Amaan Ramazan; More of a fatuous entertainment show than a Religious one

And then ladies and gentlemen, comes the question noone in the audience can answer, followed by Amir Liaquats infamous dialogue “Tukka lagao musalmanon” (Take a guess Muslims). This statement has been criticized by many as the man is asking Muslims to ‘guess’ the answer of serious Islamic questions but in this case the question merely asked the name of the country in which one religious scholar spent most of his time. I failed to see what all the fuss was about. I dont see any reason why ‘guessing’ could be considered wrong here. Amir Liaquat, no doubt, an extremely controversial person moves through the crowd easily. The people are amused and feel elevated for being shown compassion. They recieve the gifts selfishly and thank Amir Liaquat constantly. Safe to say, I was not completely repulsed. On the contrary, i was thoroughly amused.

Recently, i came accross an article on CNN’s website which highlights the part of the show where Amir Liaquat gives away abandoned babies to willing parents. The article terms the show as a ‘controversial part-time game show’ and Pakistans version of ‘The price is right’. I would term this as a somewhat accurate summation of what ‘Amaan Ramazan’ really is. Entertainment. Amir Liaquat claims that the people love him and he is no wrong in saying so as the show has recieved excellent ratings and a daily audience of around 200 to 300 people.

Some of the accusations and critcizisms being made against the man are somewhat true as having a platform as large as “Amaan Ramazan” does require some level of responsibility and while mentioning religion some credibility is required but questioning the mans morailty is not your job before considering your own. Lets use the famous urdu phrase here “Pehle apney girhebaan mai jhaanko”, the phrase being widely used extremely true. For the devout Muslims out there, I’m sure there are some of you, by all means criticize Amir Liaquat as much as you want but for those who are not enlightened as yet, i would advise you to keep your claims to yourself and probably, if you can manage it, not watch the show?

For those who think the man is a fraud, trust me, i believe you. Abandoned babies and Firdous lawn are not given away at Islamic shows. Amir Liaquats portrayal of himself as a religious scholar is something none of us actually believe. By calling religious scholars to set or by asking some religious questions does not make Amir Liaquat any more religious than you are or hide the fact that the show is basically a means of getting higher ratings along with more sponsors and distributing merchandise among the people to get a daily audience.

But not everyone out there has the luxury of unlimited entertainment. Amaan ramazan povides them with only this. Entertainment. The people in the audience are there for the motorcycles being given away and why shouldnt they? This is the secret to Amir Liaquats success. He caters to the more wider population of Pakistan who cannot afford designer lawn joras and luxury cars. He does not come on air for the people who are constantly tweeting about how much he ‘sucks’. Amir Liaquat is neither a maulvi nor an intellectual, he is an entertainer and should be considered so. What can be criticized is the fact that religion has been and is being used as a means of getting higher ratings, and sadly, there is not much you can do about that.

p.s: Next time when criticizing the man and tweeting about it or setting a facebook status, why not go and offer some extra prayers? Y’all should come out of your morality bubble, there are larger issues out there than Amir Liaquat terrorizing your tv screens every sehr and iftar.