Monday 23 March 2015

Muslim Complains About BBC The Big Questions - Nicky Campbell


If you viewed the ganging up and the premeditated attacks on two Muslim guests on Nicky Campbell's The Big Questions and you feel like you want to do something please do complain. It will only continue to happen if you stay silent, make your voice heard to the BBC and help make it easier for Muslims on such shows in the future.

You can complain using the BBC complaint page. If you wish to use my email complaint you will have to truncate it in order for it to meet the character limit on the BBC's complaint form.

Dear Sir/Madam
 
I would like to lodge my concerns related to a segment on The Big Questions (Episode 10, Series 8) which I believe aired on Sunday March the 15th.
 
The segment was entitled 'Do British Muslims have a problem with apostates?'.
 
Mr Nicky Campbell drifted away from the topic in what seems to be a deliberate and premeditated attempt to corner two of the Muslim guests (Mr Mohammed Shafiq and Mr Abdullah Al Andalusi).
 
Mr Campbell departed from neutrality and went on the offensive in order to corner Mr Andalusi about something totally unrelated to the topic. Nicky drew a really tentative link between Mr Al-Andalusi and a London imam and thus demanded rather forcefully that he condemns this imam for alleged comments which were totally off-topic. The link between Mr Al-Andalusi and his imam was merely them having shared the same platform in the past. Mr Al-Andalusi has shared platforms with people like the former EDL leader, Tommy Robinson. So Mr Campbell was being rather selective here. For Mr Campbell to draw such a tentative link and then veer away from the topic in hand while aggressively asking the guest to condemn this imam was an abandonment of neutrality, a basic level of integrity and respect.
 
A similar approach was adopted by Mr Campbell with regards to Mr Shafiq in which Mr Campbell again veered away from the subject in a premeditated attempt to corner Mr Shafiq for unrelated past comments on social media. Mr Shafiq expressed his concern while on the show stating it appears to be a 'witch-hunt' against certain guests - two Muslims guests (himself and Mr Andalusi).
 
Aside from this, even the title of the topic and the general approach seemed to be stacked against Muslims. Surely, a fairer approach would have been, not to simply focus on former Muslims but to open up the discuss for people of a variety of faiths to discuss their experiences with their families upon them leaving their respective faiths. Framing the discussion solely on Muslims can easily turn into a witch-hunt against Muslim.
 
I do believe this segment of the show did the BBC a disservice.
 
Regards
 
A few further considerations
 
Amal Farah seems to have an unhealthy intent on attacking her former faith. Moreover, she uses the standard Islamophobic arguments and exhibits clear signs of ignorance. Her claim that Taqiya is about 'tricking Western audiences' not only highlights her ignorance of the concept of Taqiya but also draws attention to her odd distinction between Muslims and the West; she would do well to remember there are millions of Muslims in the West...she should know as she used to be one.
 
 
 
Abdullah Al Andalusi has wrote a review  in which he makes a few good points but in my opinion he should have been more direct in answering the question about apostasy as he ultimately invited the focus on himself. I assume the topic would have been announced before his appearance on the show thus he would have had time to prepare for such questioning. Muslim speakers need to prepare answers for such panel shows which are direct, succinct and in accordance with mainstream Islam.
 
A reminder so people don't repeat the '0 exMuslims have been killed for apostasy in the UK' line, an incident in 1989:

Moslem who cut his daughter's throat because she decided to become a Jehovah's Witness was convicted of murder Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison. APNews

There's a good little clip of Dr Yasir Qadhi discussing apostasy and whether they should be killed in Non-Muslim countries:

Should Ex Muslims Be Killed in the West? Dr Yasir Qadhi
 
The BBC would do well not to use anybody from CEMB in the future, this group just seems to be an anti-Muslim hate group.

Did Muslims or Zionists Send Death Threats to Jenny Tonge?

ISIS Refuted by Dr Abdul-Rahman Dimashqia

The Truth About ISIS - Dr Yasir Qadhi
 
 
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