Khaled is to take his preaching on Reality TV

Ali Abd Al-Monaem, IOL Staff

CAIRO, March 11 (IslamOnline.net) -  Famous Egyptian preacher Amr Khaled said that he would launch a reality show spreading morals and values, as western-style variations came under heavy fire over airing young men and women flirting and dancing all day with no purpose in life.

“A young man would appear sitting desperately in a dim room with a spider webs hanging all around. A group of other youths would take him out of restrictions,” Khaled told Aljazeera in a program aired on Thursday, March 11. 

Khaled, a London-based moderate former accountant with a base of support mostly among youths, said that these attempts are meant for Arab youths to be positive with an aim to seek in life.

Observers said that what Khaled called a “film” could stem the flow of reality TV, that has burst upon the Arab world leaving huge audiences glued to screens.

An Arab television channel MBC TV said on Monday, March 8, it was temporarily pulling the plug on its Arabic version of the hit reality show Big Brother after charges of indecency.

Protesters in Bahrain, from where the program was aired, had said showing unmarried people living together offended Islamic values.

protestors went to streets chanting “Stop Sin Brother! No to indecency!” against the show, which they deemed un-Islamic. Some members of Bahrain's parliament demanded to question Information Minister Nabeel Al-Hamer about the show.

"We are an Islamic country with our own traditions. This program spoils the morals of our sons," MP Jasim Al-Saeedi was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Press reports said the shows are testimony to the power of satellite television and slick Western production methods to overturn societal norms.

‘Life Makers’

Khaled’s program ‘Life Makers”, run on the Arab satellite channel Iqraa, proved endearing to many Arab viewers as it inspires hope and paves the way to success and prominence.

More than 600 people sent stories on their real success stories in the first week, including those of young men and women volunteering to fight illiteracy in their communities.

In one of Cairo’s cafes, the TV beamed out the program to the attentive audience, all agreed to switch from songs and video clips they had been hooked to. 

The famous da‘iya (caller to Islam), who traveled to the U.K. in 2002 to prepare his PhD, made a survey on how positive the Arab youths are.

More than 13,000 filled in the survey and the program received 1,300 suggestions for its development. 

Khaled received a letter from a Christian youth, saying he follows the show. Khaled said that his show is for Muslims and non-Muslims.

He was able to prove endearing to most of his audience who kept following his words through satellite channels, tapes and his website carrying the texts of his sermons along with other religious stories on the same smooth approach.

Khaled went to Jordan in January 2003, where he was received by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania squeezed her agenda to attend one of his sermons, entitled “We Should Choose our Lifestyle”.  

According to IslamOnline.net chatting room participants, Arab youths are besieged by the wave of consumptive intellectual waves and feelings of desperation out of failure to make internal political and economic reforms.

“Amr Khaled turned to be the Big brother and Star Academy for many youths,” said one participant.

He was referring to Reality TV shows shown on air by Arab satellite channels.

The Arab world's first reality TV experiment, a dating show called Al Hawa Sawa (On Air Together), survived its three-month stint, ending a few days ago.

The Big Brother is another attempt, featuring 12 contestants living in a villa on Amwaj, a small island in the Gulf state of Bahrain. Each week one person was to be evicted from the house, with the last remaining tenant winning $100,000.

Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) also launched “Star Academy” in December 2003. It's based on a French show of the same name. Next step will be LBC's version of “Survivor”.

In “Star Academy”, 16 Arabs share a house north of Beirut and can be viewed 24 hours a day on a satellite channel as they cook, eat, sleep and attend sports, singing, music and dance classes.