The thumping beat, baggy football tops and slick production

values bear the trademarks of a regular hip-hop music video.

But instead of scantily clad women dancing around a pool,
there are rappers promoting prayer, healing and Allah. For this
is 4Shbab ("for youth"), Egypt's new entry into the lucrative
music television market and a channel dedicated to bringing
Muslim values to the MTV generation.

On a boat moored on the Nile, 4Shbab's founder, Ahmed Abu

Haiba, explained why the current music video networks were a
threat to Muslim identity. "These channels are strange to our
culture," he said. "There are young Muslim men today who'd
like to have girlfriends, be part of a dating culture, and yet
when they want to get married they look for a devout, religious
wife. This is cultural schizophrenia … and it's these channels
which are giving our young generation such misunderstandings
and smashing their identities."

To reverse this corruption of a generation through "lewd

imagery" and "contradictory values", he travelled around the
Gulf raising funds for a channel that would appeal to young
Muslims. Now '4Shbab' has arrived on TV sets throughout the
Middle East and Europe. But the channel — which declares it
will "listen to the tune of Islam" — is already being criticised.
On the one hand, Abu Haiba has been accused of demeaning
Islam by those who believe that all music is haram (forbidden).
On the other hand, his station has taken flak from women, who
rarely feature in its music videos or game shows such as Who
Wants to Be an Islamic Pop Star?. The network's content is
vetted by a committee of five men who decide whether videos
conform to 4Shbab's Muslim philosophy. "We don't have a
problem showing women, as long as it is according to Islamic
standards," insisted Abu Haiba, who previously worked with
Amr Khaled, a blockbuster preacher who has revolutionised
Islamic sermonising on television. "But we must be careful in
dealing with the issue of women on TV, and it's not wise to
smash all the walls straight away."
The launch of 4Shbab is part of a wider trend in Egypt which
has seen the traditionally liberal cultural landscape being
bought up by Saudi investors promoting a more conservative
Salafist discourse, which advocates a literalist interpretation of
the Qur'an. The flagging film studios have been revitalised by
Saudi money, but many now refuse to show even an empty bed
for fear of it being suggestive, and some of Egypt's belly-
dancers are now covering up as a result of investment from rich
Arabs in the Gulf.

It's a development that worries analysts like Khalil Al-Anani, an

expert in Islamist movements at the Al Ahram Foundation.
"They are trying to make society more cautious when it comes
to dealing with 'the other', and that's a dangerous path," he
said.

But Anani also acknowledges that with music video stations

currently securing 14% of the Arab television market, the
launch of 4Shbab is a savvy business step. "There is a huge
group of high-class, westernised youth who are looking to be
more religious and it's a very smart move to try and attract this
customer base." he added. "Religion today in Egypt is like a
supermarket, you can go and pick what you want, and there is
competition for customers between the different discourses ...
quite frankly, I think this venture will succeed."

It's a sentiment shared by Joshua Salaam, part of Native Deen,

an American Muslim hip-hop outfit who are one of the first
bands to be promoted on the new channel. "I think the launch
of this channel is massively important, probably more so than a
lot of scholars and parents realise because they haven't been
raised with music video in their lives," explained the 35 year
old. "But music and video set the tone of what culture is, what
identity is.For a Muslim to be able to watch this channel and
see that … they don't have to separate their religion from their
culture, that's huge."

Caught in the crossfire between his liberal and Islamist

detractors, Abu Haiba remains confident that his new channel
can take on not just the Middle East, but the world. Salaam is
equally optimistic: "I think there is a demand for this sort of
network in the west. The majority of American Muslim youth
and their parents are pretty much fully assimilated into
American culture and are not currently coming to the message.
If you want to reach them you have to go through the regular
avenues that are out there in mainstream culture, and that's
what 4Shbab is doing."