An Islamic reality TV show that made its contestants counsel promiscuous teenagers and bury corpses has named a 26-year-old mosque prayer leader as Malaysia’s top role model for young Muslims.
Producers voiced hopes yesterday of launching similar versions of Imam Muda, or Young Leader, in other Muslim-majority countries after the Malaysian show’s first season became the most-watched program to ever air on pay-television network Astro’s Islamic channel.
Muhammad Asyraf Ridzuan beat a 27-year-old Islamic schoolteacher who studied at Egypt’s al-Azhar University to win the competition late on Friday in an event broadcast nationwide from an auditorium packed with spectators who secured highly coveted tickets. It was the culmination of a 10-episode run to find a young man whose religious devotion could inspire other Malaysian Muslims of his generation.
PHOTO: AFP
The boyish-looking Muhammad Asyraf’s victory earned him prizes from a new job as prayer leader at a prestigious Kuala Lumpur mosque and an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to Mecca — with the secular, including a car, iPhone, laptop and 20,000 ringgit (US$6,400) in cash.
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