''Muslims Like Us'' is a British

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series shown on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

in December 2016. In the show, ten

British Muslims Islam is the second-largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2021 Census recording just under four million Muslims, or 6.0% of the total population in the United Kingdom. London has the largest population and greatest p ...

of varying beliefs and backgrounds were placed in a house together. It was produced by

Mobeen Azhar Mobeen Azhar (born 1980) is a British journalist, radio and television presenter, and filmmaker of Pakistani heritage. He produces investigative reports and films for the BBC exploring themes related to politics, true crime, extremism, counter t ...

Synopsis

The ten housemates came from various backgrounds and beliefs: Nabil Abdulrashid, a comedian of Nigerian heritage; Abdul Haqq, a black former boxer born

Anthony Small Anthony Small (also known as Abdul Haq) is a retired professional boxer and Islamic political activist who was born 20 June 1981 in Lewisham, London, England. He held both the British and Commonwealth belts at light middleweight. He was also re ...

who believes in strict

gender segregation Sex segregation, sex separation, sex partition, gender segregation, gender separation, or gender partition is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their gender or biological sex at any age. Sex segregation can si ...

; fashion follower Mehreen Baig; Saba, a 76-year-old white convert born Hilary; Ferhan Khan, who is gay; and Zohra, a

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

. Events in the series included the housemates going to feed the homeless, with Baig responding to anti-immigrant sentiments from some of them; Bara hugging a member of the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

in an attempt to change his views; and Abdul Haqq's strict views on gender being challenged by others. Abdul Haqq also refused to give an answer on whether it would be wrong to kill Zohra's Shia family.

Reception

There was significant debate from Muslim columnists on whether it was appropriate and representative to include a hardliner such as Abdul Haqq, although it was also pointed out that his fellow housemates disagreed vehemently with his views. The series won Best Reality and Constructed Factual at the

2017 British Academy Television Awards The 2017 British Academy Television Awards were held on 14 May 2017 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. They were hosted by Sue Perkins. The nominations were announced on 11 April, with ''The Crown (TV series), The Crown'' nominated for five aw ...

. In February 2018, a

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

-based version of the show was shown on Australia's

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

. This version included a gay man, a bisexual

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

woman, a woman in a

niqab A niqāb, niqab, or niqaab (; ), also known as a ruband () or rubandah (), is a long garment worn by some Muslim women in order to cover their entire body and face, excluding their eyes. It is an interpretation in Islam of the concept of ...

and a non-practising Shia.

References

External links

* {{British Academy Television Award for Best Reality and Constructed Factual BBC reality television shows 2010s British reality television series 2016 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings