During the month of Ramadan, preachers hosting and starring in TV programs with religious content were in high demand in Turkey, just as they were in many other Muslim countries. 

Lay and religious critics, however, took issue with the hundreds of thousands of liras reportedly earned by Turkey’s televangelists during Ramadan and the rest of the year.

A favorite target of detractors is theologian and university professor Nihat Hatipoglu, who reportedly makes 600,000 Turkish liras (about $200,000) every Ramadan. A graduate of an imam-hatip high school and Ankara University’s Faculty of Divinity, Hatipoglu first took flak in 2014 for the astronomical figure he reportedly received from the pro-government media outlet ATV. At the time, Ihsan Eliacik — a leading voice of Turkey’s “anti-capitalist Muslims” who oppose the neoliberal policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — called upon Hatipoglu to distribute his appearance fee among the poor if he is “a Muslim, honest and a man — [preaching Islam] is not about giving lectures and pocketing the money.”

Social media users took a more jocular route. Some compared Hatipoglu to Bryan Cranston’s legendary character Walter White, who got rich manufacturing methamphetamine in the TV series “Breaking Bad,” while others called the religious scholar the “sultan of 11 months,” using images showing him up to his neck in a pile of money. Traditionally, Turks call the month of Ramadan “the sultan of 11 months” because it is considered to be the holiest of the 12 months in the Islamic lunar calendar.