Controversy seems to follow Muslim televangelist Amr Khaled wherever he goes. Gihan Shahine investigates the motives behind the recent cancellation -- and return -- of his popular satellite TV show The last time that Amr Khaled -- Egypt's most popular televangelist -- appeared live on Arab Radio and Television's (ART) Iqra' Islamic satellite channel was a few days after the fall of Baghdad. His show had appeared nightly during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, providing a moderate Islamic discourse on war-related issues. Suddenly, and without any explanation, the special war show -- called Until They Change Themselves -- as well as Khaled's long-running Wa Nalqa Al-Ahiba (Meeting the Beloved) -- were axed by the network. There were no new episodes, and even the reruns were taken off the air. Last Tuesday, just as unexpectedly, the show was back on Iqra', at its regular time. Sources at the channel told Al-Ahram Weekly that Khaled was also shooting new episodes to be aired in June. The reasons behind Khaled's temporary disappearance from the screen remain unclear. Sheikh Saleh Kamel, the Saudi owner of ART, was unavailable for comment. Other sources at the channel said they did not know why Khaled's programmes were removed. "I just received orders not to air them," snapped a channel employee. Since then, he said, dozens of fans had called Iqra''s Cairo headquarters urging the channel to put Khaled back on the air. Khaled himself was a live guest on a Bahraini satellite channel during his brief visit to the country last week. Several people called in to the show while he was on air to ask why their "most beloved" da'iya (preacher) had suddenly dropped off their screens. The ever-smiling preacher did not provide a straight answer, merely reassuring the callers that new episodes were in the pipeline, and explaining that he had needed a break after presenting 28 consecutive episodes during the war on Iraq. Khaled also said he was leaving Lebanon -- where he had been living for the past few months -- for England, in order to pursue his PhD, a comparative study of the Islamic and western models of social reform, at a UK university. He rebutted claims that Lebanon had rescinded his residency visa. Some sources, interviewed by the Weekly, insisted however that certain "Arab officials" had asked Sheikh Saleh Kamel to axe the popular preacher. There has also been a tide of rumour and speculation that request was actually made in response to pressures from the US. Whatever the truth of the matter, Khaled has been banned before. In Egypt, Khaled's religious lessons, which attracted thousands to the mosques where they were held, were banned on a number of occasions. It was also widely reported that, just a few days before the beginning of last year's holy month of Ramadan, "certain" authorities had asked Khaled to give up preaching altogether. It was then, the rumour goes, that the 36-year-old preacher headed for the UK to do his PhD. Things did not go smoothly there either. Khaled was reportedly denied entry to the UK on his way back from Umra (a minor Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca), immediately following Ramadan. The young preacher then moved to Lebanon, and was soon on the air with his programme. The latest ban seems to have driven him back to England where he is currently pursuing his studies. Khaled's on air and global travails have triggered a significant public uproar, especially among his young fans. This time around, the local press has named US foreign policy as "a prime suspect" behind the latest ban. Just as they had when he first left Egypt, Khaled's young supporters have again waged an Internet campaign on his behalf, circulating e-mails and SMSs urging people to contact satellite channels and ask that Khaled's shows be aired. Also par for the course have been the rumours that have sprung up about Khaled, with different people claiming on good authority that he had been thrown out of Lebanon, hit on the head, or, alternately, the victim of a shooting. Political analysts and Islamic thinkers, meanwhile, have been busy arguing that the brouhaha surrounding Khaled is actually part of an overall clampdown on freedom of expression in general, and Islamist discourse in particular. Even those who don't like Khaled are critical of the constant bans against him, arguing that that kind of attention "has turned the young preacher into a hero". Prominent columnist and Islamic affairs expert Fahmi Howeidy charged that "the US blatantly interferes in the minutest details of Arab internal affairs." US plans to change the political, educational and media maps of the Arab world, and secularise Islamic religious discourse in the process, are all cases in point, Howeidy pointed out. "On this point, however," he added, "I would rather blame the Arab regimes that allow such interference to occur." According to Howeidy, authorities have always targeted Khaled, and the Until They Change Themselves programme was probably no more than "a pretext to gag the young preacher". In Howeidy's opinion, Khaled represents a moderate line, which is "reconciled to God, people and state order. He has always adopted a religious discourse that steers clear of politics. Khaled does not belong to any political party or religious group and does not issue fatwas (religious edicts). Contrary to political Islam, Khaled represents a new genre of da'wa that is more concerned with individual religious and ethical enhancement, rather than establishing a religious polity. Khaled also addresses a different flock from the aggrieved lower classes from which Islamist militants emerged. His audience is mainly drawn from among the young well- to-do."
