Islamic preacher Amr Khaled said that the hero of his new novel called “Rafy Barakat” does not depict himself, adding that the novel is not his own experience.
Khaled added that if he wanted to write about his experience, he would have written it in a different way as not to be a drama. He also said that he would go on the second part of the novel, if the first part was well received.
Reviews of the book, including one by MadaMasr, suggested that Khaled had modeled characters in the book after himself.
In an interview aired on the privately-owned TV channel Rotana Masriya on Tuesday, Khaled said that some of his friends criticized the hero for being the ideal one who makes no mistakes or fail, which convinced Khaled adding that he would modify the image in the second part.
Khaled was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2007. In 2012, he launched Egypt’s Future Party. He still heads Life Makers, an organization that focuses on social development.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
