Wednesday, October 29, 2008

More Modern Islamic Art

hey guys, two more Islamic graffiti sites (click on the names):

mazzy malik


samir malik


This is just a quick post - I have midterms this week!
Salaam

Monday, October 20, 2008

When Islam Meets Bridget Jones

This is a BBC News article about "Jewel of Medina" by Sherry Jones. Judging from the article, I definitely am not going to be reading this book. However, it's good to be "in the know" about the storyline - here's the article:

A romantic telling of the life of one of the wives of Islam's prophet has caused controversy among some Muslims - and its publication has been indefinitely postponed in the UK amid fears of a violent reaction. But is The Jewel of Medina actually any good? Blogger Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is one of the few people in Britain to have read it.

The Jewel of Medina is a chest-heaving, brassiere-busting book of outrageously tacky historical romantic fiction.

Some parts of the media are suggesting that this book is at the forefront of defending free speech. The author wants it to reach out to solve our global problems of intercultural dialogue. Between them they had me rolling around on the floor laughing.

The book claims to tell the story of Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, through her own eyes, from the age of six, through adolescence and into adulthood. But although she lives through one of the most dramatic periods of history, the narrative conveys little of the enormity of the changes of the era, and of which Aisha was a huge part.

Sherry Jones, the author, says she wanted her book to be "at once a love story, a history lesson and a coming-of-age tale".

In order to do so, she fabricates a storyline about a lover, Safwan, whom Aisha runs away with - but then decides to leave and return to Muhammad.

But this invented plot dominates, leaving barely any room for the real history and importance of her story.

Whether you believe her to be fact, fiction or fantasy, and Muslims believe her to be very real, Aisha is of great significance in global history. The one fifth of the world population who are Muslim regards her as the wife of the Prophet Muhammad and a "mother of the believers".

click here to read the full article

and here's another linked post from our sisters of Muslimah Media Watch: http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2008/10/16/theres-something-about-aishah/#comments

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sofia Baig: Daughter of the Sand Album out now!


Remember Sofia Baig, the amazing spoken word artist I mentioned in a past post? Well, she recently came out with her first album! It's titled "Daughter of the Sand"

So, I suggest you visit her site: http://www.sofiabaig.com and listen to her stuff (if you haven't already) aaand if you like what you hear then support this sis and order her cd! Seriously, $15 for some insightful thoughts - which are hard to come around these days - sounds like a good deal to me.

Salaam and happy listening!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Islamic Graffiti Artist: AEROSOLARABIC aka Mohammed Ali

Salaam girls and guys! I hope everyone's Ramadan was amazing and that your Shawwal is going well - hurry up and do your six sunnah fasts if you haven't already! Okay, coolest thing ever - Islamic Graffiti (: legiiit. Mohammed Ali is British, but he's bringing his projects into the US (yaay!) I have two videos for you guys and they pretty much give all the background info so there's not much for me to write. Check em out, let me know what you think.

BBC:


CNN:


there are more videos on his site as well as galleries of his work: http://www.aerosolarabic.com/v2/index.php

ps, anyone have cool islamic art they'd like to have featured on my site?

Peace.