Over the years, Waaz Mehfils have undergone massive transformations in terms of nature, content as well as language.
People familiar with the matter say that these religious sermons meant to invite people to the path of Islam have become somewhat commercial and often extravagant affairs.
In the last decade, these mehfils have not only been touched by modernity and technology but the preachings have also had a bit of glitz and glamour added to them.
There was a time when these sermons used to open with recitations of the Holy Quran with bits of Persian poems incorporated into it.
Nowadays, however, “preachers” opt for mixing up their sermons with a bit of music, English, parodies of popular bollywood songs and vehement criticisms of those in the showbiz.
The end result is that instead of being calls for religion, they have become sources of entertainment for audiences as well as content for memes and trolls.
Former Islamic Foundtion director, Mowlana Fariduddin Masud, is of the view that speakers nowadays have commercialized these mehfils and turned into entertainment.
“They resort to many tricks to attract audiences,” he added and said that there are many who parody popular songs.
“They must’ve memorised the songs by listening to them. How else could they sing them?” he asked.
Hundreds of speakers whose sermons are readily available on YouTube often use English in their talks.
Many pro-Jamaat-e-Islami speakers also allow musical performances reflecting their political ideals.
There are many who, in order to make the audience laugh, speak in distorted English which is often accompanied by funny expressions like Abul Hasan Shariatpuri.
A few of those hundred speakers are Mowlana Rafiq Ullah Afsari, Amir Hamzah and Mowlana Mizanur Rahman Azhari whose sermons are often a mixture of Bangla and English.
There is another group of preachers whose sermons are vitriolic criticism of poets, novelists, actors, singers and basically the whole arts and the entertainment industry.
So much so, even dead artists haven’t been able to escape their wrath.
On the speakers’ inclination to degrade people, Dhaka University’s Urdu Department teacher Professor, Mufti Mohammad Golam Rabbani, said that many of them lack both education and depth of knowledge regarding Islam.
“Islam doesn’t in any way promote denigration of people,” he told Bangle Tribune and added, “Those who have knowledge don’t say such things.”
Not naming any particular speaker, young Islamic politician, Mowlana Wali Ullah Arman, says that there are speakers who preach musical sermons with funny expression to serve their own interests.
“They turn the fundamental issues of Islam into a laughing matter,” he said and warned that such speakers must be boycotted.
Young writer Mowlana Salauddin Jahangir makes it a point to observe Waaz Mehfils and contends that people are slowly losing faith in them because many speakers often preach things that are baseless, concocted and serves only to entertain people.
“People don’t really get anything productive out of these mehfils,” he said and added that people nowadays want proper Islamic solutions in the modern world.
Saying that most of the preachers spend days drawing examples from thousands of years ago, Jahangir added, “How many speakers are there who can preach religion in the modern context?”
Jahangir said that many speakers make it a point to scream at the top of their voice throughout the sermon but most people in the audience know that there’s nothing of value there.
He said that shrieking was not the way of prophets and learned scholars and a little digging will reveal that many of these speakers can’t read a word of Arabic.
The writer added that these speakers don’t have enough Islamic knowledge and that enlightenment can’t be attained through senseless ranting.
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