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A Reality Show's Search for a Muslim Role Model
Der Spiegal ^ | August 6th 2010 | Nicola Abé

Posted on 08/08/2010 4:04:31 PM PDT by Cardhu

It's like American Idol. Except in this Malaysian reality TV show, the goal is to find a religious role model. Young men compete in challenges such as washing corpses and ferreting out unmarried couples. The winner gets a MacBook and the chance to lead prayers in public.

Nuri Ali Arbain had never dreamed of becoming an imam. But he also wasn't one to miss an opportunity, which explains why he was standing on a stage with the number 1801 pinned to his shirt, staring into the serious faces of the jurors and blinking into the lens of a television camera. He was wearing his Islamic cap and a freshly pressed shirt. He was only a farmer with a side business in used computer parts, just a boy from the village. He liked riding his motorcycle. As a child, he used to go hunting for fish with a bow and arrow. He didn't really belong here on this stage in front of a TV camera, and he knew it.

Nevertheless, when two of his friends had told him that they were driving to the capital and asked if he wanted to come along, he agreed right away. There was a casting call for a TV show, they had said. Astro Oasis, a Malaysian TV network, was looking for a young imam who could help put an end to moral decline in the country and get young people more interested in Islam.

The winner would become an imam at one of the big mosques in the capital, travel to Mecca and study at the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia. Most of all, however, he would receive a cash prize of 20,000 ringgit (about €5,000 or $6,600) a car and a MacBook.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: General Discusssion; Islam; Ministry/Outreach
KEYWORDS: imamidol; malaya
In the show, which follows the format of Western reality TV shows like American Idol, the goal is to find talented young religious leaders.

Interesting concept and an excellent article explaining it with a lot of photographs.


Contestants in Malaysia's 'Imam Muda' Reality TV show, which uses the American Idol format to search for a Muslim role model.

1 posted on 08/08/2010 4:04:33 PM PDT by Cardhu
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To: Cardhu
It's like American Idol. Except in this Malaysian reality TV show, the goal is to find a religious role model. Young men compete in challenges such as washing corpses and ferreting out unmarried couples. The winner gets a MacBook and the chance to lead prayers in public.

What, no competition to see who can behead an infidel the quickest?

2 posted on 08/08/2010 4:06:28 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Cardhu

A little hard when their role models blow up so fast.


3 posted on 08/08/2010 4:06:55 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: Cardhu

4 posted on 08/08/2010 4:10:11 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: dfwgator; fieldmarshaldj

LOL


5 posted on 08/08/2010 4:10:38 PM PDT by Cardhu
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To: Cardhu
Not enough explosive belt showing.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

6 posted on 08/08/2010 4:14:10 PM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: MrEdd

Bloomberg’s boy.


7 posted on 08/08/2010 4:41:21 PM PDT by 353FMG (ISLAM - America's inevitable road to destruction.)
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To: Cardhu

“Young men compete in challenges such as washing corpses and ferreting out unmarried couples.”


8 posted on 08/08/2010 4:55:05 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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