As Ahmad al-Shugairi took the stage, dressed in a flowing white gown and headdress, he clutched a microphone and told his audience that he had no religious training or titles: \u201cI am not a sheik.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
But over the next two hours, he worked the crowd as masterfully as any preacher, drawing rounds of uproarious laughter and, as he recalled the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s death, silent tears. He spoke against sectarianism. He made pleas for women to be treated as equals. He talked about his own life \u201d\u201d his seven wild years in California, his divorce, his children \u201d\u201d and gently satirized Arab mores.<\/p>\n
When he finished, the packed concert hall erupted in a wild standing ovation. Members of his entourage soon bundled him through the thick crowd of admirers to a back door, where they rushed through the darkness to a waiting car.<\/p>\n
\u201cElvis has left the building,\u201d\u009d Mr. Shugairi joked, in English, as he relaxed into his seat.<\/p>\n