LONDON, July 2: Channel 4 is to air the Azan live every morning during Ramazan. The British broadcaster said on Tuesday it was an act of “deliberate provocation” aimed at viewers who might associate Islam with extremism.

The headline-grabbing move will see Channel 4 broadcast the three-minute call to prayer at about 3am for 30 days from the start of Ramazan on July 9. In addition, on the first day of Ramazan Channel 4 will interrupt programming four times during the day - to mark subsequent calls to prayer - with a 20-second film to remind viewers of the approaching prayer time.

After that date, the channel will air the 3am call to prayer on live TV, while the other four prayer times will be broadcast on its website. Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s head of factual programming, said: “The calls to prayer prompt Muslims to carry out quiet moments of worship, but hopefully they’ll also make other viewers sit up and notice that this event is taking place.

“Observing the Azan on Channel 4 will act as a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate ‘provocation’ to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word.”

Lee added in an article in the Radio Times: “No doubt Channel 4 will be criticised for focusing attention on a ‘minority’ religion, but that’s what we’re here to do - provide space for the alternative and a voice to the under-represented.

By arrangement with The Guardian