Islamic Idol TV Show

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Modeled after the "American Idol" television show, Malaysian producers have created a reality TV competition where 10 men between the ages of 19 and 27 years old try to get audience votes to be trained as an imam at al-Madinah University in Saudi Arabia.

The show is called "Imam Muda" or "Young Imam" and it's reported to be extremely popular throughout Asia.

The audience votes out one candidate in each show. Wearing dark suits and black caps, which are common among Malaysian Muslims, the candidates have to fulfil several tasks.

During the very first show, the would-be imams got a tough assignment: They were asked to wash corpses in front of live cameras, and bury the bodies of the deceased according to Muslim tradition.

One of the deceased even was an HIV-infected person, whose body, according to newspaper reports had been lying in a mosque for weeks because nobody was willing to touch the corpse.

"I think it's great that I can participate here", says 26-year-old Asyraf Mohd Ridzuan, one of the candidates. "Presenting religion on TV just like American Idol is something unheard of. I am really enthusiastic about it."

More than 1,000 Malaysians from all parts of the country originally applied to go on the show. Those selected are between 19 and 27 years old, and none of them had any previous religious training. One was a farmer, another worked in a bank.

The winner gets a laptop and a job leading prayers at Kuala Lumpur's biggest mosque. Incidentally, Imam Muda has a Facebook page for those who might want to join in the fun. Heh.