BBC defends extremist being part of Muslim reality show
A controversial BBC reality show about Muslims in Britain will ‘‘reveal as human beings’’ those who hold extremist views, while showing that the majority of Muslims robustly disagree with them, its producers say.
The broadcaster has come under fire for casting an associate of radical preacher Anjem Choudary among the 10 participants in Muslims Like Us, a twopart programme that has been described as a ‘‘Muslim Big Brother’’ and will screen next week.
Abdul Haqq, a 35-year-old former boxer who has been convicted of fraud, has appeared on platforms alongside Choudary and has made videos appearing to justify Islamist beheadings of Westerners as ‘‘not unprovoked’’.
He was acquitted last year of plotting to go to Syria to fight with Islamic State, but he told the filmmakers that if his passport – which has been confiscated by British authorities – was returned to him, he would still want to go.
Fatima Salaria, a senior commissioning editor for the BBC, said it would have been ‘‘totally irresponsible’’ if the programme, which seeks to reflect the broad range of Muslim experience in Britain, had not included someone expressing such views.
She said Haqq was constantly opposed by the other participants throughout the two episodes.
‘‘It was really important for me that that voice was represented, but he had to be adequately challenged,’’ she said.
‘‘There are people in my own family who have quite radical views. We sit around the dining table and talk about those views. It would have been wrong for us not to have had him.’’
Mobeen Azhar, the series producer, said: ‘‘I think it’s really important for someone like Abdul Haqq to be seen as a 3D character, to understand where he is coming from. I’ve seen that profile again and again in men who are very similar.
‘‘So often we hear this idea that Muslims need to do more to challenge those voices in the community, and here you see that for real. These are the conversations that go on behind closed doors every weekend.’’
The programme makers brought together a diverse cast of British Muslims – including a standup comedian who runs a homeless shelter, a gay man, a 76-year-old woman, and a teacher who prays every day but believes she is regarded as ‘‘the Muslim girl gone bad’’ – to share a large house in York for 10 days.
Unlike in Big Brother, they were free to come and go, and there were no evictions.
The programme shows robust disputes
Everyone in the Muslim community knows one of those people – someone who is a bit dodgy. We all take the mick out of those people, and that’s what you see happening. Mobeen Azhar, series producer
over their interpretations of Islam, particularly with Haqq, formerly known as Anthony Small, who won British and Commonwealth boxing titles before converting.
The arguments begin as soon as they arrive, when Haqq hands out a leaflet outlining his view that men and women who are not related should not mix freely.
During a discussion the day after the Nice truck attack in July, Haqq says he feels pain only for the Muslims who were killed, provoking a furious response from some of the others.
Haqq also becomes the butt of gentle mockery by his housemates, several of whom express a fondness for him despite abhorring his views.
‘‘How many metres away should you be [to avoid] free mixing?’’ Haqq is teased by Nabil, the comedian, who describes his own life philosophy as ‘‘when in doubt, don’t be a dick’’.
‘‘Everyone [in the Muslim community] knows one of those people – someone who is a bit dodgy. We all take the mick out of those people, and that’s what you see happening,’’ Azhar said.
‘‘It’s no surprise that out of 10 contributors, nine of them through the course of the two hours do everything they possibly can to distance themselves from his views.
‘‘I think that’s quite representative of what happens in the Muslim community all the time.’’
Kieran Smith, the creative director (factual) at Love Productions, which made the programme for the BBC, said: ‘‘People who have monstrous views aren’t always monsters. Much better to have him there, have him challenged, have him unpacked, to reveal him as a human being, and not to leave [his views as] the elephant in the room.’’
Love Productions is no stranger to controversy, having produced Benefits Street for Channel 4 and provoking a media storm in September over the BBC’s sale of The Great British Bakeoff to Channel 4.
Smith said the participants had been screened to check that they were robust enough to take part and to deal with the potential fallout on social media and elsewhere after the programme was broadcast.
He said he hoped the series, which he described as ‘‘constructed documentary’’, would show that the Muslim community in Britain was not a monolith.
‘‘I think TV has been guilty in the past of focusing on just one type of Muslim, and it tends to focus on extreme. For me, it’s about being honest and authentic about Muslim communities and the discussions and conversations they are having.’’