"The Islamic sermon is a channel of communication which is well suited to the needs of contemporary Middle Easteners. It is an old Islamic institution with a high degree of legitimacy among the traditional people. Yet the modernizing ruling elites can control it and feed into it modern messages which the preachers warp in the legitimacy myths of the traditional people. Thus the sermon is one way by which the ruling elites can communicate across the communication gap to the traditional people." (Page 381)