Abu Dhabi’s The National reports on a Saudi TV program, ‘Khawatir’, broadcast over the MBC satellite channel, that seeks to instill Islamic values in contemporary society. Those values are not those of the scholars who debate the nature of the jinn or what constitutes an adequate wudu. Instead, they appear to be things like personal responsibility and an individual’s responsibility to his neighbors. According to the article, the program is having an effect, even among children. More programs like these would be a healthful counter to the ‘Islamic’ shows that currently dominate the airwaves.
TV show that gets people thinking
Haneen DajaniABU DHABI // Prince Faisal bin Abdullah took off his besht and began sweeping the floor of a classroom alongside some students.
The Saudi minister of education was trying to set an example, not leaving any rubbish behind, while launching a competition for the team with the cleanest desks.
The students asked for increasingly outrageous prizes for the winning team, from an iPhone to a 2010 Lexus with massaging seats. “This is Khawatir, not Oprah,” joked Ahmad al Shugairy, the host of the most talked about show in Ramadan that was filming events.
Khawatir, or Thoughts, an annual 10-minute segment airing on MBC1 and now in its sixth year, aims to revive Islamic concepts and achievements.
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September:06:2010 - 12:44
Nice idea. ALl I can say is cleaning curbs any boredom. The shabobs should be cleaing their own cars, front yards and mopping and sweeping or helping in the kitchen. Any potential boredom will drift away.
September:07:2010 - 13:08
The funny thing is that Khawatir has (perhaps) inadvertently revealed so much about the closed up nature of our society. As popular as the show is with youth, and its real results in the real world, it is extremely unpopular with the hardcore traditionalists. Many of them scoff at Al Shugairi, citing his lack of traditional clerical training (although he himself has never claimed to be anything of the sort), and the unorthodoxy of his message. Some people have even thrown personal barbs at him, calling him a sufi, or an upstart “foreigner”, which only shows how bigoted that demographic can get.