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Music, Kids & Islam: A Response to BBC London News

// July 1st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Blog

I just watched the BBC London News report on the issue of a few Muslim children being removed from music lessons by parental request. Before sharing my views, I direct you to a post written by Indigo Jo for background and analysis.

The following is a short message I sent to the 'Your London' email address:

Entertainment, art and creativity have been part of the rich fabric of Islamic culture for over 14 centuries. The use of musical instruments is prohibited in orthodox Islam, but does not preclude Muslim children from engaging in other artistic pursuits. I understand that taking children out of class may introduce a problem wrt supervision, which is why teachers should consult with Muslim parents to come to an adequate solution. The matter is no different to the provision of vegetarian meals at schools to accommodate the religious beliefs of Jews, Hindus, Muslims and other faith groups.

Of course, it wasn't read out, as I expected. However, I was sad to hear the news presenter speed through several very negative messages sent in by non-Muslims, including music teachers, and two from Muslim parents that could be summarised as “most of us don't have a problem with this”. I.e., “Please stop picking on us during prime-time”.

I find it difficult to believe that mine was the only reasonable, positive message they received, though I imagine the negatives flooded in faster.

Music in Islam has been, and continues to be debated within the Muslim community. Why does BBC London think that a report on this issue will be useful to anyone? The way the story was told, and the tone of viewer comments, you'd think denying children a musical education was tantamount to child abuse. It clearly is not, and making a mountain out of a mole hill helps no-one. Least of all the Muslim children that the BBC are supposedly so concerned about, who, thanks to such irresponsible reporting, are growing up in a country that is becoming increasingly more hostile to their culture, identity and values.

FOSIS Video Competition: The Results Are In… {Halal drum roll please}

// June 29th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Announcements, Blog

A blog post for those who don't follow me on Twitter… or Facebook… or read my emails… or my text messages… or answer my phone calls. So the five remaining people in my life who don't know what happened yesterday, this is for you. :)

—

I attended the FOSIS conference yesterday for the video presentations. About 10 minutes before going on stage to hear the results, I became exceedingly nervous. It was one of those strange moments when raw gut feeling came into direct conflict with rational thought: I knew in my head that this wasn't the Oscars, but could someone tell my heart that please? It's about to burst out of my chest, Alien-stylee.

Continue reading…

They Asked Me to Draw Muhammad… So I Did.

// May 21st, 2010 // 8 Comments » // Announcements, Blog

My submission to Draw Muhammad Day.

Click to enlarge

The hand-drawn illustration is a combination of Arabic & English, spelling the name “Muhammad”. The text are quotes from several authentic narrations describing the physical attributes of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him [props to the Chill Yo Islam Yo blog].

Who speaks better than someone who calls people to God, does what is right, and says, “I am of those devoted to God”? Good and evil cannot be equal. [Prophet], repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an old and valued friend. But only those who are steadfast in patience, only those who are blessed with great righteousness, will attain such goodness.

Qur'an, 41:33-35

Love For Other People What You Love For Yourself

// May 17th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Blog

The following story was published back in March as part of a MuslimMatters post titled “On the Fingers of Abu Hurayrah…..Towards a Noble Life“. Since then, it has come to mind so many times during the course of normal, everyday interactions, I had to track it down, and bookmark it here.

“Love for other people what you love for yourself and you will be a (perfect) Muslim.” – Prophet Muhammed, sallalahu 'alayhi wa salam

An extraordinary example of putting this teaching into practice is that of some of our righteous predecessors.

Ibrahim al-Nakha'ee (rahimahullah) was a'war al-'ayn (blind in one eye), and his student Sulayman ibn Mihran suffered from weak eyesight (a'mash al-'ayn). Ibn al-Jawzi related a story about them in his book Al-Muntathim that they were walking in the streets of Al-Kufah headed to the masjid.

As they were walking, Imam Al-Nakha'ee said, “Sulayman, can you take one road and I take another? For I fear that if we were to pass together by the foolish people, they would say, 'A'war – one eyed – is leading an a'mash – bleary eyed- (through the road) and they would then have backbitten us and fallen into sins.”

So Sulayman replied, “O Abu 'Imran! What is wrong then when we are rewarded while they are sinful?”

Ibrahim al-Nakha'ee replied, “SubhanaAllah! Bal naslam wa yaslamun! Rather, that we be safe (from their backbiting) and they be safe (of sin) is better than if we are rewarded and they are sinful!”.

[al-Muntathim fee Tareekh al Muluk wal Umam]

This is a form of altruism that we all desperately need to adopt. There is a lot of bitterness, enmity and ill-will amongst us. We need to improve ourselves and one another with a far more loving attitude. May Allāh make it easy for us, āmīn.

UK General Election 2010: The Muslim Vote

// April 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog

Less than a fortnight ago, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, finally announced that May 6th, 2010 would be the date of the next General Election. Prior to and since, a variety of means have been used by the powers-that-be to encourage both the apathetic and the undecided to participate in the vote, including the broadcast of the first ever leaders' debate between the heads of the three main political parties.

However, in my opinion, the most interesting development surrounding the election has the been the launch of not one, but several voting campaigns targeted at Britain's relatively small community of Muslim citizens. The concentration of Muslims within a handful of constituencies, combined with the strong possibility of a hung parliament, has motivated community leaders from various backgrounds, to urge their followers to simply, “Get out and vote!”.

The following are links to web-based campaigns I have come across so far:

Continue reading at MuslimMatters.org…

Panto Update

// March 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog

For anyone who's interested, both end-of-IAW performances went really well, māshā’Allāh. Annoyingly, certain individuals insisted on comparing the brothers' panto to the sisters', even though those certain individuals were male, and thus had no idea what went on in the neighbouring lecture theatre. Pfft.

Anyhoo, there was a surprisingly good turnout for both shows, and in spite of certain technical difficulties (e.g., I managed to mess up the tech within 20 seconds of the sisters' play starting, and the brothers couldn't get all their videos running), the audience seemed to really enjoy themselves, māshā’Allāh. It was also very reassuring to see the girls laughing in all the right places when my videos played, as I was genuinely worried that I'd be the only one.

Admittedly, I am a little gutted that the guys will never get to see our routine, and therefore will continue to fail in their appreciation of the fact that girls can do comedy. However, there is something extremely liberating about knowing that your production is for female eyes only. Many things are made easier: for one, both the players and audience can get away with less 'dignified' behaviour, by acting the fool, and laughing freely, respectively. Even little things, like more freedom in the costume and makeup department, make all the difference.

In the case of filming, I don't have to fret about whether all the women in the shot are wearing hijab, or whether I'm too zoomed in onto their faces (I was instructed that this is a no-no for ISoc videos – fair enough). This means that the production can be far more inclusive, allowing the mingling of all types of Muslims, and even non-Muslims, which is the first step in the dawah process.

There are clearly downsides. In order to keep a tight control on who gets to see the films, I can't upload them online, which means realistically, only a handful of people will ever get to see them. I'm even loathe to place it under restricted access as it's not very difficult for passwords to be shared, and who knows who is in the room when the video is being played? It may seem paranoid, but the sisters who agree to star in my videos have placed their trust in me, and therefore, I have to be extra careful on their behalf.

Besides, if the only way such productions could be viewed securely is in person, it might be a great opportunity to allow women to regularly socialize in a safe, relaxed environment, especially in a world that is becoming increasing detached, superficial and impersonal. The internet is a powerful tool, but we shouldn't forget the traditional methods by which we seek to interact with our fellow human beings.

I'm aware that those who are against any kind of gender segregation will most likely be scoffing right now at all the efforts I'm going through, but I don't really care anymore. I've personally witnessed the benefits, so you can keep your arrogant sneering to yourself, thankyouverymuch. In the game of Science, observation always trumps theory, so in a word… ner.

I hope to kick start the Film Club soon. Now that I've worked with some sisters, and we have something to show for all our efforts, the recruitment process should become a lot easier, inshā’Allāh. May Allāh make it a beneficial endeavor for all involved, āmīn!

Panto Time

// March 12th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Blog

This post is partly an extension of a message I left on TweetBook recently. Imperial College ISoc is sending off Islam Awareness Week by hosting two plays/pantos: each of which was written and shall be performed by the guys and gals of the ISoc, respectively.

Both plays take place on the evening of Friday, 12th March (i.e., in less than 24 hours!), in the SAF building (no. 33 on the map), at the South Kensington campus.

The sisters' play starts at 6.15pm (female-only audience), and the brothers' (all welcome) is straight after at 7pm, inshā’Allāh. I pray that the show runs by GMT, and not MST!

I'm not performing, but I have made three short videos for the sisters' play, and as of yesterday night, will be taking care of 'tech' (which basically means playing a list of odd, a capella sound effects on cue!).

Regarding the vids, this was my first time filming 'fictional' pieces, as opposed to conducting interviews or covering events, so I'm quite interested to see how well they're received, especially by the non-Muslim attendees. The ideas and scripts were written by other sisters; I was roped into filming and editing at the last minute, i.e., making their crazy ideas a reality!

At first, I was reluctant to help, mainly because the publicity team hadn't yet finished making the IAW trailer, I only had a week left to make the videos the girls wanted, and tbh, I kinda hate editing these days.

But when it actually came time to film, I had such a blast, I actually felt a bit guilty for not being more keen initially. And even better, going through the 100+ clips that we had amassed over two afternoons of filming was a joy in and of itself. I was often creasing with laughter during playback – which made me realize: it's not that I find editing a chore; it's that I find editing boring stuff a chore.

Anyone who regular goes through the process knows what I mean: you're sat alone in a room for hours on end, your backside getting progressively more numb whilst you traverse backwards and forwards through hours of footage, in order to find the best five minutes worth. Then you have to decide on the cuts and transitions between scenes, where mere microseconds can mean the difference between glory or disaster.

If you're lucky, you'll have a good soundtrack (music-free, if you swing that way) to work with – it really makes the job of editing 1000 times easier. But the 'No Musical Instruments' (and sometimes, no musically stuff whatsoever) barrier presents a real challenge. And frankly, I am getting pretty tired of the same five anasheed that every Muslim video-maker seems to use these days. Please people, we need some new material already!

Anyway. This whole experience has served as a nice prelude to the 'women-only film club' idea, that I recently proposed. At first I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether women-only would work, but māshā’Allāh, it really does. Especially when you have access to bright young minds. The results speak for themselves – which you can judge for yourself, if you're around tomorrow night, inshā’Allāh. :)

Actions Speak Louder

// February 14th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Blog

I always find it awkward to directly ask a potential about Islam-related matters. So here's a rishta tip for those single girls who care about whether their potential spouse prays or not, and wish to gauge the level of importance that he places upon salat: pay attention to the meeting time.

For example, if he sets it to five minutes before or after Maghrib, that's not a good sign. When does he expect to pray it, and doesn't he care that you have to pray too?

Also, if he is already at your house, and the time for Maghrib is fast approaching, or even worse, it has already started, and he hasn't made a single mention of it – well, it's another bad sign. The same applies to any prayer he's about to miss having spent a few hours in your family's company.

An exception to the rule is a guy who has travelled a long distance in order to visit, as he may have the option to join the prayers (i.e., dhohr & asr, maghrib & isha) – depending on the opinion he follows.

I could probably write a few more “rishta tips” from my five plus years of experience. But I'm saving them up for the book that I plan to publish once I have actually succeeded in getting hitched. Right now, it reads too much like the opening chapter of Bilqis Joneswala's Diary. The story will only be worth reading if and when Mr Darcy decides to show.

Do Not Push

// January 22nd, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Blog, Photos

I snapped this while changing the tapes on my HV20 camcorder. I thought it was a good message.

Anyhoo, I have been discussing the possibility of setting up a film club within my ISoc. I am tempted towards making it a sisters-only gig – mainly cuz I've been wanting to recruit a talented woman to help me edit all the footage I have sat on my external hard drive for a while now. Inshā’Allāh, a fruitful legacy will be born out of my selfish needs.

The good news is that everyone I have spoken to thus far seems keen. The challenges include: a lack of equipment (I seem to be the only one with a camera, and decent editing software), and most of the people with the necessary skills and experience have a Y-chromosome.

The answers to both problems shouldn't be too difficult to solve, inshā’Allāh. I think the university TV station is still going; we may be able to tap their resources. And we can always hold training sessions for sisters to pick up basic film-making skills. You mainly learn through doing, anyway; the only formal training I've had thus far is a crash course on Final Cut at the Apple Store.

The women-only suggestion is more about pragmatism than anything else. I want it to be a safe-space to learn, and channel creative energy; like a women-only book club, or an art class. I do not believe that men are the 'enemy' (though I admit to going through phases in that regard).

I won't be restricting membership to Imperial students; it's just easier to establish this kind of thing within the framework of an existing community, such as an ISoc. So if you're based in London, and are interested in joining in, then stay tuned to this blog. I'll let you guys know if/when we have our first meeting, inshā’Allāh.

Your suggestions are welcome.

Letter from Haiti: A Haitian Muslim’s Request for Help

// January 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Announcements, Blog

An excerpt from a message written by a Muslim based in Haiti:

My brother Didier Ambroise is missing and we have not been able to find him. My Uncle Roblain Legagneur and my cousin Namu Corvington and his wife died buried under their house.

Brother Ibrahim Abdoul Salam's house was destroyed and his cousin died.

Also brother Abou Bakr's house was crumbled and his sister died.

Many brothers and sisters are unaccounted for. We do not know if they are alive or dead. May Allāh give ease to them in whatever state they may be. Āmīn.

Read the full letter.

Donate.

Pray.