Orange County Weekly – Heavy Metal Muslim

Orange County Weekly – Heavy Metal Muslim
An article by Mark Levine, a must read:

The culture wars are all about power, he said. “In Pakistan the mullahs are afraid of losing their gig to longhaired rock musicians, and so come down hard on music; in the U.S., foreign policy is being shaped by global terrorism and politicians who want to control the political and social agenda by raising the specter of fear. In both cases, Muslims are caught in the crossfire. As a result of being under the microscope, they are being forced to re-examine their religious, social and cultural identities.”

Hence, the crucial role of what I call Heavy Metal Islam. As Reda Zine explained to me, “We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.” From Morocco to Pakistan, metal, thrash, punk and rap are increasingly popular precisely because they offer a public space for the criticism of closed and oppressive societies.