Sunday, February 11, 2007

Shortcut to Paradise

It's clear that he never saw it coming. The famous da3eya Amr Khaled has been exposed by Al Azhar to be quoting verses from the Holy Qur'an incorrectly. [click here to read details]

I've referred in a former post to Amr Khaled as a nominee on my 5 Most Hated People list, but if it wasn't for his Azharian colleague, Khaled El Gindy, he would have appeared as number 2. There is nothing I hate more than the kind of brainwash that Amr and his buddies perform. They mess up with the minds of our youth, taking advantage of their ignorance and vulnerability to gain money and fame. Religious talk, which has become a profiting business lately, doesn't cost anything. Anyone who finds in himself the needed charisma and basic religious information can make huge profits in a short time. Thanks to the age of media and open skies. People like Amr Khaled can reach a wide audience in just a matter of months. Then the business gets bigger. The established familiar face can then sell his product on cassette, CD, books, videos or even the internet.

Amr Khaled as most of you know is an accountant. The sign on his office can still be seen in Mohandeseen, Cairo. But with a simple calculation, this accountant was able to see what the brainwashing business can do for him. His acting skills also made him more suitable for the job. He can control the tone of his voice to make his talk authoritative and touching. He knows his audience well. They are young people who have no fixed aim in life and who are ignorant or semi-ignorant when it comes to religion. This lost and confused generation is an easy victim.

But why wasn't he careful when quoting verses from the Qur'an while writing his books or recording his tapes? I guess, the right question would be why be careful. Why give a damn if those people take whatever he says for granted? They will never care to check what he is saying and will never stop to analyse his speech. Yes, they are that desperate! The masses that make up the audience of Amr Khaled are people who are simple-minded. They want a simple religious meal to swallow and sleep. It is a new kind of drug that encourages more isolation and detachment. Amr Khaled and his group offer what can be called "a shortcut to paradise." You don't have to investigate into your current conditions or seek knowledge. They think for you and they get you the magical formula to be the best. Just attend their classes, buy their books and listen to their tapes, and you are the best person that can be. You become better than the western inventor in his lab, better than a Nobel prize winner, better than Bill Gates, better than your successful neighbor who doesn't attend the same classes or listen to the same tapes. All your problems will be solved, just sit there and pray.

Amr Khaled's business prospers the more lazy people become. He has no market in the developed world, where everybody knows his/her aims and works to achieve them. They don't need someone to mess up with their minds. And they won't allow someone to play all the roles of a shrink, a sociologist, a man of religion, a show host, and a counselor together (while being disqualified for any of them). But it in our underdeveloped, or as they like to call themselves "developing," countries he can pass as a highly respectable figure and even a role model for our youth who haven't learned to use their heads. He needs to drain their minds even more. He is like the undertaker who thrives on dead corpses. Thus, he cares to hit famous celebrities, making an actress wear a head scarf, or convincing a football player that he can become a TV da3ya. His audience will then get more and more attached as they see those popular figures revolving in his orbit. And because they have been well trained to cancel their minds they never pause to notice what his teachings have done with Ahmed El Fishawy for example. The once promising star, was well known to be one of Amr Khaled's students. He appeared on many shows on Iqra' satellite channel to show off how religious he has become on the hands of Amr Khaled. Then the next thing we see them as the father of an illegal child. His "teacher" didn't tell him that what he did was a sin, but encouraged him to escape responsibility, while meantime carefully drifting away from a student he was once very proud of (after El Fishawy became a "burnt card" as the saying goes). And all of a sudden the boy faces the scandals without his teacher, who for sure told him all the rotten talk about how a child can never be named after his/her father unless he agrees to it. He rested assured that there is no DNA in Islam and that he won't perform the test against his will. Where has God gone in all his calculations? It is heart breaking how the religion that Amr Khaled and his group offer make people turn to the crust of what this and that Sheikh said about so and so, while moving further from the real essence of religion. God is Just. God is Powerful. God is All-knowing. God doesn't need people like Amr Khaled to enter the hearts of his creation.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just don't understand ppl like u!!
u think u know everything and simply judge anyone , who the hell do u think u r anyway... do u have proves for what u accuse ppl of?? oh no , u don't have to , u 're misses know it all and we have to just agree with what ur "mind" had perceived ...i think u should work on urself first b4 judging others.

egy anatomist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
egy anatomist said...

The limited education and shallow culture of Mr. Amr Khaled and most of his supporters (ela man ra7em rabbi) demonestrate clearly the size of our tragedy. I cannot blame Mr. Khaled for his commercial cleverness. I cannot also blame his followers for their honest attempts to be better ppl. I do blame the other forces of society, i.e. the state, the intellectuals, political parties, etc for leaving young men's minds as hostages to Mr. Amr and his likes.
I salute your keen choices for the issues you discuss in your blog. Regards.

Om Luji said...

wanderer:
Thanks for stopping by anyway.
I really couldn't get your point. I advise you to read my post again. If you have got any ideas you want to discuss, you are welcomed. But I'd like you to know that no personal insult will be tolerated on this blog.

Salama Moussa:
I agree with you that there are many forces in society that are to be blamed. Yet, I can't exclude the blind followers of Amr Khaled and his likes. Even if they had limited education, or no education at all (you know that almost 50% of Egyptians are illiterate), it is not an excuse to cancel their minds. Yes, they have an honest desire to be better, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Thanks so much for your comment. It is good to feel that civilized and open-minded people still exist.

Anonymous said...

Actually when Amr 7'aled first started to appear, mom used to go and attend his lectures. She took me there once, and I felt that his words are really comforting. I then changed my mind for sometine, for I felt that he was "mostana3".. w believe me batalt asma3o 7'ales...w karaht mama feeh kaman. Bas begad, when I heard him talking about seeret el rasool 3aleeh el sallah wel salam, begad I was attracted eny akamel el 7al2a lela7'er...w tabe3taha kaman. You say that he makes use of his talent of convincing people, and the innocence of the youth to make a fortune. 7awly tesma3eelo 7aga b albek msh bewdanek...w am sure en momken fekretek tet3'ayar...y3ny...I am not supporting his every word. However, you never judged things from their appearnces. this time, I am sorry u did. y3ny...ana 3arfa enena mo7'talefeen fel mwdoo3 da...bas try to give urself a chance to listen to what he says...especially like seeret el rasool. seebek mel tareek lelganna wel tooba wel kalam da...w b3den dnt forget eno men aktar el nas ely eder ye2assar fel shababb w y7'aleehom y3melo 7agat mofeeda...like those of sonna3 el 7ayah..begad they do great jobs. w b3den Ill give u myself as an example. Ana basma3 3amr 7'aled w la etnakebt wala batalt asma3 a3'any wala ay 7aga...bas at least taree2et tafkeery et3'ayaret. I feel enek etsara3ty shwya...anyways..e7'telaf al ra2y la yofsed lelwed kadeyya, bas sada2eeny enty mzawedaha shwyeteen

Om Luji said...

Dear Yasmine,
I didn't mention anything in my post about Amr Khaled telling stories about the Prophet and Sa7aba. Because I am not against the person himself, I am against what he stands for. I used him as an example of the present business in the name of religion.
If all he did was telling stories about the Prophet, then in what way is he different from my father? He used to tell me stories about Prophets too. But my father didn't leave his job to make a living out of telling these stories to people.
And this Sona3 El7yah thing, allow me to say it is not what it seems. The idea itself is great. If he had stopped at calling people to wake up and work, I would have clapped for him all my life. But do you know that this thing is business too? He gathers donations on its name, nobody knows how much and where they go. He says the centers that work on this project are volunteering, so why is he gathering money? And when a person passes a course they give him a certificate signed by Amr Khaled! Ya salam, tayeb di yeshta3'al beeha fi Microsoft maslan?
I know you are a smart girl. You will learn by time to go deep under the surface.

Fadfadation said...

Um Luji,

When you said:"taking advantage of their ignorance and vulnerability to gain money and fame. "

7aram 3aliki, you can not know what is in his heart. Only GOd knows that.

There are things i might not agree with Amr About, but at the end of the day...this man changed many people to the better (with God's blessing on him to do so).
CHanging people to the better is a plus on his side.

After all i too once didn't like him. I used to not like his voice and the way he speaks. But, when i tried to be fair and LISTEN to what he said, i benenfited a lot.

Don't let your dislike to him pass judgement on his intentions becuase you'll never know for sure.

Om Luji said...

Fadfadation:
Wallahi I have no hard feelings for the guy. I criticise a whole trend of using religion for business. The reason why I chose to focus on Amr Khaled as an example was the fact that Al Azhar found out that his books and tapes contain wrong citations from Qur'an.
And concerning his intentions, maybe it's because I got a peek behind the scenes, so I know what I am talking about.

Anonymous said...

Asalam alikom,
I understand you were only using amr khaled as an example of people, who don’t necessarily have a sound Islamic education, to gain money and fame. But we cannot deny the fact that so many people young and old that this man helped. His was simple and realistic, it made islam a religion of today not something only old backwards people did.
I grew up in the west and so my Arabic wasn’t very strong. It was hard for me to listen to " the traditional sheiks". Amr khaled with his colloquial Arabic made it easy for everyone, no matter how much or how little they knew to come to love Islam and Allah. Wasn’t it amr khaled that went to defend the prophet in denmark? I am thankful for Allah and amr khaled for helping me find my way back to Islam

As Muslims our religion is being attached by so many people, I find it really sad that instead of defending ourselves we are still stuck in this rout attacking each other.
If you feel amr khaled's way is worng and that his intentions are not pure dont listen to him. But stop wasting your time and intellect insulting other muslims and find a more constructive way of helping our ummah!
Like writing to the bias media, have you ever watched fox? Or glenn beck? Just tonight they had on a young woman from a group called ijtihaad talking about Islam! She was an openly gay muslim! Where are the real muslims? Let me answer that, we are too busy attacking people that are actually helping the cause of Islam.

Om Luji said...

Dear Heba,
Thanks for your comment. It seems that in the heat of writing you missed what you wrote in your first sentence, that you know I'm not attcking a person, but a whole trend. You can see that I never insulted the man, cause I don't believe in this way of criticism. I only pointed out that he is someone who didn't take his audience seriously enough to care to check Holy verses before he recites them, not in public meetings, or classes, but in books and tapes. Now, it seems you are ok with that as long as he presents religion in a simple way. Well, I can do the same, but I won't make a living out of it. Being unqualified I can't print books and record tapes about Physics, for example. Now, what about religion?
If I can forgive him for that, I certainly won't forgive him for misleading people into caring about the outer surface of Islam while forgetting its essence.
If I can forgive him for that too, I can not forgive him for using celebrities in makng himself popular. (There is no religion in that, this is mere marketing, like a Pepsi Ad.)
I want people like you to realize that there was never, nor will there be, anything to block their way to religious knowledge. You just need to seek it on your own, the way God wanted it to be. Don't go for the fast pill, cause its side effects might be so harmful.

Anonymous said...

The most FAKE, FAKE facial expressions I have seen in my life is this dude. His every move says I'm a commercial liar.

Om Luji said...

Anonymous:
Yup! I can't agree more. But it seems that the majority of people can't see that.