Postmodern Analysis of New Preachers of Islam in Egypt: A Cultural Study of Mustafa Hosni’s Digital Media Platforms

Postmodern Analysis of New Preachers of Islam in Egypt:
A Cultural Study of Mustafa Hosni’s Digital Media Platforms

Mohamed Hossam Ismail
Misr International University, Egypt

In recent years, Arab academia inspected the phenomenon of new preachers of Islam, especially in Egypt, predicted on such notions as new liberalism, self-help, and salvation. This study contributes to the scholarship by examining the postmodern characteristics of Mustafa Hosni’s discourse, as appears in his new media materials. Drawing upon insights from media cultural studies, the paper examines the mini-narratives of a tolerant, non-violent Muslim discourse as opposed to the customarily hostile Muslim meta-narratives. Further, the study analyses all sorts of pastiche that render Hosni’s discourse hybrid, glocal, and coexistent. It uses qualitative discourse analysis to shed light on the nexus between forms of religious discourse and the logic of media consumption in Muslim late neo-liberal capitalism.

Keywords: Mustafa Hosni, Islam, new preachers, postmodernism, mini-narratives, pastiche, electronic media platforms, social media, neo-liberalism

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Mohamed Hossam Ismail (Ph.D., Channel System between Cairo University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2002) is a Professor in the Department of Journalism (Faculty of Mass Communication) at Cairo University, Egypt. His research focuses on media cultural studies, media semiotics, and International communication. He is now seconded to work as a Professor at Misr International University.