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Here is a CAIR Statement by Faiza N. Ali (Communications Coordinator of CAIR-NY), followed by an Interview with Arsalan Iftikhar (CAIR National Legal Director) on The O’Reilly Factor arguing that 24 is desensitizing viewers to concepts that should outrage and frighten them. I’ve also posted Brother Dash’s well-written critical response to CAIR’s protest.

[January 18, 2007] - New York – Since its inception, Fox’s television drama “24” has received several complaints with regards to the content of the show which primarily focused on Muslims as terrorists. Two years later, the criticism has grown. After much controversy over the latest episodes in which a Muslim is responsible for detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, CAIR-NY would like to address the issue by releasing the following statement:

CAIR-NY believes that the storyline on Fox’s “24” portrays a negative image and builds upon unfounded fears that many Americans have when they look at their Muslim neighbor or colleague. Although the producers in the past have included characters of other ethnicities and religions, the reality is that the image of an Arab or Muslim detonating a bomb has a detrimental impact and hinders further progress toward minimizing such stereotypes. Given the current climate with the pervasiveness of Islamophobia, associating terrorist images with Muslims will adversely affect our efforts in building community relations.

For more information, please contact Faiza N. Ali, Communications Coordinator at manager@cair-ny.org.

CAIR National Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar discusses the impact of this season’s episodes of Fox’s “24″ on the American Muslim community.

And here is a letter by Brother Dash on this very issue:

A Salaamu Alaikum,

I’ve seen all of the episodes so far this season. Has anyone else? I
think it would be important to first view the episodes before
complaining and protesting. If the complaint is that the bad guys are
Muslim then that is not enough. There are Muslim bad guys in the
world so that can’t be the basis of the complaint. If it is that
these are unfair portrayals or that it’s over the top or every bad guy
is Muslim or that there is no balance then by all means complain.

But the complaint can’t be based on the fact that you may or may not
like the bad guy being Muslim. Now as I stated I have seen these
episodes so far and I saw the entire season last year. In fairness
the writers seem to be going out of their way to create dialogue in
opposition to the stereotyping of Muslims. You have a Black male
president (the 2nd Black male president they’ve had on the show so you
know this is fiction) who draws the parallel of the desire of the
Chief of Staff to intern Muslims to the atrocity of putting the
Japanese in camps during WW2. You have a Nigerian Muslim who heads an
organization (a la CAIR) that is trying to help combat terrorism even
while he is being unjustly treated by the FBI. You have what was
supposed to be the chief terrorist of the show actually renounce
terrorism in favor of working “peacefully with the West” and he
receives a presidential pardon. And there are other instances.

Now if we look at last season’s terrorism arc (and this is what the
show is about…terrorism and anti-terrorism) the number one bad guy
was really the White Male Christian President of the United States.
He along with other White Non-Muslim Men were the terrorists. Even
the show’s hero Jack Bauer uses torture to get his way.

Now I’m not saying that the show is not without its problems. It is a
TV show written by Non-Muslims not a dawah video. As a writer I would
have done things differently and I certainly would have directed the
show differently. Even with what I have said above the biggest
complaint that I have is that these are largely verbal balances to the
potrayal of Muslims as terrorists as opposed to more visual balances.
Visuals are stronger and the medium television is primarily a visual
one. This isn’t radio.

I think a stronger, more nuanced and more open to be received,
complaint would be to make an artistic/social critique as opposed to
“I’m mad that the bad guys are Muslims again”. I would say that I
recognize and applaud the changes made from the first two or three
seasons and the concerted effort of the writers to talk about civil
liberties, non-stereotyping of Muslims, etc. The really strong visual
manifestation of that is not present this season however and thus the
impact of these changes is lessened or more easily usurped by the
visual message of “Muslims are terrorists”. It’s one thing to have
written dialogue saying that we should not stereotype Muslims it’s
another to have that visual or to have a character we love that we
never knew was Muslim “come out” and say so. How great would it have
been to have the character of Curtis, who was a Persian Gulf veteran
and is an extremely popular character, mention that he was a convert
to Islam who accepted Islam during the Persian Gulf War as several
American soldiers did? That would make people think and it’s much
more resonant than a speech by the ACLU lawyer on how the Chief of
Staff treats the Constitution like it’s a “list of suggestions.”
(funny line though).

So to me this type of a complaint would be a stronger one.

Brother Dash