Last Monday's edition of the Channel Four documentary programme Dispatches entitled Undercover Mosque was heavily trailed with adverts being placed in several national newspapers to help promote it.

We were told that as part of a 12-month investigation Dispatches had sent an undercover reporter to a number of UK mosques (well alright, I counted four out of a total of over 1,200 UK mosques) "that claim to be dedicated to moderation and dialogue with other faiths" but in reality preach "chilling sermons" and "preach hatred for non-Muslims and for Muslims who do not follow their extreme beliefs". This "message of hatred" was allegedly "influenced by the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia."

Saudi involvement seems to be welcomed when it comes to our gambling and arms industries, but we are told that religion should be a no-no. Now it is certainly true that Saudi Arabia is an influential country and I wrote about Islamic outreach efforts from the Kingdom a couple of weeks ago. But how directly is it involved in British Muslim affairs?

In the firing line - along with others - was London's flagship Islamic Cultural Centre in Regent's Park, whose director, Dr Ahmad al-Dubayan, was, we were told, a Saudi diplomat.

A DVD was shown to be on sale at an independent Muslim bookshop operating in the foyer of the Islamic Cultural Centre in which someone calling himself Shaykh Feiz gave a speech and in one extract mimicked the sound of a pig snorting when he mentioned Jews. A CD containing a speech by someone called Murtaza Khan, a teacher at an Islamic primary school in Ilford, was also shown to be on sale at the same bookshop in which he was recorded as saying:

"We should have a sense of shame. For how long have we seen our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters have to go and uncover themselves before these filthy non-Muslim doctors?"

These are indeed deeply offensive remarks and cannot be lightly excused. I am no expert in law, but if either of the above men receives a visit from the police about inciting racial hatred, I would not be surprised.

However, was it really fair of the Dispatches team to try and use these two odious recordings - and note that we were not informed where the two talks were originally recorded - in an attempt to smear London's largest Islamic centre, whose management have pointed out that they were unaware of the content of either recording which was being sold at the bookshop?

Additionally, the Imams at the Islamic Cultural Centre have traditionally always been from Egypt, not Saudi Arabia, and for the 20 or so years that I have been worshipping there have hardly acquired a reputation for being firebrands. Quite the opposite, in fact.

But Muslim institutions do need to be more vigilant in trying to ensure that their premises are not used to promote such vitriol. If recordings such as the above are now withdrawn from sale then that will be one positive outcome from the C4 documentary.

Also placed under scrutiny were the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith - a national body with its headquarters in Birmingham and the UK Islamic Mission. The charge sheet against them included giving a platform to speakers who praised the concept of jihad, made derogatory remarks about the intelligence of women and expressed extreme hostility towards homosexuals.

You can read their detailed responses to Hardcash Productions, the makers of the C4 documentary, here and here.

I saw a number of emails bouncing around on various Muslim e-groups over the past few days calling on people to ring Channel 4 and request them to halt the broadcast of the Dispatches documentary. Channel 4 were never likely agree to that and probably for the best of reasons. The concerns of those Muslim e-mailers were not entirely without foundation though. They were evidently worried about the impact that the documentary would have on the already poor public perception of British Muslims.

Since the airing of the documentary the Muslim Council of Britain has received many responses via its website of which the following is not untypical:

"After watching the Channel 4 programme tonight, I am very disappointed. I feel betrayed by the Islamic community. I resent being referred to as a kuffur or kaffir or whatever it is you call us. Us, we, the indigenous population of a country which has given you shelter and allowed you to prosper among us. I am angry. I know that you Muslims are an implacable enemy who need to be fought. You are traitorous filth to me now. You are dogs. You are whores and animals. I hate you. When the war comes, I will happily fight against you all until you are driven from Europe.

Following the 7/7 bombings it was always inevitable that Muslim organisations and mosques would be placed under the spotlight. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Documentary makers have an important responsibility though to do their research properly and carefully identify those who actually incite hatred. They must take great care to avoid unfairly stigmatising whole institutions and groups of people.

The Dispatches team may have partly succeeded with the first bit, but I believe they failed quite badly with the second.

For their part, British Muslims also need to take some responsibility and be prepared to take a stand if they hear inappropriate language being used in Islamic centres. Just blaming the media is not enough.

By Inayat Bunglawala

Source: The Guardian

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