If you wanted a show that represented all Muslims equally and fairly, proportionate to their population, you might be disappointed. But if you wear the hat of a reality TV show viewer – where you expect cringe, controversy and a tad of sensationalism, with editing for maximum viewing pleasure rather than a completely representative depiction – there were some insightful moments that illuminated the real tensions within Muslim communities.
How should we best deal with the far-right English Defence League? Should it be through compassion and humanity, like Bara, as he hugged the EDL member on the street; or through the honesty and integrity of Nabil who believed we have to stand up to racism wherever we see it? Both have their place. The former can be successful in individual cases, such as when a York mosque defused an EDL protest with tea, biscuits and football; and the latter reminds me of the necessity of not allowing hate to be normalised by showing strength, such as during the anti-apartheid struggle. [1338 comments]
[TOP RATED COMMENT 551 votes] ".... the hypocrisy of claiming persecution while persecuting others."
That's religion in a nutshell, really.
[2ND 422] Just a giant advert for Islam by BBC hand-wringers.
[3RD 369] It should be mentioned that it wasn't only the loony Abdul Haqq who had problems with male homosexuality. The Syrian origin post grad student did too. Kind of interesting that none of the columnists choose to mention this.
[4TH 295] Abdul Haqq, his views are more widespread than the Islamic community wish to accept. One almost senses, Haqq would be more content in certain areas of Iraq/Syria than in a modern, tolerant, secular society of gender and sexual equality. The show utterly failed to address Haqq's deplorable intolerance, misogyny, and breath taking idiocy! Integration, multiculturalism, did these things create the woeful Mr Haqq in modern Britain.
[5TH 290] "Singling out Muslims increases the notion of otherness."
There is something rather ironic about that title being used to outline the a piece written by someone who for there photo is dressed in very specific clothing that outlines the otherness.
I'm fairly liberal - after much thought I'm absolutely not in favour of having any bans on items of clothing, however I don't think that anyone who deliberately marks themselves out as belonging to the more fundamental end of what is already a fairly illiberal ideology can expect it not to come with some downsides, as unfair as they may be in an individual case.
[6TH 252] It would be far more interesting to put a number of Muslim spokespeople (eg. Miqdaad Versi) in a house and watch them dicuss the following:
A parallel legal system that treats women unfairly, Extremism in schools, Imams who know and care nothing of Britain, Polygamy, Segregation, Political corruption, Painful slaughter of animals, Denial of common civilities (showing your face, shaking hands), Support of violence, Restrictions on freedom of speech, Self-segregation, etc., etc. [Guardian Cif] Read more
