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.

“Is everyone here Muslim?” Yusef asks.

“From a certain point of view,” Umar replies.

So begins the movie The Taqwacores. A sophomore in college in Buffalo, New York, Yusef moves out of the dorms to live with Muslim roommates. His search for a new place to stay leads him to this one particular house where Umar, a burly guy with tattoos of “X”s on his hands, answers the door. Eventually, Yusef meets the rest of the rather diverse group of Muslims he now lives with – red-mohawked Jehangir, fully burqa’d Rabeya (you can’t even see her eyes), the seemingly always shirtless Ayyub, and Fasiq, a stoner. Yusef realizes rather quickly that his way of life is much different than that of his new housemates as they have all reconciled their practice of Islam with their punk way of life. As a result, Yusef ends up broadening his own definition of religion which at times, has him questioning his own practices.

The Taqwacores is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Michael Muhammand Knight. “Taqwacore” is the name given by Knight to reflect the Muslim punk rock scene. I’m going to go ahead and admit it – I’m not into punk. I don’t know anything about it and when I’ve tried to listen to it, I quickly come to the conclusion that it’s not my thing. Also, unlike most of the characters in this movie, I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs (coffee is NOT a drug!), have tattoos, or curse.

But I like good movies. And The Taqwacores? Good movie.

The movie is unexpectedly funny at times, awkward at others (intentionally I believe) and has some great dialogue and acting. As Yusef, Bobby Naderi plays the out-of-his-element Muslim well while Dominic Rains stole the show as Jehangir. While I did feel that a couple of scenes were controversial for controversy-sake, this movie is important for one simple reason – The Taqwacores is going to inspire conversations. What does it mean to be Muslim (or if you’re not Muslim, religious)? Can you really ever have the right to judge someone else because maybe their lifestyle doesn’t conform to what you know? And also, if you are the subject of being judged does that give you the right to do the same to others?

Case in point – As Jehangir organized a Taqwacores concert, he invited a band whose viewpoints differed from those of his and most of his housemates. He explained to Yusef that he still felt the need to invite them because if were to exclude this group, how would that make him different from all of those other people who exclude him for who he is?

Major caveat – this movie is not for everyone. The Taqwacores can be (more than) a bit crude and ever so slightly blasphemous. Ultimately, I’m glad I watched the film though. If a movie sparks an intense debate with a friend after you watch it, then you know you have come upon something that made you think. That’s never a bad thing.

The Taqwacores is directed by Eyad Zahra and stars Bobby Naderi, Dominic Rains, and Noureen DeWulf and will be out on DVD on April 5th.

Note: I did the following interview for Illume Magazine. It’ll be posted there on Sunday.

I recently interviewed writer/director Qasim “Q” Basir about his movie Mooz-lum, a film about a Muslim-American trying to come to terms with himself and his faith. Mooz-lum has had a limited release in the United States has recieved generally positive reviews.

First of all, congratulations on the movie. Were you expecting the positive response that the movie has been receiving?

I didn’t really know what to expect. Honestly, I [didn't have] too many expectations because things are going to happen like they are supposed to so I really didn’t know what to expect. I hoped to have a positive reaction.

I noticed that everyone in the theater with me were really into the movie. Hopefully it will do well!

Yeah, I hope so. We’re really trying to see at this point if it it’s going to crossover into different audiences. That’s what we’re hoping. We made the film for two particular reasons. One was to create a voice, a more accurate voice for Muslims in America and another was to create some enlightenment for people who do not know much the story. I always hope that it crosses over.

Have you tried to market to an international audience? What kind of response are you hoping to get from them? Do you think they can relate to Mooz-lum like Western Muslims have?

Based on what we’ve seen, they might relate to it in a different way. They definitely relate to it on a very human level. We were at a film festival in Egypt and I did just come back from Toronto and we had a great response. There were certain parts of the film where people reacted to here that they did not react to over there. In general, people are really able to relate the humanity of the movie. It’s more so about the relationships, the times of happiness and sadness that people are able to connect to.

Has making this movie changed you at all?

Yes, it has actually. I’m always trying to grow and learn more about myself and life and sometimes you hit these roadblocks in your development for whatever reason and for me it was something I hadn’t dealt with in my life. By writing it and shooting it, I was able to really deal with those things and continue with my development. It was sort of therapeutic in a sense. The film is about this guy who is going through this journey towards self discovery. I think that’s something that we all go through. For me to be able to write that and shoot that, I went through that myself.

Who do you think has inspired you as a writer/filmmaker?

I inspired by those who paved the way for me to be here. I would not be here if it weren’t for people like Spike Lee and John Singleton. The different people who went full steam with this whole the black independent film thing. That kind of stuff inspires me. I think I would be remiss if I did not mention them individually and give them credit for creating this business for us.

As a Muslim american filmmaker writer, do you have any advice for Muslims in the West who are trying to break into this industry?

I just would say to keep yourself intact. They are going to pull you in a lot of ways and a lot of people say a lot of things: “You got to do whatever you got to do to make it.” Well, that’s true in a sense but that’s not true when it comes to compromising yourself and who you are and what you believe in. If what you believe in is real enough, legitimate enough, then you can make it in this business. It’s not going to be easy. This is one of the hardest industries in the world to make it in and that’s primarily because there are absolutely no guarantees and no real timelines of when you are going to make it. If you go to law school, you can pretty much guarantee yourself if you are on track of when you are going to graduate, get your juris doctorate in three years, and you’re going to take the bar on this date and if you don’t pass, you can take it again. But with this, there’s none of that. I want to shoot my movie next year but you might not get the budget for it in a decade so are you still going to be with it? That’s where the legitimacy comes in with what your doing and the faith in what your doing. And if it’s real enough, if you believe it enough, then it’s possible.

You had mentioned law school and I read that you had actually considered law school until you got into a car accident. Do you think your life had been different had you not been in that accident?

I know it would have been. I mean… I don’t know, I can’t really say that actually. I don’t know what would have happened if I had not been in that accident. I do know that the significance of that accident on my life was changed by it. It gave me this attitude and it allowed me to really buy in to the belief of not worrying about the smaller things because you lived through something like that. You start to look as life as a gift and that’s how i look at my life now. A gift. Every day, I’m here, I’m healthy, and doing something I love. Even when I was broke and starving I was still healthy. I have faith, and I have God, that’s the stuff that matters. I might have been hungry at times or might have been broke but I knew it was going to be okay. and I knew that I was doing what I was supposed to do here.

Is there something you want to say regarding Mooz-lum?

I want people to know the position we are with these theaters and how vital it is that people go out and support this movie and that we spread the word so it can cross over with other communities and theaters. If it doesn’t perform, they will take it out of theaters. This week, they’re taking us out of some theaters because it didn’t perform. I know for a fact that these places had people that could potentially be interested in watching this film. It would be great if we can get that kind of support from people.

Click here to visit Qasim Basir’s website. You can also read his articles on Huffington Post here.

On Thursday, March 11, City Arts & Lecture of San Francisco is presenting author Dave Eggers on stage with Abdulrahman & Kathy Zeitoun in conversation with Wajahat Ali.

Eggers wrote the best selling nonfiction book about the Zeitouns, who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. While Kathy evacuated the city with the couple’s kids, Abdulrahman elected to stay in the city. Zeitoun is their incredible story.

Not too many seats are left at the event so I advise anyone just to get their tickets soon.

I’m not just saying that

In New Muslim Cool, filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor presents a look at the life of Puerto Rican American Hamza Perez over a period of a few years in Pittsburgh as he and other members of the community work to establish a Muslim community.

Born Jason, Hamza used to be a drug dealer in Massachusetts before he found Islam and turned his life around at the age of 21. Although only 83 minutes, New Muslim Cool covers many aspects of Hamza’s life: how he fits in with his (mostly) non-Muslim relatives, his marriage, his work as an activist, his hip hop career, even how he and the rest of the Muslim community deal with an uncalled for FBI raid on their mosque.

Taylor and editor Kenji Yamamoto worked well to make the film as cohesive as possible. Despite the fact that one is watching scenes that have been filmed over a few years, the documentary has an underlying theme. It’s about Hamza maturing, becoming a better person, understanding who he is, and embracing the responsibilities he feels are incumbent on him.

The great thing about New Muslim Cool is that you don’t have to be a Muslim or a convert to appreciate this film. The message given is universal and Hamza is entirely relatable. Check it out if you can. There’s one more screening in San Francisco at the Sundance Kabuki Theater on May 4 and screenings in other parts of the country as well. In addition, New Muslim Cool also has the distinction of airing on June 23 on PBS to start off the new season of POV.

In Al’ America: Travels Through America’s Arab and Islamic Roots, journalist Jonathan Curiel explores the influence Arab and Islamic culture has had on the United States of America. Curiel provides Americans with an accessible book that forces one to look at America since its inception and recognize that we should not all fear Arabs and Muslims because in fact, many things can be traced back to these origins.

With this book, Curiel delves into many aspects of the American culture to discover Arabic or Muslim beginnings. He writes about Islamic roots since the time Columbus set foot on America, slaves that were Muslim, origins of words that take root from Arabic words, buildings that were created with Arab architecture in mind, and amazingly enough, the origin of one of the most popular surfer songs, Miserlou, has an Arab point of reference as well.

One interesting story is about one of the most American things, the ice cream cone, which was created through happenstance in 1904. When an ice cream vendor at the World’s Fair in St. Louis ran out of plates to serve ice cream, a zalabia, a flat pastry with a grid-like pattern that a Syrian was selling, was shaped like a cone and used to serve the ice cream instead. Even something like coffee can be traced to Muslim countries where it was initially used by Sufis to help them stay up late and pray. In fact, the first coffeehouse was in Mecca around the 1500s.

The biggest shock to many could be that Minoru Yamasaki, the American architect, was inspired by Arab architecture when he designed the World Trade Center. In fact, the original plan had a lot more archways that are present in mosque designs before he had to change the design.

While I can go on and on about what Curiel tied to Arabic and Muslim culture while he researched this book, it’s worth talking about the ramifications of such a book. Americans have lived in fear of Muslims and Arabs for quite a while now and Curiel will force one to reexamine this misunderstanding and for that, Al’ America is an important book and worth adding to one’s bookshelf. Well written and well researched, this book benefits many people, whether it is someone that thinks of Arabs and Muslims living in the United States as ‘the other’ or even Arabs and Muslims who live in the United States. The former will understand that a lot of what they thought to be “American” can be traced to Arabs and Muslims while the latter may acquire a closer association to this country as they learn about roots planted a long time ago.

In his preface, Curiel writes “..the history of these pages will require a popular reassessment of America and its relation to Arab and Muslim culture. It’s not “their” culture, but “ours.” American culture. The culture of America.” Hopefully, Jonathan Curiel will accomplish this with Al’ America.

Be sure to check out Jonathan Curiel’s website as he has pictures of some of the buildings he writes about in his book.

There is a movie in the works that will be about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Apparently, it will be a remake of “The Message”, the 1977 Hollywood film by Moustapha Akkad. From the article:

“In the 21st century there is a real need for a film that emotionally engages audiences on the journey that led to the birth of Islam,” the statement quoted the film’s scriptwriter Ramsey Thomas as saying.

Check out the entire article here.

Uzair, directed by film student Hena Ashraf, offers a glimpse into the life of Muslim teenager living in London. Uzair is a drug addicted youth who is disconnected from his family and from religion.

Uzair

The film opens with Uzair’s attempt to buy drugs. After an unfortunate encounter with a dealer, he finds he does not have enough money to do so. The viewer sees Uzair contemplating stealing money but he is intercepted by a well meaning friend, who encourages Uzair to go to mosque and attend prayers and lectures. This is usually the point in which a film like this, by a Muslim filmmaker, conveys a moral and the main character sees the light, so to speak. However, Ashraf takes the film in another direction. This film is worth watching for that very reason.

There were a few intriguing aspects to this film. First of all, Uzair’s mom is not comfortable with the idea of Uzair attending the mosque because she fears he will fall in with radical Muslim youth, people she hears about on the news. Second, Ashraf is brave enough to show a Muslim guy addicted to drugs. She even shows him shoot up in one particular scene. However, the actor who plays Uzair does well enough but after watching The Wire, my standard for portrayals of drug addicts has been set too high

As Muslims, we sometimes may believe that our people are all perfect and would not do anything that may befall other societies. Uzair, while fictional, depicts a scenario that we may be uncomfortable with but must confront anyways because only then can we come up with solutions for problems youth, whether it be in London or anywhere else, face.

You can check out a trailer of the film here.

The NY Times has an article about Muslim filmmakers using their talents to alter the
negative face of Islam, an image that many non-Muslims many cling to. Check out the article:

Young Video Makers Try to Alter Islam’s Face

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame tackles a much more serious topic for his new documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden. Spurlock travels to Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in his attempt to find the terrorist. Although he sets out with this grand plan in mind, one wonders if Spurlock was ever serious about finding the terrorist, instead using the search for Bin Laden as an excuse to visit many of the countries filled with people who supposedly ‘hate’ the U.S. The fact that he never finds him is beyond the point as he successfully gives the people of the Middle East a human face.

Spurlock uses many ‘man on the street’ type interviews in the countries he visited to gauge the public’s thought on America, Americans, and Bin Laden. He found that many do not hate Americans specifically but do abhor America’s foreign policy. In addition to these interviews, Spurlock fills in the viewer with the result of the U.S. war on terror, which has resulted in an increased number of al Qaeda terrorist cells and an increased number of terrorist attacks since this war began seven years ago.

Spurlock’s use of animation and graphics almost sets the tone for the documentary to be lightweight and not very serious. However with his tactics, Spurlock is able spread a message that even one who lacks the most basic information about worldly affairs will be able to understand: Muslims don’t hate Americans and most do not support Bin Laden. In fact, many hate him because his acts have resulted in devastating retaliation by the U.S. and have also tarnished the image of Islam.

Spurlock’s documentary is not exactly tailored for the sophisticated viewer. Instead, he aims for the everyman and in that, he succeeds. Hopefully, viewers will use the bit of knowledge gained from Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden to increase their understanding of world affairs and the impact of America’s foreign policy.

For more information about Morgan Spurlock, check out this interview conducted by Altmuslim’s Wajahat Ali.