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Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah - the empire strikes back...
2007. All Rights Reserved.
Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah 
Abu Mus'ab said
When you live amongst a people, you are bound to take up some of their characteristics…
Music plays a tremendous role in Christianity and Sufism too.. the basis of both being ‘alleged’ and excessive love for God…
That’s what happens when you leave the balance of Love, Fear, and Hope.
I’m thoroughly disgusted this happened at an ‘Islamic’ conference..
May Allah Guide us and make us tread upon the path of the Salaf…
americanmuslim said
Unfortunately, ISNA has not done a good job of keeping up with good entertainment sessions in recent years. My opinion, if a person wants to see good Islamic or Muslim music, then a proper show at a proper venue is in order.
salahudin said
“This use of instrumentation during this mini ISNA concert program.”
LMAO! what did you EXPECT them to use in a CONCERT!???
lol
get out of the 7th century. that fantasy’s OVER!
abu ameerah said
@ Salahudin:
As far as Muslims are concerned the use of instrumentation for a concert, or in whatever venue for that matter, is impermissible. I’m not particularly interested in your views on the matter.
Since it’s quite clear that you are a hip & happenin’ kinda guy … here’s a suggestion … call it a “radical” suggestion if you like …
Why don’t you form a boy-band and entertain the world with your amazing skills in modern dance and music? You could be a “brown-er” version of Clay Aiken, if you will.
I was thinking of a boy band name like … Atheists Unplugged …or Rage Againt The Mumineen …
Your first single could be something along the lines of “Smells like Atheist Spirit” !!!
Abu Mus'ab said
^^^^
š
AnonyMouse said
What happened to good ol’ munshideen like Ahmad Bukhatir, Sheikh Mishary al-Afasy, Abu Rateb, etc.? For those who prefer English, what about Zain Bikha? There are many others out there who provide good entertainment WITHOUT musical instruments and whatnot… meh.
People who think there has to be music for it to be entertainment, annoy me.
Umm Zaid said
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Well then try not to go this year either. According to Newsweek, ISNA is going to be hosting 4 or 5 Muslim punk rock bands in a sort of concert or mini-fest or whatever. And these guys are really something else, if you’ve ever heard of these bands in the past…
I agree with AnonyMouse… where’s the support for munshideen? It’s like we’re embarrassed to be seen singing without instruments lately. I know I’d love to see Ahmed Bukhatir or Muhammad Husayn or Abu Ratib get that exposure and reach the people at something like ISNA.
abu ameerah said
@ Anonymouse & Umm Zaid:
As’Salaamu Alaikum,
Well…with regard to having the likes of Ahmed Bukhatir (who is quite good at what he does, mashallah, and actually knows how to sing), Sheikh Mishary, or Abu Ratib … here are some excuses that ISNA conference organizers might come up with:
1. “…It’s just that…well…these people (Ahmed Bukhatir, Sheikh Mishary) aren’t Americans and therefore don’t truly represent the social and cultural experiences of contemporary American-Muslim youth.”
2. “I am sure that the Sheikh (referring to Sheikh Mishary) is good n’ all … but isn’t he a wahaabi or from the Salafee school of thought. At ISNA we look to being much more INCLUSIVE of differing Islamic views. By the way, the Sheikh isn’t an American citizen, right?
3. “…our audience just won’t take to Islamic music without instruments. How are we supposed to run a concert? Duh!”
4. “At ISNA, we believe Punk Rock can be an excellent for of Dawah.”
5. “We had to have the Punk Rock band for this year… the Country Music Singing brother from Texas … cancelled on us at the last minute.”
…the excuses go on…
…and on…
…and on…
abu ameerah said
“…for of Dawah.ā should be “…FORM of Dawah.”
ExEx Blogger said
That guy sucks
musicalchef said
Actually I like this band. I’ve spoken to the lead singer, and he’s a very humble guy. Isn’t it great that we have the ISNA program and we can all attend the sessions we want, and not attend the ones we don’t want?
I also saw that article in newsweek. If that’s true, I’m going to write a letter to the one organizing the session. One of those groups released a song once that said some really disgusting things about some respected Muslims from the past and present. I hope they don’t perform.
Ali said
salam alaikum,
I’m the one who basically put together this band. Feel free to talk to me about your concerns, complaints and heart aches.
abu ameerah said
@ Ali:
Wa’Alaikumus Salaam Wa’Rahmatullah!
I genuinely appreciate your comment … however … the post itself was quite clear, inshallah. I don’t have a whole lot more to add beyond that — and neither am I interested in any fiqh debates or anything else of that sort. You know, all of that “Halal vs. Haraam” stuff … you get the point.
The realty is that talented blokes like yourselves will carry on doing what it is that you do … and the concerns of folks like myself won’t make much of a difference. So its all good, I suppose.
Perhaps we’ll just have to “agree to disagree” and leave it at that.
Thanks for stopping by though! š
Ali said
salam alaikum,
1. First you said we’re causing noise pollution then you called us talented blokes. If you can make up your mind, it would help us a lot in self evaluation. Thanks
2. ISNA is not having any punk bands perform, especially the bands mentioned in the newsweek article. Believe me, no Islamic organization in their right minds can allow something like that, no matter how far out they are. So please keep calm.
wsalam
abu ameerah said
@ Ali:
As’Salaamu Alaikum va’Rehmatullahi va’Barakatahoo
1. Well Ali … as far as the “talented blokes” comment goes … lets just say that I was trying to be nice. I am sure that you have a dedicated fan base that gags for your talent … so you really don’t need my feedback. I am not going to audition for American Idol … however you guys can go ahead and give it FULL-FORCE if you like! š
2. Hmmmm…if ISNA can have Muslim Country Music singers…rappers…and you guys perform…why not have the Punk Rock genre represented as well? What, do have something against those EMO kids? I don’t seem to see what difference it would make. I am also sure that they would love to have Cat Stevens perform if they could get him. So let’s see what we’ve got covered so far:
a. Country Music (Kareem Salama)
b. Rap/Hip-Hop
c. Pop (you guys)
d. Folk Music (Cat Stevens who they love)
e. Spoken-word(like rap but w/out instrumentation)
f. “Islamic Nasheed” (w/ instrumentation)
3. Uhhh, I think everyone IS calm brother. I mean…I don’t meditate or anything…but I still think that I’m calm. I’ve even taken up daily exercise and have stopped drinking coffee (and all other caffeinated beverages for that matter).
4. Stick to the boy-band stuff akhi. You don’t have to come to the defense of an organization like ISNA. They have plenty of people waiting in line to deal with the few of us who are actually critical.
Ali said
i dont defend ISNA, too exhaustive…but its good to clear up misconceptions
as far as punk rock goes
1. the type of music played at certain events should and usually is conformed to the standards of the event and the audience of that event. Hip hop is less threatening to this particular group of people than punk rock is. I’m sure muslim punk rockers can find their own space. Even for a rock band like us, when we perform at ISNA we do only acoustic guitars, but when we perform elsewhere we bring out the whole setup.
2. This particular group of punk rockers talks about praying on bathroom floors of clubs and urinating on the quran and then reading from it. So no matter how far out and liberal an islamic organization is, they wouldnt give exposure to people like that. So things are not as bad as we’re making them out to be.
3. Unfortunately, we dont have a fan base per se. We do have a number of supporters that believe strongly in what we are doing so they got our backs. But building a fan base is important and we hope to build a strong one some day.
Ali said
well it seems that, the punk rock bands did perform at one of the side entertainment sessions at ISNA.
but there was a lot of problem and the police was involved. i hope they learned their lesson.
abu ameerah said
“well it seems that, the punk rock bands did perform at one of the side entertainment sessions at ISNA.”
Hate to say I told you so brother. Anyway, what else would you expect from an organization like ISNA? I think that some are finally starting to realize that they’ve taken it just a bit too far (to put it mildy)…
MR said
I didn’t go to ISNA either….except it was cuz family came (4th straight year i didnt go to ISNA)
MR said
PS – that video was from “Live at ISNA west zone conference 2006. ”
š
abu ameerah said
@ RYDER:
WOW! You didn’t go to ISNA? Subhanallah, how did they manage to get on without you?
ps – I already knew that was from the west zone conference. I just couldn’t be bothered to mention it. In case you haven’t noticed … I don’t exactly like ISNA. BTW, this year … they had more crap. Particularly irritating was the speech given by Sidi Hanson. BARF!
Ali said
that Hanson is a great man.
i would trade a hundred of those “real scholars” for this one man.
musicalchef said
Me too! I can’t wait to see the web casts of his speeches.