On the back of the destructive events in Palestine, there has emerged a shift in mainstream media to allow for a perceived balanced discussion on the “Israel”-Palestine issue. While this is welcome news to the Muslim audience, one cannot help but wonder why? Has the West had a change of heart? Is there a collective sense of guilt when oppression is so clearly displayed to the world by the Zionist occupation? Or is there something more dark at play, a sinister plan that aims to dissect the Muslim Ummah upon their thoughts and place them upon a spectrum devised 20 years ago by US think-tanks.

One media platform spearheading the discussion between pro-Palestine and pro-“Israel” supporters is TalkTV. It’s important to note that TalkTV is owned by billionaire Zionist Rupert Murdoch, who funds the settlement-building organisation Jerusalem Foundation, and board member Genie Energy that has deals in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. TalkTV and its presenters are not impartial – no matter how much Piers Morgan barks the self-confessed and self-endorsed statement of “I’ve done the most to give a platform to pro-Palestinian voices”.

There has been a carefully constructed pathway, no matter the guest on the show, to go down a particular line of questioning.

1. It squarely begins the story on October the 7th as opposed to 1948 or before.
2. The presenters proceed to condemn the actions attributed to the resistance factions without evidence of claimed beheadings and rapes while ignoring “Israeli” actions of clear murder of innocent civilian populations.
3. Finally, ending with the question “Do you condemn Hamas”.
4. Once the presenter has managed to ascertain the position of the pro-Palestinian voice in regards to resistance, they proceed to push them on the political solution to understand their Muslim guests’ world view.

After hearing this line of questioning repeated with guests such as Mohammed Hijab, Dilly Hussain, Lowkey to Andrew Tate, it begs the question – what is this fixation about condemning Hamas? Even after social media outcry, memes and backlash regarding the question, it has continued to this day as the dialogue on TalkTV and followed by other mainstream media outlets and radio stations in the West.

Since the fall of the last Islamic State in 1924 and the consequent calls for political Islam from all quarters of the Muslim world – with the call being its loudest today due to the failure of Capitalism to impose itself as a just alternative. The West, headed by the United States, has been planning to end the idea of a global Caliphate for the Muslims once and for all.

20 years ago in 2003, one of the most prestigious and largest U.S. think tanks RAND Corporation published a report titled “Civil Democratic Islam” attempting to classify and distinguish Muslims by their idea of political Islam.

The debates and conflicts that mark the current Islamic world can make the picture seem confusing. It becomes easier to sort the actors if one thinks of
them not as belonging to distinct categories but as falling along a spectrum. Their views on certain critical marker issues help to locate them correctly on this spectrum.

It is then possible to see which part of the spectrum is generally compatible with our values, and which is fundamentally inimical

Civil Democratic Islam by Cheryl Bernard (RAND Corporation 2003)

During the renaissance, the printing press was instrumental in advocating secularism and challenging traditional religious values. The printing press laid the groundwork for the evolution of mass media and communication technologies, fostering the continued spread of Capitalism under American Imperialism. It is still safe to say today that the mainstream media, an evolution to the printing press, is dominated by a minority of ultra-capitalists with a distinct world view completely opposed to the Muslim awakening and revival.

One would be naïve to believe a man like Piers Morgan to say that he is impartial and that his show aims to provide a balanced argument when analysis has already shown that the opposing pro-Israeli view gets less interruption and next to zero pushback. Only recently revelations of Piers Morgan being involved in phone hacking while editor of Daily Mirror puts into question his integrity, if it wasn’t already clear.

TalkTV began its campaign of inviting Muslim pro-Palestine voices by bringing on popular YouTuber Mohammed Hijab and it followed with the likes of rapper Lowkey and comedian Bassem Youssef. Many Muslims were surprised to see the likes of Mohammed Hijab be given a platform with Piers Morgan who is known to interview the most famous people in the world, from royalty to elite football stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo. Just the chance to project Mohammed Hijab’s voice to the world was something that made many Muslims proud and he had the backing of the entire Muslim population to be the voice of Muslims on mainstream media where our voice is often kept out of the discussion. The bravery shown by all of the Muslim guests gave the Ummah something to be proud of. We enjoyed our corner being defended on mainstream media – their intentions were pure and their zeal to change the hearts and minds of millions was clear.

However, the most interesting aspect was not what was said on these interviews with the highly followed Muslim influencers, but rather the flurry of guests that followed on to TalkTV. Muslim speakers that are close to the Muslim community in the UK or U.S. but not exactly at the level of following of Mohammed Hijab (1.2m followers) or Bassem Youssef (11m followers). The pro-Palestinian voices that followed were not Imams or scholars, nor the moderate voices that usually dominate Muslim voices in mainstream media. We haven’t seen the likes of Yasir Qadhi, Hamza Yusuf, Omar Suleiman or others grace the stage with Piers Morgan or James Whale and promote their usual interfaith and apologetic narrative that most Muslims disagree with.

The reason for this goes back to the publication of Civil Democratic Islam by Cheryl Bernard. The objective being to measure a Muslim along a spectrum, it states:

• Fundamentalists reject democratic values and contemporary Western culture. They want an authoritarian, puritanical state that will implement their extreme view of Islamic law and morality. They are willing to use innovation and modern technology to achieve that goal.
• Traditionalists want a conservative society. They are suspicious of modernity, innovation, and change.
• Modernists want the Islamic world to become part of global modernity.
  They want to modernize and reform Islam to bring it into line with the age.
• Secularists want the Islamic world to accept a division of church and state in the manner of Western industrial democracies, with religion relegated to the private sphere.

Civil Democratic Islam by Cheryl Bernard (RAND Corporation 2003)

For those who understand the Muslim activist and da’wah scene, it is clear that the Muslim guests appearing on TalkTV have been within the top two spectrums, either fundamentalist or tradionalist in their world view. We’ve had the likes of Jake Branctella, the Muslim Metaphysician (82k followers), Musa Adnan (83k), Roshan Salih (30k), Dilly Hussain (92k), Abdullah Al Andalusi (20k) and Abdul Wahid (30k). This group of Muslim guests collectively still does not amount to the following of Mohammad Hijab and certainly not the more moderate figure of Bassem Youssef but have managed to capture an audience with Piers Morgan. Not that one should be proud of doing so, but one should be wary to have been called up when they have a relatively insignificant following compared to the regular interviewees of Piers Morgan.

There are many examples within these interviews alone that indicate TalkTV are pushing a government agenda to identify any narrative that doesn’t condemn the 7th of October resistance to be a terror attack, as considered as extremism or sympathising with terrorism.

Musa Adnan, a student of knowledge, particularly Islamic History with a small but growing following of 85k on YouTube was pit against two very aggressive Muslim hating presenters James Whale and Ash Gould. At one point, James Whale and his co-host Ash, decides to go off on a tangent and compares Adnan Musa with Omar Bakri Muhammad, Abu Hamza and Anjem Choudhury.

“We were talking to an Imam…” said James Whale

Ash interrupted with “Omar Bakri Muhammad, and we had Abu Hamza and Anjem Choudhury”

“And now we have you on…”

Adnan Musa did not spot the insinuating link between himself and those on the more salafi-Jihadi methodology. The sudden tangent and random story while talking about a much more pressing issue that is the suffering of the people of Palestine – it was evidence that this is not about bringing on pro-Palestinian voices, nor bringing on popular figures. Otherwise we’d have seen the more moderate and secular voices from amongst the Muslims who are a lot more popular in comparison.

It’s not about bringing pro-Palestinian voices to the table but rather to build an evidence base on how to discern a Muslim as extreme in their worldview going forward when they sound more like the Muslims that have been going on TalkTV.

On the back of the newly revised Prevent strategy, now re-coined CONTEST, it aims to combat and police thoughts like never before. In July 2023, former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman stated “It is within that context that we judge that the risk from terrorism is once again rising. By far the biggest terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism.”

Within the revised Prevent strategy document, those who call for a world view where Muslims desire to live under the Shari’ah of Allah (SWT) are now categorised as those who call for a violent methodology, it states:

In the UK, the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism. Islamist terrorism is the threat or use of violence as a means to establish a strict interpretation of an Islamic society. For some this is a political ideology which envisions, for example, the creation of a global Islamic caliphate based on strict implementation of shari’ah law, drawing on political and religious ideas developed in the 20th century by Sayyid Qutb and Abdallah Azzam.

UK Prevent duty guidance 2023

The revision only comes into force at the end of 2023, and therefore mainstream media has begun their campaign on those who fall in the spectrum of fundamentalist or traditionalist.

There are examples whereby even the presenter themselves do not wish to continue the conversation but are forced to do so by producers. Jake Branctella, the Muslim Metaphysician with a small 82k following on YouTube was continually attacked for not condemning Hamas. He and Adnan Musa previously were asked to advise or “convince Hamas” as if they are the spokespersons of such groups and have any say in their actions. This is a clear strategy to pit the those who align with the idea of political Islam and a global Caliphate, alongside militant or resistance groups. The same way in which the newly revised Prevent strategy also did.

TalkTV presenter James Whale couldn’t hold back his anger and at one point demanded the producers cut off Jake from the interview. To his dismay, the producer left Jake on the call and this was likely because they didn’t get what they wanted, a clear condemnation or enough content to clarify Jake’s position or political world view.

The bravery and passion of the Muslim guests who have been interviewed to present the correct narrative while standing their ground against career bullies such as Piers Morgan and James Whale must be praised. We know that many of our foundational concepts are a problem for the West and without really having time to take the listener on a journey to why Islam has certain rules and a certain world view, it is almost impossible to explain it all in short one liners before getting cut off and attacked by the presenters. Each and every Muslim figure did exceptionally well in this regards. However, Muslim influencers and public figures need to be aware of the insidious plan to use them as cannon fodder for the war on Islamic concepts such as Khilafah and Jihad.

There was a reason why Piers Morgan was so offended by 5Pillars call to boycott him as that would dismantle their game plan on bringing more figures who fall on the traditionalist spectrum and have them demonised to the world with views that they want to make seem unacceptable.

As we’ve heard many times before, the Hadith of the Prophet (SAW) states that “A believer is not stung twice (by something) out of one and the same hole” and therefore we should remain vigilant and astute to the plots and plans of those who wish to destroy Islam at its foundational concepts.