Muslims are all over...

Three random indicators:

1. Did you catch this? Snoop Doggy Dog has reportedly joined the Nation of Islam. He appeared this past weekend at the NOI's annual Saviours' Day convention in Chicago, which commemorates the birth of NOI founder and God, Master Fard. According to The Guardian, he explained his actions as follows: "I'm an advocate for peace. I've been in the peace movement ever since I've been making music," he told followers. "My whole thing is not about really trying to push my thing on you. It's just about the way I live, and I live how I'm supposed to live as far as doing what's right and representing what's right. That's why I was here today."

The photo (Charles Rex Arbogast, AP) shows Snoop in suit and tie, greeting Minister Louis Farrakhan.

2. The new season of the TNT show "Saving Grace," starring Holly Hunter, started last night. The premise of the show is that Hunter's character (Grace Hanadarko) is in need of salvation, and that an angel named Earl appears to her all the time, in pursuit of that mission. So, on some level, this is a quintessentially "Christian"--albeit terribly quirky--show. Interesting then that the theme song for this show about salvation is written and performed by Everlast, a devout Muslim (Sunni, not Nation of Islam).

3. And then, to repeat the previous post, The Roots (two Muslims, of sorts), as house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. On the first show, last night, The Roots sounded very hot, and were featured prominently. (No kufiya, alas, around ?uestlove's neck.) Watch the opening here:



Ubiquitous. Mainstream. Time for more recognition.

Everlast's "Letters Home from the Garden of Stone"

I learned about this song and video from the invaluable KABOBfest, who kufiyaspotted Everlast. (It would appear that I'm involved in some sort of kufiyaspotting contest with my kabob comrades!) But this cannot count as a kufiyaspotting for me, since I've already 'spotted' Everlast, who logged in at #13. Thanks to the KABOBers for turning me on to a great anti-war song, one of the best I've heard. Everlast sings from the position of a soldier fighting in Iraq, raising questions about the rightfulness of what he's doing. The song and video manage to raise sympathy both for US soldiers who are dying as well as for the Iraqi civilians. The video in particular makes clear that Iraqi civilian casualties are much higher; it shows a billboard that says, "684,000 Iraqi civilians killed since 2003," as well as images of wounded Iraqi civilians and one horrific image of a dead, burned corpse--the kind of picture our US media does its best to keep out of public view.

And I quite like this chorus:

Cuz I don’t know these men who kill me
And I don’t know these men I kill
Maybe I’ll wind up on the same side
Can’t see none of us doin’ God’s will

But here's the thing about the video that is wild. For about half the vid, Everlast is shown, wearing a kufiya, playing guitar or walking around in a cemetery. There are a couple closeups of statues of Jesus and a number of closeups of the Virgin Mary. Then, for a few moments, we see Everlast assuming the position of prayer. And if you recognize these things, it's clear that he's performing Muslim prayer. Nothing in the lyrics give this away, but it is well known in rap circles that Everlast converted to Islam in 1996. According to Everlast, it was in part due to the influence of rapper Divine Styler, when he was making his transition from the Five Percenters to Orthodox ("Sunni") Islam.

And there's nothing inherently un-Islamic about doing Muslim prayers in a cemetery, nearby statues of Jesus and Mary. For Muslims, Jesus is revered as a prophet (but is not regarded as the son of God). Muslims also honor Mary ("Maryam") and believe in the virgin birth (but not Jesus' divinity).

Everlast has come a long way since House of Pain and "Jump Around."