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Islam’s reformers are such punks

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, Announcements on Oct 18, 2009

Now in theaters…

This weekend, an intriguing documentary opened on the big screen in Toronto — and it takes the movement for Muslim reform another step forward.

“Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” is based on the book by Michael Muhammad Knight and directed by the award-winning Omar Majeed, who happens serve on the board of my charitable foundation, Project Ijtihad.

Rock on, I say.

Because, at rock bottom, Islamic punk is about more than smashing guitars and stereotypes; it’s about internal spiritual reform. Reading a recent New York Times story about the Islamic punk scene, here’s the quote that leaps out at me:

“‘As Muslims, we’re not being honest if we criticize the United States without first criticizing ourselves,’ said Mr. Kamel, 23, who grew up in a Syrian family in Chicago. He is lead singer of the band al-Thawra, ‘the Revolution’ in Arabic.”

Am I allowed to blurt, “Rock on!” twice in one blog entry? Wait. It’s my blog, dammit. I’ll do what befits my character — as long as it respects the dignity of my fellow human beings. And I won’t let anyone tell me I’m less Muslim for insisting on everyone’s freedom of expression. That’s the message of Islamic punk.

Check out this video trailer. You’ll love what you see. But what you’ll hear is at least as compelling — and I don’t just mean lyrics or drum beats. I mean the words spoken by Michael Mohammad Knight, author of The Taqwacores. His poignant narration lends the video a philosophical edge:

“I stopped trying to define punk at around the same time I stopped trying to define Islam. They aren’t so far removed, if you think that both began in tremendous bursts of truth and vitality, and seem to have lost something along the way…”

I saw a previous version of the trailer, too.  In it, Knight added that both Islam and punk music “have suffered from sell-outs and hypocrites, but also from true believers whose devotion has crippled their creative drive. Both are viewed by outsiders as unified, cohesive communities when nothing could be further from the truth…

But the most important similarity is that, like punk, Islam itself is a flag; an open symbol representing not things, but ideas. You can’t hold punk or Islam in your hands. So what could they mean besides what you want them to?”

Which brings me to a related point.  Last year, I had dinner with Melvin Van Peebles, the director who revolutionized American pop culture with a low-budget, indie flick entitled Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. His film inaugurated the “Blaxploitation” genre, putting young African-Americans on notice that culture was theirs for the shaping.

With Baadasssss director Melvin Van Peebles (Photo: Lem Lopez)

Melvin’s advice to this generation: Whatchoo waitin’ foh? Whatevuh you got to do, sheeet, go do it!  He did, and the intersection of art and politics has never been the same. Just ask President Barack Obama.

Thanks in part to Islamic punk, Muslim reformers are doing what need to get done. Because sometimes, sweet badasses, you have to slam-dance your way to freedom.

Learn more about the documentary — and where you can catch it — right here.