Urdu print and electronic media is a popular medium of mass communication, mostly among Pakistani-British Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs who constitute the majority of Birmingham Muslims. There are three Islamic television channels in the Urdu language operating from Birmingham. Two of them are run by Pirkhanas while one of them is run by Salafis Muslim reformists. These television channels are very popular among Birmingham Muslims as well as well as among British Muslims. In all of the offices, shops or households I visited during my fieldwork, I observed people watching one of these three channels. There are four Urdu newspapers, two daily, one weekly and one fortnightly. These mass communication mediums are also a source of self-projection for Muslim businessmen to present their image of being a ‘good and successful Muslim’.
57 Recent example of this culture is the 2012 by-election at Bradford West where the Respect Party candidate George Galloway in the presence of his Muslim voters publically declared that he has never drank alcohol. He challenged the Muslim candidate for the Labour Party, Imran Hussain, to say the same in public by swearing on the Quran.
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Television channels of Pirkhanas most of the time broadcast live lectures of Pirs and Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs are commonly invited to the audience for such lectures, talk shows and discussions. The themes of these discussions are mostly about Islamic teachings and history, moral and family values, how to be a good Muslim and what type of role model Muslims in Birmingham should be looking for along with other Islamic themes and rituals of prayer. These Islamic television channels and Urdu newspapers are popular and a common source for referencing what is happening amongst affluent Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham.
In one of the TV talk show about ‘role models for Muslim youth in Birmingham’, I was invited as a discussant topic along with two other influential Muslim community leaders. The other community members were Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Chishti. The host of this Islamic TV talk show was Mr. Khalid, a lawyer by profession who worked as a TV host part time. This particular Islamic TV channel is run by a local Pirkhana. For about an hour, the host Mr. Khalid, was emphasising that the best role model for Muslim youth in Birmingham is Pir himself. The TV talk show in itself was a projection of Pir as a role model for Birmingham Muslims. The host and other two guests were in agreement about the fact that Pir is the most pious and virtuous personality in Birmingham who can lead and represent Birmingham Muslims at any forum. At the same time, they discussed and shared incidents of their lives when they could do some pious acts for the welfare of the Muslim community in Birmingham. Mr. Shaikh shared how his association with Pir had helped him evolve spiritually and to obtain success within the local community. He said that he was sick once and he thought that he might never be able to leave his bed. But then it was the blessings and prayer of Pir through he was fully recovered and he obtained worldly success again. Mr. Shaikh said that he is a community leader now and he tries his best to guide others especially youth to live a pious, religious and moral lives.
Mr. Hashim is a journalist who works for Urdu newspapers and TV channels in Birmingham. He shared with me that he receives requests from Muslim community leaders all the time that he should print their picture and some message in the newspaper. He said that influential and affluent Muslim businessmen in Birmingham have this weakness for their own publicity and all of them want their picture in the newspaper from time to time. He said that he happily does it as he earns money out of it. His observation was that Muslim reformist groups are interested in getting their message printed in the newspaper with the name of their groups while community leaders want their photo in
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newspapers. He goes for media coverage of various religious and social events of Birmingham Muslims and sometimes he receives some money from individuals who want their photo and message printed in newspapers. Mr. Hashim said that by maintaining the image of a ‘pious and god fearing Muslim’ through local Urdu media, some Muslim businessmen and reformist groups collect a lot of charity and donations for their charity organisations, especially during the month of Ramadan. Mr. Hashim told me that the introduction of Muslim community leaders as ‘good Muslims’ is vital for them to win the trust of people and the media is the best tool for them to maintain this image. He told me with laughter that he has been doing this job for the last twenty years and now he knows which Muslim community leader in Birmingham is ‘fake’ and which one is ‘true’ as a person.
Eickelman and Anderson (1999) in ‘Redefining Muslim Publics’ maintain that a new sense of Muslim public is emerging as the ‘authoritative use of symbolic language of Islam’ mainly through mosques and by Imams has now been contestably used on media and on other modes of communication. This new Muslim public sphere is ‘discursive, performative and participative’. The writers argue that the new media ‘erodes the gap between producer and consumers’ by creating new standards for public rhetoric and, in the process, creates a public space. The media, in this new Muslim public sphere is owned and managed by influential Muslims, “aims at everyone and direct personal communication to specific others with whom one already has a personal relationship (pp. 15)”. In the case of Birmingham’s Islamised mass communications, the TV channels not only keep the clients and consumers of Pirkhanas and other reformist Muslim groups intact, but they also keep them in touch with their ‘country of origin’ by broadcasting political talk shows, news and drama series which other famous TV channels broadcast back in the country of origin. At the same time, due to the accessibility of devotees and sympathizers to modern media and TV, Pirs and reformist Muslims keep in touch with their devotees and sympathizers on a daily basis by delivering a sermon or by engaging with them through some live talk show where the consumers sometime have the chance to give a live call and communicate directly with their faith leader. The latter is something which in itself is a prestige and an act of giving a public performance of being pious as the rest of the community is also watching and listening to one of their members calling and talking with the faith leader.
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The mastery of the art of better public performances of pious lives is achieved through social learning, by achieving a ‘pious introduction’, by acquiring membership on the board of trustee at the Central Mosque or other mosques, by encouraging the public performance of piety in reformist Muslim groups gatherings, by establishing the credential of committed and responsible community leaders, or by having a permanent or repeated presence and appearance on Islamic TV channels where reformist Muslims inculcate the values of being pious and present piety-led lives as ‘role model’ for Birmingham Muslims. Along with reformist Muslim individuals setting standardised parameters for how to conduct everyday life, there are few individuals among Birmingham Muslims who best represent the phenomenon of public performance of piety through their everyday lives. I am going to write about the life course/life histories of two reformist Muslim individuals as well as Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs who embody all the traits of ‘piety-led lives’ and who, to a great extent, have the social approval of being role-models for all the major social circles of Birmingham Muslims. The everyday life of these two individuals is a reflection of the phenomenon of the public performance of piety amongst other Birmingham Muslim community leaders, reformists, businessmen and entrepreneurs.