Originally Posted on ILLUME magazine.

Un-Aired Lowe\'s Commercial for \"All-American Muslim\"

Everyone has been talking about the controversy surrounding Lowe’s Hardware stores pulling their advertising from TLC’s “All American Muslim” reality TV show, because of the email campaign from Conservative Christian “Florida Family Association.”

But besides the few email complaints to Lowe’s or signing of petitions online, there hasn’t been much creative response from the Muslim-American community.

That’s when the comedic duo, Rizwan Manji and Parvesh Cheena (of “Outsourced”), along with writer/director Gregoy Bonsignore decided to take matters in their own hands and create the fake ad, “The Un-Aired Lowe’s Commercial.”

We got to talk to the three about why they made the video and what they thought of the controversy about the show.

Why did you guys produce this video?

Rizwan: Myself, Greg and Parvesh were sitting around Parvesh’s place talking about this whole Lowe’s situation and I kept seeing all the reaction all over Facebook and Twitter. So we thought, as artists we can use our creativity, to make a funny video which makes a point about a greater issue. So within an hour of coming up with the idea, we went down to Lowe’s and started filming it!

Gregory (Director of the video): We wanted to do a satirical piece to show the type of “stereotypical scary” Muslims which the Florida Family Association are so concerned are not being shown on the TV program. The video was shot on multiple iphones, in case we got kicked out of the store quickly.

Have you guys watched “All American Muslim” and what do you think about it?

Rizwan: Yes, I have seen it and like it. It’s a typical reality show which shows the daily lives of people and I have been to Michigan before to shoot a film. It’s an accurate portrayal of the people there, who are very friendly and I enjoy the show.

Gregory: I have watched it and although its format is not very unique, it’s subject – Muslim-Americans is what makes it interesting. It shows that Muslims now have their own reality show like other groups about suburban life in America.

Parvesh: ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM seems harmless. Please. Everyone is the same. We are all Americans. Sheesh.

What do you guys think of the reaction from groups such as the Florida Family Association and Corporations such as Lowe’s who have pulled their advertising from “All American Muslim”?

Gregory: I’m not really surprised with the reactions and totally bigoted response from some of the public, because there is not enough education about Islam in America. But for a corporation like Lowe’s to react in the way they did, is totally unacceptable.

Rizwan: The biggest shock for me was that Lowe’s sent a letter to the Florida Family Association thanking them for pointing out the concerns of the show and asking them to pull their advertising. It’s not okay that they caved in this way.

Parvesh: Lowe’s pulling their spots is silly and just so dumb and really foolish for a major company. I liked Lowe’s. I used to love their ads that added the letter T to the end which became Lowe’sT. Ha. Bad Lowe’s. They should apologize!

Do you think there is any correlation with how “Outsourced” was cancelled and the reaction that “All American Muslim” is getting, that the American public is not ready to see different ethnic and religious groups on TV?

Rizwan: There was also a loud and vocal minority who expressed some hatred about Indians and having a show like “Outsourced” on mainstream TV. There were also some facebook hate groups and websites which made threats against us, but I don’t want to be pessimistic about it. It was only a small, yet vocal, minority. We did not get any advertisers pulling ads from “Outsourced” and there was a good amount of viewers, but we just ran out of time to increase our viewership.

Parvesh: OUTSOURCED getting pulled doesn’t really have any racial correlation, In my opinion. We just got bad ratings when they moved us to 10:30pm for a show that became popular with families. Bad scheduling killed the show but we gotta move on.

Gregory: As a writer and director myself (Greg was a writer for the show “Lie to Me”), I feel that TV tends to normalize things. From past shows which had African-Americans and women early on, it helps the viewers to get to know these different types of people which they may not normally get to interact with. I believe it’s important for more shows about Indians, Arab-Americans and Muslims to be on mainstream TV. We are currently working on a TV pilot about a Muslim American family which we are pitching to producers and hoping to get into development soon.

BY IRFAN RYDHAN for ILLUME MAGAZINE

Original article on Illume Magazine

Imran S. Javaid and Imran W. Sheikh, two young Pakistani-American Muslims, started “Parwaz Playhouse” – the first major Pakistani Theatre Company in the Fall of 2009. ILLUME caught up with them as they prepare for their latest production – an adaption of Eugene O’Neill’s “Beyond the Horizon”, which will begin performing to audiences on Feb. 25, 2011 in New York City

How did you come up with the idea to start a Pakistani-American Theatre company, and how did you come up with the name “Parwaz Playhouse”?

We both were working on the play “The Domestic Crusaders” by Wajahat Ali, when it was running in New York in Sept of 2009. While we were doing the rehearsals, I looked around and realized that we are all enjoying what we are doing and why can’t we keep this going and do more productions that focus on brown people like us. I discussed it with Imran Javaid, who is also a playwright, and he agreed it was a good idea. We also discussed it with Wajahat, who said we should go for it. So while working on the Domestic Crusaders, every night we started planning out how to start a theater company, what type of plays we would do, etc.

In terms of the name, I have always been of fan of Rod Serling’s “Playhouse 90”, so I knew I wanted Playhouse in the name of our theater company. Although we are both Pakistani and wanted to do stories on Pakistan and Pakistani-Americans, we didn’t want to limit ourselves with a name like “Pakistani Playhouse.” My mother suggested the Urdu word “Parwaz” (meaning “a bird’s first flight”), because it was used a lot by Alama Iqbal (famous Pakistani poet) in many of his ghazzals (urdu poetry).

What was the reaction of your family and friends when you started a Theatre Company for Pakistani-Americans?

IWS: There was a mixed reaction, but majority was positive. We received many wishes well in support. Everyone knows that there is a lot of negative images of Pakistanis and Muslims out there, so we feel it is our job to try to get through the negativity and show us as human beings. Theater is the study of the human condition. It’s a visual media and that is a key to be able to show American society who we are. We are giving a voice to our community and people understand that and are supporting us.

Usually there is a negative reaction when someone from our community (Pakistani) goes into a non-traditional field, something outside of medicine, engineering, etc. But if you study most civilizations, you will see that they start off with agriculture and then once they are settled in, they start getting into the arts. When our parents came here to this country, it was an alien landscape for them. They had to sacrifice and basically just work, sleep and take care of the kids. They stayed in traditional and conservative fields just to survive. But now it is up to our generation to go into the arts – acting and also politics and other different fields. We have the luxury to do that now, after our parents sacrificed for us.

Tell us a little about your first production called “Glass”

ISJ: Glass is a 30 minute play I wrote and directed. We performed it at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café in November 2009. It takes place in a newsroom in a country very similar to Pakistan. A bombing happens outside and the play is basically about the role of the newspaper during a time of violence and how an editor and star reporter work together to cover the story. A government minister also visits the newsroom and we see the interaction between government and media.

IWS: The play was also selected for the Downtown Urban Theater Festival in April of 2010 and was one of only 3 performances to sell out to the point where people were turned away during the festival’s two week run.

Tell us about your latest production, “Beyond the Horizon” and how you adapted it for Pakistanis

ISJ: We chose to do an adaption of “Beyond the Horizon” because it is considered to be one of the first major American tragedies and we thought it would be great as our first full length play for the first Pakistani-American Theatre company. The original play was written in the 1910’s about a family of Irish descent that lives on a farm. A farmer has two sons – one who wants to leave the farm and see what’s out in the world and the other who wants to stay on the farm. And they are also both in love with the same girl. It’s a 3 act play that shows different time periods in the family’s life and how things don’t go as planned. It’s a tragedy, and won the Pulitzer in 1920.

Our adaption of the story takes place in 1960’s Pakistan. We set the play in a village near Karachi. It also deals with a family that is struggling with how to deal with some members wanting to leave the country and others wanting to stay – basically it is the story of our parent’s generation and how they left Pakistan, leaving many of their family and friends behind. The love story is still there. We stayed pretty close to O’Neill’s original story, though we did end up cutting out four of the ten characters so we could pare it down to about 90 minutes from 2 hours and 45 minutes.

What are some of your goals with this play and ultimately with your theatre company?

IWS: We wanted to show our parent’s experience with this story. Give a window to the public, both Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis, so people can see who we are. Give a voice to our community. One of our goals is to encourage more Pakistanis to enter the arts.

ISJ: There are a lot of talented people in our community and we want to create a forum to allow all that talent to flourish. There are set designers, costume designers, actors, etc. Art is a great unifier which can bring all these talented people together. We also want to make bridges to other communities.

IWS: But, at the end of the day, we’re out to produce good and entertaining theatre. Our ultimate goal is to have an actual brick and mortar building. But we know that is way down the road. Right now we are honored to put our play on at Theater for the New City in New York. They liked our work and they have supported many famous playwrights and actors over the years, so we are very honored to be able to work there.

Domestic Crusaders, a two-act play play about a Pakistani Muslim-American family has now been published by San Francisco based McSweeney’s. Playwright Wajahat Ali and McSweeney’s are hosting a book launch this Thursday, December 9th at UC Berkeley from 6-9pm.

From the Facebook event page:

The book event will include:

- A performance by hip hop artist/poet Baraka Blue
- A reading by poet and photographer Najva Sol
- A traditional Urdu poem performed by Umair and Emmad Khan
- A panel and Q + A with Ishmael Reed and Wajahat Ali
- A reading from the play
- A book signing
- light refreshments

Check out the event page on UC Berkeley’s website and the Facebook event page for more information.

The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco is hosting an event on Monday, November 29th titled Bridging the Middle East and America Through Culture featuring Reza Aslan.

From the website:

American headlines about the Middle East often focus on terrorism, suicide bombings and escalating tensions. The mainstream media can create a massive American cultural blindspot around the literature, history and stories of the Middle East. A political commentator, New York Times best-selling author and an analyst on CBS News, Aslan is considered by some to be an American window to Islam. He is now looking to bridge the gap and share the best of the Middle East’s literary leaders. Join the acclaimed author and contributing editor to The Daily Beast as he brings you the cultural luminaries from Iran, Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey and beyond.

Reza Aslan will be joined by author Zoe Ferraris, playwright Wajahat Ali, and photographer/poet Najva Sol.

The event begins at 6:00pm in San Francisco. Click here for tickets.

The Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley is hosting a panel discussion titled Politics and Media in the Muslim World.

From the website:

This forum will examine the new forces that have emerged, and transformations that have occurred, following the rapid expansion in the use of technology and new media, particularly by younger people, in talking about political issues and political change in different parts of the Muslim world.

Lawyer and playwright Wajahat Ali will be moderating the panel consisting of a mix of activists, scholars, and journalists: Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Program Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Committee to Protect Journalists; Haroon Moghul, Director of Public Relations, Islamic Center of New York University; Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, legislator, Selangor State Assembly, Malaysia; Muhamad Ali, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UC Riverside; Huma Yusuf, journalist, Pakistan.

The forum takes place on Thursday, October 15 at 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 from 5pm-7:30pm. The event is only $5, to be paid at the door. See the site for registration information.

If you happen to be in New York City, you should be aware that the play Domestic Crusaders is premiering at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe this Friday, September 11.

From the website:

The Domestic Crusaders focuses on a day in the life of a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family of six eclectic, unique members, who convene at the family house to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of the youngest child.

With a background of 9-11 and the scapegoating of Muslim Americans, the tensions and sparks fly among the three generations, culminating in an intense family battle as each “crusader” struggles to assert and impose their respective voices and opinions, while still attempting to maintain and understand that unifying thread that makes them part of the same family.

Playwright Wajahat Ali discusses the evolution of his play at the Huffington Post: Making History With Muslim American Theater. I got a chance to see it back when there were a few shows at San Jose State University so I have to recommend this play to anyone who has a chance to see it in New York City.

Get tickets here. Tickets for the 9/11 show have already been sold out so get tickets soon!

The Washington Post has an article today about how Americans believe improving relations with the Muslim world is an important goal. However, the article mentions a recent poll conducted regarding American’s perception of Islam and Muslims. The overall consensus is:

There is still a broad lack of familiarity with the world’s second-largest religion — 55 percent of those polled said they are without a basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam, and most said they do not know anyone who is Muslim. While awareness has increased in recent years, underlying views have not improved.

In fact, 48% of those polled view Islam negatively and 29% overall think of it as a violent religion. Funny enough, those who do not hold Islam in a positive light are people who do not know too much about
the religion itself and most likely have never even met a Muslim.

Apparently despite all the work Muslim Americans have done in this country in terms of public outreach, it is clearly not enough.

Matthai Kuruvila, the Religion/Spirituality Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle had an article today about about how Islamic finance has fared well during the current credit crisis. Check out the article:

Muslim investors profit by adhering to faith

From the article:

Renouncing interest is the high-profile element of Islamic finance that relates to the current economic crisis. For Islamically correct investors, that means there are limits to how much debt a company can have or how much profit it can derive from interest-based investments. That criterion eliminated the possibility of holding stocks in financial services companies, like Citigroup or Washington Mutual, whose stocks lost 86 percent or all of their value last year, respectively.

The Islamic Index in the Dow Jones has been outperforming many non-Islamic indexes while the Amana Income and Growth Funds have also been outperforming the S&P 500. The article also touches on much of the housing crisis was avoided by those who went through Islamic financing methods.

Generally speaking, while not every Islamic Fund has been more successful than other funds, the Islamic method of investing is giving people pause and has them thinking if there just might be something to it.

But really though, check out the whole article.

Kuruvila really works with the Islamic community in the Bay Area whenever he needs to write an article that deals with Islam. Because of this, his articles are always well balanced.

Just a quick note: In an email that I got that was forwarded from someone who helped him on the article, Kuruvila said that he did not write the actual headline and that the “online headline is definitely too strong an assertion.” So just keep that in mind.

MediaAndIslam.com in association with Jam-Productions would like to interview American-Muslims on camera to get their opinion, views and comments on the the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency of the United States.

Interviewees will have an opportunity to discuss this historic event as well as share their hopes and dreams for the future of Muslims and other minority groups in the United States and the rest of the world.

The interviews will be edited down into a 30 min. video which will be shown on local TV in San Jose, CA as well as on the internet, InshaAllah.

On-camera interviews will take place on Saturday Jan. 31st between 10:30am and 12:30pm at the PACC (Pakistani American Culture Center) located at:

4423 Fortran Court, Suite 160
San Jose, CA 95034

Please rsvp to irfan@mediaandislam.com

I just wanted to point out this article by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com – Both Parties Cheerlead Still More Loudly for Israel’s War.

Greenwald discusses the extreme one-sidedness of the United States’s stance on the Israel’s war on Gaza even while most of the world opposes it. He also provides a bit of detail about what the U.S. Senate resolution means for Israel and Hamas.