Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper, University of Oxford Religious Islamic Satellite Channels: A Screen That Leads You To Heaven by Mohamed El-Sayed Hilary & Trinity Terms 2009 Sponsor: Mona Megalli Fellowship 1 Table of Contents Inttroducttiion 3 Chaptter 1 The Emergence of Religious Islamic Satellite Channels 7 Chapter 2 Business Model: A Ringtone That Will Lead You to Heaven 17 Chapter 3 Critical Analysis of the Content of Religious Islamic Satellite Channels 21 3.1 Diverse content for diverse audience 21 3.2 Moderatism vs. Traditionalism 24 3.3 Women on Salafi Screens 29 3.4 Different approaches to religion 32 Chapter 4 Market Conditions and Competition: The Boom’s not Over 39 Conclusion 43 Acknowledgements 46 Bibliography 47 2 Introduction Over the past couple of decades the Arab world has witnessed an unprecedented boom in the number of international television services. The Arab satellite television industry began in the early 1990s in the wake of the first Gulf War. Arab entrepreneurs and governments then became interested in launching regional Arabic-language satellite channels, the former in pursuit of financial gain, the latter in search of regional influence over editorial lines, programmes, and pan-Arab public opinion. 1 This wave of establishing satellite channels in the Arab world began with the launching in 1991 of the Egyptian Space Channel (ESC), which was soon followed by the creation of the Saudi Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC), the Kuwaiti Space Channel (KSC), the Jordanian Arab Space Channel (JASC), the Space Network of Dubai, Tunisia TV7, Moroccan Satellite Channel, Oman TV, and United Arab Emirates TV. Hundreds of other national and local television channels were later put on ARABSAT for direct- to-home reception across the Arab world. The Arab region has also witnessed for the first time the birth of private specialised international television services in the 1990s, 1 Paula Chakravartty & Yuezhi Zhad, Global Communications: Toward a Transcultural Political Economy, ( Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2008), p. 191. 3 such as Arab Radio and Television (ART), and the Orbit television package that include mainly entertainment and sports channels. Obviously, the primary objective for the development of these satellite services is that many an Arab country desired to project a favourable image of its society and government to the rest of the Arab world. Another secondary objective is to broadcast programmes in Arabic to Arab nationals living abroad, for the majority of these channels are transmitting via satellites covering different parts of the world, given that there are estimated over 5 million Arabs living in Europe and more than 2 million in America. The second half of the first decade of the Arab satellite television industry is also marked by a transformation from single channels to multi-channel networks. Many specialised channels grouped under one name, providing complementary services that range from general family stations to sports and entertainment channels. Amid these flourishing circumstances and a specialisation trend, Islamic religious satellite channels emerged in the last part of the 1990s. The establishment of the first Sunni Islamic religious satellite channel in the Arab world, Iqraa* , as part of the Arabic Radio and Television Network (ART), owned by the Arab Media Company (AMC), in 1998 paved the way for a proliferation in the number of similar channels in the Arab world in the following years. Today, while this research was being written, there are estimated 30 specialised religious * The word “Iqraa” in Arabic means “Read” which constitutes the first verse in the Holy Quran. 4 Islamic satellite channels transmitting via many satellites covering the entire Arab world and other parts of the world as well. This research is intended to give an overview of the history of Sunni Islamic religious satellite channels, their missions, and their raison d’être. I will also provide a critical analysis of their content, the kind of Islam they promote, programme formats, and the religious scholars they host. Despite the fact that precious few pieces of information about the means of financing these channels are available, I will try to outline the business models adopted by these channels for them to survive in what is becoming a highly competitive, expanding market of religious satellite media bordering on full saturation. And in light of a lack in official and independent statistics about the number of audience of these channels as well as limited resources, the research will not tackle the impact of these channels on audience, which could be the theme of a PhD thesis. The research divides religious Islamic satellite channels into two main types: Salafi and “moderate” stations. This general classification is based on the type of content and the kind of Islam offered by these channels: the former broadcast puritanical form of Islam, and the latter provides a relatively moderate version of religion. There are a number of religious channels that only broadcasts recitals of the Holy Quran, Hadith (Sayings of the Prohphet Muhammad), Islamic lyrics. The focus will be on the type of programmes in Iqraa and Al-Resala channels as representatives of non- Salafi channels on one hand, and on one of the Salafi 5 stations, Al-Nas, which is headquartered in Egypt and believed to be the most popular among Egyptian viewers. 3 3 According to fifteen interviews with loyal viewers of religious channels in Egypt in addition to many an analysis published in Arabic by respected Egyptian media experts, Al-Nas proved to be the most watched religious channel by Egyptians. 6 Chapter One The Emergence of Religious Islamic Satellite Channels “For many years we have yearned to see a channel that caters for our religious needs and through which we can interactively communicate with our favourite sheikhs,” said an Egyptian heavy-bearded young man who has been a loyal viewer of most of the religious Islamic satellite channels since their inception in late 1990s. For decades, religious preaching in the Egyptian media has been confined to precious few specialised religious newspapers and magazines that were mostly issued by state-affiliated establishments like Al-Azhar, and programmes aired by the state-run Holy Quran Radio Station, or cassette audio- and video-tapes containing religious sermons given by Islamic scholars and lay preachers, in addition to a small number of TV shows aired on official TV channels. However, with the proliferation in the number of satellite channels in the Arab world in the 1990s – which hit more than 300 channels in 2009 and are mostly owned by businessmen – and as “Arab satellite broadcasting offered unparalleled opportunities for media businesses and advertisers”1 broadcasters began to think about launching specialised religious channels to cater to a growing number of religious people in the Arab world. The proliferation in the number of satellite channels in the Arab world can not be separated from the fact that 300 1 Marwan M. Kraidy, Arab Satellite Television Between Regionalization and Globalization, Global Media Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2002 7 million Arab people were ideal targets for corporations wishing to shape consumer loyalties. This regionalist approach adopted by broadcasters cashed in on the fact that the Arab audience is united by language, and, to a large extent, by religion, which makes standardised advertising viable. 2 In addition, the satellite revolution that took place in the Arab world could also be attributed to the convergence of three factors, with global and regional dimensions: relative political liberalisation, economic privatisation, and the acquisition of new communication technologies. As a result, the satellite industry has changed parameters of television production, control and reception. Private companies pumped huge investments into establishing satellite channels, having lavishly spent on TV shows. Meanwhile, satellite dishes and receivers became more and more affordable for the majority of people. Amid this satellite revolution emerged a business opportunity for Arab entrepreneurs to cash in on a growing trend of religiosity in the Arab world that gained pace with the rise of the oil wealth in the conservative Arab Gulf countries starting from the 1970s. Millions of citizens from poor Arab countries, especially from Egypt, emigrated to the Gulf countries in pursuit of better job opportunities, where they were susceptible to a puritanical version of Islam – Wahabism.* Many of those who came back to their 2 Ibid. * A strictly orthodox version of Sunni Islam founded by Muhammad Ibn Abd El-Wahhab (1703–92). It advocates a return to the early Islam of the Quran and Sunna, rejecting later innovations; this type of Islam is still the predominant religious force in Saudi Arabia. 8 countries stuck to the practices of Wahabism and conveyed them to their families and acquaintances. Amidst these favourable circumstances, a host of religious channels came to existence over the last decade. The most popular three religious Islamic channels were launched by Saudi businessmen: the first religious Islamic channel, Iqraa, was launched by the Saudi billionaire Saleh Kamel in 1998 as part of the ART satellite television network, then Saudi businessman Prince Walid bin Talal launched Al-Resala station in 2006 as part of Rotana satellite network. The launching of Al-Resala could also be attributed to the fact that the Saudi royal family, to