Recently, I watched the whole first season of the Golden Globe Winning TV series Drama, “Homeland” and was both impressed and also disappointed. The cable series which originally premiered in October 2011 on the Showtime channel is based on an Israeli TV series called “Prisoners of War,” But “Homeland” is about an American Marine Nicholas Brody (played by British Actor Damian Lewis from “Band of Brothers”) who is captured in Iraq and his held captive for 8 years, only to be found by a Delta Force raid on a compound belonging to an Al Qaida terrorist (a character named “Abu Nazir” – played by Iranian-American Actor Navid Neghaban). The main protagonist of the show is CIA agent, Carrie Matheson (played by Claire Danes), who is the only person who thinks Brody is a turned sleeper agent for Al Qaida.

“Homeland” is a lot like “24”, with its moments of intense drama dealing with terrorism, politics and relationships between people. The show also has excellent writing and great acting. Because it’s on Showtime, it does contain profanity and adult language as well as some brief nudity – which makes the show much more realistic than “24”.

I was really impressed with the acting of Claire Danes (who won for best actress in a Drama at this year’s Golden Globe awards) and Damian Lewis (Nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes). Claire is very convincing as a paranoid CIA operations officer, who although suffers from Bi-polar disorder (unknown to her supervisors), is the only person who is capable of figuring out what Brody is actually up to. She tries very hard to convince her mentor and boss at the CIA, Saul Berenson (played by Actor Mandy Patinkin) that Sgt. Brody is a sleeper agent who is about to carry out an attack on the U.S. Damian Lewis is excellent as his role as an American Hero turned Potential Terrorist who struggles coming to terms with his wife sleeping with his best friend (who both thought he was dead in Iraq), his two young children who barely know him, and the media and government officials who put him on a pedestal as a “War Hero.”

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW

Damian also did a great job at learning Arabic – specifically Sura Fatiha, for when he recites his prayers early in the morning and late at night (He converted to Islam while held captive for 8 years – and “there were no Bibles around” like he explained to Claire’s character when she questioned him about his conversion).

What I liked about the series is that they try their best to show that Terrorism is not as Black and White as most politicians and leaders (on both sides of the world) try to make it out to be. It’s complicated and involves all kinds of people – from religious, to secular, to family people, to lovers, to government officials, to normal and sane people, who may have been pushed over the edge and sometimes the motive is not politics, but just simple revenge.

In this case, Damian’s character of Sgt. Brody is forced to teach English to Terrorist leader Abu Nazir’s youngest son, while he is held in captivity. Brody has a young son who was only a few months old, when he went off to Iraq for the War, so naturally a bond develops between Brody and Abu Nazir’s son, as they spend a lot of time together. Then, like what has happened in real life many times, a US drone attack, which attempts to take out Abu Nazir’s hideout, misses and destroys a madrassa, and kills all 83 children, including Abu Nazir’s son. Sgt Brody is hurt emotionally by the death of an innocent child he has grown to love as his own, and becomes consumed with anger when the Vice-President of the United States is shown on international TV denying that the drone attack even happened. This is when Brody decides that he wants to help Abu Nazir mete out justice to the United States government for killing innocent children.

What I don’t like about the show, and was disappointed in seeing, was that whenever Sgt. Brody makes wudu (cleaning himself with water before doing prayers), pulls out his prayer rug, or reads Tasbeeh (rosary) on his hands – they play dramatic music in the background and imply that he is doing something sinister and about to kill someone (when in reality he is just praying or getting ready to pray to God). It seems like the writers and producers of “Homeland” are implying that a Muslim who prays is a potential terrorist!

I also found it interesting that the character of Saul Berenson (Carrie’s boss at the CIA) is Jewish (who even talks about growing up as a religious minority in a Christian majority town in the storyline), who is shown to be the most fair-minded, intelligent and respectable person in the CIA. This is not that surprising, because it seems that most of the writers and producers of the show are Jewish, but one would think that they should know better than to scapegoat a whole group of people (Muslims) because of the actions of a few.

I look forward to watching season 2 of “Homeland” (currently being produced), because I enjoy it’s suspense, action and acting, but I hope the writers and producers start to focus less on the “exotic” religious rituals of Muslims, and instead continue to develop the storyline in exposing why people become terrorists and how it can be better understood and in turn better combated.

This review was originally written on Caffeinated Muslim.

Review by Bushra Burney

The last time I was at the airport, I went through security and was told that a female agent was going to come by and pat down my hijab. Passenger after passenger passed me by, picked up their stuff from the conveyer belt, and stared at me. I’m sure they were wondering what was up as I stood there for an amazingly long period of time in my socks. I never had to wait this long for a patdown before! Where was the TSA lady who was meant to make sure I left my serrated knife at home and that it wasn’t hidden in between the strands of my hair? Not allowed to move or even get to my luggage for a long period of time, I felt like I was on display and felt humiliated.

However, I’d much rather have that happen than go through any of the experiences contained in the book Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice.

Edited by Alia Malek, who also interviewed most of the people in the book, Patriot Acts compiles first hand stories from people who had been maligned to some degree due to the after effects of 9/11. The compilation has all types of stories, some worse than others, that include accounts of incarceration, bullying, harassment, and discrimination.

The first narrative sets the tone of the book rather quickly with the testimony of Adama Bah, a now 23 year-old girl who grew up in the U.S. after moving from Guinea, West Africa with her family when she was just two years old. In 2005, when she was 16, she was taken from her home along with her father and was kept in a detention center for 6 weeks for suspicion for being a terrorist. The problem was that the suspicion stemmed from nothing and she had to endure less than stellar conditions in the center, complete with strip searches, for no reason in particular. The entire episode left her jaded about the country she considered her home.

Not all of the narratives end on the same note though. Rana Sodhi, a Sikh business owner, went through the pain of losing two brothers who were murdered in hate crimes after 9/11. With all of the work and outreach he did in regards to the murders, he became inspired to think of his community at large rather than just himself.

There are probably more than a few people who get caught up in the “Kill ‘em all!” mentality when they think about Arabs and Muslims. The issue is that a lot of people have suffered because of misplaced blame (and I’m just talking about those who consider America their home, not the hundreds of thousands* of innocents killed abroad in wars from the past decade). The majority of us don’t know about these stories and that’s where Patriot Acts steps in. With some of the accounts, you can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the narrator wasn’t able to acquire a lawyer who cut through red tape. With some of the other narratives, it’s quite evident that education is still needed in this country to curb Islamophobia, especially with the heartbreaking story of the little girl that had to deal with ignorant teachers in her district**.

At the very least, you should check out Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice to discover what has been going on in this country and whether or not any of this actually makes you safer. This book teaches us that it’s more important than ever to stay informed and educate ourselves. We can still be American patriots while still retaining our principles.

Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice was published in August 2011 by McSweeney’s as part of the Voice of Witness series.

*Some sources place this figure at well over a million.

**There was actually a story on the radio show This American Life in their radio broadcast titled Shouting Across the Divide back in 2006. You can listen to it for free on the website.

by Bushra Burney

In MOOZ-lum, writer/director Qasim “Q” Basir makes his feature film debut with a story about a Muslim-American named Tariq entering college. Tariq sees college as a place to reinvent himself as “T” after living a strict religious household with his father. He pushes him mom and sister away and stays distant from his Muslim roommate to ensure that a few lingering, unpleasant (to put it mildly) memories from a previous life at a madrasa do not surface. Yet with the onset of 9/11, Tariq has to figure out who he is and what he’s willing to stand up for.

MOOZ-lum truly is an amazing film. This movie could have easily been a preachy, heart-warming film about how good Muslims are but instead, Mr. Basir created a film that humanizes Muslims without it becoming an after school special on tolerance. Tariq’s crisis in faith is not an occurrence isolated to Muslims and therefore this isn’t a movie just for Muslims. I encourage everyone, despite which religion one belongs to (or doesn’t belong to), to watch MOOZ-lum because it’s an entertaining movie regardless, with a well told story and interesting characters. Even though there’s nary a car chase scene in sight, you will be on the edge of your seat at some moments in this movie. Don’t roll your eyes at that cliched statement – during one particular tense scene, I noticed that the girl sitting a few seats away from me was quite literally sitting at the edge of her seat, leaning forward, enthralled. It’s been a long time since something like that happened in the movies (maybe during Inception, I’ll grant you that;).

Many people have been clamoring for these narratives the United States, with even Katie Couric suggesting that a Muslim version of “The Cosby Show” may help with the image of Muslims in America. Qasim Basir succeeds in adding to the Muslim-American narrative with MOOZ-lum, a great movie that can be appreciated by anyone.

MOOZ-lum opened in select cities on February 11th. It’s produced by Peace Films and stars Evan Ross, Nia Long, Roger Guenveur Smith, Summer Bishil, and Dorian Missick.

In a follow up to the award-winning documentary Afghan Star, which followed four finalists to Afghanistan’s answer to American Idol, Director Havana Marking returns with Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star, airing tonight on HBO2 at 8pm.

Ms. Marking follows up with one of the female finalists in her film, Setara Hussainzada. In her final singing performance moments on the TV show Afghan Star, after Setara found out she didn’t garner enough votes to continue, she danced on the stage with her scarf slipping off her head. Controversy ensued, resulting in many people, including clergy from her province making statements condemning her actions.

The film starts off with Setara’s attempts at becoming a singer and leaving Afghanistan to pursue a music career. However, after finding out that she’s pregnant, she returns back to Kabul to be with her husband. Ms. Marking films Setara as she comes to the grips with the reality that she may not sing for a while as she prepares for the life of a mother while still dealing with the consequences of her actions on stage as shown in Afghan Star.

This follow up documentary has a different feel from Afghan Star but is no less powerful.

Afghan Star was more hopeful – the country was embracing the arts and people finally got a say, even if it was a for a music show and the vote they gave was with a text. It depicted unity as people were supporting finalists who were not necessarily from their region.

Silencing the Song strikes a different chord. Although this documentary is more tragic than its predecessor, the viewer is given the rare opportunity to find out what happened to the person who didn’t win, the one who said they would still make a name for themselves despite the loss. That fact in and of itself makes this documentary significant. I highly recommend watching this documentary if you can.

Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star airs tonight on HBO2 at 8pm. It is preceded by an airing of Afghan Star, which should be viewed as well as it is an excellent documentary. The DVD for Afghan Star goes on sale on March 30.

UK publishing firm Legend Press is about to publish a new, revised limited edition of the book Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West, a book I reviewed a few years ago. The following is that review from 2007.

In Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West, Imran Ahmad narrates life growing up Pakistani and Muslim in England. Born in Karachi, he migrated to England with his family as a very young boy. Ahmad did his best to fit in a land dominated by those with a different religion and color of skin who were wary of the influx of immigrants living in their land. He weaves a heart-wrenching tale in which his struggles to overcome prejudices will surely leave you in tears.

Well, actually, not really.

Ahmad tells the tale of his life with an ever present humor which is evident from the start, beginning with mention of his entry in the “Bonnie Baby” contest in Karachi. He ended up losing to a boy who was the judges son, a sure sign of nepotism. It was that incident, Ahmad wrote, that began his lifelong struggle against corruption. In the recollection of his life, Ahmad weaves in humor so we may laugh, or at least smile, at all the good or bad that happens in his life.

At the bottom of every page, Ahmad includes the time period and his age so the reader can know exactly how old the author was at any particular point in the book. The reader follows Ahmad along while he learns about Islam, his experience in the different schools he’s been to, his struggles with women, and encounters with Evangelical Christians.

Those who were ‘born Muslim’ to immigrants in a place like American or England may find something in common with Ahmad, as he didn’t even know about the fundamentals of Islam until he was put in Islamic school. There, he learned the ‘why’ of all the things that he was doing or supposed to be doing. Before that, he was oblivious of the facts of Islam. Ahmad then shares his knowledge of Islam in a few of his sub chapters, obviously meant for readers who have little or no knowledge of the subject to aid in their understanding of what Ahmad believes in. Unfortunately, at times Ahmad passes on something he learned in Islamic School that isn’t quite right, such as the belief that Satan, Iblis to Muslims, was a fallen angel while Satan is actually a jinn.

Generally, I really liked the book. However, I took offense at one part as a Muslim. Close to the end, Imran Ahmad stated that he was lucky to have grown up the way he had, by parents who were not ignorant or fundamentalists. He then followed the line by stating that his dad was always clean shaven and that his mom never wore the hijab. Those two sentences one after the other suggests that Ahmad equates a bearded man and a woman wearing hijab as ignorant. Whether or not Ahmad thinks a beard or hijab are necessary, he shouldn’t pass judgment on those who choose to adopt them.

I do think Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West is worth reading since it’s funny and entertaining. It was also incredibly ‘readable.’ I wanted to keep on reading it and find out what was going to happen next. Do keep in mind that these are memoirs and not a religious book. With that in mind, Unimagined is a good read.

…..

Check out the comments from the original post in which the author responded to a couple of things in my review.

by Bushra Burney

Meet G. Willow Wilson. She’s an American. She lived in Egypt for a while. She converted to Islam. She fell in love with a local. She wrote a book about all of this called The Butterfly Mosque. You should read it.

After graduating from college in the summer of 2003, Wilson leaves for Cairo to work as a teacher in an English-language school. Thanks to a series of events beforehand, Wilson, who had been brought up as an atheist, knew one thing: that if she boarded that plane to Cairo, she would become a Muslim. Keeping that bit of information from her family and friends, she starts her life in Cairo as a closet Muslim and that’s when she meets Omar, who she soon marries.

With The Butterfly Mosque, the author really has something great on her hands. She strikes a balance with all three of the stories she tells – the travel memoir, her discovery and path to Islam, finding love with someone halfway across the world, and presents a narrative that is never preachy nor self indulgent while offering a unique insight into life abroad.

This book isn’t just about Wilson though, it’s also about all the people with whom she interacts. She gives Egyptians, and with her trip to Iran, Persians, an identity that sometimes gets lost among all that we hear about the Middle East here in the United States. This reminds me of something my Arabic teacher once said – as an Egyptian who had moved to the U.S. a few years ago, he had not even considered himself Arab until he came here and was instantly classified as such.

I have to admit, I’m already fan of Wilson’s. I liked her graphic novel Cairo and her comic Air is one of only two monthly comic book titles I read. Yet, this book isn’t just limited to fans of her comic books. The author succeeds in writing a book that can be appreciated by many audiences. One can read The Butterfly Mosque to get a glimpse into the life of an American living in another country while someone else may be curious about the issues Wilson discusses that inevitably result from a cross cultural relationship and from her odyssey into Islam.

In the end, The Butterfly Mosque isn’t just another memoir. G. Willow Wilson’s voice differentiates it from so many other books. Her affable manner in conjunction with her sense of humor and resolve has the ability to really connect with the reader. Simply put, I really liked this book and can’t recommend it enough.

The Butterfly Mosque is published by Atlantic Monthly Press and was released June 1st. Read it! I command you…

Comics books are mostly associated with superheroes and fantastical stories. Yet, some use comic books, or graphic novels, as a medium to tell a compelling narrative.

Journalist Joe Sacco is one of those people. He had previously documented and illustrated his time in Palestine and Bosnia with his books Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde. With his new graphic novel, Footnotes in Gaza, Sacco sifts through stories from the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah in the Gaza Strip to find testimonials regarding two events from 1956 in which hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed by the IDF. He also provides the historical context that led to these massacres, citing key players from multiple countries.

Over two trips in November 2002 and March 2003, Joe Sacco visited the Gaza strip and with his guide Abed, Sacco interviewed Palestinians who were old enough to be present at that time in 1956. Sacco illustrates their stories in the pages of Footnotes of Gaza, drawing gruesome pictures to go along with the almost unreal stories: IDF soldiers forcing their way into homes, shooting men where they stood while sometimes forcing them outdoors, lining them up along fences and shooting many of them at a time. About 265 men died in that single event in Khan Younis. In Rafah, about 111 men were estimated to have been killed in a screening process gone wrong.

Sacco provides a healthy dose of objectivity to the stories he hears. He admits in his book that relying on witness testimonials for something that happened more than 50 years ago may be a bit troublesome. While the horrific events became etched into those who witnessed it, some of those memories tend to be a bit murky. In other cases, his subjects simply have too much to talk about. In one instance, Sacco found himself talking to an old man whose story kept on switching from 1956 to events in 1948, then to 1967 and so on.

On his quest, some Palestinians openly question Sacco’s need to dig up stories from ’56. A kid at a pastry shop he and Abed frequent voiced what many Sacco came across in his journey were thinking: “Forget the past, what about now?” to which Sacco replied “One day, 50 years from now, they’ll forget about you too.”

Footnotes in Gaza is an amazing read but admittedly, a bit difficult at times. When you look upon Sacco’s depiction of one particular interview subject when he’s telling his story of that day in 1956, bloody, rising from a pile of bodies, everyone dead around him, lucky because the multiple bullets he was sprayed with missed anything vital, then the reader has to take pause and just wonder how someone could mentally come back from something like that.

In the end, Footnotes in Gaza provides a look into events that are almost entirely unknown except to those who were alive in Khan Younis and Rafah in 1956. Sacco provides the historical context that leads up to these events within the book.As a journalist, Joe Sacco continues to give a voice to people in war-torn lands and in the case of Footnotes in Gaza, provides a look into the lives of Palestinians.

Highly Recommended.

Children of Dust is about the evolution of the author from Abir, Amir, and then finally, into reformist blogger Ali Eteraz. In his first book, this former blogger takes the reader through his childhood from a village in Pakistan to his life in the United States.

His father had promised Allah (swt) a servant in the form of his son if he and his wife were granted a boy. Born with that covenant hanging over his head, Abir Ul Islam, now known as Ali Eteraz, did strive to be the best Muslim he could be while growing up in Pakistan.

In the United States, he tries his best to fit in, even changing his name upon excessive teasing from classmates – Abir= “A Beer”, etc. Ah, the creativeness of classmates when it comes to foreign names. I know that pain so well. Second graders can be so cruel.

But I digress…

In college he focuses back to religion. He dodged non-Muslim girls until he came to the realization that he needed to find himself a nice, pious Muslim girl which ultimately leads him on a trip back to Pakistan. His trip to Pakistan becomes a defining event. Due to events detailed in the book, he came back a different person.

That episode is what fuels another part of Eteraz, the part that slides away from Islam. This part was … interesting to say the least. Here is a guy with a lot of knowledge about Islam who stopped believing while giving the outwards appearance that he was, in fact, a pious Muslim brother. Out of all the less than stellar acts he shares in his book, this is the one that really made me wary of Ali Eteraz. I mean, he was pretending to be a good Muslim, even going as far as getting himself elected president of his college’s Muslim Student’s Association. He only seemed to do things to get attention, for people to notice and respect him.

Due to the aforementioned, I couldn’t really decide how I felt about the author. I didn’t appreciate the kind of person he described himself to be. However, I did appreciate his honesty. We can clearly see his motivations in his life and what drives him to do what he does. You may not agree with his actions but either way, Eteraz is a gifted writer. He could have sugar-coated events and periods of his life but instead he writes a memoir that I could respect even if, at times, I didn’t really respect the man himself.

This is not necessarily a memoir of Pakistan like it says on the cover, but more like a memoir of a Pakistani- American. Read Children of Dust with an open mind to find about how Eteraz coped with too-strict imams at the madrasas in his village in Pakistan, how he escorted the Tablighi Jamat around the United States much to his embarrassment, the intense situation he found himself in while in Pakistan, and how after 9/11, Eteraz’s life took yet another turn. This book is by no means the end of the story that Ali Eteraz and so it will be interesting to see what his future writing projects entail.

The new documentary The Mosque in Morgantown, premiering on PBS tonight, features the internal battled in the Muslim community revolving around the opening of the mosque in Morgantown in 2003 and what happens when one woman stands up for what she believes is right.

Morgantown resident and journalist Asra Nomani, upon the opening of the new mosque, found that the women had a separate entrance in the back. The day she went in through the front door to pray right behind the men in the men’s section was the day she began her ordeal with the mosque, directly going against the conservatives of the mosque while using this issue as a platform for women’s rights in Islam.

Nomani’s methods to bring awareness of how she felt about the mosque included trying to pray behind the men in the men’s section, airing her grievances in front of the mosque, organizing a protest march with a group of activists, and even posting her very own 99 precepts on the front door of the mosque, all in front of the media.

While the creators of the documentary could have just shown Nomani’s side, they also talked to those who did not share in Nomani’s view, creating a balanced documentary. Various people who were part of the mosque were interviewed, such as Hazem Bata, a moderate Muslim. He wondered why Asra Nomani went to such extremes to air her issues. Why not talk to the Muslims who belong to the mosque before going right to the press? Bata wondered. I have to say, I agree with Bata’s point of view. It’s too late to say how things would have turned out had Nomani picked another way to fight her battle but one would think that sitting down and having a proper discussion with the community before going straight to the media may have fared a better outcome.

The Mosque in Morgantown isn’t necessarily about who’s right and who’s wrong but instead offers an interesting look into the events that highlight an issue that is still being debated today in the United States. However, this documentary isn’t just about the issue of barriers in the mosque and women’s rights. It also documents the struggle that a Muslim community faces and how they all go about trying to solve it. The Muslim community is far from perfect and it’s definitely intriguing to see how one such group deals with dissent. At one point, the Muslims of the Morgantown mosque even discuss banning Nomani from the mosque, which seems to be a bit extreme.

The Mosque in Morgantown premiers tonight on PBS at 10 pm. Check your local listings since timings may differ in your area.

I also recommend Zarqa Nawaz’s Me and the Mosque for a documentary that really explores the theme of women’s place in the mosque (Asra Nomani appeared in this documentary as well). It doesn’t appear to be readily available, but if you have a chance, watch it.

Check out Irfan Rydhan’s new blog called: “Al Mihrab: The Place of War” about Architecture, Media, Islamic Activism, Muslim Art and other cool stuff here: Al Mihrab

Also if you are in the San Jose/Campbell areas, be sure to check out Channel 15 this Friday Feb. 27th at 3:30pm for the special episode of “The Muslim Round Table Telvision Show” about “American Muslim Views on the Obama Presidency.”

Peace

Irfan