The appearance of Egyptian preacher Amr Khaled in an advertisement for a poultry company stirred mockery and anger on social media. Social media users criticized the appearance of the preacher in a chicken advertisement.

In the advertisement, he started with the importance of worship during the month of Ramadan and its relationship to healthy eating habits, he then welcomed a woman named Asia Osman and he introduced her as a “developer in healthy eating.”

Khaled asked his guest why she opts for Egypt’s Alwatania Poultry, at which point she started telling him about the benefits of this kind of chicken.

Khaled then concluded with some spiritual advice to the woman.

He talked about how fasting should include the ears, the eyes and every part of the body. He continued saying: “The soul will not improve unless your body and stomach are in good shape, Asia’s recipes will bring you closer to god when you pray at night and at Tarawih.”

The video ended with Asia announcing the show’s episodes which are sponsored by the Al Wataniya chicken. But, with the attack on Khaled, the company was forced to delete the video from its Facebook page, but kept the advertisement for the cooking program presented by Asia Osman, who appeared with the Islamic preacher.

Khaled posted a video on his official Facebook account late Saturday apologizing for the “misunderstanding” that occurred from the ad.

“My words were understood in a way that showed that I was using religion to promote a product, and this is wrong and unacceptable,” he said.

“I will not give any excuses by saying that this company does a lot of charitable work, or saying that my words were placed out of context because I take full responsibility.”

Khaled went on to say that he has been working as a preacher for 20 years, and that he has made mistakes as well as achievements as he is only human. He thanked his fans and supporters who defended him amid the controversy.

“Only God knows my intentions,” he said.

This is not the first time that the Islamic preacher stirred a period of controversy. In September 2017, his prayers to his followers on his page resulted in ridicule, while others accused him of faking abidance and acting when he realized he was being filmed.

Yet, Khaled rejected the accusations stressing that he only took the video because he wanted everyone to share the Hajj atmosphere with him.

Khaled also presented an advertisement about the installation of a “TV connection for satellite channels” then he dropped out later on. He also visited Denmark after the Prophet Muhammad offense incident in 2005, and described Prophet Mohammed as a “failure,” which angered many sheikhs.

In another incident that stirred great controversey, Khalid said that he “saw God in Tahrir” after he admitted to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He also said: “I’m a very hard worker, but only on social media, on Facebook and Twitter.”

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:52 - GMT 06:52