: Ripped From The Headlines: How Should TV Shows Portray Muslims?

Muslims have been used to the (mostly negative) portrayal of Muslims and Arabs on TV and film for some time now, and even though there have been some exceptions, anytime a Muslim is featured in a TV show or movie, it’s usually a predictable caricature of violence and misogyny. And even though Hollywood has paid some lip service to not stereotyping Arabs and Muslims, it’s only gotten worse after 9/11, as producers mine the anger of Americans over the terrorist attacks in the name of ratings. (Typical storyline: a group of Muslims plot a terrorist attack, while our heroes – sometimes with a token “good Muslim” by their side – save the day.) The latest “ripped from the headlines” production to fall into this category was an episode of the popular UK spy drama “Spooks“, which this week featured a raid against a fictional Birmingham mosque that recruited and trained suicide bombers. Muslims flooded the Beeb with calls after the episode aired, and after anti-Islamic graffiti was found on a mosque in Birmingham the same night. “We can’t deny that the BBC have a right to screen a drama about this – it is topical,” said Inayat Bunglawala, the Muslim Council of Britain’s media secretary. “[But] it is very dangerous to let the public think that all mosques are led by extremists.” BBC officials stood by the production and refused to take it off the air. “We do not believe that it incites hatred or disrespect for Muslims or Islam,” said a BBC spokeswoman, noting the casting of a “good Muslim” based on a real-life Algerian agent who assisted anti-terror investigations. But while it may be irresponsible to portray an Abu Hamza style figure as a common fixture in British mosques, it is true that things like religious extremism and suicide bombing are on the top of the headlines and the minds of TV viewers, making them ripe – and legitimate – topics for exploration in TV dramas. Now all we need is to figure out how to balance the two.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.