Queries on Islam? In Egypt, Just Call 1-900 Dial-a-Sheik

With all the confusion and controversy these days over Islam, Sheik Khalid Gendy thinks he has hit on the perfect way to set the record straight, emphasize his religion’s message of peace--and make a tidy profit.

It might be called Dial-a-Sheik.

Relying on technology more familiar in the West for providing adult entertainment, Sheik Khalid and a partner are running a pay-per-call “1-900” telephone service that is, they say, attracting as many as 1,000 inquiries a day. For about 20 cents a minute, callers can get a religious opinion from one of about 15 respected Islamic authorities.

“Perhaps we, the ones who are practicing Islam, are the ones to be blamed for its [tarnished] reputation,” said Cherif Abdel-meguid, the sheik’s partner in “Islamic Line.”

“Due to some people who ‘mispractice’ it, Islam is being blamed,” he added. “The problem is not in Islam. The mistake, perhaps, lies within us.”

But the partners’ lofty goal of setting the religious record straight has, at least for the moment, taken a back seat to the everyday concerns of Egypt’s faithful. The phone line has become a kind of Islamic confessional, a uniquely anonymous place where the embarrassed and contrite can have their questions answered and their sins resolved.

Questions about sex make up either 30% or 80% of calls, depending on whom you ask.

Listen to the first three calls that came in one morning last week:

8:08: “I want to know if God or the prophet said I have to wear the face cover or not, and the second thing is, what is the basis of marriage in Islam? Is it sex only or much more than sex?”

9:31: “I had sexual intercourse with my husband in [the holy month of] Ramadan before [sundown, which is not permitted]. So I am seeking your advice.”

9:35: “I swore by the name of God, and I was lying in what I was saying. Please advise me what can I do? I know it was a big mistake.”

Islam dictates rules for virtually every aspect of a follower’s life, from the correct manner of prayer to the division of material goods after death. Muslims who want a religious opinion, or fatwa, to guide their behavior often turn to scholars or imams for answers. But until now that involved a face-to-face encounter in a mosque or a direct phone conversation.

A PIN Number to Enlightenment

Enter computers, telephone answering systems and Sheik Khalid.

Through the use of technology that came to Egypt about two years ago, callers can leave a recorded message and receive a PIN number. They call back in 24 hours, punch in their PIN and listen to the recorded reply.

The sheik’s line opened more than a year ago amid a flurry of 900 numbers that were created in the region. The new numbers generated such outrageous phone bills, and such a public outcry, that the government began to more strictly regulate the services. Lines offering everything from jokes to horoscopes were suspended, while “Islamic Line” has been permitted to grow.

From the start, Abdel-meguid and the sheik agreed that only religious scholars from Cairo’s Al Azhar University would be permitted to offer advice. They hoped to blend the benefits of technology with the prestige associated with the recognized center of Islamic learning for Sunni Muslims.

If there has been anything surprising to the founders, it has been the nature of the calls. According to Sheik Khalid, 70% of the callers are women and four out of five questions are about sex. That changed a bit after Sept. 11. He now receives more calls of a political nature, he said, though matters of the flesh still dominate.

Abdel-meguid estimates that 30% of the calls are about sex, but he was surprised at the huge interest in issues related to breast-feeding. Although Muslims are allowed to marry first cousins, people breast-fed by the same woman cannot wed.

“This is really a rampant question,” Abdel-meguid said. “I did not know there was so much breast-feeding going on that would hamper people from getting married to each other.”

Plans Include an Open Line for Americans

Overall, the service has proved so successful that it has already been expanded to Jordan, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, and plans are in the works to launch the system in Kuwait. The partners also are negotiating to open lines in Canada and the United States, which would allow Americans to dial a stateside number and be connected with the Cairo service. But the partners are finding U.S. corporations reluctant in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We want to export moderate Islam,” said Abdel-meguid. “This is a nontraditional export. It’s something [that], if available in the West, will help to better clarify Islam to both Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Mark Sedgwick, a professor of modern Islam and Sufism at American University in Cairo, said the interest in “Islamic Line” is not surprising as it represents the accommodation of the centuries-old faith to modern technology.

“Whether it’s the Internet or the dial-up fatwa, this is simply the ‘technologization’ of a very old established phenomenon,” he said.

Though popular in Egypt, the service is not without its critics. Some have called it a shameful way to make a buck.

“Giving a fatwa is a duty to the scholar, like praying and fasting, and it is unacceptable for a scholar to trade with fatwas,” said Yehia Ismail, a professor of religious sciences at Al Azhar. “If the scholar asked for money in return for the fatwa, he is a sinner.”

The partners, however, say they are not charging for the religious opinion, but for the use of the technology and for the scholars’ time. Sheik Khalid views the business not as a sin but as a public service.

For a fee of between $1 and $2, the service gave out this advice to the morning callers last week:

8:08: Covering a woman’s face with a veil is not required, and marriage should be about safety, love and mercy.

9:31: For one day, the woman and her husband needed to fast and abstain from sex.

9:35: Pray to God for forgiveness, admit to the lie and remedy any damage it might have caused.

“If you want to go to heaven, paying five or 10 pounds is not too much of a price,” the sheik said. “Callers ask for advice to correct their path from evil to righteous. We correct the path.”