Canadian documentary filmmaker Omar Majeed recently released his newest film, Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam. Taking its name from “Taqwa,” the Arabic word for “higher consciousness,” Taqwacore is a nascent music scene that both celebrates Islam while rebelling, in typical punk fashion, against the social and political constraints of the religion. “Drunk imams, punk…
Scotland freed the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, allowing the terminally ill man to die in his homeland of Libya and rejecting American pleas for justice in the attack that killed 270 people in 1988. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who had served only eight years of his life sentence, was recently given only months to…
Muslim hip hop is as British as morris dancing — if not more so, claims a Sunderland lecturer. World-renowned academic Dr Amir Saeed from Sunderland University is fronting an event which aims to celebrate the true meaning of Britishness. The senior media and cultural studies lecturer is chairing the “Music and Us” event on Sunday…
Yusuf Islam, until 1977 known as Cat Stevens, will release his new album Roadsong on 8 May. Islam, who had stopped playing and writing music for 28 years, reappeared on stage with his album ‘An Other Cup’ in 2006. In the years between he had dedicated himself to religion and philanthropy, e.g. founding an Islamic…
Western curricular and Muslim needs are always a source for dispute. An article in The Economist demonstrates a visit to a state school with 98 percent Muslim pupils. While the non-Muslim head teacher praises the children’s spirituality and the school caters for their needs, some concessions are controversial. After the intervention of some parents sex…
