Trash Talk: America(n Muslims), fuck yeah!

In the post-9/11 era, American Muslims have struggled to assert their patriotism while simultaneously observing a religion that many perceive as fundamentally at odds with American society. Naturally, reality television programs have latched onto this conflict, featuring a batch of American Muslims who buck the gruesome American stereotype of bomb-wielding, misogynistic extremists.

MTV’s The Real World: Sydney and The Real World: New Orleans both included a Muslim woman in their casts. Parisa Montazaran and Sahar Dika, respectively, were unveiled, liberal Muslims who offered a rebuttal to claims that radical Islam was a rampant threat to the very fiber of American society. Other than Montazaran’s unwillingness to drink in excess and Dika’s shame in not being a virgin, both women shared many of the same values as their cast mates. A string of other programs, including Family Feud, Survivor, and Big Brother all forwarded the same narrative: American Muslims are just like you.

Then came All-American Muslim, a TLC show that followed five Lebanese-American Shia Muslim families living in Dearborn, Mich., a town that boasts the largest concentration of Arabs in the U.S. and the largest mosque in North America. Unlike shows before it, All-American Muslim featured a variety of Muslim experiences. Nina Bazzy-Aliahmad is a businesswoman who sought to open a nightclub in her community, defying the male-dominated and culturally conservative culture in which she was raised. Fouad Zaban is a conservative football coach who respects all Muslim rites and traditions, including veiling his daughters and strictly enforcing Ramadan. Mike Jaafar is a deputy police chief whose children have Western names and are unveiled. In the Amen family, Shadia is a tattooed single mom until she marries Jeff McDermott, a white man, and converts him to Islam. Shadia’s sister, Bilal, makes a decision to begin wearing the hijab, feeling it will protect her from men.

The show sparked instant controversy when Lowe’s decided to pull out of advertising on it. The decision came in response to letters it received from born-again Christian David Caton, who claimed the show was Islamic propaganda. The company’s reservations prompted a wave of advertising withdrawals from 65 different companies, all of which felt that All-American Muslim was a lightning rod for discord that conflicted with their brand messaging.

As advertisers backed out, so did viewers. Despite premiering to favorable ratings in November, by the January finale viewership had slumped below the watershed one million mark. This week, TLC announced that All-American Muslim would not be renewed for a second season.

The story of All-American Muslim provides insight not only into the ways in which American society views Muslim Americans in the post-9/11 era but also into how we see the teleology of assimilation. All-American Muslim separated itself from other reality shows because it depicted the reality: not all Muslims are just like you. Some American Muslims wear hijabs, don’t drink alcohol, and speak Arabic at home. True, some also have premarital sex, wear Western clothing, and play football, but any portrayal of Islam in America is incomplete without both parts. By featuring conservative Muslims as well as progressive Muslims, All-American Muslim showed U.S. audiences the true face of Islam in America.

What perhaps disturbed viewers and advertisers more than the cultural differences expressed in the show was the way in which the characters changed over time. Bilal Amen went from being unveiled and Western to choosing to wear the hijab. Shadia converted her husband to Islam. Instead of following the typical assimilation narrative, All-American Muslim showed some Muslims becoming more conservative, not more liberal, as they lived in the U.S. Not only were Muslims practicing their own religious customs in America, but some were also moving away from the liberal values supposedly inherent in American society.

All-American Muslim’s cancellation reinforces the sad truth that many Americans have ignorant and bigoted views toward Islamic religion and culture. But more importantly, it reveals that Americans are unwilling to accept immigrant cultures that separate themselves from the pot instead of melting into it. Muslims like Montazaran and Dika are welcomed into American society because they largely ignore their culture in favor of Westernization, but Muslims like the Amen family who seek to exercise their religious freedom in America are marginalized.

This week, Bravo extended its monopoly over the portrayal of obnoxiously rich lifestyles with the premier of Shahs of Sunset, a show which follows filthy rich Iranian-American families in Los Angeles. Underneath all the Maseratis and mascara, the show contains no real speck of Islamic culture—or any real substance at all. I have no doubt it will be highly successful.