Channel 4’s decision to air the daily Muslim call to prayer (The Adhan) during the Muslim month of Ramadan has united and divided various religious groups. The headline-gripping move will see Channel 4 broadcast the three-minute call to prayer at 3am for 30 days from the start of Ramadan on July 9.
Channel 4 will also interrupt programming four times on the first day of Ramadan to mark following calls by means of a 20-second film to remind viewers of the approaching prayer time.
After that date, the channel will air the 3am call to prayer on live TV, and the other four prayer times will be broadcasted on its website.
Asian World contacted religious institutions from four major religious groups based in Birmingham to ask them what they thought about this new initiative by the popular TV channel. All were happy to see such programme and praised the station. However, all of them wanted to emphasise the importance of having a fair, just and equal society, and for that to be reflective in Channel 4’s decision to air the Muslim call to pray and run a series of programmes to do with Ramadan.
Valerie Harrison, the current Chairperson of the Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, told us in her personal view – which does not reflective or represent the views of her community as they had not been consulted on this matter – thinks what Channel 4 has done should be welcomed: “I think this move by Channel 4 should be welcomed, however, I would like to see more diversity on TV and for them to treat all religionswhether it be Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and others equally.” Valerie went on to say how there were two major Jewish festivals coming up – Shoshana and The Day of Atonement – and how it would be great to have them covered by the media. She ended by saying “Channel 4 needs to be even handed.”
A representative from St Chads Cathedral in Birmingham told us, “Anything that calls people to pray is a good thing.”
Dr Naseem from Birmingham Central Mosque said, “What Channel 4 have done is a good thing, but it should be equal for all religions.” He went on to say, “It is not essential but out of good will it is fine.”
Amrick Singh of the Nishkam Centre, Soho Road, gave us his personal opinion saying that he had just attended an event to commemorate the starting of Ramadan, and that he believes anything that promotes religion, prayer and faith has got to be welcomed. He went on to say, “our congratulations to our Muslim brothers and sisters on this the month of Ramadan, what I would say is faith has to have its day and not be left behind as its poor cousin, and this shows that faith is being shown in a positive light.” He further went on to echo the feelings of all the other religious leaders we spoke to and said, “We have to be fair and equal to everyone, not just one religion – making sure we are not propagating one religion over all the others.”
Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s head of factual programming, said: “The calls to prayer prompt Muslims to carry out quiet moments of worship, but hopefully they’ll also make other viewers sit up and notice that this event is taking place.
“Observing the Adhan on Channel 4 will act as a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate ‘provocation’ to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word.”
Not everyone is pleased with this step by Channel 4. The right wing fascist group the EDL have threatened to hold protests outside C4’s headquarters against the Muslim call to pray being given air-time.
It is said the broadcaster has a history of launching controversial programming to spark viewer and media reaction.
“It was an act of deliberate provocation” aimed at viewers who might associate Islam with extremism,” the broadcaster said.
By Emb Hashmi
