Guess Who's Coming to TV? A Pakistani Exchange Student

CAIRO — A new TV comedy that hits the airwaves in US on Monday, October 1, touches on deeply-rooted misconceptions about Muslims and their faith in post 9/11 America through the story of a Pakistani kid coming to live with an American family.

"Aliens in America" features a middle-class Wisconsin family that decides to take a foreign exchange student into their home, hoping that his company would help their socially-awkward teenage son, Justin.

But for the shock of the Tolchucks, instead of the blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked English teen that adorns the brochures of the exchange program, they find themselves with Raja Musharraf, a Muslim from a tiny village in Pakistan.

The mom, horrified by the view of the observant Muslim teen clad in his native garb, instantly goes for "sending him back."

She is worried that young Raja might be a terrorist.

"What about the terrorist question?" she whispers to her husband. "They pose as students; you know…You should watch more news."

But earnest, thoughtful and responsible Raja is not that frightful to the father.

He is satisfied with the well-mannered young Muslim who helps in cleaning the table, washing the dishes and doing household chores.

After the initial shock wears off, even Justin, who was totally against importing a buddy for him, is won over by Raja's humor and friendship gestures.

Alien

Raja finds more hardships awaiting him outside his host family's house.

On his first day at school, the teacher introduces Raja to her class as "a Pakistani who practices Muslimism."

"Raja, you are so different from us -- how does that feel?" she asks the confused Muslim boy who replies that he does not understand the question.

The teacher then asks students: "How does everyone else feel about Raja and his differences?"

"I guess I feel angry because his people blew up the buildings in New York," one girl replies while others raise hands.

As he tries to get past the misery of his first day at school, Raja draws wondering looks from Justin as he performs his daily prayer.

"It (prayer) gives me strength in difficult times," he explains to his curious American buddy.

The recent poll of the Pew research center revealed that despite the growing visibility of Islam in society in recent years, the majority of Americans lack the knowledge about the practices of Islam.

Nearly 70 percent of those polled said that the Muslim faith is very different from their own religion.

America is home to nearly seven million Muslims.

Paradigm

TV critics believe the series could contribute to change the paradigm of stereotypes that has dominated the US since 9/11.

"'Aliens in America' is a hopeful sign that we may finally be emerging pop-culturally into the post-post-9/11 age," the Los Angeles Times said in a review of the series.

The daily said that the mini series marks a departure from the "post-24 age", referring to the famous FOX network's action drama which included several episodes about Muslim terrorist plots.

Associating Islam with terrorism has become the norm rather than the exception in post 9/11 Western media.

American Muslim leaders have complained that a lot of conservative radio and television shows depict Muslims as the enemy within and paint all Muslims with the brush of radicalism.

Muslim viewers welcomed the new series after recent screening at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

"It's just so refreshing to have a character who is Muslim and who's likable," Omar Haroon told USA Today, insisting that the key word was "likable".

"The great thing about the show is because it's so much fun, it will open up people's minds."