CAIRO: The moment an Arab viewer tunes into one of the many Arabic music channels, they are immediately transported to a world of wanton women and material luxury. Sultry songstresses driving fancy cars seem to be endlessly begging their lover for forgiveness.
Maybe you’ll see Nancy Agram wearing a red cat suit as she moves suggestively on the silk sheets of a giant four-poster bed. Or you may stumble upon a lingerie-clad Haifa Wahby feeding an infant boy chocolate sauce as he takes a bubble bath. There seems to be a new pop starlet on the scene everyday with racier lyrics and more provocative dance moves.
This virtual world stands in stark contrast to the daily realties and conservative values of most people in the Middle East. Yet, polls repeatedly show that the majority of youth in the region prefer this sort of programming to anything else.
It was precisely this paradox that led the former chief editor of Al-Resala channel, Ahmed Abu Haiba, to launch the first ever 24-hour Islamic music videos channel. Named 4 Shabab, the channel is geared specifically towards Arab youth.
Abu Haiba hopes this channel will help revolutionize the nature of Islamic television, fighting for the hearts and minds of young Muslims across the region.
Abu Haiba first conceived of the idea several years ago when he started to feel threatened by the widespread appeal of raunchy Arabic pop videos. He felt compelled to give Muslim youth a viable alternative. “I dreamt of creating an entertainment channel that also represents the core values of Islam, teaching people how to be good Muslims but in a fresh and modern format, he said.
This was Abu Haiba’s motivation when he approached a group Saudi investors last year. His strategy was simple: Confront them with the lewd reality of Arab pop videos today and then show them how much their own youth were drawn into watching.
He smiled as he said, “First I made them watch a carefully chosen selection of the most provocative music videos on television today. Most of them deliberately avoided satellite television and had never seen anything like this before. They could not believe their eyes. Next I showed them statistics on how many of our own youth were watching these videos. They immediately saw the need to do something.
Shortly after this meeting, the same group gave Abu Haiba several million dollars to launch his new channel. He quickly left his post as bureau chief of Al-Resala channel to dedicate himself entirely to this project.
There are, however, several obstacles in store for Abu Haiba as he tries to build the infrastructure of 4 Shabab, and enter the crowded world of Arabic satellite channels. These include a significant proliferation of Islamic channels such as El-Nas and Al-Resala, all of which have a solid fan base in the Arab world.
Abu Haiba is quick to point out that his new channel is not aiming to compete with these or other Islamic channels nor with the networks that air racier shows “We are not here to compete with anyone. We are here to introduce something entirely new to the market, open Islamic entertainment.
Whether Abu Haiba intends it or not, 4 Shabab will be taking part in the cultural tug-of-war currently underway on the television screen, between western-style liberalism and the growing influence of Wahabi-style Islam. As things stand, the staunchly traditional programming and the open shows of sexuality illustrate the contradictions present in many Muslim countries. The viewership of an Islamic music videos channel could act as a litmus test for the region regarding what the youth want to watch.
