An Islamic reality TV show that made its contestants counsel promiscuous teenagers and bury corpses has named a 26-year-old mosque prayer leader as Malaysia's top role model for young Muslims. Producers voiced hopes Sunday of launching similar versions of “Young Leader,” in other Muslim-majority countries after the Malaysian show's first season became the most-watched program to ever air on pay-television network Astro's Islamic channel. Muhammad Asyraf Ridzuan beat a 27-year-old Islamic schoolteacher who studied at Egypt's Al-Azhar University to win the competition late Friday in an event broadcast nationwide from an auditorium packed with spectators who secured highly coveted tickets. It was the culmination of a 10-episode run to find a young man whose religious devotion could inspire other Malaysian Muslims of his generation. The boyish-looking Muhammad Asyraf's victory earned him prizes that mixed the spiritual - a new job as prayer leader at a prestigious Kuala Lumpur mosque and an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to Makkah - with the secular, including a car, iPhone, laptop and 20,000 ringgit ($6,400) in cash. “I want to be a prayer leader who is friendly to youths, cool and relaxed,” Muhammad Asyraf said after embracing his tearful mother and wife at the end of Friday's event. “I want to play football with the kids in my neighborhood and still be a spiritual leader.”
