Ok, I'm ready to piss a bunch of people off. Again. I honestly don't give a rat's a$$, so if this is going to offend you, by all means don't read. Actually, do read. I want you to be offended, so there.
For those of you that don't know the taqwacore movement (I've heard some people don't like the term taqwacore anymore.... Whatever you want to call it I really don't care. You know what I mean) is an Islamic punk movement which started what seems like yesterday. For those of you who may have converted or who ever enjoyed listening to punk rock before coming to or getting serious about Islam, you'll love this.
Punk is about pissing people off; being contradictory and obtuse. I've always been a fan of that. Taqwacore is no exception. Taqwacore is about pissing off the people who are trying to dictate our Islam to us. Never before have we had one group of individuals trying to tell the rest of us Muslims about the "right" and "wrong" Islam. The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) told us over and over again "there is no compulsion in Islam" and "to you your religion and to me mine".
While Islam provides us with the general framework and belief structure that God has mandated, we should always seek God in whatever way feels right to us. God is open, loving, large, and accepting. There are far too many people on this planet to ever imagine that there should be only ONE way of accessing God. Allah is all knowing and multifaceted, he has created all humans knowingly. He KNOWS that he has created us all to be beautiful and wonderful in our differences.
It is for this reason that I REJECT Islam. I am a Muslim. In my deepest and most sincere heart, I am a Muslim. I love Allah and His messenger. I strive to follow the footsteps of Mohammed, and I seek God in my every day life: walking down the street, cleaning the floor, playing with my dog, listening to music... In all of these actions I see and hear God. He is with me everywhere.
I may not be the best follower of this "Islam" that is being shoved down the throat of modern Muslims. I may not pray 5 times every day or wake up for fajr... I might not do ghusl after snuggling with my dog all night... I may forget to make up the days I skipped fasting during Ramadan... I may wear makeup and fasten my hijab loosely. But to me these things don't matter as much as my deep and profound love for Allah.
In every way, every day, I turn myself towards Allah and try to remember Him in every action. I believe this can be done through music as well. While "Islam" tells us to reject music entirely, how can we deny a creation of man, and by extension, an expression of our love and appreciation for Allah? How could Allah disapprove of our earthly expressions of love for Him?
This, is taqwacore. The rejection of "Islam" and the embracing of Allah. The point of taqwacore is to piss people off, and have them reconsider and rethink premises and ideas they had taken for granted. Rethink your Islam. Why are you a Muslim? Because you were told to be, or because you have a deep seated and undeniable love for Allah? Think. Open your eyes. Listen to taqwacore and get pissed off. Don't you ever give in, and don't you ever dare to think that you are better than your brother because you follow "Islam". We are all equal in the eyes of Allah.
For a starting point, if you've never heard of it, pick up Michael Mohammed Knight's book "The Taqwacores" or watch the movie (it's on Netflix!).
Also, you should ALL listen to my absolute FAVORITEST taqwacore band, The Kominas. You can get some of their albums on iTunes (used to be the case...) or look up all their stuff on Youtube. So, so worth it. They kick some serious ass and they're all pretty sexy South Asians.... Mmmmmm eye candy.
(Also check out Basim Usmani's new project All Y'all ( http://allyall.bandcamp.com/ ) if you like alternative sounding stuff.....)
Now, go out and PISS SOME PEOPLE OFF!!
Peace and love always <3
For those of you that don't know the taqwacore movement (I've heard some people don't like the term taqwacore anymore.... Whatever you want to call it I really don't care. You know what I mean) is an Islamic punk movement which started what seems like yesterday. For those of you who may have converted or who ever enjoyed listening to punk rock before coming to or getting serious about Islam, you'll love this.
Punk is about pissing people off; being contradictory and obtuse. I've always been a fan of that. Taqwacore is no exception. Taqwacore is about pissing off the people who are trying to dictate our Islam to us. Never before have we had one group of individuals trying to tell the rest of us Muslims about the "right" and "wrong" Islam. The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) told us over and over again "there is no compulsion in Islam" and "to you your religion and to me mine".
While Islam provides us with the general framework and belief structure that God has mandated, we should always seek God in whatever way feels right to us. God is open, loving, large, and accepting. There are far too many people on this planet to ever imagine that there should be only ONE way of accessing God. Allah is all knowing and multifaceted, he has created all humans knowingly. He KNOWS that he has created us all to be beautiful and wonderful in our differences.
It is for this reason that I REJECT Islam. I am a Muslim. In my deepest and most sincere heart, I am a Muslim. I love Allah and His messenger. I strive to follow the footsteps of Mohammed, and I seek God in my every day life: walking down the street, cleaning the floor, playing with my dog, listening to music... In all of these actions I see and hear God. He is with me everywhere.
I may not be the best follower of this "Islam" that is being shoved down the throat of modern Muslims. I may not pray 5 times every day or wake up for fajr... I might not do ghusl after snuggling with my dog all night... I may forget to make up the days I skipped fasting during Ramadan... I may wear makeup and fasten my hijab loosely. But to me these things don't matter as much as my deep and profound love for Allah.
In every way, every day, I turn myself towards Allah and try to remember Him in every action. I believe this can be done through music as well. While "Islam" tells us to reject music entirely, how can we deny a creation of man, and by extension, an expression of our love and appreciation for Allah? How could Allah disapprove of our earthly expressions of love for Him?
This, is taqwacore. The rejection of "Islam" and the embracing of Allah. The point of taqwacore is to piss people off, and have them reconsider and rethink premises and ideas they had taken for granted. Rethink your Islam. Why are you a Muslim? Because you were told to be, or because you have a deep seated and undeniable love for Allah? Think. Open your eyes. Listen to taqwacore and get pissed off. Don't you ever give in, and don't you ever dare to think that you are better than your brother because you follow "Islam". We are all equal in the eyes of Allah.
For a starting point, if you've never heard of it, pick up Michael Mohammed Knight's book "The Taqwacores" or watch the movie (it's on Netflix!).
Also, you should ALL listen to my absolute FAVORITEST taqwacore band, The Kominas. You can get some of their albums on iTunes (used to be the case...) or look up all their stuff on Youtube. So, so worth it. They kick some serious ass and they're all pretty sexy South Asians.... Mmmmmm eye candy.
(Also check out Basim Usmani's new project All Y'all ( http://allyall.bandcamp.com/ ) if you like alternative sounding stuff.....)
Now, go out and PISS SOME PEOPLE OFF!!
Peace and love always <3
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