Abstract
The Window to Paradise is not just the name of one of the most popular programmes in Salafi Islamic televangelism, it is also a successful channel for the mediation of religious fundamentalism that has attracted viewers from around the Arab world. In spite of the wide range of countries, languages, religions, and cultures in the region, Salafi television channels have consistently projected a shared common interest in scrutinizing ‘otherness’ in thought, ideology, and religion. Hence, it is not surprising that the list includes Christians, Jews, ‘Westerners’, and even proponents of moderate Islam. These channels have claimed the authority to speak for Islam. They operate in a region where there is collective frustration over economic disparities and a loss of faith in political systems. This situation has favoured the making of a public space for fundamentalist groups to use these collective anxieties as a pretext for mobilizing members, developing bureaucratic organizations, and formulating policy alternatives (Entelis 1999). Salafis believe that Islam, founded by the Prophet Muhammad, and propagated by his companions for three generations after the passing of the Prophet, is pure and unalloyed, and therefore the only source of authority in Islam. Salafi television tends to replicate this view and is supported by a variety of Islamic sheikhs and their followers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abou el Magd, N. (2009). Egypt’s Al-Azhar to launch ‘moderate’ TV channel. The National. Available at: http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/egypts-al-azhar-to-launch-moderate-tv-channel (accessed 9 November 2011).
Abu Haiba, A. (2011). Islamic media and the shaping of an Arab identity. Perspectives, 3(2), pp. 15–26.
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Asad, T. (2007). Explaining the global religious revival: The Egyptian case: An Agenda for the 21st Century. In G. ter Haar and Y. Tsuruka (Ed.) (Brill: Leiden), pp. 83–104.
Bassiouni, C. (2007). A compilation of legislative laws and regulations of select Arab legal systems. In Justice and International Human Rights Law, Technical Assistance Projects in Afghanistan and Iraq Activities 2003–2006. (Paris: International Human Rights Law Institute at Depaul University (IHRLI)). Available at: http://www.law.depaul.edu/centers_institutes/ihrli/publications/iraqi_constitutions_3/pdf/Introduction%20%20English.pdf.
Bellin, E. (1994). Civil society: Effective tool of analysis for Middle East politics? Political Science and Politics, 27(3), p. 510.
Brooke, S. (2009). Muslim Brotherhood faces growing challenges in Egypt. Ikhwanweb, The Muslim Brotherhood Official Website. Available at: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=20281 (accessed 9 November 2011).
Brown, M. (2006). Comparative analysis of mainstream discourses, media narratives and representations of Islam in Britain and France prior to 9/11. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 26(3), pp. 297–312.
Brown, M. (2010). Representations of Islamic fundamentalism and the Ahmed Zaoui case. Journal of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 21(4), pp. 331–341.
Callon, M. (1998). The laws of the markets and the sociological review. In M. Callon (Ed.), An Edited Volume on the Creation of Markets, Bringing Together Authors from a Variety of Theoretical Traditions (Oxford: Blackwell), pp. 1–57.
Cambridge Arab Media Report. (2011). Religious Broadcasting in the Middle East: Islamic, Christian and Jewish Channels: Programmes and Discourses [pdf]. London: Cambridge Arab Media Project (camp), and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies (CIS), University of Cambridge. Available at: http://www.cis.cam.ac.uk/CIS%20Annual%20Report%202009–10.pdf (accessed 12 October 2011).
Chaaban, J. (2009). Youth and development in the Arab countries: The need for a different approach. Middle Eastern Studies, 45(1), pp. 33–55.
Choueiri, Y. (1997). Islamic Fundamentalism. London: Printer.
Deibert, R. (1997). Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communication in World Order Transformation. New York: Columbia University Press.
Entelis, J. (1999). State-society relations, Algeria as a case study. In M. Tessler (Ed.), Area Studies and Social Science Strategies for Understanding Middle East Politics (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press), pp. 16–25.
Farid, A. (2006). From Jami’ah to university: Multiculturalism and Christian-Muslim dialogue. Current Sociology, 54(1), pp. 112–132.
Field, N. and Hamam, A. (2009). Salafi satellite TV in Egypt. Journal of Arab Media and Society. Issue No. 8, Spring 2009. Available at: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=712 (accessed 10 October 2011).
Hall, S. (1992). Cultural studies and its theoretical legacies. In L. Grossberg (Ed.), Cultural Studies (New York: Routledge), pp. 277–294.
Jerichow, A. (1997). Civilizations: Clash or cooperations? In A. Jerichowand J.B. Simonsen (Eds.), Islam in a Changing World Europe and the Middle East (London: Routledge), pp. 144–156.
Kimmel, M. (2000). The Gendered Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kobia, C. (2006). New visions and challenges to ecumenism in the 21st century. In focus, International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World. Available at: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/ resources/documents/general-secretary/speeches/new-visions-and-challenges-to-ecumenism-in-the-21st-century.html (accessed 11 October 2011).
Levinson, P. (1997). The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution. London: Routledge.
Meyrowitz, J. (2008). Power, pleasure, patterns: Intersecting narratives of media influence. Journal of Communication, 58(1), pp. 641–663.
Michel, T. (2005). The work of economics: How a discipline makes its world. European Journal of Sociology, 46(2), pp. 297–320.
Moll, Y. (2010). Islamic televangelism: Religion, media and visuality in contemporary Egypt. Arab Media & Society, Issue 10, Spring 2010. Available at: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/countries/index.php?c_article=213 (accessed 8 October 2011).
Moussa, K. (2011). Challenges facing religious, confessional, and ethnic pluralism. Ways to Strengthen the Democratic Transformation in Egypt [doc]. Cairo: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. Available at: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ax52VoyqQJIJ:www.un.org/democracyfund/Docs/Challenges%2520to%2520pluralism%2520%2520Kamal%2520Zakher.doc+ Challenges+Facing+Religious,+Confessional,+and+Ethnic+Pluralism,+Ways+to+Strengthen+the+Democratic+Transformation+in+Egypt.&hl=en&gl=za&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShaJFwjlWaR6nNsp3Q6EU4grO0u6qpRk5_eHpW9fRXFWsb6ccNbtpq6x1D90PNEU60JU0bioChKGF3Rsnnnahag0n Wq0LIoseB9s5kBIawLCX4POwcdxPqE7qLYV4wGcC6ILZp&sig=AHIEtbSyuJ6cDbohbhiQLaIaHI-w7s-YgQ (accessed 5 October 2011).
Moussalli, A. (2009). Wahhabism, Salafism and Islamism: Who is the enemy? A Conflicts Forum Monograph, 1(1), pp. 1–39.
Munson, Z. (2001). Islamic mobilization: Social movement theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The Sociological Quarterly, 42(4), pp. 487–510.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen.
Peet, R. (2000). Culture, imaginary, and rationality in regional economic development. Environment and Planning, 32(1), pp. 1215–1234.
Rock, A. (2010). Amr Khaled: From Da’wa to political and religious leadership. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 37(1), pp. 15–37.
Rudnycky, D. (2009). Spiritual economies: Islam and Neoliberalism in contemporary Indonesia. Cultural Anthropology, 24(1), pp. 104–141.
Saleh, I. (2006). Prior to Eruption of the Grapes of Wrath in the Middle East: The Necessity of Communicating Instead of Clashing. Cairo: Taiba Press.
Saleh, I. (2009a). In the foggy Middle East: Just wars remain the name of the game. In A. Kumar and D. Messner (Eds.), Power Shifts and Global Governance Challenges from South and North (London: Anthem Press), pp. 265–288.
Saleh, I. (2009b). Media literacy in MENA: Moving beyond the vicious cycle of oxymora. Mapping World Media Education Policies, Latin American Scientific Journal of Media Education Comunicar, Comunicar, 32(1), pp. 155–171.
Saleh, I. (2012). When the sweet ‘Arab Spring’ turns sour: The ties that bind. ASJMC Insights. Journal of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC). Winter 2012.
Schemm, P. (2008). Ultra-conservative Islam on rise in mideast. The Associated Press, 19 October 2008.
Strate, L. (2006). Echoes and Reflections: On Media Ecology as a Field of Study. Cresskill: Hampton Press.
Tammam, H. (2011). Salafi Channels and the Integration of Salafi Islamic Religious Values in the Public Sphere [doc]. Stanford, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Available at: http://igovberkeley.com/content/salafi-channels-and-integration-salafi-islamic-religious-values-public-sphere (accessed 10 October 2011).
Toth, J. (2003). Islamism in southern Egypt: A case study of a radical religious movement. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 35(1), pp. 547–572.
Turner, M. and Pratkanis, A. (1998). Twenty five years of groupthink research. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 73(2), pp. 105–115.
Weeks, J. (2003). Necessary fictions: Sexual identities and the politics of diversity. In J. Weeks (Ed.), Sexualities and Society: A Reader (Cambridge, MA: Polity Press), pp. 123–145.
Ziad, A. (2011). Da’wa for Dollars: A New Wave of Muslim Televangelists. Emerging Social and Religious Trends [pdf]. Washington, DC: World Security Institute. Available at: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkms1.isn.ethz.ch%2Fserviceengine%2FFiles%2FISN%2F96124%2Fipubli cationdocument_singledocument%2F986338a9-d1b4–412d-8c88-c098d8283375%2Fen%2FFull%2BText.pdf&ei=GnyBT6_10oydOo7_sYIH&usg=AFQjCNF y8s0TejwFrKDWCcmo8TT24JUhag&sig2=WeNCKtx0MjQ7Oyl6CAR44A (accessed 7 October 2011).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Ibrahim Saleh
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Saleh, I. (2012). Islamic Televangelism: The Salafi Window to Their Paradise. In: Thomas, P.N., Lee, P. (eds) Global and Local Televangelism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137264817_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137264817_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34529-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-26481-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)