Televangelizing Muslims

In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Arabic-language Christian television channels have proliferated rapidly, broadcasting their message across the airwaves of the Middle East. One such channel is al-Hayat, which attempts to evangelize Muslim viewers and educate Christians through numerous programs about Islam. Interviews conducted with Jordanian Christians and Muslims indicate that al-Hayat has played a significant role in elevating distrust and suspicion between the two religious communities in Amman, which previously enjoyed more positive and friendly relationships, as well as contributing to a heightened sense of religious affiliation as a part of Jordanians’ personal and communal identities. Al-Hayat is not alone in this; other Christian channels, as well as Muslim ones, have also played a part in heightening security concerns and religious identification. Al-Hayat and some of its counterparts also maintain connections with what is often termed the “Islamophobia industry,” as well as American Christian Zionism—factors that shed light on the channels’ influence and often ambiguous intent. On television sets across the Arab world, Al-Hayat reproduces Western Islamophobic discourse and—whether intentionally or not—serves to enact part of the political mission and eschatological vision for the Middle East espoused by some Christian Zionists.