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Recently, I was procrastinating in a library study room around 10pm (as one does) by scrolling aimlessly through my Instagram Explore page. I then happened upon a meme with a punchline that focused on forgetting to say ayat al kursi… Continue Reading →
A recent article by KQED — a newspaper from my hometown area back in the the San Francisco Bay — has determined that Muslim children living in the US are experiencing unusually prevalent symptoms of depression and anxiety. The supposed… Continue Reading →
“Say Bismillah and dive right in.” Ishqr.com, formerly known as HipsterShaadi.com, is a matchmaking website for ‘hipster Muslims’. Created by Muslim-Americans, the website aims to bridge the gap between dating cultures of Muslim parents and those of their Muslim-American children…. Continue Reading →
In studying gnawa rituals, trance culture, and fusion music movements over the past couple weeks, we briefly touched on the legend of Aisha Kandisha. However, given the feminist undertones of our class, I was surprised and disappointed that we did not… Continue Reading →
Traditional gnawa music is intended for spiritual purification in Morocco, as highlighted in “The Blue Spirit Chose Me” chapter of Rebel Music. It is “believed to heal people afflicted with spirit possession.” When it is believed that the jinn have… Continue Reading →
Malaysia: The cave that almost echoed Sufism This spring break I visited incredible Malaysia and this blogpost makes a small window into some of my experiences that I wanted to connect with our class material. One particular excursion… Continue Reading →
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Your quote on the current state of Muslim popular culture, to generalize for a brief moment, glued itself to my thoughts and… Continue Reading →
Today’s discussion in class on Sufi poetry and its branches in revered Sufi temples across South Asia made me dig deeper into the written trails of Bulleh Shah and the message he preached centuries before I was born. The short… Continue Reading →
The discussion in class today on cross-cultural dialogue and the politics of representation, both intimately interwoven into location-specific gender narratives, made me think of a binary approach to popular culture and art by some Muslim artists who are of the community they… Continue Reading →
Is the tendency for people of a particular religion, race, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics. How a person identifies themselves in detail could make a political statement. For example… Continue Reading →