A Western Islamic Renaissance?

Are we seeing the rise of an Islamic arts movement in the West?  I hope so!!!!!   

After thinking about the state of affairs in our Western umma, there’s definitely a need for the creative folks to get in positions of power and take over. As the years pass and Muslims deal with the challenges of being Muslim in post 9-11 society, I can see us coming together as a community irrespective of class, race, and gender. It’s not going to be an easy road as we all have our own monster-sized nafs to insure that it will be difficult but that sweet day will come. It’s just a matter of getting there and being patient.

But this post is going to focus on Muslim artists or more specifically–Islamic artists. When I first started the Islamic Artists Society, I had to think about labels. Are we Muslim artists or Islamic artists?  A Muslim artist can be a person from a Muslim country, someone who espouses belief in Islam, or someone who was raised with some knowledge of Islam and uses his/her talents in ways which may or may not be halal. These categories overlap, of course. A Muslim artist is any creative Muslim who creates something whether it is exceptible in Islam or not. An Islamic artist pays heed to what is acceptible and is meticulous in making sure that their art stays within the boundaries of Islam. And most importantly, the Islamic artist is keen in making sure that their art is a reflection of gratitude and praise to God. It’s more than just telling a story or making a pretty piece of pottery. It’s what Shaykh Hamza Yusuf would call “making sacred the mundane,” which is why some of the household items of previous Muslims had Qur’anic ayats engraved on them. Or if a musician wanted to create a song, the song would focus on God, the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) or the musician’s gratitude to God.

Do any of you see more Muslims entering into the arts?  Do you see more Muslims using art as a tool for education, tolerance and dawah?

And what about those of us who are struggling with painting our Lord’s desires and the consumer’s desires?  Sometimes it seems like Muslims are being presented with only two options. Either reject the West or reject Islam. Either paint nude women because they sell or just create Arabic calligraphy even though that’s not your interest. Such patrons of this belief see things in black and white terms. Now if anyone studies history, it would be impossible for the “West” to remove its Islamic influences and for the Muslim world to reject the West. Both sides will suffer because if we as Westerners are going to reject everything of and from the Muslim world, past and present, then stop counting because our numbers are Arabic numerals. Give up gardening and botany. Give up algebra. Give up hospitals, public baths, medicine, eye surgery, etc. Give up the Islamic concepts that influenced men like Thomas Acquinas and Johann Goethe. And if the Muslim world gives up all its Western trappings while I might as well stop blogging, never watch tv, or get vaccinations. The contributions of one side to the other are too numerous to list and I get tired of the “clash of civilizations? argument as if this current war in Iraq is more than the plans of greedy men who want oil profits.

But back to my point. Every new member of IAS is given set of questions and one of them is “How are the arts in your community? Most of the time, the answer is zilch. I had member tell me that his community thinks art is haram! Maybe they don’t realize that the pretty Qur’an with the gold foil and Arabic flourishes is art. When I put on an Islamic arts show, there were many people that signed up but when the show date came, they backed out. I think some of them were very nervous or felt that their art wasn’t up to snuff but why would I display it if I thought it wasn’t that great? Our community is filled with poets and writers but whenever you ask some of them to submit their work, suddenly they back off. What are we afraid of? Rejection? Islam receives a daily beating so why should that stop us? Or even when someone tries to start a newspaper all the wealth of writers vanish.

How are we going to create an Islamic environment here in the West that’s true to our culture and our religion? Something that’s true to our experiences as Americans and as Muslims?

But things are changing, alhamdulillah. Praise belongs to God for Starlatch, White Thread, and other high caliber publishers for making such wonderful books. Graphic and webdesigners designers like Omair Ali, Mohammad Ali, Ian Abdul-Lateef Whiteman, Sheik Abdul-Khafid, Sheba Sanders, Ruh al Alam (Shazia Mistry, hee-hee) and a host of others are presenting Islam with beautiful websites, brochures, pamphlets, etc. And how many Muslim poets are out there? Amir Suleiman, Dasham Brookins, Tahir Rashid, Saraji Umm Zaid, Samatha Sanchez…I could go on. Sami Yusuf, Outlandish, Anas Coburn, and Mecca2Medina are taking hip-hop and nasheed to a whole new level. And of course we have wizard artists like Salma Arastu, Mohammad Zakariyya, Aishah Holland and Khalil Bendib. Things are changing and we’re growing but I wish I could be more patient. I just want to see more Muslims having so much jealousy for this deen that we only accept the best from ourselves.

Any thoughts, sisters?

nice discussion Izzymo. U’re right, art is most certainly a part of Islam and I think the problem is that sometimes people have a very narrow view of what art really is… i do believe it is gaining popularity tho. Even here on nisaa, you can see great examples, Maliha and her wonderful articles, Baraka and her beautiful photos, and of course you my dear… I am optimistic!

Alhamdulillah.  I want to see more Muslims in the arts—especially in the cinematic arts.  Wouldn’t people understand us better if we had more Muslim filmmakers making quality films?  The Renaissance is coming.  Jump on!

It’s so important, such an untapped means of communicating, something that was such a part of the Islamic tradition that became obscured by modernity.

I hope there’s a renaissance coming, we need it!

Asalaamu alaikum.

What a lovely piece… inspiring. I do see improvement in this area, and mashaAllah, I personally believe that the IAS is a big part of why there has been improvement. I remember when the IAS first started, and so many members said things like “well, I like to paint but I’m not actually any good at it” or “I could never show my work” and the IAS has served to strengthen our belief in the talents Allah has given us, and to help us to meet with other artists to learn from.

I think a BIG part of talking about the renaissance though is going to have to be us also taking some responsibility to support it. A good step is having more Islamic fiction writers, for example. But then you have to have people willing to publish it. And they won’t publish it if no one is buying it.

So we have to not only look at our own talents and be willing to share them, but we also have to actively support the work of others so that they can keep doing that work. We have to network and talk each other up, and be willing to promote each other (for example, in the writing arena, so many of us get so caught up in our own book that we won’t promote the book of a fellow author, or we even worry that they are somehow “competition” and that if we want people to buy our book we shouldn’t let them know that there are other good books to buy as well).

Okay, so now that I’ve said that, I admit, I haven’t always been so good about taking that action either. But inshaAllah, I will try to do it better, and hope others will too.

Salaam alaikum sisters:

Jamila:  I would love to hear your thoughts as to why modernity obscured the tradition of Islamic arts.  Do you think it was all the political crises of the post colonial period? 

Aaminah:  Subhan’Allah, you said it all.  It needs our prayers and our dollars.  Our artists, well some of them, are starving.  Or at least most creative Muslims are working other jobs and have to do our creative stuff on the side.  So, sisters (and brothers), we have to make this happen.

Great points Izzy, it is really important that we see Muslims stop being afraid of their creative output. Push aside the fears of others, when Islam has always been very open and wide in its love of the arts. Expression comes in many forms and Allah loves the remembrance, so put pen to paper, brush to canvas, imagination to anything and set your love of the divine free.

We did see the initial surge of interest and this needs to be carried on - many youngsters, especially in the UK and US are constantly taking up the arts. I still get regular emails for advice and guidance…I think we can do more - its time we helped facilitate the arts in some way - IAS is a start.