Thursday, December 8, 2011

Final Thoughts of the Semester


            This semester has been both enlightening and challenging.  Enlightening in the sense that I feel that I have gained a greater understanding of something I believed I knew, at least on an academic level, but turns out I knew nothing about in practice.  It has been challenging in the sense that through learning and gaining knowledge about Islam and how Muslims practice their religion varies globally, I have had to reexamine my own beliefs, challenge them when necessary, and reform them to reflect the insight achieved.  Often times, this is easier said than done.
            One of the misconceptions I had to dispel, and many people believe similarly, is that Islam is a global monolith.  That Islam and Muslims constitute a single, unified entity that is working toward some common end.  The fact of the matter is, however, that this could not be further from the truth.  While it is true that Muslims worldwide are united by their common faith and the tenets of that faith, much the same as Christians worldwide, how Muslims practice and live their faith is as diverse as the persons who adhere.  This was a challenge for me to truly understand and grasp.  Maybe because it is easier for us as individuals, societies, or civilizations, to lump everything into categories to process the world around us, an attempt distinguish our place in the world from those around us.  Maybe it makes us comfortable to hold fast to certain ideas that we have grown up with, or perhaps not.  For whatever reason, examining a culture or religion that one has "known" his or her whole life to be "wrong," or "different," can be challenging, and in some ways can be disconcerting.  But to better understand ourselves, and why we believe certain things, it helps to know where these ideas come from, and where they might lead us if we aren't careful.  Learning about and understanding the "Orientalist" lens through which we in the west often view the world, whether we realize it or not, has especially impacted me.  Understanding the impact Orientalism has had on how I think about the world has helped me critique my own presumptions and conclusions not only about Islam and Muslims, but also about anyone or any culture different from mine or one that I don't understand initially. 
            What I have attempted to exhibit through my blog while not repeating old clichés is that stereotypes and misconceptions permeate our media, which is the source of many people's information on any given subject.  Maybe it sounds a bit trite, because the media seems to get blamed for everything, but images of Islam, Muslims, and Arabs are overwhelmingly negative when any discussion, or even mention, of the subjects occurs.  Think about it: When is the last time you've heard of, or have seen images of, peaceful occurrences in the Middle East?  When is the last time you saw images of Muslims praying when the subject wasn't about "extremist Imams" or some other negative, scary buzzword?  I'm willing to bet that it hasn't been very many times.  Then ask yourself: How would it make me feel to see positive images of Muslims or of Islam? Would you believe it if you saw it or be doubtful or suspicious? I am not trying to suggest that there are not violent individuals who claim to be Muslim, but those people exist in every religion, they are certainly the minority, and they are almost always have political goals, not religious ones.  The point is this: these negative feelings and suspicions come from somewhere; we aren't born with prejudice, its created, learned, and taught. How is it acceptable to pass judgment on a religious population of over 1 billion based on the actions of perhaps .01% of that population?  Its not, and I believe it is important to acknowledge and understand these prejudices in order to see past labels such as "Muslim," and to see others as individuals in the context of their respective cultures and beliefs; and to above all, respect those things.   
            Throughout this class, my own prejudices and presumptions have been brought to light and challenged, as I have learned that Islam and the people who practice it do not comprise one single entity.  It is a global religion, the practice of which varies from region-to-region as much as the cultures of the globe do.  It is a religion that has impacted many cultures, has a rich, vibrant history, and has inspired almost 2,000 years of art, architecture, music, poetry, and scientific achievement.  Muslim communities around the world have been shaped by political and social forces just as our society here in the US has been.  How an American Muslim practices and lives out his or her faith may not be the same as how a French, Indonesian, Irish, or Iranian lives out his or her faith.  Once these things are understood, we can progress as a people in a new era of mutual understanding and respect.  

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam

Film: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
Link: Taqwacore


This film is based on a book written by Michael Muhammad Knight.  The book was based on a fictional Muslim punk-rock band, but has inspired the film and real-life muslim punk-rockers.  There are many aspects of punk music and culture that most people, including Muslims, would not associate with Islam.  Knight says about Islam and punk that:
    "they aren't so far removed as you'd think, both began in tremendous bursts of truth and vitality, but seem to have lost something along the way.  The energy, perhaps, that comes with knowing the world has never seen such positive force and fury, and never would again.  Both have suffered from sellouts and hypocrites, but also from true believers whose devotion has crippled their creative drive.  Both are viewed by outsiders as unified and cohesive communities when nothing could be further from the truth."
The film follows a real punk-rock group called "The Kominas" which translates to "the bastards" or "the low-borns" and a green bus full of other muslim punk-rockers as they travel on a cross-country tour.  Along the way, they encounter media representatives who want to interview them and know what "the group" is aiming to achieve; in other words, are political, religious, or some sort of cultural motives behind the tour?
Eventually, members of the band travel to Pakistan where they attempt to begin a punk-rock-Islam movement.  While there, each member discovers his own Islam which sometimes is in conflict with the mainstream, top-down, version of Islam; present in Pakistan as well as the US.   The movie ends by stating that Allah governs all things, and that He doesn't care about not eating certain items, reading certian books, or whatever.  Michael Muhammad Knight says he doesn't believe Islam is that small, or narrow in focus.
I really enjoyed this movie, and will probably go out and read the book because of it.  To me, he summarized how Islam varies from culture to culture, as well as how individualism can work with Islam, despite what many people believe.  It was the perfect movie, with the perfect message, to summarize anything anyone needs to know about how diverse of a religion Islam truly is.

Muslim Fashion Designer

When people think of Islamic clothing, especially women's clothing, most probably envision black burkas or some other form of all-concealing outerwear.  Nailah Lymus, however, has a different perspective.  She is an African-American fashion designer from Brooklyn, New York, was raised a Muslim and still considers herself devout.  She has recently launched her "Amirah Creations" line of clothing, with Muslims in mind. If you read the NPR article, I think you will be surprised at the diversity "Muslim clothing" can entail.

Halal Restaurant in China

Surprisingly (although it probably shouldn't be), there are restaurants in China that serve traditional Chinese food - but Halal.
It is interesting to note that even in China, a communist-governed country not very receptive to religion, allows for religiously prepared foods.  This is a link to a blog that has more links, enjoy!

Chinese Halal

An Inside Look at Egyptian Society

This is a book/movie called "The Yacoubian Building" written by Alaa al AswanyIt examines the lives of several people within the building (a metaphor for Egyptian society), to reveal a complex and stratified society.  Recommended.

Book Review

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Film Review: Paradise Now

Film: Paradise Now

This film follows two Palestinian men, Said and Khaled, as they volunteer to go on a suicide bombing mission into Israel.  They both record a final video which glorifies Allah and their cause of resistance.  The next day they are taken to the Palestinian-Israeli border to complete their mission but once they cross the border they are compromised by Israeli guards.  They both run away and are separated.  Khaled returns to the resistance group who remove his explosive belt and he is off to find Said, who is missing.  Khaled eventually decides not to follow through on the attack as he sees no point to it, but Said still believes it is the right thing to do.  I don't want to spoil the film, but the last shot is of Said sitting on a bus with Israeli civilians and soliders...

This is a great movie because it humanizes the people on one side of a conflict who are often demonized without given a fair chance to make their case.  Although violence against innocent people is never justifiable, it shows the complex emotions and societal factors that go into making the decision to engage in that level of "resistance."  Essentially, the movie brings the human element into the forefront, instead of the violence or conflict.


Islam and Germany: Culture as Identity

Reading: "Turkish Islam in Germany: A Problematic Tradition or the Fifth Project of Constitutional Patriotism?"
Author: Heiko Henkel

This piece discusses the conflicts Turkish Muslims are having in Germany, as well as some possible reasons why those conflicts are occurring.  Henkel writes that since the fall of the Soviet Union and the appearance of many new nation-states that occurred after that, culture has become the new basis for social identity, not race, at least in Europe.  There are many in Germany, and elsewhere in Europe that believe that Islam and Western Secularism are incompatible, and use this "otherness" as justification for discrimination.  The article also talks about the writer Ralph Giordano who believes Islamism is a mortal threat to Western society and culture, and believes that "European culture"is the rightful recipient of his allegiance.  The article then goes on to discuss the Four Projects of Constitutional Patriotism, which is the constitutional order under which German government and society operate.  These are: Nationalism, Liberalism, Socialism, and Christianity.  The author believes, however, that Islamic tradition can be seen as another, unincorporated, facet of this project.
I think this article is very thought-provoking because it makes one think about what one's culture really means, and how a shift in culture can be met with serious backlash.  In other words, what does it really mean to be German, or for that matter, American.  Are these concepts something tangible? Or are these notions of cultural identity evolving into something new every day?  And if so, is that a bad thing?