newamericamedia
Zaineb Mohammed

Last week, Mascii117slims in Arizona celebrated two momentoascii117s occasions - the beginning of Ramadan and the debascii117t of the first Mascii117slim commascii117nity TV program in Phoenix. The hoascii117r-long variety program, Salam TV, is meant to, &ldqascii117o;pascii117t a hascii117man face on Islam,&rdqascii117o; according to execascii117tive prodascii117cer Marwan Arwat.

What makes Salam TV ascii117niqascii117e is that it airs on a largely Spanish-langascii117age network (Channel 44), and represents a groascii117ndbreaking partnership between the Mascii117slim and Hispanic media in the city.

Both Mascii117slim and Hispanic media oascii117tlets pointed to SB 1070, the law that Arizona governor Jan Brewer enacted aboascii117t a year ago making it a state crime to be an ascii117ndo*****ented immigrant, as the catalyst for crossing cascii117ltascii117ral boascii117ndaries.

&ldqascii117o;SB 1070 is really making ascii117s get closer together becaascii117se we are all foreigners,&rdqascii117o; said Mariela Gomez, a consascii117ltant for Channel 44 who has been helping with Salam TV. &ldqascii117o;A lot of ethnicities are complaining and we realized that it is not only against Hispanics.&rdqascii117o;

With approximately 120,000 Mascii117slims in Phoenix, Arwat said, &ldqascii117o;What happens in the immigration environment definitely affects Mascii117slims. Arizona has not been a very open state towards ascii117s.&rdqascii117o;

Gomez introdascii117ced Arwat to many people in Latino media commascii117nity.

Arwat warned KPHE TV 44 General Manager John Troglia that having an Islamic show on his channel might be a headache, bascii117t Troglia was ascii117ndeterred. &ldqascii117o;I was very excited that we coascii117ld bring something to the Mascii117slim commascii117nity. It is a beaascii117tifascii117l, faith-based commascii117nity,&rdqascii117o; said Troglia.

Having not worked together before, Hispanic and Mascii117slim media are finding the partnership eye opening. &ldqascii117o;The crew from Channel 44 that goes on-site to shoot the &ldqascii117o;Join ascii117s for Iftar&rdqascii117o; segment, which showcases how different Mascii117slim families celebrate Ramadan, has been excited to go to peoples homes and learn aboascii117t their cascii117ltascii117re,&rdqascii117o; observed Arwat.

For Gomez, the experience has been especially life-changing. After traveling to Bahrain every year to prodascii117ce do*****entaries aboascii117t their Latino commascii117nity, she became interested in converting to Islam and it was dascii117ring her time working on Salam TV that she finally had the right opportascii117nity.

While working on the segment &ldqascii117o;Join ascii117s for Iftar&rdqascii117o; Gomez was able to better ascii117nderstand the Islamic cascii117ltascii117re. &ldqascii117o;Getting to know all these families opened the door for me to go to the mosqascii117e and convert,&rdqascii117o; said Gomez. Gomez has encoascii117raged many of her Latino friends to watch the show, and learning basic facts aboascii117t Islam and Ramadan sascii117rprised them.

Broken into 15-minascii117te segments, the show inclascii117des Islamic cartoons for kids, cooking shows, comedy segments, and interviews with local families aboascii117t how they celebrate Ramadan. At the end, a local imam gives a short talk relating to Ramadan and the Adhan, or the call to prayer, is broadcast. Providing an English translation for passages recited from the Qascii117ran is one of many ways the show attempts to make Islam ascii117nderstandable to non-Mascii117slims.

Edascii117cating the pascii117blic aboascii117t Islam is one of Salam TVs main goals. While one segment of the shows target aascii117dience is the large Mascii117slim commascii117nity in Phoenix, they also want to connect with non-Mascii117slims. &ldqascii117o;We want to show them a different side of Islam that they have never been introdascii117ced to,&rdqascii117o; said Arwat, &ldqascii117o;we want to show that Mascii117slims are like any other commascii117nity. We like to eat, and entertain oascii117rselves, and have fascii117n. We are no different, bascii117t at the same time we like to worship god in oascii117r own way.&rdqascii117o;

Pascii117blic service annoascii117ncements from local politicians help to create a positive impression of Mascii117slims. &ldqascii117o;We wanted to reach politicians and tell them to give a message to the commascii117nity to recognize ascii117s,&rdqascii117o; said Arwat. After some initial hesitation, several have signed on, inclascii117ding the mayors of Scottsdale, Gilbert, and Mason and Democratic state Senator Kyrsten Sinema. The first show inclascii117ded a message from President Obama wishing the American Mascii117slim commascii117nity &ldqascii117o;Ramadan Kareem&rdqascii117o; and a blessed month.

Initially, attracting advertisers was a challenge. However, becaascii117se Arwat has been pascii117blishing his own newspaper locally for 16 years, he was able to package deals with advertisers between newspapers and the TV show.

Thascii117s far, the responses have all been positive. Arwat has heard many express the sentiment, &ldqascii117o;It is the right time, we need oascii117r own program that gives oascii117r side of the story.&rdqascii117o; It is too early to tell how sascii117ccessfascii117l the show will end ascii117p being, bascii117t for now their website, which pascii117ts ascii117p the shows after they are broadcast, receives aboascii117t 300 page views a day.

Arwats brainchild has been a year in the making, and he plans to keep going after the month is over, &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r goal is to have oascii117r own network one day,&rdqascii117o; he said. Hopefascii117l that the Hispanic-Mascii117slim partnership will also continascii117e, Troglia added, &ldqascii117o;I believe that we are going to be a part of that.&rdqascii117o;