Imam wants his say on Islam’s future
A UK-based imam has accused a talk radio station of censorship after a planned interview was pulled because it fell in the month of Ramadan.
Dr Taj Hargey, chairman of a Muslim educational centre in the UK city of Oxford, was invited by SAfm’s Talkshop last week to speak about his recent lecture in Durban, which was titled “The Future of Islam — Puritanical or Progressive? Intolerant or Inclusive?”.
Talkshop is a live latenight current affairs show in which experts and the public are able to interact about topics ranging from religion to entertainment.
A few hours before the show was set to air, one of its producers e-mailed Hargey — who hails from South Africa originally — asking to postpone the interview to a later date because the station did not want to offend its Muslim listeners.
“May I humbly request that we put this discussion on hold for a while . . . My executive producer is of the view that we might offend our Muslim listeners should we proceed with such a hard-hitting discussion during the month of Ramadan . . . And as the national broadcaster, the SABC is obligated to restore the rights and dignity of all the people it serves.”
When SAfm kowtows to a prejudiced and virulent Muslim clergy by hiding under the cloak of not wishing to offend the listening public, they are in effect paving the way for theological tyranny
But Hargey has taken issue with the station’s actions and filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa and the public broadcaster.
“When SAfm kowtows to a prejudiced and virulent Muslim clergy by hiding under the cloak of not wishing to offend the listening public, they are in effect paving the way for theological tyranny and religious repression within South African Islam,” he said.
Hargey said attempts to arrange another date for the interview had gone unanswered.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said he was unable to respond to Hargey’s complaint because it was “just his word against theirs” at the moment and Hargey should take his complaint to the commission.
“There are people whose job it is to determine whether what he’s saying is true or not. That way we will have a chance to re- spond. If he is making the allegation of bias, he must take it to the relevant authorities and, once that is done, we will abide by the rulings.”
However, the commission’s Shouneez Martin said it could not act on the complaint because it could only consider complaints regarding the content of broadcast material.
“Since the interview was not broadcast, it therefore does not fall within the ambit of the code of conduct.”