Amr Khaled

Amr Khaled
عمرو خالد
Born (1967-09-05) 5 September 1967
Alexandria, Egypt
Nationality Egyptian
Occupation Muslim preacher
Political party Egypt's Future Party[1]
Religion Islam

Amr Mohamed Helmi Khaled[2] (Arabic: عمرو محمد حلمي خالد; born 5 September 1967) is an Egyptian Muslim activist and television preacher. The New York Times Magazine, in reference to Khaled's popularity in Arab countries, described him in its April 30, 2006 issue as "the world's most famous and influential Muslim television preacher." Amr Khaled has recently been chosen as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.[3]

Early days

Amr Khaled was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 5 September 1967. He graduated from Cairo University in 1988 with a degree in Accounting. In 2001, he received a diploma from an Islamic Studies Institute. He received his Ph.D at the University of Wales, Lampeter in May 2010 with a grade of A.[4][5] He began preaching in mosques in 1990 while still working as an accountant. In 1998, he moved to full-time preaching, primarily on satellite television. Khaled's popular lectures, which can be seen on the Iqraa TV channel via the Nilesat direct broadcast satellites, are also distributed over the Internet and on audio and video cassette tapes.

Ministry and audience

Amr Khaled rejects extremism and strongly denounces the actions of Osama bin Laden. He announced that Arab Muslims want to live peacefully in coexistence with the West. His main teachings remain the same as those before him in more modern media, talking about everyday actions to get closer to Allah such as honesty, humbleness, and being polite. He believes that for society to improve it must change from the grassroots (from the bottom up). Khaled promotes community development in the Arabic and Muslim nation based on what he terms "Faith Based Development" (Arabic: التنمية بالإيمان). The idea is for people to develop their communities and countries with faith as their motivator and guide.

Khaled's primary audience consists of Arabs ages fifteen through thirty-five.[6] Khaled believes these are the ones most capable of changing the Islamic world. He is noted for his understandable everyday language and his friendly approach, even joking at times during his lectures.

In 2008, in an open online poll, Khaled was voted the 6th topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (United States).[7]

Shows

Khaled has many shows which were aired on TV in the Holy month for Muslim (Ramadan):

In December 2010, Khaled was invited by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to preach and broadcast in Yemen, to counter the growth of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and other extremist groups in the country causing chronic instability there.[8]

Critics

The British Sunday Times reported on 30 May 2004 that Andrew Turnbull, the cabinet secretary and one of Tony Blair’s closest aides, intended to seek Amr Khaled's aid in furthering the British government’s agenda regarding Muslims. This article hurt Khaled's reputation among those Muslims who are resentful of the attitude of current western governments towards them.[9] He is also criticised for the significant amount of money he makes from his television shows. His annual income in 2007 is estimated to be $2,500,000.[10]

Politics

After the 25 January revolution in Egypt, Amr Khaled shared in establishing a political party called Egypt Party and has been elected as its president but one day after recent coup d'état he resigned.[11][12]

Bibliography

Books by Amr Khaled include:

See also

References

http://www.albalagh.net/general/0097.shtml

  1. Dawoud,Khaled. "Getting it together". Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  2. Ethar El-Katatney [http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7718 A Religious man Egypt Today October 2007.
  3. The TIME 100 (13 of 100)
  4. Amr Khaled CV
  5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QiJXv5eUXs
  6. Piety for the young and affluent
  7. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/prospect-100-intellectuals/
  8. Prodger, Matt (December 7, 2010). "Newsnight - Superstar Muslim preacher Amr Khaled battles Al-Qaeda". BBC News. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  9. Britain’s secret plans to win Muslim hearts and minds
  10. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/02/28/46255.html
  11. http://amrkhaled.net/ar/ak_articles_details/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1
  12. "Preacher Amr Khaled steps down from leading Egypt Party". Ahram News. July 17, 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.