Page 48 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

Fig. 1.3. With a title that might
be loosely translated as “Road
to Destruction,” this tape
explores the unpleasant
consequences that await the
impious in the afterlife.

Image right unavailable

virtues of an activist Muslim citizen were elaborated and practiced. In the case
of the men I worked with in Cairo, this practice was woven into their daily ac-
tivities. When speaking with colleagues at work, one might remind the others
to thank God for their successes. While riding a bus, one might point out to a
fellow passenger the error of getting angry with the slow driver. Da"wa may
even take the form of conversations among friends, in discussions over whether
one may pray in a mosque built over a tomb, or whether donations collected at
the mosque should go to Bosnia or be used to buy schoolbooks for the needy
in the neighborhood.

The Da"iya as Muslim Citizen
While the ethical and social norms of conduct of such a citizen are ori-
ented around the notion of a broad unity of practicing Muslims, an umma, they
are also grounded in political technologies of modern national citizenship. That
is, while da"wa has provided conceptual resources grounded in a long tradition
of Islamic practice and scholarly inquiry, these resources have been put to novel
uses within a contemporary situation shaped by modern political institutions,
pedagogical techniques, and media forms, as well as by notions of civic respon-

Cassette Ethics 37