Wednesday, July 3, 2013

An insult to all faiths: Channel 4's plan to air the daily Muslim call to prayer during Ramadan is a divisive and cynical stunt

Channel 4 is well known for gimmickry. Its latest trick is to have a month-long daily broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer. Does this cheer you up? Does it make you think what a happy, tolerant, multi-cultural society Britain has become? Or does Channel 4’s move nauseate you, as it does me? Does it make you think that  new depths of bad taste have been plumbed? 
Why do I dislike the idea so much? Because I think it is deeply divisive. Because far from making Muslims feel part of the community, it is actually using a sacred custom as a cheap device for cocking a snook at the rest of us.
Deeply divisive: Channel 4's latest trick is to have a month-long daily broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer
Deeply divisive: Channel 4's latest trick is to have a month-long daily broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer
Next Tuesday, July 9, is the first day of Ramadan. It is the month of the year when Muslims fast. From sunrise to sundown they are not allowed to swallow food. 
It is similar to the Christian season of Lent, in which the faithful are supposed to focus their thoughts more sharply on God and the things of the spirit by an ethos of discipline. 
There is nothing wrong with that! And for the 2.8 million Muslims living in Britain, it is a serious time. Very many of them will be observing the fast. 
For the 60 million (or so) who are not Muslim, of course, the season would have passed largely unnoticed were it not for the fact that Channel 4 — gesturing wildly to remind the rest of us how controversial it is — has decided that it will broadcast the first call to prayer of the day.
Muslims are, in fact, called to prayer five times a day, every day of the year. 
But during Ramadan it is of especial importance for them to observe this discipline. 
In Islamic countries it is customary for a man from the local mosque to go round an hour before sunrise with a big drum, waking the people and enabling them to eat breakfast before the day-long fast begins. 
Channel 4 is omitting this part of the routine. It is employing the musician Hassen Rasool to call the faithful to prayer — but only for the first call, at sunrise. 
This alone is quite enough to show us — whether we are Muslim or not — that what Channel 4 is doing is pure tokenism.
Muslims are, in fact, called to prayer five times a day, every day of the year. But during Ramadan it is of especial importance for them to observe this discipline
Muslims are, in fact, called to prayer five times a day, every day of the year. But during Ramadan it is of especial importance for them to observe this discipline
If it were being serious, it would broadcast all five calls to prayer, interrupting daytime transmissions of soap operas, cricket matches and news bulletins where necessary. 
Also, as a gesture to Islam, it would refuse to carry advertisements for alcohol during the holy season.  
Was Channel 4 asked by any Muslim organisation to broadcast a prayer call? Or did it just do it of its own accord?
Because it is not, of course, really interested in providing a service to Muslims. 
It is simply trying to be provocative — and in so doing, it actually insults Muslims.
Ralph Lee, head of factual programming at Channel 4, has written in the Radio Times: ‘No doubt Channel 4 will be criticised for focusing attention on a “minority” religion, but that’s what we’re here to do — provide a voice to the under-represented.’ 
Ralph Lee's comparison of the numbers of Britons who observe Ramadan and those who watched the Queen's coronation commemoration is cheap and obnoxious
Ralph Lee's comparison of the numbers of Britons who observe Ramadan and those who watched the Queen's coronation commemoration is cheap and obnoxious
He claims that five per cent of the population will be observing Ramadan, adding: ‘Can we say the same of other national events that have received blanket coverage on television such as the Queen’s coronation anniversary?’
This cluster of weasel words betrays Channel 4’s real attitude and purpose, and reveals just how insidious — indeed wicked — it is being in broadcasting the call to prayer in this way.
First, we have the claim that Channel 4 will be criticised. That is, he hopes they will be criticised. He hopes to attract controversy. 
And here I am, gratifying his hope by denouncing him. But I am not denouncing him for the reasons he so arrogantly dictates. Of course, like any other decent person in this country, I defend the right of minorities to follow their faith. 
What possible harm could come from a devout man or woman arising before dawn to fast and pray?  
But it is difficult to think of any Muslim needing a TV channel to assist them in doing this. There are such things as alarm clocks, and in neighbourhoods near to the mosque, there will be the traditional calls to prayer. 
Ralph Lee’s comparison of the numbers of Britons who observe Ramadan and those who watched the Queen’s coronation commemoration is cheap and obnoxious. 
By doing this, he declares — or heavily implies — that he does not think any Muslims feel sufficiently British to have had an interest in the Queen’s coronation. This is a patronising insult to the many British Muslims who feel as loyal to the Queen as I do. 
It is also a manipulation of statistics. Many British people did not actually watch TV during the anniversary of the coronation. 
I did not, but I count myself to be a loyal subject. 
The fact that we did or did not watch the service on TV does not mean very much. There are millions upon millions of Britons, deeply loyal to the Queen and passionately royalist, who happened to be at work or not to watch this particular TV programme.
Was Channel 4 asked by any Muslim organisation to broadcast a prayer call? Or did it just do it of its own accord? Because it is not, of course, really interested in providing a service to Muslims
Was Channel 4 asked by any Muslim organisation to broadcast a prayer call? Or did it just do it of its own accord? Because it is not, of course, really interested in providing a service to Muslims
It is absurd to suggest on the strength of one statistic that there are more practising Muslims than there are monarchists.
I have perhaps said enough to indicate that Channel 4 is quite  obviously more interested in attracting attention than they are in supporting a religious minority. 
But it is also so revealing that it has chosen to support this particular minority. 
Are we sure that by broadcasting a call to prayer in this way that it wants to help Muslims? Or is it — much more likely in my opinion — yet another case of the liberal establishment, of which Channel 4 is, of course, the mouthpiece, sticking its fingers in the eye of Christianity? 
In so doing, by using Islam as a deliberate provocation, it is being socially divisive and  possibly making Muslims a target for extreme Right-wing vitriol.
Further to that, it is all part of the anti-Christian bias of the intellectual establishment. 
Just as with Anjem Choudary, Channel 4 will get away with another revolting gimmick - dressed up as a serious piece of programming that caters for minorities
Just as with Anjem Choudary, Channel 4 will get away with another revolting gimmick - dressed up as a serious piece of programming that caters for minorities
Supposing you went to the head of Channel 4 and said that most church-going Christians in Britain were Roman Catholics. 
Could we please therefore broadcast the Angelus prayer, in which Catholics commemorate God taking human flesh, just as it is in Ireland?
You can imagine how Channel 4 would respond. It would not even consider it. 
Suppose you suggested that, in common with BBC Radio 3, it broadcasts a beautiful choral  evensong every week? Forget it. 
The fact that this is still a country in which the huge majority of people, when questioned, still claim to be some sort of Christian counts for nothing in the eyes of the secular liberals who control most of our media. 
They will, in fact, do anything to undermine religion. If that means setting Muslims against Christians in this essentially subversive gesture, so be it. 
They are using a sacred Muslim custom as a weapon, not of religious inclusiveness, but of secularism disguised as friendship. 
Channel 4 has done very little to raise public awareness of mainstream Muslim opinion. 
It prefers gestures and controversialism — witness its decision to give air-time to Anjem Choudary, former head of the banned Islamist organisation Al Muhajiroun, who refused to denounce the murder of Drummer Rigby in Woolwich earlier this summer.  
A nice quiet imam telling viewers not to forget their prayers would not raise the viewing figures. It wouldn’t be ‘edgy’. 
If I were a Muslim, I would be disgusted that an anti-religious organisation such as Channel 4 has hijacked my prayers for the purposes of seeming hip, cool and trendy. 
Channel 4 is a public service broadcaster with specific responsibilities to the taxpayers who own it. If I were a TV regulator, I would stop the company from proceeding with this divisive and publicity-seeking gesture. 
But then our toothless TV regulators are cut from exactly the same secular liberal cloth as the channel’s producers. 
So, just as with Anjem Choudary, Channel 4 will get away with another revolting gimmick — dressed up as a serious piece of programming that caters for minorities.

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