Channel 4’s Islam documentary sparks complaints

More than 500 complaints have been made to Channel 4 and media watchdog Ofcom about a documentary which suggested Mecca might not have been the real birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed.

The Channel 4 documentary, ‘In Islam: The Untold Story’, historian Tom Holland said there was little evidence for how the faith was born.

The documentary set out to examine “the issue of whether, as Muslims have always believed, Islam was born fully formed in all its fundamentals, or else evolved gradually, over many years”.

Holland also questioned where and when the Koran was written and said there was an historical “black hole” surrounding Islam’s beginnings.

A Channel 4 spokesperson said the broadcaster had received around 400 complaints, while Ofcom has received around 150 complaints.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “We will assess them and if we believe there has been a possible breach of the broadcasting code, we would hold an investigation, but no decision to that effect has been taken.”