Muslim TV evangelist preaches Allah of love

[Ms DD]

Muslim TV evangelist preaches Allah of love

By Carolynne Wheeler in Cairo

Last Updated: 2:48am GMT 24/02/2008

 

 

Video of Moez Masoud

He is handsome and charismatic, and his velvety voice makes young women swoon. But his young female fans mostly wear headscarves, and while his gatherings look more fitting for a rockstar, they involve lessons from the Koran.

 

Moez Masoud, a 29-year-old Egyptian party-goer-turned-preacher, is sweeping the Middle East with his moderate Islamic message to love not just Allah but also others - and to play a full part in the modern world.

 

 

Mr Masoud provokes debate over contemporary issues

His views are controversial among more conservative imams both in Egypt, where he is based, and further afield.

 

But his television shows have garnered an audience of millions across the Middle East, his website attracts thousands of hits, and he fills hotel ballrooms and lecture theatres whenever he appears in public.

 

“I’m just about everyday things, you know? It’s about keeping it real,” said the young televangelist, as he prepared for an event at a Cairo hotel where he was to discuss how romantic love and marriage relate to Islam.

 

His message carries weight among his mostly educated and middle-class young fans, because - perhaps like many of them - he too has previously succumbed to temptation.

 

Mr Masoud spent his formative years in American schools in Kuwait and Cairo, and his adolescence and early twenties in a haze of alcohol and women.

 

“For a while, I just went with the flow, and coming from a rich, or at least better-off family, and going to American schools, the flow was partying,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

 

“I didn’t think it was wrong. I just did what came naturally.”

 

Then came the life-changing experiences which he said showed him the path to God: the deaths of several close friends to a drugs overdose, to car accidents and to cancer, and his own surgery for a tumour on his spleen.

 

Despite the alarm of his mother, who had raised him as a secular Muslim open to the West, he began to pray and to learn the Koran.

 

Invited to address his first audience in 2000, in New York State, word spread quickly across the Muslim world and within two years he was invited to record his first television programme, Parables of the Koran, which began as a Ramadan special.

 

His mission has taken on new urgency with the growth of Islamic-inpsired terrorism around the world, spurred by what he sees as the complete misinterpretation of a peaceful faith.

 

“It scares me. It scares me because you can build so much and they just tear it down so quickly,” he said. “But we can get over it. I really believe that.”

 

In Mr Masoud's latest Arabic-language television show, whose name translates literally as “The Right Path” but which he prefers to call Take a Right, he adopts the fast-paced format of the music-video generation to challenge stereotypes and push for greater tolerance.

 

He believes modesty for women is part of Islam, and his own wife wears a headscarf, but maintains the veil should be a personal choice.

 

He believes art, culture and music should be appreciated, rather than outlawed, and that while young Muslims should reject sex outside marriage, socialising with or even dating members of the opposite sex is acceptable as long as encounters are chaste.

 

And he is clear in his rejection of acts of terrorism like the 7/7 bombings in London, as well as the furore that surrounded the British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was charged with blasphemy, jailed and eventually pardoned in Sudan after allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

 

An episode of Take a Right was recorded at King’s Cross station to emphasise the innocent casualties in the London bombings, while Mrs Gibbons is the subject of a pop song whose lyrics Mr Masoud has penned.

 

“I felt it was a horrible misrepresentation of some childish, infantile people who happen to be cultural Muslims,” he said of the teacher’s case.

 

His televised shows have been ground-breaking; a mixed panel of men and women, with and without headscarves, debate contemporary issues in the context of Islam.

 

Hot topics include homosexuality, in which he calls on believers to hate the sin but love the sinner - evoking messages found in many Christian churches - and gender discrimination.

 

He encourages women to pursue fulfilling careers.

 

Traditional Islamist clerics criticise moderate preachers like Mr Masoud for advocating “Islam light”, designed to appeal to the middle class.

 

But he also attracts fire from secular voices in Egypt, who are concerned that he is drawing more people into the religious fold.

 

“This is part of the global phenomenon of Islamicisation in the Arab world,” said Hala Mustafa, editor of Egypt’s Journal of Democracy.

 

"There is no difference, Islamicisation is Islamicisation.”

 

“Honestly people, the lecture was more than perfect,” wrote a young Egyptian woman named Maha on one Facebook site.

 

“This guy is awesome, God bless him for what he is doing.”

 

Source

[Socod_badne]

Well, the only thing he has left to complete the act is start singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

[Miriam1]

I actually had the opportunity to see him speak live twice, and at both times..I wasn't at all impressed with the man to be honest. But I suppose I am in the minority, the last time I saw him speak he brought my friends to tears, and I just do not understand his charm...his speeches lack in content in my humble opinion...give me Tariq Ramadan or Shaykh ‘Abdallah Bin Bayyah or Imam Zaid Shakir

any day. He is still young though, and has a long way to go. maybe he sounds better in arabic.

[LayZie G.]

Socod Badne, you are still@it haye.

 

What is wrong with modernizing the religion? I wouldn't mind being part of his congregation. Waa worship in the 21st century.

[Ms DD]

Hayam

I also saw him speak live and the second time I heard of his lectures, I found it tad repetitive but all in all, he was great speaker. The good thing i, he is bringing a lot of young kids back to their deen. He makes it seem fun and not that restrictive. As one proffessor said "You could say the style is light, which it is in the way TV is light compared to a newspaper. But the content isn't".

[Khayr]

maybe he sounds better in arabic.

Must be the Egyptian Accent!

 

This guy is a joke and I heard him speak.

[Fabregas]

This brother is very good in terms of inspiring people and teaching them to love the seerah. He brings to life. I have seen him a few times on Arabic Televsision( read the English translation), and he knows how to interact with an audience. May Allah increase his efforts and strenghten his Iman, Ameen!

[Khayr]

^^^^

 

I guess any 'aadal imam'/joe blow can just get a show now, provided they know arabic and voula - the people will swallow their pill.

 

I guess all those ulema who spent their entire lives in the study of the deen are of no value anymore. Just pick up a camera and validate everything in the name of Islam (Peace that is! )

[LayZie G.]

^no one said they are of no value.

 

Ulema's have been here long before and will continue to be here for a very long time, that won't change.

 

Just because it took "some" many yrs to digest the teaching of islam, vs a young gunner like the man above who wasted no time, doesn't mean he doesn't have credibility.

 

Khayr, I guess you will never be happy, even those preaching good aa beef la leedahay.

[Fabregas]

Originally posted by Khayr:

^^^^

 

I guess any 'aadal imam'/joe blow can just get a show now, provided they know arabic and voula - the people will swallow their pill.

 

I guess all those ulema who spent their entire lives in the study of the deen are of no value anymore. Just pick up a camera and validate everything in the name of Islam (Peace that is!

)

The average young person in the West or even in the predominantly Arab-Muslim world isn't ready to digest the information of scholars. This man is here to inspire people and possibly get them on the road to reading literature from Ulema and studying Islam. Secondly, his style is more relaxted, more enthustiastic, and more enlightening to many young people than Ulema and your average Sheikhs. People get tired of, " do this and that" and, " you will go to hell if you don't pray". Young people don't neccesarily like being lectured to; this man has way of lecturing to them without them realising it and being patronizing. Muslims need to adopt new media, styles and debating styles to give dawa without straying from the Quran and Sunnah.

[Blessed]

He tends to refer back to his teacher a lot, a man that I’m not a great fan off.

 

However, I used to watch and loved his shows: Stair Way to Paradise and Parables in the Quran.

 

 

As for ulema argument, the ulemaa are doing a great job educating the future ulema and doing the work of ulema, I don't think they the validation of some TV station.

 

Young people need people who can understand them and explain Islam to them in a simple, practical way. It becomes more meaningful when you know that this person has been through the same struggles.

 

While, on the topic.. I’ve recently discovered that Shaikh Muhhamed Al Shareef of Al Maghrib is only in his early thirties. Masha Allah. If he was 10 /20 years older, I don’t think he would be as relevant to the youth and as innovative in his approach.

 

I remember in London, my local Somali Mosque which is run by older brothers, sadly only allowed youth in their madrasa if they conformed to a strict dress code, there was a youth club a few blocks away and not once did the mosque reach out to those who used the youth club.. The kids that probably need da’wah the most. They simply don’t have a connection to the youth.

 

In other neighbourhoods, there are brothers (converts) who do street da’wah to youths who hang around street corners.

[Miriam1]

^ That is a good point that I forgot to mention, he didn't appeal to me, but my young cousins and siblings certainly found him very interesting. He relates to young people who are still going through that classical internal struggle of "Who Am I" I am sure if he was around when I had that similar experience I would have found him very easy to related to and interesting.

 

To that end, the man is very good.

Ps. any comparisons to Adel Imam..are uncalled for!

[Aaliyyah]

Khyr I fail to see why you said the guy is a joker??? If you dont have any good comments to say about someone who is devoting his life to correct others and take his religion seriously. At least keep your mouth shut that is the least you can do instead of talking ill about someone who is doing the right thing. Remember it is our duty as muslims to do dacwa and spread Islam. It doesnt matter if you know one or two verses, teach those two verses to someone who doesnt know it and Allah swt will reward you.

 

I haven't heard of this brother before but after watching the clip the brother is masha allah I couldnt but notice that he preachs beautifully. May Allah bless him.

[Khayr]

Some points that I would like to hightlight from this article:

 

He believes art, culture and music should be appreciated, rather than outlawed, and that while young Muslims should reject sex outside marriage, socialising with or even dating members of the opposite sex is acceptable as long as encounters are chaste.

What the author really means to say is that he condones and promotes modern liberal values. e.g. Dating is acceptable.

 

Hot topics include homosexuality, in which he calls on believers to hate the sin but love the sinner - evoking messages found in many Christian churches - and gender discrimination.

Hating the Sin and not the Sinner is a protestant method. For if the Sinner is not hated, then their would be no need for reprimanding them for committing the Sin. So my question to him and the rest of the "Muslim Evanglical' supporters would be:

 

Does this extend to say, a murderer or a pedophile? Would you invite them over to your house for a little 'dawa' and have your family make dinner for them? After all, Mr. Masoud is preaching the protestant slogan of "Hate the Sin but not the Sinner".....