"The Taqwacores" on Q TV

www.youtube.com/qtv

The legendary Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer famously said, "the future is unwritten". Well, I'd love to hear what Strummer would have to say about Michael Muhammad Knight -- the author of "The Taqwacores", a book that, in many ways, wrote the future of the North American Muslim punk music scene. Knight's book takes us into a vibrant house of aspiring punk musicians living in Buffalo, New York. Like most young punks, the characters in this book live for sex, drugs and rock n' roll. But in this house they also pray to Mecca (denoted by a hole smashed in a wall). The characters in "The Taqwacores" all negotiate their identities - religious, political, cultural and sexual - through the rebellion of punk....from mohawked Sufis to burqa-wearing riot girls and Indonesian skater boys. The book began as a photocopied, spiral-bound zine that Knight distributed out of the trunk of his car in mosque parking lots. In 2005, it was picked up and published by Alternative Tentacles, Jello Biafra's record label, and it's now being re-released in soft-cover by Soft Skull Press. Knight has since written a few books on American Muslim culture but "The Taqwacores" seems to have had the most affect on contemporary culture. He's been hailed by critics as a Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac or J.D. Salinger for post-9-11 American muslim youth...many of whom were inspired to create bands of their own like "The Komanis" or Vancouver's all-girl punk outfit, "Secret Trial Five". The book has also inspired two films coming out this year -- a dramatic feature film - and a documentary by Montreal-based filmmaker, Omar Majeed. The two sat down in Studio Q to talk about the subject.

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• taqwarcores
• muslim
• punk
• clash
• muhammad
• jian
• ghomeshi
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• jello
• biafra

[DrakarOgro]

@activistapress Punk is all about creating/wearing/discovering your own identity, in spite of the rest of the world trying to make you in a specific way.

So, if part of your identity is being a muslim... You are a muslim-punk, and fuck it.

[therebelwaltz]

In the 1950's, American Christian churches said that dancing was evil. The kids still danced, but they didn't stop calling themselves Christians. Regressive social mores of religion CAN be reformed by young people who simply insist, in the face of all pressure, that they can be both religious AND liberated. People think that religions are much more fixed and eternal than they really are--in reality they are social institutions that can be reformed. Good job, Taqwacores. The future is yours.

[TheVlogSister]

I have big issues with the "Taqwacore" movement as it's not simply about using art to better oneself and to get closer to God, it's about twisting and morphing the religion into your own comfort zone and human understanding. It's radicalism on the other liberal extreme. It frustrates me how we fail to see a just balance in the media between the extreme radical left and the extreme radical right.

[Bahariish]

Sweden loves you Michael! <3

[Britishfever456]

@therealmamoon Understanding Divine scripture has layers of understanding. There is a basic understanding for the layman. Then there is understanding for more depth.There is also scholarly understanding. It would be wrong for layman to start interpreting God given text to define it. This causes much damage to understanding and public perception of Islam.

[Britishfever456]

@therealmamoon The religion doesn't exist to short change people of their desires. It exists to provide guidance (God given Guidance is higher level) for this world and the next. If we believe in the next world, surely its worth taking small sacrifices such as not inventing things within the religion?

[Britishfever456]

@therealmamoon Why can't we be honest with other Muslims and what we feel? Part of 'surrendering one's will' is letting go of what we had previously believed and accepted. It's not always easy. It doesn't mean we bring something else such as punk or rock to fill that void. This is innovation, when the religion is already pure and complete. May Allah Guide us all - Ameen.

[therealmamoon]

@Britishfever456 I agree - may Allah guide me! MMK seems to be saying that the 'external actions' of the 'mainstream' Muslim community (who are trying to follow the Books the way they understand them) lead us into a situation where we can't be honest with other Muslims about who we are, and what we feel, so he expresses himself through the 'punk' movement, and follows the Books the way he understands them. What's the problem with that?

[Britishfever456]

@therealmamoon See, we can't fake religion. The blessing is from Allah. He guides whom He wills. We can only ask for Guidance. It's not for me or you to say who is sincere and who is genuine. We can only go by the external actions to talk about whether the approach is correct or not.

[therealmamoon]

@Britishfever456 agreed.

[therealmamoon]

@Britishfever456 there are a lot of people who 'know' and don't put it into practise. this doesn't mean they're not sincere, genuine people...

[therealmamoon]

@Britishfever456 fair point.