Rapping for Allah

“Sharia sharia
Allah says it’s so
A child steals bread
His hand must go
AND COVER THAT WOMAN UP FROM HEAD TO TOE”

Okay, that was bad – I couldn’t resist. Meet our own indiginous strict Muslim hip-hop group, Native Deen:

“So always be proud, you can say it out loud
I am proud to be down with the Muslim crowd!
M-U-S-L-I-M
I’m so blessed to be with them…”

The song is called “M-U-S-L-I-M” and is sung by Native Deen, a Washington-based group that fuses its African-American culture and Muslim faith to create a hip-hop sound with a unique message.

That message encourages Muslims to pray five times daily, not to smoke or drink and to be proud of their faith in a place where others sometimes don’t understand it. In 2001, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased 1,700 percent in the U.S. after Sept. 11, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

Group member Naeem Muhammad, a 27-year-old who grew up in Baltimore, said that he hasn’t run into anybody who does the same thing that Native Deen does. The group takes its name from the Arabic word for religion, which it transliterates as Deen.

“What’s becoming more and more and apparent with Native Deen is that we are, God willing, charting the course for Islamic cultural art form,” Muhammad said.

The 2-year-old trio performs at Muslim weddings, celebrations, conferences and fund-raisers. You will not find them where there is dancing or alcohol is served. [Reuters]

See all of this is well and good and worthy of respect until you get into this penal colony-strict stuff. I think this joy of life crushing nonsense is just as ill-advised for Muslims, Jews, Christians, or anyone else.

Dancing never hurt anyone: it is the expression of the body’s connection to the rhythms of the world. Alcohol IN MODERATION aids digestion, is a social lubricant, and helps one sleep at night.

The dancing prohibition really frosts my flake – where do you draw the line? Is swaying rhythmically allowed? How about twitching? Are you allowed to blink your eyes in time to the music? How can one perform an elementally rhythmic music like hip-hop – of all freaking things – and not move with the music?

More nonsense:

When performing, the trio wears traditional Islamic dress consisting of knitted skull caps, loose tunics and pants. They use only two drums and a synthesizer, avoiding dance as well as wind and stringed instruments, which are frowned upon in some Islamic traditions.

Wind and stringed instruments “frowned upon” – I frown upon those who would frown upon wind and stringed instruments, which are all over the Bible, by the way. I know, all of these strictures are there to discourage ANYTHING that would draw attention away from obeisance to Allah.

I say Allah must get damn bored with these monomaniacal automatons who refuse to even attempt to GET A LIFE. No wonder Islamic civilization lags behind the West by about 700 years. The Christian God helps those who help themselves, and Jesus himself declared that men owe allegiance to both the state and to God, thereby sanctioning the separation of church and state, which separated, act as mutual breaks upon the extreme tendencies of either.

Salaam, the group’s 28-year-old leader from Indianapolis, said they get their inspiration from growing up Muslim in America, which he said was not easy. His faith requires that he pray five times a day, fast during religious holidays, not date and act and dress a certain way. Muslim men and women are expected to dress modestly: Men cannot expose certain parts of their bodies, wear gold or silk, and sexually mature girls must wear the hijab, the Islamic head covering.

This is America – get with the program and MODERATE your dictates, go with the flow, join the 21st century. No dating? Because girls have cooties?

You can check out plain dressing, non-dancing, no string or wind instrument playing, no dating, face down five times a day, hip-hopping Native Deen on the Web via the Islamic Broadcasting Networkat 2:30 p.m. on Fridays.