“Pigs Are Haram”: In The Spirit of Taqwacore

“When he was 17, Michael Knight left his mother’s home in Rochester to study Islam at a Pakistani madrassa. It was his first act of rebellion – against his abusive, schizophrenic, white-supremacist father. Years later, burned out on the demands of religious dogma, Mike rebelled once more – by penning a Muslim Punk manifesto called The Taqwacores. His work of fiction struck a chord with young Muslims around the world and before long, real-life Taqwacore bands were creating a scene. This film follows Michael and his band of Muslim punks as they journey across the U.S. and Pakistan, transforming their worlds, their religion and themselves through the spirit of Taqwacore.”

Years ago I saw the book ‘The Taqwacores’, by Michael Muhammad Knight, while browsing the Autonomedia website, where there is a section on the the bits censored from the British Edition of the book, recently I finally got around to reading the book. The impetus to read the book this time was discovering that there are several film projects based on the book coming out soon, including the documentary (advertised in the video above) filmed by Omar Majeed about the music scene that the coalesced around fans of the book – giving it a name, and in many ways an identity. Reading the book I can totally see how it acted as a conduit through which groups of punks with muslim cultural and/or religious backgrounds had found each other and developed a scene; calling themselves Taqwacore, a real life case of life imitating art. I should add, to briefly review the book – its awesome! I particularly enjoyed how a myriad of Islamic traditions and identities were woven through both individual characters and the ensemble, drawing on Sunni and Shia’h as well as Sufi and also indigenous American Islamic traditions such as Noble Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple, as well as a host of other traditions some real and some individuals I have no idea if they were real or made up, I’d not be surprised either way!

Not only is the book great, but, the music scene it’s help generate contains some great bands too. The combination of musical styles and genres, as well as lyrical topics is truly punk in its approach. The Taqwacore bands, as with the spirit of the book, aren’t defined by a single sound (either as bands or as a scene) mixing traditional music, punk, hip hop, ska, metal, electro and more, there is plenty of variation and importantly imagination, and not to mention some classic songs, as well as serious, amusing, and in-yer-face lyrical content. The confrontational attitude of the Taqwacore bands has led them into conflict with more conservative elements in their communities, for example, the now legendary performance by female group ‘Secret Trial Five’ who took the stage at the Islamic Society of North America, and the conference organizers called the police to have them removed. I am continually inspired by how Punk and DiY culture can permeate all elements of society, and equally how religion can be remade and reformatted for the punk ethos. But I do wonder to what extent it will fall apart into a ghettoized community and fail as a project, an issue that is raised within the book. The culminating taqwacore gig in the book, in which all comers whether or not they agree are invited is an example of moving beyond isolated identities. I am also impressed by how a book not only galvanized a music scene but also a director and set of actors who are currently reading for a film version of the book in a real life punk house in Cleveland, Ohio. All in all, inspiring stuff.

Taqwacore: Punk Islam

Some bands myspace pages to check out:

* The Kominas (Boston, MA)
* diacritical (Washington, D.C.)
* Sarmust (Washington, D.C.)
* Noble Drew (Lahore, Pakistan)
* Secret Trial Five (Vancouver, Canada)
* Vote Hezbollah (Austin, TX)
* Al-Thawra (Chicago, IL)
* Dead Bhuttos (Islamabad, Pakistan)
* Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate (Scotland / California)

“I think all the prophets and imams were punk rockers”… “They were all labeled as weird; they all fought against the evils that had become common in their societies. They were all persecuted … Abraham broke idols of wood and stone, and Jesus broke conceptual idols, and Muhammad broke both.”

Further Reading/Viewing:

* Michael Muhammad knight. 2004. The Taqwacores. Soft Skull Press (currently available).
* Basim Usmani (The Kominas) writes for The Guardian and also has a Live Journal Blog: http://punkistani.livejournal.com/ and was interviewed here.
*The documentary website: http://www.taqwacore.com/
*The Taqwacore WebZine
* Interviews with Michael Muhammad Knight (1 and 2).
* Lydia Crafts. 2007. Muhammad Rocked the Casbah: San Antonio’s Muslim punk scene goes national, and Europe is next. Texas Observer, December 14, 2007. http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2653
* Caroline Iggulden. Never Mind the Burkas. The Sun. Jan 20, 2007. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article29087.ece
*Azadeh Ansari. Punk meets Islam for new generation in U.S. CNN, August 13, 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/11/generation.islam.punk.rock/index.html
*Sydney Morning Herald. 2008. Burqas and fries. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/burqas-and-fries/2008/11/29/1227491892221.html

“There is a cool Islam, You just have to find it.” (MMK)