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With an explosion in the number of Arab satellite channels dedicated to Islam, a new breed of preacher has emerged. New York Times reporter Robert Worth says these so-called "Satellite Shieiks" tend to be young, moderate, and entertaining to watch. One of Saudi Arabia's most popular, Ahmad al-Shugairi, tells us about his approach to preaching.
Wonderful story! I am obviously not exposed to enough decent coverage on moderate Islam, because this was a big eye-opener for me. Ahmad al-Shugairi feels comfortable not just *hinting* that specific examples of Muslim principles may be better embodied in non-Muslim societies--he's on a mission to literally make Muslims jealous of aspects of various non-believers' social norms. I had no idea that a message like this had an audience in the Middle East. This is something I would expect to see in a theoretical presentation at a Unitarian church, not broadcast across the Muslim world.
Interesting story, but I was bothered by one thing. Once during the story, the reporter stated that Ahmad al-Shugairi became more religious following a "hyper-secular" period of his life. Secular does not mean the same thing as hedonistic, and the use here is a bit insulting to secular people.
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