C L O S E R

Religion & Film: Of Gods and Men

Posted on September 1st, 2011 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Religion Other, Ritual and Religious Experience, Society & Politics in the Middle East.

In 1996, during the Algerian Civil War, seven monks of the Tibhrine monastery in Algeria (belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance) were kidnapped. They were held for two months and killed. It remains unclear who the perpetrators were: the Armed Islamic Group (GIA – who claimed responsibility) or the Algerian army who may have killed them during an attempt to rescue them.

The film of Gods and Men is based on that event and follows the lives of French Catholic monks in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria in the 1990s. As the country is caught into a terrible civil war between an oppressive secularist state and radical Islamists, the Trappist brothers face the question of how to ‘love thy neighbour’.
Monks in Algeria: loving thy neighbor at gunpoint

Caught between the brutal Algerian government and the ruthless Islamists, the monks struggle to know and share God’s love and peace. What they experience alongside the beauty of the love they live out on a day-to-day basis in their monastic community is unbounded hatred, unspeakable violence, and, ultimately, unstoppable death seeping into their world. They must decide whether to remain in their monastery or flee the violence and return to France.

In their vocations, they seek to love and serve God by being “brothers to all”—in their monastic community and with all the people they encounter. All this becomes exponentially more complicated when new neighbors—a group of radical Islamists—come to the region. The battles between the Algerian government and the Islamists for influence and control unleash persistent horror and tragedy.

Love thy neighbors, all of them

The monks face a new question: What does it mean to share brotherly love at gun point? Over the years, the lives of the monks and the neighboring villagers became intertwined. The monks realize that if they leave, the consequences will be immense not only for themselves but also for the Muslim villagers who work in the monastery and whom the monks serve through a free medical clinic.

This is not a film about Christians vs. Muslims. Rather, this is a film about Christians trying—imperfectly but still genuinely—to love Muslims. And the monks must sort out what love means amid competing interpretive claims on the Muslim faith. In the Islamists’ political fanaticism and obsession with political power, the monks encounter a “distorted” Islam that stands in sharp contrast to the religious faith the monks experience in the lives of the Muslim villagers who live alongside the monastery in peace, Muslims who love their families and their neighbors.

The film is magnificent in the sense that it brings out the struggles each of the monks has with living together with others with whom they share many things but whom they also fear. It is in their prayers before God that these struggles are most clear. Trying to remain steadfast Christians and to respect Muslims against the background of the Civil War and trying not to resort to a dead end us vs. them game. The solution they found was ‘to love thy neighbour’ even at gunpoint.Journal of Religion & Film: Of Gods and Men (2010) by Wendy M. Wright

Each of the monks reacts differently to the felt sense of impending peril. But viewers are not treated to a story of one individual against many but to a story about genuine community in which individual struggle is honored and at the same time the integrity and deep bonds of the whole are acknowledged. The oscillation between common and individual dynamics is captured through the filmmakers’ choices. When the army wants to thrust its machines and armed men upon the monastery, Fr. Christian peremptorily refuses: this is the antithesis of the life of peace and hospitality (another one of those other Benedictine themes) that he has chosen. But his confreres gently but firmly call him out: we did not elect you to make your own unilateral decisions they say, reminding him of his appropriately humble and un-autocratic role as outlined by St. Benedict’s Rule. Alternately, the solitariness of Fr. Christian’s burden of leadership is evident as he paces alone across the remote windswept acres of the monastic lands while wild fowl wing across a vast expanse of sky and dwarf his silhouette.

[10] Thus begins a remarkable series of scenes that reveal the process of spiritual discernment, genuine listening to the Spirit of God as it is refracted through individual conscience, through community members, through others, and through the tradition. This is where the centrality of the liturgical office and the prayer to which the men return again and again becomes clear. The words of the midnight liturgy of Christmas echo powerfully as the shaken community gathers after the terrorists disappear into the night. Allusions to the crucified one and to the sacrifice of love resonate in the music the men sing. As the danger looms, they listen in the refectory to a reading by Carlo Corretto (a French spiritual writer and member of the Little Brothers of Jesus, a community inspired by hermit Charles de Foucauld who lived and was assassinated in the Algerian desert). Carretto’s words about surrender sink in, helping to sharpen the discernment the men are making. What is stability? What does it mean to vow fidelity to a community? What does it mean to follow the crucified God of Love? What is martyrdom? What of the people in the neighborhood to whom they have pledged their presence? The filmmakers use some dialogue to explore these questions but much of the questioning, both individually and communally, is visually expressed through facial close ups and by careful attention to the nuances of posture, gesture, tone of voice, and unspoken interactions among community members as they gather to decide together what they should do.

I think when used with articles and books that shed some more light on Algerian politics of the second half of the 20th century this film is excellent for teaching purposes.

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From Hallelujah to Ya Ilahi

Posted on May 13th, 2011 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

Leonard Cohen came with a beautiful song, years ago. Hallelujah. According to him a tribute to the imperfection of life.

And then came Jeff Buckley. And sort of ruined it for everyone trying to cover the song. He redefined Cohen’s tribute in a song of desperation and loss:

And now we have Muhammad Husayn, again redefining the song as a nashid and, with new lyrics, making it into a tribute to Allah and a song of gratitude, regrets and redemption:

I don’t know if there are more examples of songs that are being translated and reworked from English into Arab or the other way around. There are several artists using Arab styles and phrases in their songs. One my of all time favorites is Mano Negra’s Sidi’h Bibi:

Mano Negra : Sidi'h bibi live door tartenpion333

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Uprising – Music, Images and The Tunisia and Egypt Revolution on Youtube

Posted on February 17th, 2011 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Society & Politics in the Middle East.

Music, images and nowadays video have always been an important part of protest movements. These practices of making and spreading music videos can enhance the solidarity with a movement, its identity and ideas, values and goals. It makes distant sympathizers (feel) part of the movement, in this case global movement’ because they are actually participating in spreading the word (and image) and the express their own political position in public. Some of the music belonging to these videos can be experienced as extremely powerful; if the images are not strong enough to evoke the senses, the combination with the music will. Not only the number of people grows that can engage with the message of the movement, their excitement, anger, grievances can increase at the same time; on the ground creating what has been called by Elias Canetti a ‘rhythmic crowd’; what a movement may lack in numbers they make up in intensity. How this actually works with youtube videos remains to be seen nevertheless it seems clear that musicians and youtubers are inspired by the Egypt revolution.

I have had the pleasure of enjoying two fantastic concert by Muse. One of my favorite songs is Uprising. And now with the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and elsewhere I was actually waiting for these videos to appear:

well, apparently I can’t because the protest videos featuring Muse’s The Uprising have been blocked due to copyright violations…So have a look at the next ones”:

Take a Bow

Map of the Problematique

Thirteen Senses – Into the Fire

Globus – Europe (via Raafatology)

The next video shows photographs of the revolution and using the song Million Man March by Lowkey ft. Mai Khalil:

Of course, Egyptian artists are not silent either. Watch and listen to the next song; a very popular one by Mohamed Mouzir: Ezzay (How come?)

Next one of the first protest songs Sefr (zero) by Haitham Nabil. Hani Almadhoun has the lyrics at Hot Arab Music.

The next song is made by Arab-American and African-American musicians: January 25 or #jan25:

The song is a ‘testament to the revolution’s effect on the hearts and minds of today’s youth, and the spirit of resistance it has come to symbolize for oppressed people worldwide.’

While the videos featuring for example Muse use existing songs as background thereby creating a sort of soundwall that provokes the senses, the videos from Egyptian artists are different. Arabian Knightz recorded this song Rebel in the first week of the protests:

The next one is a very powerful one of Arabian Knightz featuring the Palestinian Shadia Mansour:

And here three videos from and about the Jasmin Revolution in Tunisia from El General:

The next song and video as actually made at Tahrir Square in Cairo:

One of the most well known artists, Sami Yusuf, whose Islamic pop songs aim at empowering Muslim youth and making them proud of their identity, has also released a song: ‘I am your hope’:

Before bringing this to a (sort of conclusion) I want to show you one more, this time by Master Mimz, a female rap artist from Morocco: Back Down Mubarak! (Note the difference in the footage shown in the video?):

See also this relevant piece on Jadaliyya: Imperial Feminism, Islamophobia, and the Egyptian Revolution* by Nadine Naber that refers to the video of Master Mimz.

What youtube and modern computer technology make possible is people using products of the culture industry (such as popmusic) and appropriate them to fit their own values, needs and goals. Youtube does not only enable people to escape the censorship by the Egyptian state but also the formats and models they are exposed to by the culture industry. Youtube therefore has become an important platform for what Fiske (building on De Certeau) has called ’semiotic resistance’and creativity; one that has profound cultural and political significance.

And ok, as an academic one should keep a certain distance but hey: long live the people of Egypt!

2 comments.

Global Voices – Islam Goes Pop in Nijmegen

Posted on December 1st, 2010 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Public Islam, Youth culture (as a practice).

Zondag 12 december Van 14.00 tot 18.00 uur LUX, Mariënburg 38-39, Nijmegen

Halal-soaps, moslim-rap en een Afghaanse versie van American Idols. Hoe kijken mensen in de islamitische wereld eigenlijk naar dit soort vormen van ‘populaire cultuur’? Combinaties van kunst en amusement met religiositeit zijn voor hen niet altijd evident. Marokkaanse heavy metal fans en -muzikanten werden bijvoorbeeld gearresteerd op verdenking van Satanisme. In vele landen in de islamitische wereld vinden er debatten plaats tussen moslimgeleerden, politici, kunstenaars en publiek over de relatie tussen kunst en islam. Wat is toelaatbaar? Welke muziek mag je wel en niet maken? Mag een artiest een religieuze boodschap overdragen via punk-muziek of rap? Welke instrumenten mogen er wel of niet gebruikt worden? Wie bepaalt dat? Hoe pop is islam?

Het door de Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) gefinancierde onderzoeksproject ‘Islam and the performing arts in Europe and the Middle East’, uitgevoerd door de afdeling Islam en Arabisch aan de Radboud universiteit, onderzoekt deze en andere vragen. Met de Egyptische filmmaker Ismail Elmokadem over zijn nieuwste film Pop goes Islam, de islamitische muziekgroep El Waefa uit Den Haag en met Joseph Alagha, Nina ter Laan en Karin van Nieuwkerk van Islam en Arabisch aan de Radboud universiteit. Gespreksleiding is in handen van Chris Keulemans, voormalig directeur van De Balie.

Zondag 12 december Van 14.00 tot 18.00 uur LUX, Mariënburg 38-39, Nijmegen
Entree € 7,50 (€ 2,50 voor studenten op vertoon van collegekaart of OV-jaarkaart) Reserveren via 0900-5894636 (kassa LUX)
Meer info op www.lux-nijmegen.nl.
Georganiseerd i.s.m. Elan, expertisecentrum voor integratie, emancipatie en participatie.
Global is een project van LUX, lokaalmondiaal en het CIDIN van de Radboud Universiteit over globalisering en internationale samenwerking. Dit project is mogelijk gemaakt door de NCDO. Informatie over dit project vindt u op www.globaldebat.nl.

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Muslims and Anime Art

Posted on August 13th, 2010 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

Muslim Anime ID by SHSN on DeviantArt

Anime is an old drawing style from Japan coming from the word ‘animation’ and manga is the comics and cartoons where this style is used. The oldest animation is from 1917 and since then the tradition has gotten a large audience in Japan and outside with for example Pokémon, Only Yesterday and Jin-Roh. Anime does not by definition mean one specific style but in general one could argue that the drawings have exaggerated psycial features such as large eyes, big hair, elongated limbs combined with dramatically shaped speech bubbles and exlamatory typography influenced by Japanese calligraphy and painting but also by American cartoons. Anime and also manga are often called Japanese animation but the Japanese view it as a general name for animation.

Anthropologist Mizuko Ito (H/T Antropologi.info) has done research on transnational anime fandoms and amateur cultural production:
Transnational Anime Fandoms and Amateur Cultural Production | DIGITAL YOUTH RESEARCH

Anime fandoms and transnational otaku groups represent a unique case study in youth activism and remix cultures, providing examples of creativity and social mobilization as ignited by passion for particular forms of cult media. Anime fans have constructed a grass roots movement to make Japan-origin media available to an English-speaking public. Further, they construct derivative works of fan art, video, and fiction that represent emergent forms of communication and creativity keyed to the digital age. These networks of amateur cultural production exhibit unique forms of learning, sharing, and reputation systems that can inform our understanding of how digital media can facilitate lateral and peer-to-peer knowledge communities.

According to Mizuko Ito:
Chanpon: entry 2005?10?11?

While anime is not the only type of Japanese popular culture that has gotten interest among American children and youth, it is probably the most dominant. Annie’s thesis makes a strong case about these trends. She also argues that it is high time we took anime seriouly in the academy as an ambassador for Japanese culture. She notes that anime continues to be marginalized in the US despite its broad appeal among young people. “Because of this many young people are not encouraged to pursue their interest in anime, and it is still uncommon for anime to be used in formal classroom settings as a means to teach about Japan.” As a member of the academy who is researching and teaching about anime, I couldn’t agree more.

And in a lecture she stated:
Anime’s ‘Transnational Geekdom’, UCLA Asia Institute

Ito believes the Japanese share little of Westerners’ concerns about sexuality and violence in the media, preferring at least to “have sexuality dealt with in the open.” But they abhor the anti-social characters in the anime series, not wanting kids to grow into the Otaku of the future. The anti-anti-social sentiment drives many parents to cough up the 180 yen for the card packs so their kids can play with their friends, Ito said. At least that way they aren’t always fighting against the computer.

Overall, then, the cards are seen as facilitating social behavior. In fact, after many hours poring over the card-game manual and searching the Internet, Ito and her fellow researchers learned that they needed tutelage from a more experienced player—a young boy in this case.

And there’s a lot to learn beyond the basic dynamics of the card game, since this genre of anime involves vast “domains of esoteric knowledge that some gain expertise in.” The kids express themselves with the monsters and heroes they choose.

Girls aren’t as interested in the heroics and villainy, Ito said, but go for the kawaii cartoons, which are all about cuteness. Like the boys, girls identify with dolls and other merchandise of the characters they like. All good for business.

Older fans in other countries, Otaku abroad, have created fan art as their mode of expression. Drawing is of course common among fans, but lately large conventions and amateur anime music videos have begun to pick up popularity. Some fans spend hundreds of hours splicing together scenes from Yugioh to go along with music of their choice.

Recently I received a link to the Deviant Art website containing some Muslim anime drawings. Deviant Art is perhaps one of the most important sites for distributing art on the internet. Anime itself apparently had some Muslim characters or so they are claimed such as Setsuna F. Seiei born as Soran Ibrahim and Sousuke Sagara who appears to be raised as a Muslim and soldier in Afghanistan but doesn’t follow the strict interpretations of the people who raised him and his distaste for pork and alcohol seems to be based not upon religious ideas but combat efficiency logic. He also is able to recite the Quran:

The Deviant Art site contains for example flash images with which you can play a Muslim Dress Up Game, Ramadan drawings, and the ‘cute Miss Noor’.

Miss Noor by Fullwhitemoon on Deviant Art

Some, in particular the drawings with females, are clearly kawaii-ish style; a more friendly and cute style (often using really big, friendly, sometimes seductive eyes) that cleary constrasts with the sometimes expressive, violent style of anime (although I haven’t seen much of that among Muslim anime). Deviant Art also covers manga of course and for example on this blog HERE by Muslim Manga (Miiz Mei) with several contests.

There is some debate going on about whether or not this art style is allowed according to Islam or not and of course what the favorite characters are. It is not entirely clear how big this anime or manga scene is among Muslim but it seems to widespread from China to the Gulf to Europe. An important European Muslima manga and amine artist is Asia Alfasi who designed the ‘feisty Arabian hero’ Monir and Facebook has a fan page for Muslim manga. Occasionally anime also features in more political expressions

Not all anime and manga by Muslims of course is considered to be Islamic; the interesting thing is that while anime is in itself already a mix of different styles and genres it gets re-appropriated by people who give meaning to it throughout the world and by making new drawings and comics themselves with both global and local influences. It is in fact a continuing story of production, reproduction and re-appropriation by mixing styles and personal experiences under the label of anime. Much like life in fact.

Sousuke Sagara on Wikipedia

6 comments.

New Muslim Cool

Posted on September 15th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Multiculti Issues, Youth culture (as a practice).

A documentary about Jason Perez, an American man who’s a rapper, educator, father, Muslim, husband and idealist who is trying to get away from his old life with gangs and drugs. The documentary is not a typical feel good film but also moves beyond the usual stereotypes showing the reproduction and transformation of cultural repertoires. Great film and probably useful for teaching purposes as well.

You can watch the trailer here:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-dhZckbIk /]

The website New Muslim Cool has the DVD along with an educational toolkit (incl. lessons plans).

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Ghuraba – De Vreemdelingen

Posted on August 20th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, ISIM/RU Research, Ritual and Religious Experience.

Een nasheed (mv anasheed) is een islamitisch lied, gewoonlijk a-cappella gezongen soms begeleid met percussie. Als er een anasheed-hitparade zou bestaan, zou de volgende ongetwijfeld erg hoog scoren:

In deze entry vind je alle versies die ik toegestuurd heb gekregen. Op verzoek vermeld ik erbij wanneer de nasheed muziek bevat.
De tekst van het lied verwijst naar hadith verzameling van Bukhari (Ar-Riqaq, boek 8, volume 76, hadith 425)
Hadith (Hadis) Books

Narrated Mujahid: ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “Allah’s Apostle took hold of my shoulder and said, ‘Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.” The sub-narrator added: Ibn ‘Umar used to say, “If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening, and take from your health for your sickness, and (take) from your life for your death.”

En naar Muslim (Kitab Al-Iman, boek 1, hadith 270)
Hadith (Hadis) Books

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Islam initiated as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being strange. so good tidings for the stranger.

Hieronder volgt een lezing van Khalid Yasin met zijn interpretatie van ghuraba (en Nederlandse ondertiteling)

De tekst verwijst naar een situatie waarin een moslim zich onthecht (of zichzelf vervreemd) van het wereldlijke en alleen nog God aanbidt. Het is een opvatting die we in vergelijkbare vorm ook onder christenen kunnen terugvinden, en waarschijnlijk ook wel bij andere religies.
Ongelovige vrienden, hoever ga je? (printversie)

Gebed + luisteren naar God:

“Verlies uw hart niet aan de wereld of aan de dingen in de wereld! Als iemand de wereld liefheeft, woont de liefde van de Vader niet in hem. Want al wat in de wereld is, de hebzucht, de afgunst en het pronken met bezit, dat alles komt niet van de Vader maar van de wereld. En die wereld gaat voorbij met heel haar begeerlijkheid, maar wie de wil doet van God blijft in eeuwigheid.” (1Johannes 2:15-17)

“Trouwelozen, weet u niet dat vriendschap met de wereld vijandschap met God betekent? Wie met de wereld bevriend wil zijn, maakt zich tot vijand van God.” (Jakobus 4:4)

“Ik ben al niet meer in de wereld, maar zij, zij blijven in de wereld achter, terwijl Ik naar U toe kom. Heilige Vader, bewaar hen in uw naam, die U Mij hebt toevertrouwd, opdat ze één mogen zijn zoals Wij…. Ik vraag U niet hen uit de wereld weg te nemen, maar hen te behoeden voor de macht van het kwaad. Zij zijn niet van de wereld, zoals Ik niet van de wereld ben.” (Johannes 17:11, 15-16)

De vraag die ik kreeg voor deze workshop was: Hoe moet je omgaan met niet-christelijke vrienden? Waaraan kun je meedoen en tot hoe ver kun je mee gaan in wat zij doen? Volgens mij is dit een vraag die uit het spanningsveld komt wat we net in het laatste bijbelgedeelte hebben gelezen. Het spanningsveld tussen het in deze wereld zijn, maar niet van deze wereld zijn. Jezus noemt hier een enorm spanningsveld. Als mensen hebben we de neiging om uit dit spanningsveld weg te vluchten. Maar dit spanningsveld is zo bedoeld. Het moet er zijn en ook blijven. Door dit spanningsveld worden we namelijk geprikkeld om te luisteren naar God. Om samen met Jezus te worstelen over wat je moet doen en wat je moet laten. Ik heb geen kant en klaar pakketje met antwoorden voor jullie waardoor je weet wat je wel met je ongelovige vrienden kunt doen en wat niet. Ik denk dat dit ook per persoon verschillend is. Wat ik wel voor jullie heb is een eenvoudige boodschap: Blijf in het spanningsveld wat Jezus zo prachtig omschrijft. Blijf met Jezus worstelen over wat je moet doen en wat je moet laten. En stap niet in één van de valkuilen!

De valkuilen die hier staan zijn allemaal gevaarlijk:

1) Het ene uiterste: je helemaal uit de wereld terugtrekken, bang zijn om besmet te worden, waardoor je kunt geen zout en licht meer kunt zijn.
2) Het andere uiterste: gelijkvormigheid, er is geen verschil meer te zien tussen jou en je ongelovige vrienden, je bent zouteloos geworden en het licht in jou is verduisterd.
3) Gevaarlijke middenweg: de compromis (van twee walletjes eten), schijnheiligheid (dingen laten of juist doen om de schone schijn op te houden en door mensen bewonderd te worden), wetticisme (jezelf en anderen onmogelijke lasten opleggen en menen dat je daardoor een streepje voor hebt bij God).

* Welke valkuil vormt voor jou het grootste gevaar? Hoe komt dat zo?

De enige manier om te voorkomen dat je in één van deze valkuilen stapt en jezelf verwond is… in het spanningsveld blijven! Dit betekent dat je naar Jezus gaat luisteren en Hem vraagt wat je moet doen en wat je moet laten. Een vraag die je daarbij kan helpen is: “Here Jezus, kan u hier in en bij zijn?” Deze heiligingsvraag zullen we steeds weer moeten stellen. En het antwoord dat Jezus geeft kan heel goed per persoon verschillend zijn.

Preek van de week

Tenslotte bidt Jezus voor zijn leerlingen “dat zij God toegewijd mogen zijn in de waarheid”. Het feit dat Jezus daarvoor bidt, betekent dat het niet evident is, zelfs niet voor vrome christenen, om in de waarheid aan God toegewijd te zijn. Waarheid is hier de eigenschap van God zelf. Het is geen leersysteem, geen zaak van 1 + 1 = 2. Het is een weg om te gaan, Gods waarheid is zijn betrouwbaarheid, zijn waarachtigheid. Jezus bidt dus, dat wij mogen zijn als God zelf, waarheid, dat al wat wij zijn en zeggen en doen zonder leugen is, niet gehuicheld maar echt en vrij. Dit ‘Gode toegewijd zijn in de waarheid’ betekent hoegenaamd geen verwijdering van de wereld. “Ik bid niet dat Gij hen wegneemt uit de wereld, maar dat Gij bewaart voor het kwaad. Zij zijn niet van de wereld, wel in de wereld”.
Jezus bidt dat wij, juist in die onrustige en verwarde en dikwijls leugenachtige wereld die de onze is, staande zouden blijven, God niet uit het oog zouden verliezen, maar dat wij in waarheid aan God toegewijd zouden zijn.

vervolgalpha voorjaar 2008 | Jeugdalpha Papendrecht

De liefde van God vind je in Jezus. Elke vrees richting het oordeel moet uitgebannen zijn. Hoewel we nog in deze wereld zijn (we hebben last van onze zondige natuur en tekorten), zijn wij zoals Jezus.

Ghuraba lijkt hier ook naar te verwijzen en te stellen dat deze wereld niet het thuisland is voor moslims, maar dat zij hun thuis en waarheid kunnen vinden in de aanbidding van de enige en unieke God. Ghuraba is ook een oproep tot actie. Een oproep om niet teveel gehecht te raken aan de (materiële) zaken van deze wereld, maar om ook het spirituele toe te laten. De bedevaart naar Mekka raakt daarmee deels aan hetzelfde thema. Deze vijfde zuil is een oproep aan moslims om huis en haard te verlaten en daar te gaan waar de Quran geopenbaard zou zijn en Mohammed zich gevestigd zou hebben. Niet alleen de rituelen in Mekka zijn onderdeel van deze verplichting, maar ook de reis er naar toe als één van loutering en toenemende gerichtheid op God. Hoewel dit tegenwoordig allemaal wat makkelijker is en mensen meerdere malen (kunnen) gaan, was het vroeger vaak een lange eenmalige reis naar het onbekende waarbij het het bekende, wereldlijke, werd achtergelaten. Ghuraba met z’n voortdurende herhalingen in telkens hetzelfde ritme creëert zo een auditieve ruimte waartoe de luisteraar zich dient te verhouden en waarin deze vervolgens zijn of haar eigen verbeelding kan openstellen en creëren. Wat dat vervolgens is, verschilt natuurlijk van persoon tot persoon. Op Youtube zien we wel enkele voorbeelden van ghuraba-producties die enigszins laten zien welke betekenissen men hier aan kan hechten. Onmiddellijk valt dan de politieke lading op zoals in de volgende, misschien wel meest beroemde, variant van een gevangene in een Egyptische rechtszaal die ghuraba zingt, waarbij zelfs een rechter ge-emotioneerd geraakt zou zijn:

De volgende ghuraba versie brengt de oproep tot actie krachtig in beeld en verbindt het idee van ghuraba met de ideologie van Al Qaeda cs.

Soms gaat het daarbij om algemene (gewelddadige) strijd tegen onderdrukking, soms is het ook concreter zoals in de volgende nasheed voor Gaza waar ghuraba een onderdeel van is.

De volgende versie zoomt in op een hele serie landen/gebieden:

Anderen kiezen een nickname als ghuraba media en produceren zelf jihad anasheeds zoals deze (we marcheren voort als leeuwen, met Nederlandse ondertiteling):

Vreemdeling verwijst hier niet alleen meer naar een idee van onthechting of exclusieve aanbidding, maar het is ook een term voor uitverkorenen (die niet buigen, behalve voor God), de ware strijders of zelfs ware moslims; een idee waar zeker niet iedereen het mee eens zal zijn overigens.
De volgende ghuraba nasheed met Duitse vertaling maakt het idee van uitverkoren nog eens duidelijker:

Ook hierin komt het idee van huis en haard verlaten en het idee van de gelovige op doorreis weer terug. Beide kunnen betrokken worden op de gewelddadige jihad, maar ook spiritueel en sociaal gezien worden. Dit laatste omdat standvastig blijven in de godsdienst (dien) dan een zekere, spirituele en/of sociale, isolatie zou vereisen.
Uiteindelijk behoort het paradijs dan aan de vreemdelingen:

Naast uitverkoren heeft de notie vreemdeling ook betrekking op diegenen die op de proef gesteld worden zoals moslimgevangenen:

De vreemdelingen zouden dan mensen zijn die zonder acht te slaan op wat de wereld over hen zegt, doorgaan met hun religieuze verplichtingen en de Quran volgen om zo God tevreden te stellen.

De volgende nasheed (Liever de vreemden zijn) heeft betrekking op vrouwen in niqab, het begin bevat de ghuraba nasheed. Ook hierin vinden we thema’s als onthechting, afstand nemen van en op de proef gesteld worden terug. Deze is afkomstig van een Duitse moslima.

Ook de volgende video laat dit zien, maar dan veel breder (en zal volgens sommige lezers ongetwijfeld getuigen van een slachtoffermentaliteit)

Een mengeling van politieke, sociale en spirituele betekenissen vinden we terug in de volgende ghuraba nasheed met Spaanse ondertiteling (let op de boerkini afbeelding op het einde):

In de volgende versie van Soutus Salaim Beyond the Norm is het politieke evenmin afwezig (let op deze bevat muziek – het is een ‘popversie’ met daarin ghurabaa) maar toch op een andere manier dan bij de vorigen. Het bevat onder meer een oproep tot hervorming aangezien volgens de zanger de islam juist een vreemde is geworden.

It’s written in the history
Islam once ruled the world
But I’m standing here in melancholy
How can I claim of such word?

Those days have left us so far
Unreachable beauty like the star
History left ajar
Could I ever heal the scar?

c/o

What is happening to Islam today?
Why the feeling of me going astray?
Oh Allah, I plead and pray
Steadfast my faith in the righteous way

Ghurabaa..
Bada’al Islamu Ghareeban
Saya3oudul Islamu Ghareeban
Fathouba lil ghurabaa

Come on brothers let us reform
Stand united through blizzard storm
Let not our path be lured into darkness
We shall go beyond the norm

Contemplating my own fear
With this heart craving for a guidance
All the things I hold so dear
Put my dean in a distance

Islam is now estranged
Estranged from its former existence
For indeed we are strangers
Cause Islam’s our conscience

Repeat c/o

Song & Lyrics:
Mohammad Ihab Ismail

Clip Directors:
Imran, Hafidz

In de volgende ghuraba zijn bovenstaande thema’s ogenschijnlijk afwezig. De bijbehorende presentatie gaat namelijk over overspel, de gevaren en gevolgen ervan. Aangezien de remedie hiertegen, en het enige wat overspel kan voorkomen de aanbidding van God is, komt het thema van aanbidding niettemin toch terug.

Daarnaast kunnen de thema’s van ghuraba natuurlijk voorkomen in het persoonlijke leven van individuen zoals we kunnen zien in de serie van drie films van Omair Mazhar:



Muziek is een belangrijk, maar vaak onderbelicht, bestanddeel van iedere beweging of dit nu een traditionele sociale beweging is of een religieuze beweging. Muziek speelt een grote rol in pinksterkerken en de evangelische beweging, maar voorheen ook al in de Amerikaanse burgerrechten beweging. Muziek kan dienen ter mobilisatie van participanten en kan ook gebruik worden ter bemiddeling van een bepaalde religieuze of politieke boodschap. Met de anasheed wordt een eeuwenoude traditie nieuw leven ingeblazen door deze op sites als youtube te plaatsen, met niet alleen een tekstuele boodschap, maar ook een visuele. De beelden geven voeding aan de verbeelding van een gedeelde geschiedenis en hedendaagse situatie waarmee mensen geïnspireerd en gemotiveerd kunnen worden. De muziek en de beelden produceren een fusie tussen het spirituele, het politieke, sociale en individuele. Het gaat er daarbij niet om dat alle moslims deze boodschappen onderschrijven en zich gedragen als zijnde ‘vreemdelingen’, maar het luisteren ernaar lijkt een soort reminder voor het hoe eigenlijk zou moeten en kan door sommigen gebruikt worden als een manier om zich in gedachten af te zonderen en bij God te zijn.

Dit komt misschien nog wel het sterkst tot uiting in de volgende versie van ghuraba, waarin een collage ‘islamic legends’ wordt getoond. In mijn proefschrift heb ik over deze afbeeldingen geschreven als zijnde voorwerpen waardoor de alomtegenwoordigheid, almacht en barmhartigheid van God wordt gerepresenteerd en bemiddeld waardoor iets wat voor mensen niet te bevatten is, wordt geconcretiseerd en open komt te staan voor betekenisgeving zonder dat het ongrijpbare en onzegbare helemaal verloren gaat.

Dat een nasheed als deze sterke emoties kan oproepen blijkt wel uit het gegeven dat sommigen tot tranen geroerd zijn bij het luisteren ernaar.

Bovenstaand overzicht is allesbehalve compleet, youtube en andere videosites bevatten nog veel meer videos van ghuraba. De video’s die hier geplaatst zijn, zijn mij gestuurd door mensen uit mijn onderzoek; dank daarvoor. Het overzicht wil ik afsluiten met de meest opmerkelijke, a-typische toespeling op ghuraba die ik kon vinden op youtube. Let op deze video bevat popmuziek:

6 comments.

Punk Piety – “Challenging the orthodoxy of Punk and Islam”

Posted on August 10th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

A Muslim meld of punk and piety – The Globe and Mail

It was early September and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA] was about to wrap up in Chicago. About 400 young Muslims had gathered at a Hyatt hotel ballroom for open-mike night, hyped as a wholesome alternative to the vice-land that every big American city inevitably becomes once the sun sets.

The first few acts – Koran recitation, stern spoken-word stylings – matched the hype. But around 3 a.m., with fewer than a quarter of the original audience still around, an all-girl Vancouver punk band took to the stage. A 25-year-old singer with short black hair and a voice like a bar fight asked the crowd: “ISNA, are you ready to rock?”

And no, not everyone was ready to rock on the song Middle Eastern Zombies by Secret Trial Five.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CpqgrDFeUU /]
(accoustic version not from the ISNA event)

Secret Trial Five is an all-female Canadian punk rock band founded by Sena Hussain after 9/11. The name of the band is derived from a group of Canadian Muslims who currently remain in prison. Together with bands such as Vote Hezbollah, The Kominas, Al-Thawra and Diacritical they belong to a music movement or subculture called taqwacore. Taqwa meaning pious or God-fearing signifying the love and awe for God. Core comes from hardcore or hardcore punk, referring to a punk rock genre that is heavier and faster than early punk rock. Hardcore songs usually are short and very fast (and not to mention loud!) and covering a variety of topics often with a political connotation. Bands such as The Damned, The Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion and Hüskür Dü (in their early times). A particular faction within the hardcore subculture involves the straight edge philosophy of no promiscuity, smoking, drinking or doing drugs.

The name Taqwacores comes from Michael Muhammad Knight’s novel The Taqwacores that tells the story of Yusuf Ali. His house, and that of several of his companions, is a safe haven for punk parties and for Muslims who want to remain outside the local mosques for Friday prayers and outside the Muslim Student Organization.
hardcore piety

Umar is “straightedge”, though covered in halal tattoos, including 2:219, referring to the proscription in the Quran against drinking alcohol. Rabeya, the sole female occupant of the house, wears a burqa, and has never been seen by most of her friends. She is also an ardent feminist and a fan of the punk group Propagandhi. Fasiq is a hashishiyyun, often to be found on the roof with a Quran in hand. His usual companion is Jehangir, who tells drunken tales of the taqwacores (hardcore pious) in “Khalifornia” and punk Islamic philosophy to anyone who’ll listen.

All four perform wudhu and use whatever is at hand as a prayer mat. A hole smashed into the wall marks qiblah, the direction of Mecca. Jehangir plays the call to prayer, adhan, on his electric guitar from the rooftop. Every Friday afternoon Islamic kids, punks and drop-outs gather at the house for jumaa.

Jehangir is a tragic romantic, believing in an open and inclusive Islam. At parties, Umar stands disapprovingly at the back of the room, and refuses to allow beer and drugs in his truck, if not the communal space.

The core issue in this novel is the conflict between orthodox, fundamentalist and Sufi varieties of Islam, inclusion and exclusion, an attempt to find a (radical) alternative combined with a public display of complete lack of respect for authorities (in a true punk spirit I may add) by trying to merge hardcore punk with Islam:
Muslim Punk Rock? – India Currents

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 sell-outs and hypocrites, but also from true believers whose devotion had crippled their creative drive. Both are viewed by outsiders as unified cohesive communities when nothing can be further from the truth.

Taqwacores has become a sort of manifesto (as for example Catcher in the Rye has been) for a range of bands that mix punkrock with (their vision on) Islam but without having a distinctive style of music, which to a certain extent challenges people’s understanding of hardcore traditions. For example Al-Thawra has clear rai influences, while Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate is about hiphop and techno and the Kominas use Bhangra influences. Regarding ‘orthodox Islam’ as a code of to do’s and to don’ts they emphasize personal responsibility and individual piety (with no social restraints) and it is clearly a post 9/11 genre taking up all kinds of political issues that pertain to Muslims in a very harsh, rude, provocative and satirical way. What they do also seem to share is that they appear to be ‘pissed off about everything’ (parents, society, politicians, religious authorities you name it) and trying to resist homogenizing labelling (such as progressive, punk, radical, gay, Arab) of Muslims.
Allah, Amps and Anarchy : Rolling Stone

Vote Hezbollah (the band’s name is intended as a joke) is one of five Muslim punk bands that recently wrapped up a ten-date tour that took them from Boston to Chicago during August and September. The bands, which hail from Chicago, San Antonio, Boston and Washington, D.C., share left-of-center politics and an antipathy toward the president. And all have used punk as a means to express the anger, confusion and pride in being young and Muslim in post-9/11 America.

Twenty-four hours after leaving the Toledo mosque, Boston’s Kominas — Punjabi for “the Bastards” — are playing in a packed basement in a rundown corner of Chicago’s Logan Square. Local punks mix with curious young Muslims — including a few girls wearing head scarves — as Kominas frontman Shahjehan Khan launches into the opening lines of “Sharia Law in the U.S.A.”: “I am an Islamist!/And I am an anti-Christ!” Nearby, mohawked bassist Basim Usmani — whose T-shirt reads frisk me i’m muslim — slaps out the song’s bass line while viciously slam-dancing with a dude in a woman’s burqa.

I’m not really sure if we can speak about a real movement here. My impression is that it is yet too small yet but with the taqwacore tour the bands gained more recognition and also the first taqwacore webmagazine has been established. Needless to say that taqwacore also evokes controversy (always important for a movement), accusations of blasphemy and fear of angry Muslims resulting in censorship, but it clearly has also found a way into the lives of (American) Muslim youth:

The Koran, punk rock and lots of questions – Los Angeles Times

Hiba slips out of the white T-shirt with black letters that read “HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY,” which she wore to Kempner High School, where she is a junior. It’s one of a collection of slogans the 17-year-old has silk-screened on T-shirts in her bedroom, unbeknownst to her parents, both Muslim immigrants from Pakistan.

There are other aspects of Hiba’s life lately she thinks they might not approve of either, like the Muslim punk music she has been listening to with lyrics such as “suicide bomb the GAP,” or “Rumi was a homo.” Or the novel she bought online, about rebellious Muslim teenagers in New York. It opens with: “Muhammad was a punk rocker, he tore everything down. Muhammad was a punk rocker and he rocked that town.”

This much Hiba knows: She is a Muslim teenager living in America.

But what does that mean?

It is a question that pesters her, like the other questions she is afraid to ask her parents: Can she still be a good Muslim even though she does not dress in hijab or pray five times a day? If Islam is right, does that make other religions wrong? Is going to prom haram, or sinful? Is punk?

Hiba loves Allah but wrestles with how to express her faith. She wonders whether it is OK to question customs. Behind her parents’ backs, she tests Islamic traditions, trying to decipher culture versus religion, refusing to blindly believe that they are one.

“Isn’t that what Prophet Muhammad did?” asks Hiba, raising her thick black eyebrows and straightening her wiry frame, which takes on the shape of a question mark when she stands hunched in insecurity. “Question the times? Question what other people were doing?”

Hiba’s hunt for answers has led her to other books too. They line her bedroom wall next to copies of Nylon magazine, one with “Gossip Girls” on its front cover. There’s “Radiant Prayers,” a collection from the Koran, and “Rumi: Hidden Music,” a Persian poet celebrated in parts of the Muslim world.[…]One day, Hiba typed the word “punk” into an online search engine and stumbled across a book by writer Michael Muhammad Knight. “The Taqwacores,” a 2003 novel — its title a combination of the Arabic word “taqwa,” or consciousness of God, and “hardcore” — is about a group of punk Muslim friends: a straight-edged Sunni, a rebel girl who wears band patches on her burka and a dope-smoking Sufi who sports a mohawk. The characters drink alcohol, do drugs, urinate on the Koran, have sex, pray, love and worship Allah.

Hiba related to the main character’s take on his identity, in which the author wrote: “I stopped trying to define Punk around the same time I stopped trying to define Islam. . . . Both are viewed by outsiders as unified, cohesive communities when nothing can be further from the truth.”

Hiba devoured the book, passing it around to her friends.

I expect that two films will further contribute to the spread of taqwacore:

EyesteelFilm-TAQWACORE

TAQWACORE! follows Basim and The Kominas on their first North American tour. Along the way, they’ll pick up other Muslim misfits and together they’ll all descend upon Chicago in time to crash the party at the ISNA convention – the largest Muslim event in North America run by top mullahs and imams among the conservative ilk.

Sparks are sure to fly when Basim and his crew show up promoting the ultimate Taqwacore show. In between finding kindred spirits and battling the prejudices of the old guard, TAQWACORE! will chart this explosive new scene attracting Muslims youth all over the globe. Please join us on this intense and insightful thrill ride.

This feature documentary (directed by Omar Majeed and produced by EyeSteelFilm) also features the incident at ISNA referred to above and you can watch a trailer at the website. A second film based upon Taqwacores made by Eyad Zahra is planned for this year.

Al Jazeera English has a very good episode on the Playlist Series on taqwacores featuring taqwacore band Al-Thawra, Eyad Zahra and writer Michael Muhammad Knight
[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbFyBedolM /]
And another fine example of taqwacore band is Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W71_qVZTADw /]
I’m not sure if it is has reached (mainland) Europe yet and certainly not the Netherlands, but lets wait, see and listen.

There is also a digital ethnography of the taqwacore scene: Taqwatweet

4 comments.

Punk Piety – "Challenging the orthodoxy of Punk and Islam"

Posted on August 10th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

A Muslim meld of punk and piety – The Globe and Mail

It was early September and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA] was about to wrap up in Chicago. About 400 young Muslims had gathered at a Hyatt hotel ballroom for open-mike night, hyped as a wholesome alternative to the vice-land that every big American city inevitably becomes once the sun sets.

The first few acts – Koran recitation, stern spoken-word stylings – matched the hype. But around 3 a.m., with fewer than a quarter of the original audience still around, an all-girl Vancouver punk band took to the stage. A 25-year-old singer with short black hair and a voice like a bar fight asked the crowd: “ISNA, are you ready to rock?”

And no, not everyone was ready to rock on the song Middle Eastern Zombies by Secret Trial Five.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CpqgrDFeUU /]
(accoustic version not from the ISNA event)

Secret Trial Five is an all-female Canadian punk rock band founded by Sena Hussain after 9/11. The name of the band is derived from a group of Canadian Muslims who currently remain in prison. Together with bands such as Vote Hezbollah, The Kominas, Al-Thawra and Diacritical they belong to a music movement or subculture called taqwacore. Taqwa meaning pious or God-fearing signifying the love and awe for God. Core comes from hardcore or hardcore punk, referring to a punk rock genre that is heavier and faster than early punk rock. Hardcore songs usually are short and very fast (and not to mention loud!) and covering a variety of topics often with a political connotation. Bands such as The Damned, The Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion and Hüskür Dü (in their early times). A particular faction within the hardcore subculture involves the straight edge philosophy of no promiscuity, smoking, drinking or doing drugs.

The name Taqwacores comes from Michael Muhammad Knight’s novel The Taqwacores that tells the story of Yusuf Ali. His house, and that of several of his companions, is a safe haven for punk parties and for Muslims who want to remain outside the local mosques for Friday prayers and outside the Muslim Student Organization.
hardcore piety

Umar is “straightedge”, though covered in halal tattoos, including 2:219, referring to the proscription in the Quran against drinking alcohol. Rabeya, the sole female occupant of the house, wears a burqa, and has never been seen by most of her friends. She is also an ardent feminist and a fan of the punk group Propagandhi. Fasiq is a hashishiyyun, often to be found on the roof with a Quran in hand. His usual companion is Jehangir, who tells drunken tales of the taqwacores (hardcore pious) in “Khalifornia” and punk Islamic philosophy to anyone who’ll listen.

All four perform wudhu and use whatever is at hand as a prayer mat. A hole smashed into the wall marks qiblah, the direction of Mecca. Jehangir plays the call to prayer, adhan, on his electric guitar from the rooftop. Every Friday afternoon Islamic kids, punks and drop-outs gather at the house for jumaa.

Jehangir is a tragic romantic, believing in an open and inclusive Islam. At parties, Umar stands disapprovingly at the back of the room, and refuses to allow beer and drugs in his truck, if not the communal space.

The core issue in this novel is the conflict between orthodox, fundamentalist and Sufi varieties of Islam, inclusion and exclusion, an attempt to find a (radical) alternative combined with a public display of complete lack of respect for authorities (in a true punk spirit I may add) by trying to merge hardcore punk with Islam:
Muslim Punk Rock? – India Currents

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 sell-outs and hypocrites, but also from true believers whose devotion had crippled their creative drive. Both are viewed by outsiders as unified cohesive communities when nothing can be further from the truth.

Taqwacores has become a sort of manifesto (as for example Catcher in the Rye has been) for a range of bands that mix punkrock with (their vision on) Islam but without having a distinctive style of music, which to a certain extent challenges people’s understanding of hardcore traditions. For example Al-Thawra has clear rai influences, while Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate is about hiphop and techno and the Kominas use Bhangra influences. Regarding ‘orthodox Islam’ as a code of to do’s and to don’ts they emphasize personal responsibility and individual piety (with no social restraints) and it is clearly a post 9/11 genre taking up all kinds of political issues that pertain to Muslims in a very harsh, rude, provocative and satirical way. What they do also seem to share is that they appear to be ‘pissed off about everything’ (parents, society, politicians, religious authorities you name it) and trying to resist homogenizing labelling (such as progressive, punk, radical, gay, Arab) of Muslims.
Allah, Amps and Anarchy : Rolling Stone

Vote Hezbollah (the band’s name is intended as a joke) is one of five Muslim punk bands that recently wrapped up a ten-date tour that took them from Boston to Chicago during August and September. The bands, which hail from Chicago, San Antonio, Boston and Washington, D.C., share left-of-center politics and an antipathy toward the president. And all have used punk as a means to express the anger, confusion and pride in being young and Muslim in post-9/11 America.

Twenty-four hours after leaving the Toledo mosque, Boston’s Kominas — Punjabi for “the Bastards” — are playing in a packed basement in a rundown corner of Chicago’s Logan Square. Local punks mix with curious young Muslims — including a few girls wearing head scarves — as Kominas frontman Shahjehan Khan launches into the opening lines of “Sharia Law in the U.S.A.”: “I am an Islamist!/And I am an anti-Christ!” Nearby, mohawked bassist Basim Usmani — whose T-shirt reads frisk me i’m muslim — slaps out the song’s bass line while viciously slam-dancing with a dude in a woman’s burqa.

I’m not really sure if we can speak about a real movement here. My impression is that it is yet too small yet but with the taqwacore tour the bands gained more recognition and also the first taqwacore webmagazine has been established. Needless to say that taqwacore also evokes controversy (always important for a movement), accusations of blasphemy and fear of angry Muslims resulting in censorship, but it clearly has also found a way into the lives of (American) Muslim youth:

The Koran, punk rock and lots of questions – Los Angeles Times

Hiba slips out of the white T-shirt with black letters that read “HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY,” which she wore to Kempner High School, where she is a junior. It’s one of a collection of slogans the 17-year-old has silk-screened on T-shirts in her bedroom, unbeknownst to her parents, both Muslim immigrants from Pakistan.

There are other aspects of Hiba’s life lately she thinks they might not approve of either, like the Muslim punk music she has been listening to with lyrics such as “suicide bomb the GAP,” or “Rumi was a homo.” Or the novel she bought online, about rebellious Muslim teenagers in New York. It opens with: “Muhammad was a punk rocker, he tore everything down. Muhammad was a punk rocker and he rocked that town.”

This much Hiba knows: She is a Muslim teenager living in America.

But what does that mean?

It is a question that pesters her, like the other questions she is afraid to ask her parents: Can she still be a good Muslim even though she does not dress in hijab or pray five times a day? If Islam is right, does that make other religions wrong? Is going to prom haram, or sinful? Is punk?

Hiba loves Allah but wrestles with how to express her faith. She wonders whether it is OK to question customs. Behind her parents’ backs, she tests Islamic traditions, trying to decipher culture versus religion, refusing to blindly believe that they are one.

“Isn’t that what Prophet Muhammad did?” asks Hiba, raising her thick black eyebrows and straightening her wiry frame, which takes on the shape of a question mark when she stands hunched in insecurity. “Question the times? Question what other people were doing?”

Hiba’s hunt for answers has led her to other books too. They line her bedroom wall next to copies of Nylon magazine, one with “Gossip Girls” on its front cover. There’s “Radiant Prayers,” a collection from the Koran, and “Rumi: Hidden Music,” a Persian poet celebrated in parts of the Muslim world.[…]One day, Hiba typed the word “punk” into an online search engine and stumbled across a book by writer Michael Muhammad Knight. “The Taqwacores,” a 2003 novel — its title a combination of the Arabic word “taqwa,” or consciousness of God, and “hardcore” — is about a group of punk Muslim friends: a straight-edged Sunni, a rebel girl who wears band patches on her burka and a dope-smoking Sufi who sports a mohawk. The characters drink alcohol, do drugs, urinate on the Koran, have sex, pray, love and worship Allah.

Hiba related to the main character’s take on his identity, in which the author wrote: “I stopped trying to define Punk around the same time I stopped trying to define Islam. . . . Both are viewed by outsiders as unified, cohesive communities when nothing can be further from the truth.”

Hiba devoured the book, passing it around to her friends.

I expect that two films will further contribute to the spread of taqwacore:

EyesteelFilm-TAQWACORE

TAQWACORE! follows Basim and The Kominas on their first North American tour. Along the way, they’ll pick up other Muslim misfits and together they’ll all descend upon Chicago in time to crash the party at the ISNA convention – the largest Muslim event in North America run by top mullahs and imams among the conservative ilk.

Sparks are sure to fly when Basim and his crew show up promoting the ultimate Taqwacore show. In between finding kindred spirits and battling the prejudices of the old guard, TAQWACORE! will chart this explosive new scene attracting Muslims youth all over the globe. Please join us on this intense and insightful thrill ride.

This feature documentary (directed by Omar Majeed and produced by EyeSteelFilm) also features the incident at ISNA referred to above and you can watch a trailer at the website. A second film based upon Taqwacores made by Eyad Zahra is planned for this year.

Al Jazeera English has a very good episode on the Playlist Series on taqwacores featuring taqwacore band Al-Thawra, Eyad Zahra and writer Michael Muhammad Knight
[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbFyBedolM /]
And another fine example of taqwacore band is Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W71_qVZTADw /]
I’m not sure if it is has reached (mainland) Europe yet and certainly not the Netherlands, but lets wait, see and listen.

There is also a digital ethnography of the taqwacore scene: Taqwatweet

4 comments.

Rebelle – Art, feminism and Muslim women

Posted on July 8th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues.

From postering activists to virtual cyber art. Forty years of art history are on display in Rebelle. This exhibition – whose name is derived from French artist Gina Pane’s (1939-1990) installation ‘Mots de mur‘ (1984-85) – focuses on works by female artists who are or have been greatly inspired by feminism. According to the press statement, while the topic of art and feminism has both champions and opponents, everyone is in agreement about one thing: feminism permanently changed the artistic landscape.

Recent exhibitions in MOCA, Los Angeles and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, amongst other institutions, reveal a renewed interest in art with a feminist slant. What does this theme mean for young female artists?And how did it inspire the work of earlier generations of female artists? The MMKA (Museum of Modern Art Arnhem) offers a major survey of works by eighty female artists revealing similarities and differences between generations and cultures: from American pioneers like Faith Ringgold and Eastern and Western European pioneers like Ewa Partum, Nil Yalter, Gülsün Karamustafa, Kirsten Justesen and Ulrike Rosenbach, to contemporary female artists from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Netherlands.

According to the museum, the exhibition Rebelle reveals that feminist art is not about any single style or particular subject. Topics such as desire, the body, memory, masculinity, and social critique are explored. In addition, the exhibition focuses on female artists who stretch the concept of art in how they work – by collaborating with others, for example, or by using new media.  Newspaper clippings, documentaries and photos add another layer to Rebelle. The art is placed in the context of important social developments, the changing position of women, and ‘action’ and intervention in the art world in particular.

In 1969, the first meeting of Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) took
place in America. WAR soon organized protests against the exclusion of female and black artists, for instance, on the sidewalk in front of the Whitney Museum in New York. In the Netherlands as Kirsten Justesen tells us, the activist group Dolle Mina was started in 1969. The Stichting Vrouwen in de Beeldende Kunst (Women in the Visual Arts Organization), established in 1977, protested on the sidewalk in front of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum that same year against the under-representation of female artists. The protestors held signs with the punning text “het zit wel snor hier” – a Dutch expression meaning all is well, but using the word “snor” which is Dutch for moustache. In 1978 and 1979 the two-part exhibition Feminist Art International was organized; it would stir emotions for years to come.

According to Justesen, drawing attention to the exclusion of female and non-western artists in public collections, exhibitions, and publications is only one aspect of the theme of art and feminism. Art itself, its societal role and so-called objective criteria of quality, are up for discussion as well. In the 1970s, the hierarchical distinctions between classical disciplines like painting and sculpture and newer forms like performance and video art were sharply defined. The same was true for the precarious distinction between what subjects could and couldn’t be used for art. Many female artists explored topics that had previously not been considered appropriate for great art, such as unequal relationships between men and women, violence and stereotypes, sexuality, identity, and the body. It is no coincidence that the slogan “the personal is political” has become so important. Female artists, in particular, investigated and experimented with a visual language that they saw as “their own” and original, and thus not influenced by “masculine” norms and views.

The exhibition rebelle brings together work from different generations and parts of the world. The South African Berni Searle (1964) who often uses natural pigments and changes the color of her skin with them – recalling the spice trade and colonization – is, for example, influenced by Cuban American Ana Mendieta’s (1948-1985) “earth prints.” The Guatemalan Regina Galindo (1974) belongs to a generation of performance artists that use their bodies to question chaos and violence in their societies. Her work recalls that of Gina Pane.

2009 is a year of looking back: Rebelle offers viewers the opportunity to look again at feminist art, freed from the cliches of pink overalls and easy dismissals (“damn anachronism”) that have clouded its representation over the past decades. Here the way is opened to fresh interpretations of art and its global implications.

In the context of this blog, particularly interesting are contributions from Middle Eastern feminist artists. Take for example Shadi Ghadirian whose contribution at first sight may seem to critique the alledged oppression of Muslim women:

Shadi Ghadirian - Like Everyday (Domestic life) 08, 2002, C-print, 50 x 50 cm

The series ‘Like Everyday (Domestic Life)’, presents women entirely veiled, the face hidden behind assorted items of kitchenware. Ghadirian warns against a too literal reading of these images, and underscores that the theme woman-object unfortunately has a universal dimension. Another contribution is Karamustafa’s video-installation “The City and the Secret Panther Fashion“. It gives you a look inside a secretly blooming Panther Fashion in Istanbul.

“…brings forth the arguments about the outlooks, especially the crucial debates about the ‘women’s body’, whether it should be covered or not or the other ethic problems related to it, on my side of the world. It is a ‘tragicomic fiction’ about lives of women who are pushed to live a secret life from 9 to 5, a limited days time that they can spare for themselves. On the other hand side the viewer is free to interpret the film in every aspect that ‘Panther Fashion’ may associate.”

The story is about the meeting of 3 women who wish to join the “secret panther fashion”-movement, which spreads quickly through the city. As their intentions are a bit illegal, they are anxious that somebody may spy on them while walking to the house where they can taste the joy of wearing freely the “Panther Design” dresses and spend a time of their own away from all dangers.

G. Karamustafa - The City And The Secret Panther Fashion, 2007, video

Only those who know the secret codes are allowed to enter the house which is decorated entirely in “Panther Fashion”, can enjoy the outfits and spend a friendly and fantastic time.

“In the house waits Panterella, the fearless housekeeper and her college who would offer them their endless freedom withwearing what they want. At the end of the day they leave the house in secret, again with the fear of being caught and return to their colourless lives.”

The third contribution is from Iranian Parastou Forouhar. Her ‘wallpaper’ Thousand and One Day, looks purely decorative based upon traditional Persian miniature painting.

Parastou Forouhar - Thousand and one day, 2003

At closer inspection however the wallpaper is composed of scenes of torture. Anonymous, faceless individuals are being tortured by anonymous, faceless men, only the weapons and methods of torture and killing are very clear. Knowing that Parastou’s parents were killed by Iranian secret agents makes the scenery even more hard hitting.

I’m not an art expert so I don’t know how progressive or new these (forms of) arts are. All three, but also other contributions to this exhibition try to engage in some sort of protest against oppression of women by…whoever. Must be said that in fact the contributions from the three women discussed here are the most rebellious of all and have strong and indeed hard hitting protests. What does this mean? Does it mean that ‘Western’ feminists are less engaged in fighting oppression, that the battle for them is done? And that only Middle Eastern feminists still have to fight and therefore they are the ones still being oppressed? This is of course too simple (note that there are contributions in the exhibition from Latin America, Asia and Africa as well), but the question what is feminism, or what are feminisms about these days is a relevant one I guess. Also what can be said about some sort of solidarity or influences from feminists throughout the world. Is it there? Is it in fact necessary? What I do know is that it is time for an exhibition in the Netherlands of feminist art from the Middle East and other non-Western countries or migrant women from the Netherlands.

What also struck me in the themes of the exhibition and more in particular of the Middle Eastern artists is the protest not only against oppression by political and/or religious elites, or men in general, but also the attempt to escape the routines of every day life that hold people (women in particular?) in some kind of straight jacket. It struck me because I just finished a conversation with two young (salafi) women who want nothing more than just that:

‘you may find it boring, you may even find it unattractive, but all I want is just a simple, normal life, having a nice husband, kids, be a mother and to be out of the thread mill of having to perform, having to be faster and faster, having to explain yourself.’

Can we also see that as a form of feminism, in the form of protest against a capitalist society or a society that keeps bothering Muslim women with their beliefs and practices?

Information based upon:

Press statement MMKA

Kirsten Justesen

Fashionoffice.org

Pierre Yves Desaive

Parastou Forouhar

NYT Art Reviews Global Feminism

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Stierf Michael Jackson als moslim?

Posted on June 29th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Ritual and Religious Experience, Youth culture (as a practice).

Natuurlijk is er veel aandacht voor de dood van Michael Jackson en zoals u inmiddels wel gewend bent zijn post over actuele dramatische zaken hier altijd laat en zelfs een beetje mosterd na de maaltijd. Diverse webfora zoals Marokko.nl (HIER, HIER, HIER), Ansaar.nl (HIER) en Ontdekislam (HIER) hebben zeer veel bijdragen van participanten over MJ. Zeker bij Marokko.nl valt wel op dat er nogal wat mensen iets melden die dat normaal veel minder of zelfs niet doen. Eén van de discussies over MJ die voortdurend terugkomt gaat over de vraag of hij nu wel moslim is of niet.

Die vraag, of beter nog de sinds 2003 regelmatig terugkerende bewering dat hij bekeerd is tot de islam is ook al eerder hier aan bod geweest. Ook nu zijn de rapporten dat hij tot de islam bekeerd zou zijn, niet van de lucht en niet alleen op sites waar moslims komen. Naar verluidt zou hij beinvloed zijn door reizen naar het Midden-Oosten en zijn broer Jermaine. Let wel er is geen enkele officiële bevestiging dat hij moslim was, van hemzelf of zijn directe omgeving. Wel ontkenningen hiervan. Niettemin dus nu met zijn dood doen de geruchten weer de ronde en op sommige Engelstalige sites kun je zelfs gebeden voor de doden (Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un) vinden en het is duidelijk dat (los van of hij nu wel of niet moslim is) zijn dood velen geraakt heeft, ook buiten het westen.

Muslimmatters gaat op hun gebruikelijke, dwz grondige, wijze in op bovenstaande vraag. Zij verwijzen onder meer naar imam Johari Malik die stelt dat CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in zijn show The Situation Room terloops opgemerkt zou hebben dat een imam de familie Jackson heeft bezocht om de begrafenis te bespreken. Er is echter geen enkele bevestiging voor te vinden. Ali Eteraz stelt dat degenen die betrokken zouden zijn geweest bij zijn bekering, allen ontkend hebben zoals Dawud Wharnsby.

Nu is het voor gelovigen wellicht begrijpelijk dat men zich nu afvraagt of MJ moslim was; als hij immers in het paradijs wil komen zal hij toch moslim moeten zijn. En hij heeft mogelijk nogal wat zonden die vergeven moeten worden. Toch lijkt het vrij twijfelachtig dat hij inderdaad moslim is en die geruchten zijn eigenlijk al vanaf het begin al onwaarschijnlijk. Waarom dan toch dat hardnekkige gerucht dat hij moslim is, zowel aan de zijde van moslims als van niet-moslims? Een poging om één van de grootste popsterren allertijden te annexeren als moslim? Een poging om zich te distantiëren van één van de meest omstreden Westerse popsterren allertijden? Een poging om zielenheil te vinden voor een superster die velen na aan het hart gaat? Een poging om een verklaring te vinden voor zijn ogenschijnlijk irrationele gedrag?

11 comments.

ISIM Review available online

Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: [Online] Publications, Arts & culture, ISIM/RU Research, Multiculti Issues, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements, Research International, Ritual and Religious Experience, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

ISIM Review 22, Autumn 2008 is out and available online. As usual very interesting articles which are relevant for  my research, to name but a few:

• Jews and Others in Iraq / Sami Zubaida
• The Sound of Islam: Southeast Asian Boy Bands / Bart Barendregt
• Good Girls and Rebels / Miriam Gazzah
• Universal Aspirations: The Muslim Brotherhood in Europe / Brigitte Marechal
• New Muslim Youth Associations in Spain / Virtudes Tellez Delgado
• Islamic Religious Practice in Outer Space / Nils Fischer
• Ambivalent Purity / Martijn de Koning
• Muslim Idenitities in the Banlieue / Melanie Adrian
• Imam Hussayn is Love: Individualization of Shia Practices in Britain / Dana Moss
• Engaging Europe’s Muslims / Maleiha Malik
• Migration Matters: The Longer View / David Waines
• Editors’ Picks
• Arts: Hasan and Husain Essop

And many more of course. You can read on ISIM website.

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Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth – Miriam Gazzah

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: (Upcoming) Events, Arts & culture, Youth culture (as a practice).

Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth

8 September 2008 |1.30 pm | Academiezaal Aula, Comeniuslaan 2, Radboud University Nijmegen

Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.H.M. Versteegh, prof. dr. A.I. Tayob (University of Capetown)
Co-supervisor: dr. K. van Nieuwkerk

Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth is the Ph.D study by Miriam Gazzah. It is a comprehensive anthropological study of the social significance of music among Dutch-Moroccan youth. In the Netherlands, a Dutch-Moroccan music scene has emerged, including events and websites. Dutch-Moroccan youth are often pioneers in the Dutch hiphop scene, using music as a tool to identify with or distance themselves from others. They (re)present and position themselves in society through music and musical activities. The chapters in this study deal with the development of the Dutch-Moroccan music scene, the construction of Dutch-Moroccan identity, the impact of Islam on female artists and the way Dutch- Moroccan rappers react to stereotypes about Moroccans. All along, Dutch society, its struggles with multiculturalism and its debates on integration, the position of Islam and fear of terrorism, form the backdrop to this story.

Miriam Gazzah has studied Mediterranean studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She graduated in 2001. Her MA thesis focused on the development of the raï music subculture in Algeria. Between 2003 and 2007 she was a PhD Fellow at International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) in Leiden and the Radboud University Nijmegen.

Venue: Academiezaal Aula, Comeniuslaan 2, Radboud University Nijmegen

Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.H.M. Versteegh, prof. dr. A.I. Tayob (University of Capetown)
Co-supervisor: dr. K. van Nieuwkerk

0 comments.

RU Wetenschapsagenda – Nederlands-Marokkaanse jongeren en hun muziek

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Important Publications, Youth culture (as a practice).

Wetenschapsagenda – Nederlands-Marokkaanse jongeren en hun muziek – www.ru.nl

Nederlands-Marokkaanse jongeren en hun muziek

Muziek is een belangrijk middel voor jongeren om duidelijk te maken wie ze zijn en waar ze bij willen horen. Dat geldt ook voor Nederlands-Marokkaanse jongeren, een groep die centraal staat in het promotieonderzoek van Miriam Gazzah. Door hen via muziek te benaderen, wilde zij meer inzicht te krijgen in de diversiteit aan identiteiten onder Nederlands-Marokkaanse jongeren – een groep die nogal eens over één kam wordt geschoren.

Miriam Gazzah (Vaassen, 1977) studeerde mediterrane studies aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Van 2003 tot 2007 werkte zij aan haar promotieonderzoek bij het International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) gelieerd aan de Universiteit Leiden en de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Dit promotieonderzoek is begeleid vanuit het Institute for Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies van de Radboud Universteit Nijmegen. Gazzah heeft in 2006 en 2007 meegewerkt aan de tentoonstelling ‘Multiple M, Lifestyles van moslimjongeren’ van de Amsterdamse stichting Imagine Identity and Culture. Momenteel werkt zij bij het Limburgs Museum als medewerker in het project Kleur Bekennen, dat gaat over migratie en migranten in Limburg.

Miriam Gazzah promoveert op 8 september aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op haar proefschrift ‘Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch- Moroccan Youth’. Promotores: prof. A.I. Tayob (Universiteit van Kaapstad), prof. C.Versteegh. Copromotor: dr. K. van Nieuwkerk.

(more…)

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'Banned Frank' – A follow up on Anne Frank and the scarf

Posted on January 26th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

UPDATED! See below

I few days ago I wrote about Anne Franks picture with a keffiyah on a t-shirt. It is not only to be seen on t-shirts but also on free greeting cards from Boomerang:

This card has caused quite a stir. First a CIDI, Jewish interest group, has protested against these cards, claiming that a combination of the symbol of the Holocaust with the symbol of the Palestinian struggle is a wrong one because it means that Jews are seen as the oppressors of today while the Palestinians are compared to the Jews during WWII. The protest is not a succes and the card remains therefore, Boomerang claiming the message of the card is one of peace and reconciliation.

Also on the WWW there has been some discussion about this such as here, here, here, here, here, and here. Very interesting in this case is also Omars blog, who does not only provide us with a picture of Anne Frank, but also one from Jesus with a keffiyah from Sharif Abdunnur, titled Christ is Palestinian.

UPDATE 1: Boomering has decided not to distribute their ‘Banned Frank’ cards anymore (and therefore I had to include another copy of the picture above).

8 comments.

‘Banned Frank’ – A follow up on Anne Frank and the scarf

Posted on January 26th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

UPDATED! See below

I few days ago I wrote about Anne Franks picture with a keffiyah on a t-shirt. It is not only to be seen on t-shirts but also on free greeting cards from Boomerang:

This card has caused quite a stir. First a CIDI, Jewish interest group, has protested against these cards, claiming that a combination of the symbol of the Holocaust with the symbol of the Palestinian struggle is a wrong one because it means that Jews are seen as the oppressors of today while the Palestinians are compared to the Jews during WWII. The protest is not a succes and the card remains therefore, Boomerang claiming the message of the card is one of peace and reconciliation.

Also on the WWW there has been some discussion about this such as here, here, here, here, here, and here. Very interesting in this case is also Omars blog, who does not only provide us with a picture of Anne Frank, but also one from Jesus with a keffiyah from Sharif Abdunnur, titled Christ is Palestinian.

UPDATE 1: Boomering has decided not to distribute their ‘Banned Frank’ cards anymore (and therefore I had to include another copy of the picture above).

8 comments.

Print Revolutionairies – Anne Frank & Keffiyeh from NYC to a Dutch online shop

Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Youth culture (as a practice).

Anthropologist Ted Swedenburg is always on the look out for interesting keffiyeh / kufiya / kaffiyeh / palestinian scarf (palestijnen sjaal) art or streetwear and last friday he found this:

Prints & The Revolution is an online shop specialized in street art and (I’m just guessing) they have found some (commercial) inspiration in that and came up with this:

4 comments.

Print Revolutionairies – Anne Frank & Keffiyeh from NYC to a Dutch online shop

Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by .
Categories: Arts & culture, Youth culture (as a practice).

Anthropologist Ted Swedenburg is always on the look out for interesting keffiyeh / kufiya / kaffiyeh / palestinian scarf (palestijnen sjaal) art or streetwear and last friday he found this:

Prints & The Revolution is an online shop specialized in street art and (I’m just guessing) they have found some (commercial) inspiration in that and came up with this:

4 comments.

Protected: Moslimse Miss Duitsland wordt Anne Frank – Telegraaf.nl

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

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Protected: ‘Marokkaanse rappers’ zeggen alweer sorry – vrijdag 4 januari 2008 – DePers.nl

Posted on January 4th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Multiculti Issues, Youth culture (as a practice).

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Tri-City Herald: Opinions – Hannah Allam: Muslims speak out through Arab-themed T-shirts

Posted on December 22nd, 2007 by .
Categories: Arts & culture, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

Tri-City Herald: Opinions
HANNAH ALLAM: Muslims speak out through Arab-themed T-shirts

http://www.halalapalooza.com/
http://www.rootsgear.com/
http://www.phatwafactory.com/
http://www.t-shirtat.com/
http://www.zazzle.com/
http://www.wearaloud.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/khalifaklothing
http://www.cafepress.com/muslimteez
http://casualdisobedience.com/

Published Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

— McClatchy Newspapers

CAIRO, Egypt The Christmas and Eid holidays run back-to-back this year, and it’s hard to shop for people who straddle Western and Middle Eastern cultures. While surfing the Web in hopes of finding unique gifts, I was surprised to stumble across an array of Arab-themed T-shirts whose slogans illustrate how bold Muslims have become in speaking out about their post-9-11 experience.

Once described as an “invisible minority,” Muslims in the United States and abroad can now express themselves with in-your-face T-shirts that strike at U.S. foreign policy, racial profiling, cultural stereotypes and Islamist extremism. A few years back, a friend gave me a gag gift, a T-shirt that shows a dancing mullah below the word, “FUNdamentalist.” A novelty at the time, such clothing is now widely available from online specialty stores.

Last year, an Iraqi peace activist said he was forced to remove a T-shirt printed with, “We will not be silent” before boarding a JetBlue flight to California. Activists against racial profiling drew attention to the case. A blogger who was outraged by the incident has created his own T-shirt, with “I am not a terrorist” written in Arabic. Proceeds reportedly go to the ACLU. Go to: http://casualdisobedience.com/

(more…)

0 comments.

Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – Weer een film over de Koran? Gewoon negeren (opinie)

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – Weer een film over de Koran? Gewoon negeren (opinie)

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture.

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Protected: AD.nl – Gouda – Islam-Gouda gekrenkt door fotoserie

Posted on December 14th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Multiculti Issues.

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Heiligschennis III – Kunst hoor!

Posted on December 13th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Arts & culture, Public Islam.

Sooreh Hera en haar foto’s van homo’s met de maskers van de profeet Mohammed en Ali blijven de gemoederen behoorlijk bezighouden. En diverse websites die zich druk maken over het behoud van het typisch Nederlandse cultuurgoed Vrijheid van meningsuiting hebben het er maar druk mee. Vrijheid van meningsuiting van de Nederlanders tegenover de mening van een minderheid, het geweld en dreiging waarmee moslims hun gewetstheid kenbaar maken, disrespectvolle moslims die respect eisen van volgens hen disrespectvolle ongelovigen en mensen met een ander godsbegrip (dan joden en christenen zonder ook maar enig besef van hoe het christelijke en joodse godsbegrip is beinvloed door islamitische denkers).

Een hele mooie en eenvoudige dichotomie die daardoor alleen al de waarheid lijkt te zijn. De enige die deze dichotomie een beetje doorbreekt is de directeur van het Haagse Gemeentemuseum en die kunnen we dan ook wegzetten als collaborateur van Allah.

Wat jammer nou dat deze dichotomie zo versluierend is, slechts een deel van de sociale werkelijkheid weergeeft en eigenlijk ook nogal hypocriet is.

Het is versluierend en eenzijdig omdat het de ‘schuld’ eenzijdig bij de gewetste moslims neerlegt. Waar de kunstenares een vorm van heiligschennis pleegt door de profeet Mohammed in verband te brengen met homoseksualiteit, plegen de Islamdemocraten heiligschennis (of vooruit dan: profanatieschennis) door de vrijheid van meningsuiting in twijfel te trekken. Alsof dat alleen al niet genoeg is overtreden ze met hun actie ook nog eens de scheiding tussen het sacrale en het profane. Het sacrale behoort toe aan religie en dat behoort in het privédomein, terwijl het profane toegestaan is in het publieke domein. Met hun argumenten brengen zij religie in het publieke domein en dan ook nog eens een religie die bij sommigen onder ons niet bepaald het beeld van vredelievendheid en tolerantie oproept. Waar de Islamdemocraten gekwetst zijn door het gebruik van heilige religieuze symbolen door ongelovigen, zijn de gelinkte (muv de laatste) sites gekwetst door de aantasting van de heilige vrijheid van meningsuiting door gelovigen.

Toch is ook dat maar een deel van het verhaal. Waar het hier om gaat is kunst en de vrijheid die kunst wel of niet heeft om rekening te houden met wat anderen dierbaar is zoals de scheiding tussen het sacrale en profane, publiek en privé en heilig geachte symbolen. Dat is (ondanks wat ik eerder betoogde) niet persé een strijd tussen seculieren en religieuzen. Wat denken we bijvoorbeeld hiervan:

De vlaggen hierboven zijn gemaakt door Chrissy Meijns in het kader van het kunstproject Triptiek. Bij het jaarlijkse Gogbot-festival hingen deze jihad-vlaggen buiten in de open lucht en riepen een dermate afkeer op bij een 23-jarige student dat hij ze verwijderde.

In een galerie kan zoiets, maar als mensen op straat zoiets ongevraagd krijgen voorgeschoteld, ligt dat anders. Ik vroeg me ‘s middags al af: Waarom shockeert me dit zo, waarom krijg ik hier zo’n naar gevoel bij? Voor mij staat de Nederlandse vlag voor vrijheid. Op deze manier roep je alleen maar angstgevoelens en haat op.

Het was overigens niet het eerste incident en na nog een incident werd het kunstwerk op last van de politie verwijderd. In Rotterdam mocht het werk van haar alleen in gewijzigde vorm vertoont worden. De student kreeg daarvoor een boete, maar weigerde die te betalen waardoor hij moest voorkomen bij de rechtbank. De afkeurende commentaren in de kranten waren niet van de lucht; gericht tegen de kunstenares dan. De Oranjevereniging toonde zich bereid een eventuele boete (tegen baldadigheid) te betalen. Op Klein Verzet was te lezen dat het ging om ‘desecration’ (ontheiliging, ontwijding) van de Nederlandse vlag. En hij werd vrijgesproken (hoger beroep volgt). De rechtzaak leidde tot kamervragen waarbij de vraag vooral was of Justitie geen andere prioriteit heeft. De teneur in veel reacties was vooral erg negatief voor de kunstenares en positief voor de dader op enkele kunstlogs na, een echt vrijheid van meningsuiting log Free Flow of Information en nog een verdwaalde blogger.

En kent u deze nog:

Afbeelding: Kwetsendekunst.nl

Deze afbeelding is van een kunstwerk van Jonas Staal, De Kunst van het Wantrouwen / Geert Wilders Werken. Staal was al eerder in de problemen ook met Triptiek, maar ik dit kunstwerk van Wilders leidde tot nogal wat controverse. Een rechtzaak (gewonnen door Staal) wegens bedreiging van Geert Wilders die aangifte daartegen had gedaan(Staal had ook andere op deze manier geportretteerd zoals Balkenende). (hoger beroep volgt). Er moet wel bij vermeld worden dat dit gebeurde in 2005 toen Wilders ondergedoken leefde vanwege de bedreigingen.

Beide gebeurtenissen genereerden redelijk wat publiciteit maar nauwelijks vergelijkbaar met de Sooreh Hera case en geen enkele van de in de eerste alinea’s gelinkte weblogs (of schrijvers daarop) maakten zich er heel erg druk om.(voor de volledigheid, in een eerdere posting refereerde ik ook aan Bbrussen.nl die echter deze laatste affaire wel vermeldde).

Met andere woorden degenen die voortdurend refereren naar de lange tenen van moslims of meer in het algemeen de lange tenen van gelovigen, hebben ongelijk. Mensen kunnen zich ook druk maken om seculiere en anti-religieuze symbolen zodra die fel en provocerend (zoals kunst dat kan zijn) worden aangevallen. Dat negeren is hypocriet en nogal vals; het schept tegenstellingen die er niet noodzakelijkerwijze zijn. Weliswaar is er een tegenstelling in de Sooreh Hera case tussen religieuzen en niet-religieuzen, maar dat is maar de helft van het verhaal. Het gaat erom hoever we kunst kunst laten zijn en in hoeverre politieke en maatschappelijke issues en omstandigheden daar een rol bij kunnen spelen. En eigenlijk is dat een discussie die we vooral moeten voeren, maar geen oplossing bedenken door vaste protocollen en wetten. Het is een discussie die gevoerd moet worden omdat kunst ook discussie moet oproepen (soms althans) en waarin iedereen het recht heeft op vrijheid van meningsuiting en gekwetst zijn. Dit in wetten en protocollen gieten is de dood voor de kunst en ook voor het debat over kunst. En verder lijkt me ook minister Plasterks reactie aan Sooreh Hera zeer behartenswaardig!

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