on the Saudi-owned Iqra, religious satellite TV network. Clearly the paper approves of his message. {Note: This AP article also appeared in American media.]

Khaled reached some level of fame when he went to Denmark following the cartoon flap to take part in a dialogue between Danes and Muslims. His attendance drew considerable opposition from the Yusef Qaradawi, known for his harsh and contradictory statements about Islam.

Khaled seems to be preaching a different form of Islamism which, as Marie-Elisabeth Maigre spells out in her “Islam in Business” blog, is distinguished by being:

1- Morally conservative
2- Economically liberal (willing to influence consumption patterns; using media and new communications)
3- Politically disengaged, rather conservative, but aiming at good relationships with every government. Their “hidden” agenda – if one – is democracy, not Caliphate and Sharia.
4- Socially and culturally active/innovative

Amr Khaled has become something of a “super-star” televangelist for Islam, attracting wide audiences from around the world. He does seem to represent a “middle way” in Islam that seeks to avoid confrontation while still remaining true to Islamic values.

Because he does not have a certificate in Islamic fiqh, jurisprudence, many conservatives reject him as uneducated and unqualified to speak on Islam. He claims only to be a preacher. His growing audiences of young Muslim men and women clearly like what he has to say.