Page 42 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

well: the practice of the virtues and the deliberation of issues of public concern
were increasingly linked together in a unique fusion. The cassette sermon pro-
vided the discursive vehicle in which this interdependency was most extensively
and intensively worked out.

Cassette-Da"wa

From their inception in the early 1970s the production and consump-
tion of sermon tapes has been associated with the broad movement known
as al-da"wa (literally, a summons or call), and almost all the preachers who
make use of this medium refer to themselves, and are referred to by others, as
du"at (sing. da"iya), that is, those who undertake da"wa. The term da"wa has
historically encompassed a wide range of meanings. As found in the Quran, it
generally refers to God’s invitation, addressed to humankind and transmitted
through the prophets, to live in accord with God’s will. Over the early centuries
of Islam’s development da"wa increasingly came to be used to designate the con-
tent of that invitation, and in the works of some classical jurists it appears to
be interchangeable both with the term shari"a (the juridical codi¤cation of
1
God’s message) and din (often translated as “religion”). Da"wa also, however,
carried another sense from early in Islam’s historical career, one that has been
central to contemporary Islamic thought: that of a duty, incumbent upon some
or all members of the Islamic community, to actively encourage fellow Muslims
in the pursuance of greater piety.
The notion of da"wa seems to have received little systematic elaboration
from the late medieval period until early in the twentieth century. While the
“rediscovery” of the notion cannot be tied to any particular ¤gure or institution,
its current salience is the result primarily of its development within Islamic op-
position movements earlier in the century, most notably the Muslim Brother-
2
hood. From the late 1920s Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Brotherhood,
revived the classical notion of da"wa to de¤ne the goals of the organization,
namely, the restoration of the Islamic community (umma) in the face of its in-
creasing secularization under khedival rule (Mendel 1995, 295). The Brother-
hood was particularly critical of the marginalization of Islamic doctrines and
practices within the projects of social and political reform being promoted by
nationalist thinkers, as well as the failure of the established institutions of Is-
lamic authority to oppose this process. By employing such modern political
methods as media campaigns, large-scale rallies, and training camps for Islamic
activists, the Brotherhood quickly went from a local grass-roots association
aimed at encouraging pious conduct to becoming an international organization
embodying considerable religious and political power and authority. 3
As elaborated by al-Banna, da"wa de¤ned the mode of action by which moral
and political reform were to be brought about. Brotherhood members were ad-
vised to go to mosques, schools, cafes, clubs, and other public locations so as to
speak with whomever would listen about Islam, the Brotherhood, and the task
of building a pious Muslim society. The Brotherhood also encouraged the Is-

Cassette Ethics 31