Two Narratives of Islamic Revival: Television Preaching in Egypt

Abstract

Since the turn of the millennium, the interplay between Islamic revivalism, economic liberalization, and new media has created a new form of popular Islamic preaching framed as television programs. From the pulpit of the television screen, Muslim preachers, male and female, call Muslims to change and live their lives in accordance with Islam. In Egypt and beyond, this new wave of preachers is both a product of and a contributing factor in the current religious revitalization in the Muslim world. By way of an examination of the Scene of Ramadan 2008 A.D./1429 A.H., I have chosen two series as the lens through which to study two of the most important preachers in the field, Amr Kh lid and Mu ammad ass n. The initial enquiry was to locate the message of these preachers and the way in which this was communicated through television. The more specific enquiry became to arrive at an understanding of how these two preachers construe collective identities that they encourage their listeners to conform to, and how these are construed through television. The two cases are interesting because they represent two dominant positions within the two main trends of preaching today. My findings were that these two preachers represent two different styles of television preaching that seek to shape different types of identities. The preachers work on their audiences to make them agents within their distinct projects of Islamic Revival.