Amidst the increasing number of satellite channels on the Egyptian satellite Nilesat, comes the religious channels that show a huge change and a variance in responses. Al-Shurūq followed the phenomenon of religious satellite channels that witness great divisions and fierce wars, as well as strong rigidity and prejudice.
Al-Rahmah channel, which received many threats demanding its close, was not the first religious channel to be closed. Religious channels are actually the channels that are most canceled on Nilesat. Al-Rahmad channel was threatened by some Jewish organizations in France, which accused the channel of insulting Jews and calling for their extinction.
It seems that the only common element in such channels is their advertising policies and their way of asking for financial help and support. There is more than one way which these channels collect money. These ways include providing SMS', which occupy a big part of the channel’s screen. There are also funds that come through commercial advertisements. These are the advertisements aired during program breaks, which are religiously bent. The third source for funds comes through offering mobile services, like Islamic ring tones, Islamic phone service and slogans, and speeches uploaded on mobile sets. In addition to this, there is a new means of funding. This is to offer people partnership in the channel, either through asking them to donate or buy shares in the channel.
Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘tī Bayūmī, former dean of the Faculty of Religious Fundamentals at the Azhar University, warned of the spread of these channels. “The reality is that many of the satellite channels that manipulate religion and host some amateurs in Islamic preachers, discuss only trivial and superficial matters of religion,” he said, “This, in return, constitutes great harm to Islamic culture and ideas.”
Dr. Bayūmī added that, unfortunately, these channels gain money through advertisements and accordingly they manage to attract people to debatable issues like
sunnah, shaī‘ah, salafīsts and sūfists.
Shaykh Khālid al-Jindī, who is running Azharī channel, comments that there is a defense that should be said. “Religious satellite channels are still developing,” al-Jindī said, “and full evaluation of this experience at the present time would be unfair to these channels.” He also added that there is no remarkable competition between satellite channels, due to the absence of harmony between the content and goals of these channels. He also commented on the material broad casted on these channels, saying that it does not provide enough opportunities to talk to the “other.” However, they offer a good opportunity for new preachers to be trained.
Muhammad ‘Adawī also wrote that these religious satellite channels have become a place for wars between
Sunnah and Shaī‘ah. Channels like al-Kawthar, Ahl al-Bayt, and al-Anwār are totally devoted to the promotion of the shī‘ī doctrine, while channels like al-Safā and Wisāl are devoted to the
Sunnī doctrine, where
Shaykh ‘Adnān al-A‘war leads the movement in these channels. This is not the only dispute that takes place on satellite channels. Such religious channels also promote struggles between
salafī thinking and sūfism, where each side tries to prove its correctness.
