The impact of digitization on the religious sphere : televangelism as an example

Televangelism as one example of digital media technology is popular as a media of preaching recently. Televangelism is a hybrid genre of religion and entertainment which can be the manifestation of ‘infotainment’ predominance in contemporary media culture. Televangelists use digital media technologies, such as the Internet, DVDs and blogspots to popularize their programmes. They, therefore, raise their popularity and are granted a ‘celebrity status’ by having thousands of fans and followers on social media networks. The findings show that Televangelism becomes popular among Muslim youth audiences because they perceive it as a new form of religious expression which is considered ‘modern’ in appearance and relevant to their everyday lives. For them, Televangelism is also a manifestation of the individual change. This study shows that with the rise of literacy rate and the availability of modern digital media, religious knowledge became accessible to large community. The internet has become a new paradigm where voices can compete for the authority. The cyberspace and internet have become one important platform where religious can be disseminated, contested and negotiated easily. Therefore, televangelists have become influential figures to some Muslim audiences, especially the youth in middle classes. The use of digital media by televangelists

has helped popularize their discourses.The findings also shows how the sermons and texts of particular televangelists can possibly relate to dominant (capitalist) ideologies, how structures of power are represented in their discourses and what their texts may reveal about the socio-historical contexts of Muslims in the twenty first century.

Introduction
The proliferation of digital media technologies in the twenty first century has its impact on mediated communication in the public sphere; this can be exemplified in the domain of politics 1 and religion. 2In 'global religions' such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, 3 digitization has opened up new spaces for the mediation of religious information. 4The Internet, for instance, has enabled particular religious communities 5 to circulate and publicize their message.The proliferation of religious websites, forums and blogs, e-books and DVDs of religious material came to be known as e-religion. 6ithin the above context, one phenomenon that has gained popularity in recent years is televangelism, in which satellite television/Internet is used as a medium of preaching. 7Historically speaking, televangelism rose into prominence in the 1980s in the United States of America due to the popularity of some figures such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Robinson. 8 It soon spread to Muslim majority and minority contexts, for instance, in Egypt and Indonesia as well as in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. 9elevangelism is interesting in many ways.It is a hybrid genre of religion and entertainment and can be conceived of as one manifestation of the predominance of 'infotainment' in contemporary media culture. 10n addition, it is a manifestation of the rise of the celebrity culture. 11In a similar way to public figures such as popular artists and politicians, televangelists have become 'media celebrities' with thousands of fans and followers on social media networks.
While television is a main medium for disseminating televangelists' programmes, I argue in this paper that digital media technologies, such as the Internet, DVDs and blogspots, represent one important paradigm that has helped popularize televangelists' programes, granting them a 'celebrity status'.Related to the above is the impact of digitization on the deconstruction of traditional sources of religious authority in the twenty first century, televangelism being one of its important manifestations.
Thematically, the present study is divided into two sections.First, I delineate the main features of televangelism and give account of the use of digital media by two popular televangelists, namely Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf. 12Then, I explore the important question as to how digitization has changed the structure of religious authority in the twenty first century. 13

Televangelism: a new form of religious expression
There are many characteristic features of televangelism that have rendered it a new form of religious expression.One feature is the hybridity of the genre in which entertainment elements-such as the use of songs and/or talk shows-are integrated into religious messages 14 .In addition, unlike formally educated scholars who are dressed in traditional garb and use classical Arabic15 , televangelists make use of colloquial and conversational style and wear modern clothes.
Moreover, characteristic of televangelists' discourses is the presentation of religion as a source of individual change16 .To illustrate, the televangelist Amr Khaled, one case study I draw on below, calls upon his audiences to dismiss pessimism and take part in civic action 17 .For instance, in his programmes, Khaled calls upon his audiences to volunteer to the organization he established i.e.Life Makers18 , which is aimed, inter alia, at fighting illiteracy and drugs.
In the same vein, in Indonesia, the two popular televangelists, Aa Gym and Arifin IIham, commodify religion as a means of personal development. 19Aa Gym, for instance, integrates his religious message with advices on personal development and business management (e.g.promoting communicative skills and networking.He has three mottos: 'start with yourself', 'start with small things' and 'start now'. 20he above features are reasons why televangelism is particularly appealing to some audiences of Muslim youth who perceive televangelism as a new form of religious expression that is both 'modern' in appear-ance and relevant to their everyday lives. 21n addition, I argue that the use of digital media technologies has granted televangelism more popularity and visibility. 22In the coming sections, I draw on two case 23 studies: the Egyptian televangelist Amr Khaled who has huge following among young Muslims in the Arab world and the Middle East 24 and the American televangelist Hamza Yusuf who is particularly popular among young western Muslims. 25The point of integrating two case studies is to build up on scholarly research on Islam in a global context, 26 rather than solely focusing on Islam in 'old' majority settings. 27n the following, I start by giving a short bio-graphical note about Amr Khaled, before exploring how digital media has consolidated his popularity. 23Following G. Thomas, "A typology for the case study in social science following a review of definition, discourse and structure", Qualitative Inquiry, Vol.17, No. 6 (2011), 513, I define a case study as: 'Analyses of persons, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions, or other systems that are studied holistically by one or more methods'.

The case study of Amr Khaled
Born in 1967, Amr Khaled graduated with a BA in accounting in 1988.While still working as an accountant, he began preaching in mosques in 1990.In 1998, he moved to full-time preaching, primarily on satellite television. 28DVDs of Khaled's first programme 'Words from the Heart' were distributed to street vendors in Cairo, hitting 50,000 copies in 2001. 29is programme was soon taken up by the satellite television channel Dream TV and the Saudi channel Iqraa. 30t is the skillful use of digital media that has sustained his popularity.For instance, he set up a website 'amrkaled.net';recognized as 'one of the most popular Arab sites worldwide', where Khaled offers 'video downloads of his sermons, MP3s of popular religious music, printed transcripts of TV shows and numerous other resources for young followers'. 31Moreover, in an attempt to achieve a 'transnational' reach, his website has versions in nineteen different languages including English, Chinese, Russian and Urdu. 32n addition, YouTube emerges as an important channel for the mediation of Khaled's programmes.This can be contextualized in the popularity of YouTube itself as an online channel. 33It is one of the most rapidly growing video-sharing websites on the Internet: there is no limit to the number of YouTube videos that a user can create and download; it also has some 'community' features for instance, creating/following particular YouTube channels and commenting on videos posted by other users. 34On his YouTube channel,35 Amr Khaled posts excerpts and/or sound bites of his programmes and updates of his recent visits.One aspect that is worth noting is that Khaled himself highlights his use of new media.For instance, in footage of a visit by Khaled to China, published on his YouTube channel, he is seen giving a lecture; as Twitter users, on the left hand side, interact with him on Twitter (Figure 1).In addition to his YouTube channel, Amr Khaled has a Facebook page that has a high record of subscribers as eight million fans. 36In fact, Facebook is one important channel where Khaled interacts with his audiences and gains online visibility.This can be illustrated by examining one of Khaled's posts37 on Facebook (Figure 2).There are many textual and multi-modal aspects that are worth examining in the above post (Figure 2).The use of the quotation in Englishaccompanied by an Arabic translation on the right hand side-indicates Khaled's attempt to reach audiences that do not necessarily read Arabic.In addition, the recontextualisation of a quotation by Walt Disney, basically a non-religious figure, shows an attempt to integrate both religious and non-religious messages or as Hashem put it, to create 'a civil-religious nexus'.In fact, the quotation here 'if you can dream it, you can do it' acts as an 'anchorage' to the image of the colorful flying balloon, 38 sending a message of hope to the audiences.
Interestingly, the fact that Khaled's post is shared, to date, by about six thousand users on Facebook, lends truth to how social media has helped extend Khaled's online visibility among his fans, followers and their network of friends.
The use of digital media is an important dynamics of televangelism not only in Muslim majority contexts 39 but also in minority contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America. 40n this vein, one salient example is the American televangelist Hamza Yusuf, described in Esposito and Kalin's 41 book 500 Most Influential Muslims as 'the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar who has built a huge grassroots following, particularly among young western Muslims'.In the following, I start by presenting bio-information about Yusuf before examining how the use of new media has consolidated his popularity.

The case study of Hamza Yusuf
Born in 1958 in the United States of America , and a convert to Islam, Hamza Yusuf has the title of an 'Islamic scholar' and 'an intellectual' 42 .He has established one college in California, the Zaytuna College, which aims to 'train students in the varied sciences of Islam, while also instilling in them a sophisticated understanding of the intellectual history and culture of the West' 43 .
Giving his sermons and programmes in English, primarily addressing the English-speaking communities, Yusuf focuses on issues of Muslims in the West.Characteristic of Yusuf's discourse is that he calls upon Muslims 39 H.A. Campbell, When Religion Meets New Media, London: Routledge, 2010, 89-96. 40 See N. Echchaibi, "From audio tapes..., 25-44. 41John L. Esposito and Kalin, 500 Most Influential Muslims..., 78. 42S. Gilliat-Ray, Muslims in Britain..., 166 on Hamza Yusuf. 43The website of Zaytuna college: http://www.zaytunacollege.org/about/ to 'rise up to the challenge'; taking a global perspective on problems such as poverty, disease in Africa and global economic injustices44 .In addition, he reiterates in his sermons that he is both American and Muslim, dismissing discourses that represent Islam and the West as an oxymoron, i.e. if you are one you cannot be the other. 45ike the televangelist Amr Khaled, Yusuf makes use of a variety of digital media tools for a wider mediation of his discourses.One point that is worth noting here is how Hamza Yusuf's fans and followers make use of online spaces to popularize his discourses.For instance, figure 3 below shows one blogger who has dedicated her blogspot to Hamza Yusuf;46 the introduction to the blog reads: 'How my sister and I rediscovered the traditional Islamic knowledge our forefathers used to teach thanks to the lectures and writings of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and how this journey changed our lives'.

Figure 3 One blogger dedicating her blog to Hamza Yusuf
Through the use of digital media, therefore, televangelists such as Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf have acquired 'transnational' popularity.To illustrate, in her ethnographic study on young Muslim youth in Sweden, Denmark and the United States of America, Schmidt cites the example of Aysha, a young woman from Sweden, whose dream is to travel to California to join Zaytuna College established by Hamza Yusuf.Transnational ties among Muslim youth, Schmidt argues, operates at a local level by inviting speakers from abroad, where teaching material often consists of downloaded texts produced by scholars such as Hamza Yusuf. 47This can be perceived within the context of an increasing use of the Internet by Muslim youth in Europe to seek religious knowledge. 48t is important to state here that the rise of televangelism, as a religious phenomenon, has to be seen within the wider context of the deconstruction of the traditional sources of religious authority. 49With the emergence of 'digital Islam', 50 new paradigms 51 have emerged in which many voices are competing for authority.I explore this point in the following section.

Digitization and the deconstruction of religious authority
In order to understand how televangelists have become sources of authority for wider constituencies of audiences in the contemporary age, one has to explore the traditional sources of religious authority in Islam.
For long, the dissemination of religious knowledge was under the authority of formally educated scholars, or ulama as students relied on an oral tradition where they studied religion through the memorization of the Quran and the Prophet's sayings 52 .The advent of print capitalism to the Muslim world in the nineteenth century, however, marked an important stage in the change in religious authority as religious texts became accessible to larger constituencies of readers.This in a way, Eickelman argued (1982), has extended the control of the ulama, formally educated scholars, on the dissemination of religious knowledge.
However, with the rise of literacy rates and the availability of religious texts-now in print form-religious knowledge became accessible to larger constituencies of readers who can now 'read' and 'interpret'.As Robinson put it, 'Books . . .could now be consulted by any Ahmad, Mahmud or Muhammad, who could make what they [would] of them'. 53f print capitalism has broken the monopoly of religious scholars on Islamic knowledge, the predominance of digital media has even accelerated the dynamics of accessing religious texts.Through CDs, websites, blogs and forums 54 works of exegesis and jurisprudence can be stored and accessed by users in multi-media format. 55n addition, the Internet has become a new paradigm where voices can compete for authority.One stark example in this vein is the issuing of fatwas, i.e. authoritative opinions, online 56 .Whereas in the past, one traditional route for getting fatwas was accessing educational institutions or formally educated scholars, fatwas can now be offered through websites 57 where answers to questions are responded to by scholars associated with the website.58 This means that new media has opened up new spaces where varied actors can claim religious authority.
Sisler (2007), for example, shows how fatwas posted in English, seem to particularly address issues of Muslims in Europe and the United States. 60For instance, he cites the case of one Fatwa issued by the European Council for Fatwa and Research which -unlike one reading of Islamic law-has permitted the use of a loan in order to solve one's housing situation. 61Published by Islamonline.netand Ukim.org, the fatwa has triggered a debate on cyberspace, and 'has clearly influenced subsequent fatwas, for example one issued later by Al-Azhar'. 62The latter example not only testifies to the creation of a global 'public sphere' where some Islamic interpretations may be discussed, negotiated and contested in chat rooms and websites across the board, 63 but also demonstrates that Islam in Europe can shape and/or reshape the dominant interpretations of Islam in some Muslim majority contexts.
Whether fatwas are issued by religious institutions such as Al Azhar University or independent organizations such as the European Council for Fatwa and Research, the cyberspace has become one important platform where religious knowledge can be disseminated, contested and negotiated, undermining or asserting the authority of particular actors.
In addition, one perhaps has to mention that the easiness of communication and the interconnectedness of economic ties have led to new paradigms and resources for disseminating religious knowledge 64 .For instance, researchers 65 refer to the emergence of online magazines such as Q-News and the Muslim news that are 'available to those whose first language is English'. 66s new paradigms for claiming authority have emerged, televangelists have become influential figures to some Muslim audiences, particularly young Muslims of the middle classes 67 .As Lotfy 68 comments in his exami-nation of televangelism in Egypt, youth of upper and middle-classes are attracted to televangelists' discourses because, these social strata do not lack wealth or capabilities and to them the concept of 'civic responsibility' is more appealing than the radical messages of Islamist ideologies.In other words, audiences in Indonesia listening to Aa Gym would relate religion to personal and social development at the same time when audiences listening to Amr Khaled in Egypt are pushed towards the possibility of bringing change to themselves and others.

Conclusion: critique of televangelism
To conclude, in this study, I have delineated the main characteristic features of televangelism in terms of the modern appearance of televangelists, their use of entertainment elements and presenting religion as a force of individual change.I focused on two televangelists, i.e.Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf, as two case studies.While televangelism is essentially a 'television-related' genre,69 I have argued that the use of digital media by televangelists has helped popularize their discourses (e.g.recordings and TV programmes).
Relevant to the above is the deconstruction of traditional sources of religious authority in which digital media tools have opened up new paradigms and spaces where voices compete for authority and where religious views are negotiated and contested.The Fatwa issued by the European Council for Fatwa and Research allowing housing loans is an example.
The popularity that some televangelists have acquired, particularly attracting the younger generations of Muslims, raises the important question as to how one can evaluate this phenomenon.One has to point here that any critique of this phenomenon has to take into consideration its complexity.As a media genre, televangelism is an example of the predominance of the culture of 'info-tainment' that has infiltrated not only the domains of politics 70 but also religion.
In this vein, 'info-tainment' has triggered varied attitudes from media critics 71 .For instance, in her research on 'politicotainment', or the blurring between politics and entertainment, Van Zoonen (2005) states that 'the celebrity politician of television does not have to depend on anyone else except his own talent as a performer'. 72In her book Politics as Usual, Wodak (2009) suggests that the 'fictionalization' of politics in the popular TV series The West Wing is an indication of audiences' disillusionment with politics and their cynicism about politicians' ability to make decisions. 73erhaps Holly (2008), if compared to van Zoonen ( 2005), seems to be more sympathetic towards infotainment.While he remarks that dramatization and aestheticization are salient features of infotainment, he argues that these elements have to be evaluated separately as to whether they function merely as 'packaging' elements or if they can be seen as 'stimulating, enriching and facilitating comprehension'. 74s a religious phenomenon, televangelism-with its focus on individual change-ties in with the rise of modern forms of spiritualities 75 .In fact, Carrette and King (2005) made a distinction between (old) 'revolutionary or anti-capitalist spiritualities', exemplified in Buddhist notions of soothing the suffering of others or Islamic notions of just economy; and modern forms of spiritualities.The old spiritualities seem to address 'structural and social inequalities', whereas contemporary spiritualities are taken over -in their many configurations-by the consumer capitalist ideology. 76n other words, according to Carrette and King (2005), rather than being a 'critical reflection' of the consumer culture, modern spiritualities seem to act as a 'perpetuation of the consumer status quo' 77 as they 'smoothed out resistance to the growing power of corporate capitalism and consumerism as the defining ideology of our time'. 78 argue in this paper that there are many layers of context to the phenomenon of televangelism (e.g.info-tainment; socio-historical context of Muslims; rise of spiritualities) that any 'holistic' evaluation of it in terms of being 'negative' or 'positive' will be simplistic.Rather, I argue for an approach that examines particular case studies of televangelists, deconstructing how structures of power are represented in their discourses.This will enable us to answer the question, inter alia, if particular televangelists' messages 'smoothe out' capitalist inequalities, to use term by Carrette and King (2005), or if particular televangelists are critical of the status quo in a broad sense of the term (e.g.critical of gender inequalities and socio-economic injustices).
Critical Discourse Analysis that looks into the relationship between language, power and ideology can provide a useful framework 79 .For in-76 Carrette and King, 2005, 7-21. 77 Carrette and King, 2005, 23. 78 Carrette and King, 2005, 11. 79 See N.L. Fairclough and R. Wodak, "Critical Discourse Analysis", in T. A. van Dijk  (ed.), Discourse Studies A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Vol. 2. Discourse as Social Intercation.London: Sage, 1997, 258-84.stance, in the Discourse Historical Approach, texts are examined synchronically (i.e. at the present time) and diachronically, relating the text to the broader socio-historical contexts 80 .Through a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to televangelists' texts 81 , one can get a nuanced understanding of how the sermons and texts of particular televangelists, can possibly relate to dominant (capitalist) ideologies, how structures of power are represented in their discourses and what their texts may reveal about the socio-historical contexts of Muslims in the twenty first century.

Figure 1
Figure 1 Footage of Khaled's talk in China mediated on his YouTube channel