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.

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.

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.

On Sunday, May 11, PBS will air another entry in their American at a Crossroads series with STAND UP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age. This latest entry is decidedly less serious than the previous documentaries in this series but still takes on the ever important question of the role of Muslims in America after 9/11.

The documentary follows five Muslim American comics: Azhar Usman, Ahmed Ahmed, Dean Obeidallah, Tissa Hami, and Maysoon Zayid. These comics range all over the Islamic spectrum, from the devout to cultural Muslims. Yet, they all felt a responsibility to do something after 9/11. In their case, this revolved around using comedy as a tool to dispel stereotypes.

However, this responsibility was not always apparent, as Dean Obeidallah discussed in the documentary. He was quite candid about using his first and middle name, “Dean Joseph” when he went on the stage to perform in the weeks that followed the 9/11 attacks. However, he understood that this wasn’t the ideal manner to deal with his Arab side. Obeidallah went on to found the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival to showcase Arab-American comics in the hope of humanizing this ethnic group to non-Muslims and non-Arabs. In essence, this festival and the Allah Made Me Funny Tour with Azhar Usman and Ahmed Ahmed have done much to portray
this group of people contrary to how the media typically portrays them.

The documentary was rather entertaining and informative and, while I did know about a few of these comics (I think I heard all of Azhar Usman jokes before ), I became introduced to others during the one hour show. It goes to show that we all need to use our strengths, whatever they may be, to further help along the image of Muslims and Arabs.

My one gripe with the documentary was that the viewer is not quite shown the reaction of non-Muslims to these comics. I would have loved to see the ramifications Muslim/Arab comics have on non-Muslims/non-Arabs who are watching them. Are they making a difference? Do audience members come away with a more positive views of the people the comics represent? The only glimpse the producers gave of this was in an interview with Ahmed Ahmed when he said that one person came up to him after a show and said he “was funny”. Fortunately, I was able to propose this question to the comics through the firm promoting the documentary:

Question: What are some of the changes you all have seen with non-Muslims after a show? What kind of effect do the shows have on non-Muslims? Do they seem receptive in the audience?

Dean Obeidallah:The fact that non-Muslims and non-Middle Easterners come to our shows in increasing number is very encouraging. Overall they seem to enjoy the shows a great deal. In fact, I hope that people in our community will try to bring one person from outside of it to our shows because I think they will be surprised how accessible and funny it is for people of all backgrounds.

Maysoon Zayed: 99% of my non muslim audience converts by the end of the show. Mostly they do it so that they can ask my dad the HAJ Musa Zayid for my hand in marriage. This includes the women. Did I mention how much I love my audiences. [Note: I'm pretty sure she's kidding about the first part.]

Check the local listing of your PBS station for show times in your area. Unfortunately for those of us living in the San Francisco Bay Area, it does not appear to be showing anytime soon.

Here is the link to the TV coverage by ABC 7 News of the SBIA Eid-ul-Adha event at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Dec. 21st.

SBIA EID TV News Coverage

There is an article in today’s Guardian about a new reality TV show in the UK about a group of people that live as strict Muslims with the guide of Muslim mentors:

Article here: Islam for beginners

This show isn’t for Muslims but rather for those who have something to learn about the religion.

While the article states that the creators are trying not to create contrived situations for the sake of drama, they do admit that filming in the mostly white town of Harrogate was an “artificial construct.”

Maybe it will be on YouTube so we can watch it here in the States. Right now, this idea seems a bit much but I’m still intrigued enough to
check it out if I can.

Please send a Thank You note to CNN for airing a special report by Christiane Amanpour called “God’s Warriors” which is a 3 part special about religious extremists, fanatics and fundamentalists in all 3 major religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam). I did watch the special on Islam, which was fairly balanced, and had seen parts of the one on Christianity, which was interesting. I had missed the one on Judaism, but was able to watch it last night as it was re-played (it originally aired back in August) and it was quite refreshing to see an expose on Jewish extremism and fundamentalism both here in the U.S. as well as in Israel, which was shown on mainstream U.S. media!

They Interviewed fundamentalist Jewish settlers who are threaten Palestinians and constantly build on occupied land, in defiance of International Law. They interviewed Jewish Extremists and Terrorists who have planted bombs and killed innocent Palestianian children and families.

Amanpour also interviewed several of the top ranking American Jewish Lobbyists, former President Jimmy Carter and other experts who have witnessed the great influence and pressure that the Jewish and Christian Zionist lobbyists put on the U.S. Congress and our leaders in support of Israel, and do not allow any kind of debate or questioning in U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East (they even showed footage of how the Jewish Lobby in the U.S. was able to put pressure on former President Bush Sr., who unsuccessfully tried to stop the illegal settlements, by putting a condition on loans to Israel, which they were able to stop from happening!)

Naturally there was alot of negative feedback given to CNN from the Christian Evangelical Zionists who were also featured in this special. They were exposed for their hatred of Arabs and Muslims, since one of the Preachers was quoted as saying: “Islam is a Pagan religion…and comes from Satanic influences”!!!

To be fair, they did try to be balanced and also interviewed Jews who do not support the Israeli government or the occupation. Including a Jewish American lawyer who represents Palestinians in land disputes, as well as a group in Israel who monitors illegal settlements and files lawsuits against the settlers when they are clearly violating Israeli law and building houses on Arab land.

You can send your positive comments and feedback to CNN by filling out their feedback form at this link:

Feedback for CNN

They definitely need to know that we appreciate them showing the other side of the story and exposing the extremists, fundamentalists and terrorists who come from the Christian and Jewish faiths as well!

Irfan

Salaams All

Here is a link to the news stories that KTVU Fox. Ch. 2 did on the SBIA Eid Program at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds yesterday:

4pm News

10pm news

Peace

Irfan

Most of us are already familiar with the premise of Aliens In America, the new sitcom that debuted Monday on the CW: A Pakistani exchange student comes to live with the Tolchuks in Wisconsin. Hilarity ensues.

Ever since it was picked up by CW, the show has garnered good reviews from critics. After watching the first episode, I do agree with previous
reviews. The show is funny and Raja, the Pakistani Muslim, is portrayed as a real person and not as a stereotypical cardboard cutout. Adhir Kalyan plays Raja well – the expression on his face when it dawns on him that his classmates may not be as open to him as he thought is priceless. I admit, I thought maybe his acting was a bit over the top at first, but I think Kalyan limited this type of acting to his first scene in the airport.

The rest of the cast consists of the Tolchuks, Justin, Claire, and the mom and dad. The mom, Franny, played by Amy Pietz, comes full circle from a person who believes Raja could be part of a terrorist cell (“You should watch more Bill O’Reilly,” she tells her husband) to someone who realizes that Raja is just a kid.

I’ll definitely tune in next week to see where this goes. Monday night’s episode received a 1.6/2 rating, which is somewhat typical for CW ratings, so we’ll see how long this show lasts.

Further information:

Slate reviews Aliens in America as well as the upcoming season of Little Mosque on the Prairie in an an article published Monday.

Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain is premeiring tonight on PBS at 9pm.

From the description on PBS’s TV schedule: “An examination of a time during the Middle Ages when Christians, Jews and Muslims peacefully coexisted in southern Spain; and what led to the disintegration of the society. Included: reenactments; the region’s Islamic architecture.”

Tonight is also the night of the God’s Warriors segment about Muslim Warriors on CNN at 9pm ET. So set your TiVos!