TV Drama "Sleeper Cell": TV series aims for balanced portrayal

Sleeping with the enemy

On first glance, the new TV series “Sleeper Cell” should give Muslims pause. A show where fictional Muslims are mingling with neighbors and throwing birthday parties for their kids while leading a double life as a secret sleeper cell that is planning terrorist attacks inside the US, especially after the London bombings, could be seen as increase anxiety among ordinary Americans at Muslim expense. But a closer look at the upcoming Showtime channel reveals a more complex picture. The sleeper cell isn’t your typical Arab stereotype – it includes a wealthy white college student, a former French skinhead, and a Bosnian man whose family was murdered.

“There are people who look exactly like me who are terrorists,” says Michael Ealy, who plays the hero of the series – an African-American Muslim FBI agent working to infiltrate the cell. “That’s extraordinarily important because if we believe that people of Arab descent are the only ones who are a threat, then we will continue to be ignorant of what’s really going on.” One episode explores hate crimes against Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslim, and another tells the real-life story of a Yemeni imam who wins scholarly debates with al-Qaida sympathizers.

The series, which showcases the various motivations of terrorists and explores Islam’s differing interpretations, is nuanced in part because three members of the production team are Muslim themselves. “We’re showing a Muslim FBI agent, someone who is devout, who is so motivated by both his patriotism as well as his sincere faith as a Muslim that he has to stop these criminals who are abusing his faith,” says scriptwriter Kamran Pasha, who is working on the series along with documentary filmmaker Abdallah Omeish and “Sleeper Cell” director Ziad Doueiri.

The film isn’t all rosy with respect to Muslims, however. One Muslim actor in the show, J.D. Hall, refused to perform in a scene where he felt that Islamic religious practices were being misrepresented (something about a co-ed dhikr with flutes and drums). “The producers of ‘Sleeper Cell’ are only nominally interested in an accurate depiction of mainstream Islam,” explained Hall. However, that attitude isn’t shared by the remaining Muslims on the team, who say they are proud to work on a show with a Muslim hero and clear distinctions between extremist and moderate Islam. “The most enthusiastic people on the set are crew and writers who are Muslim,” says Oded Fehr, who plays the cell mastermind. “They are so proud of this show – it tells it as it is.”

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