TV review: My Name Is Muhammad

Published on Sunday 28 February 2010 20:35

ACTUALLY, their names weren't all Muhammad. There were some Mohammeds, a woman with the surname Jan Mohamed, a Mo and people born Neil and Martin. But whatever the spelling, they were all named after the Muslim Prophet even if they didn't have much else in common.

The simple premise of My Name Is Muhammad, which just interviewed nine practising, lapsed and converted Muslims with the name, was perhaps a bit obvious as a way of demonstrating how different they all were and, by extension, how diverse British Muslims are in general. But it worked well enough, thanks to a well-chosen spread of subjects being left to talk to a camera with only some quirky handwritten placards to sum themselves up.

Like, for instance, Mohammed Hasan, whose sign read: "So you're a pilot and your name is Mohammed?! You heard right!" Born in Kenya, he'd been flying for ten years when the 9/11 attacks suddenly meant his name didn't fit. At Stansted Airport he was given the nickname Bomber, while passengers apparently became freaked out when he announced himself over the intercom. Reluctantly – "it was the Prophet's name, why should I abbreviate it?" – he renamed himself Mo.

Mohamed Ali Harrath also considered changing his name, to Random Check, an ironic reference to so many of his co-religionists being called out in airport security scans. The head of the Islam TV Channel, and a chum of Nick Clegg and Boris Johnston, he's also wanted by Interpol for political activities in his native Tunisia. The programme skirted over this a bit (he was arrested and then released in South Africa only last month), but Harrath maintains he opposed Tunisia's one-party state: "Opposing tyrannies and dictators is an act of worship for me."

On the other hand, there was radical young preacher Mohammed Shahjahan, who was part of the banned group Islam4UK, who was happy to rant on about the day when his version of Sharia Law will rule Britain (although given that it involves banning alcohol, that alone seems like a non-starter for this country).

But, the programme pointed out, he's in a minority of Muslims; most would be more likely to agree with Muhammad Abu Kalam, a cheery youth worker who talked about spreading peace as the key to Paradise. Kalam gets stopped and searched a lot, but declares that he loves Britain, hates terrorism and is "an ardent Liverpool supporter, I like a laugh … and I have fish and chips on a regular basis". Ah, the fish supper – a non-sporty equivalent of Norman Tebbit's cricket test.

Blogger Shelina Zahra Jan Mohamed – placard: "Would a feminist wear a veil? This one does!" – defended her beliefs, seeing the man her name refers to as a pioneer of equality for all. Muhammad Sulaiyman was once a skinhead and became a Muslim when his father said he ought to get some discipline in his life by either doing that or joining the army.

Then there were the converts: Muhammad Payne, former atheist Neil who had a girlfriend, went dancing and ate bacon sandwiches till he found Islam. And prison imam Mohammed Foulds, once Martin, who used to study vultures in isolated areas of Saudi Arabia, where he was moved by the call to prayer echoing through the mountains and "couldn't resist" becoming a Muslim.

Collectively they were only a fraction of representation, but this was still an interesting little glimpse of people's lives.