A group of Muslim clerics connected with Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar University have announced the creation of a new satellite channel to propagate moderate Islam and challenge what it describes as extremist distortions of the religion. The announcement came just ahead of President Barack Obama's address Thursday to the Muslim world from Cairo. Sheik Khaled Al-Guindy, a member of Egypt's Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and a driving force behind the 24-hour “Azhari” channel, said the idea is to use the knowledge and skills of Al-Azhar graduates to combat ignorant interpretations of the religion. “Azhari will promote the idea that Islam is a religion of moderation free from extremism,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Several satellite channels right now promote a strict interpretation of Islam and issue incorrect religious opinions that fill young people with extremist ideas.” “Audiences need people that deal in reality and respect reality and respect changes in the world,” said Al-Guindy, explaining that graduates of Al-Azhar university are well grounded in subjects outside of religion as well. “In the Age of Obama we realized it was time to look at new ways to deliver our message,” Guindy said. “We cannot have a conversation with ourselves. We will include politicians, actors, thinkers, writers and all religions in our dialogue,” he told Reuters in an interview. Azhari is set to be launched in mid-August, at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and will present a mix of entertainment and educational programing, including children's cartoons, soap operas and call-in shows. The channel will initially be broadcast in English and Arabic, with plans to expand it to Turkish and Hindi, and will be viewable from Europe to Southeast Asia. “The idea is to really show moderate Islam, not this extreme one that is being utilized by others,” said Hassan Tatanaki, a Libyan businessman who helped provide the channel's $2.7 million in initial funding. “Our aim is to be able to reach not only the Arab Muslims, but the non-Arab Muslims, mainly in the Far East, the Near East, places like the US and Europe.” With just a quarter of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims from the Arab world, reaching non-Arabic speaking Muslims is especially important, especially since many are in danger of being misled by extremists, he said. The new channel is hoping to combat extremist views with a multimedia strategy that includes newspapers, radio and online network tools like Twitter. Guindy said the channel would engage in topical issues such as globalization, cloning and genetics and organ donation, but would not challenge government decisions or be used for other political reasons. He was quick to assert that while the channel would employ graduates of Al-Azhar and embody its ideals, it would not be officially connected to the institution. “We are totally independent,” he said.
