Varieties of Persuasion in Modern Forms of Islamic Proselytizing in Egypt

The article analyzes the language of Yûsuf al-Qaraḍâwî and ‘Amr Khâlid in order to identify differences in their rhetoric and to ask what they mean in social and religious terms. Inspired by the advances of textual and Critical Discourse Analysis during the last 20 years, the main questions are: How do the two address their audiences? What kinds of public and what images of Islam are being produced by their language use? It is argued that the language of the two preachers contributes in important ways to shape two distinct kinds of Islamic revivals, where the contrasts between individuality/collectivism, action/principles and tradition/break with the past are central. Nevertheless, the objective effects of the two styles of preaching appear to support the well-established Islamic revival associated with Yûsuf al-Qaraḍâwî, even if the protagonists themselves do not necessarily embrace each others’ messages.