Islam and the West in Media.

‘Muslim’, ‘Islam’, ‘Islamist’, ‘Islamic’, ‘Shariah’, ‘Jihad’, ‘Burka’, ‘Hijab’… what comes to mind as you read these words? What scenes and emotions are evoked and what do these words connotate for you? It may be that you have never come across some of the meanings of such vocabulary, but if you have – question the sources and contexts you have come to know them. If scenes of violence and oppression come to mind as you read the opening line of phrases, I wouldn’t blame you. A study conducted by Cambridge University found that for every one, ‘moderate’ Muslim mentioned in the British press, 21 examples of extremist Muslims are mentioned. As a Muslim woman, I am careful to whom I talk about my jihad, when expressing my inner struggles of resisting the temptation of becoming complacent and lazy with my time, by not busying myself with good deeds and daily worship. I worry that the media’s version of jihad, may overwhelm the person I am confiding in – a version that has been sensationalised to strip the nuanced Arabic word that beautifully encapsulates a daily struggle for every Muslim, to battle the part of themselves that prevents them from partaking in actions of peace instead of sin.

Words have Power!

Words hold great meaning and if a media circus is occupied with singular narratives that are void of authentic Muslim voices, where does that leave the stories of a global population of 1.9 billion followers of Islam; diverse in culture, race, politics and class? According to the latest Census, Muslims make up 6.5% of the population in England and Wales. You may look at this number and be surprised at how small this percentage is, considering how often we dominate political narratives and tabloid headlines. A study conducted by the University of Birmingham last year found that 25.9% of British people felt negatively towards Muslims and 18.1% would support the banning of Muslim immigration, leading to one in four British people surveyed, holding negative views of Muslim and Islam as a whole. For such a small percentage of the UK population, it makes one wonder how so many have come to dislike everything and anything ‘Muslim’ and leads to the question of how many people have sat down and spoken to a Muslim face-to-face to engage in a dialogue or to visit a Mosque.

The existence of Muslims in the UK dates back centuries, including during times of the country’s aid during the First World War, when at least 400,000 Muslim soldiers took arms to serve Britain as part of the British Indian Army. According to research by the British Future, almost nobody (2%) is aware of the scale of Muslim contributions in the history of British war – a subject that is widely taught in schools across the UK. The lack of awareness around the Muslim identity, contribution, and existence in all its forms seems to be a recurring theme within the press. A City University report found that the lack of diversity of the British press was a damning issue, with just 0.4% of British journalists being Muslim, only 10% being from working-class backgrounds and a staggering 94% of British journalists being white. As a teenager choosing her A-levels and deciding what to proceed with at university, I decided to try and fill this gap by providing an authentic female Muslim voice in the industry. I found myself quickly stumbling upon bigger issues and often finding myself to be the only non-white person in the spaces I interned at as a student journalist, let alone the only Muslim.

As the pressure loomed to ‘get it right’ and ‘tell our stories’ on my younger and ambitious self, the Islamophobia around Brexit and exodus of far-right narratives grew around me, as the police reports of hate crime increased by 57% in the four days after the referendum in 2019. It became more apparent that the reporting around immigration, race, and polarising use of language by politicians in Westminster was being sensationalised and sold at the expense of my community. Last year, a House of Commons report confirmed that Islamophobia is now the most common form of religious hate crime in the UK, as the Home Office shared that 42% of all religious hate crimes reported to the police in 2021/22 were against Muslims. During my final year as a Creative Writing & Media student, I was approached by some Muslims in my local community who were concerned by the issue of Muslim representation in the media. They proposed a solution to tackle the inaccurate stories by propelling positive and authentic representation of Muslims instead. By this time, I had almost three years of industry experience to come to the conclusion that the root of the issue was not solely the lack of Muslim journalists, but rather a lack of uptake amongst Muslims in creative industries as a whole.

Where could I find belonging and relatability as a young, Welsh Pakistani Muslim woman?

Where could I find belonging and relatability as a young, Welsh Pakistani Muslim woman? If, as a highly creative person, I struggled to feel empowered to see the career of journalism till the end or ever see any of my guest lecturers, creative role models look like me – how could I expect mainstream media to understand or take care to hear our voices? I realised that there was not a single place online, or in the media, where our modest yet talented community of Welsh Muslim creatives came together. Thus, through countless meetings, strategising at our local Mosque – Now In A Minute Media was born. An independent media social enterprise to platform, inspire and encourage Muslims in the community to take up careers in the creative industries and see a world beyond the simplistic and stereotypical narratives portrayed of our community. Almost three years on and a pandemic later, Now In A Minute Media is now an online hub of lively Welsh Muslim talent – with our first event just after the pandemic being attended by over 100 people, in the heart of Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre. We have platformed and provided opportunities for over 70 Muslim creatives and the more we grow as a platform, the more voices echo the same recurring issues of there being a lack of space for Muslims to grow as writers, storytellers, content creators, crafters, entrepreneurs etc.

From covering the action of the recent World Cup in Qatar, to our annual Ramadan short production - as a small team of volunteers running the platform, we have come to realise that through art and authentic storytelling – the power of Muslim independent media transcends mainstream agenda-driven narratives. The feedback and response from the community, for the need for more stories to be told and more upskilling of creative practices, shows the dire need to nurture Muslim communities to reclaim their own narratives. In an online and offline society that increasingly divide's' – we hope that through the power of creativity and faith-conscious media, we can ignite the creator in everyone to tackle some of the issues our community face and unite beyond perception.

Now In A Minute Media, is a Muslim led Media Social Enterprise.