Culture: What is it good for?

​Of all there is to lament about popular discourse in the Muslim community, the most glaring is perhaps its predictability. As a friend once offered during a moment of near lyric poignancy, “If you can get down the ‘3 M’s’; music, moons, and meat, you’ve encompassed two-thirds of what Muslims discuss within their community forums! Of course, he was being facetious; nevertheless, his assessment was accurate. A good deal of our collective mental energies are expended on a handful of shopworn, hackneyed arguments. In an admittedly somewhat cynical move, I’ve actually adopted a bit of a ‘controversy calendar.’ It begins in the earlier part of the year with the Eid Milād an-Nabī (The Celebration of the Prophet’s birthday), surges to mid-year with the commencement of Ramadān and Shawwāl, and ends with the celebration of holidays. Ironically, as the conversation at the grassroots remains suspended in a painful rendition of ‘Groundhog Day’, our community also boasts a burgeoning group of creative and intellectually exciting academicians, classically trained scholars, and other thought-leaders. The perennial problems, however, have been accessibility and relevance. With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a jazzy swing-inspired musical track, Jay-Z’s normal mixture of nouveau-riche boast/social commentary and a group of young chic Muslim women could do something the traditional appurtenances of intellectual life—books, articles, and lectures—couldn’t: Instigate some fresh conversations among Muslims.

The now viral ‘Mipsterz’ (Muslim + Hipster) video which began with the caption “Somewhere in America” (which is also the name of the track featured in the video) and then captured young, fashionable, identifiably Muslim women striking poses in urban settings provoked passionate discussions within the community. Muslims—and especially the youth— began talking about how they relate to the dominant culture, the substance and selective portrayal of Muslim womanhood, and perhaps most important of all, at least for the purpose of this short article, the role our community must assume in the West as an active cultural producer as opposed to a passive recipient. Amid voices of both condemnation and commendation for the content-particulars of this video, I would like to direct our focus elsewhere. To my mind, the release of this video and the subsequent controversy provide an excellent occasion to highlight both the challenges and opportunities of Muslims engaging in deliberate cultural production.
​
American Muslims frequently express frustration with over-inclusive notions of ‘Islamic culture.’ For many, the tendency to confer religious legitimacy upon any practice originating in a Muslim majority country by calling it ‘Islamic,’ has simply become unacceptable. Indeed, the term ‘Islamic’ has been applied to everything from folk dancing to honor killings. In order to remove confusion about the actual substance of the religion, community leaders have painstakingly labored to draw a clear distinction between various ‘Muslim cultures,’ and Islam. This is commendable; however, it has also given rise to an understanding of culture that pits it against Din as a natural rival of some sort. In actual fact, subsumed under both categories, culture and Din, are a fluid set of practices and behaviors of varying degrees of real religious value. However, while the latter is encouraged within the community, owing to its endorsement by the Qur’ān and traditions of the Prophet (upon him be peace), the former is either frowned upon or grossly undervalued.
Culture, in its broadest sense, may be understood as:

that total process of human activity and that total result of such activity to which now the name culture, now the name civilization, is applied in common speech. Culture is the ‘artificial, secondary environment’ which man superimposes on the natural. It comprises language, habits, ideas, beliefs, customs, social organization, inherited artifacts, technical processes, and values.”

In this sense, culture and Din correspond with each other. Culture is not some reified, static entity we choose to produce. It simply is. We may choose to be deliberate about our own production of it or produce a culture restricted to consuming it from others. This is intuitive and undisputed. The dichotomy between culture and Din only becomes an issue when there is perceived inconsonance between the two. In this way, the conversation about separating Islam and ‘culture’ is never really about culture per se. More precisely, it’s about whether a certain act can be seen as having any religious value in Islam. The conversation that ensued after the release of the ‘Mipsterz’ video exemplifies this tension.

Living abroad in Egypt over the span of approximately 5 years, I certainly heard my share of Amr Diab, Tamer Hosny, Haifa Wehbe, etc. The sound of Arab pop, with its noticeable combination of synthesized music and high-pitched vocals can be heard blaring out of nearly every café and taxi in Cairo. It is very similar to US pop: sonically straightforward, geared toward younger audiences, and primarily concerned with relationships. However, the lyrics of many of these tunes reveal a key difference between Egyptian pop and its American counterpart. In Egyptian songs, the lover usually entreats his muse in a manner that takes for granted that love is a gift from God, a long-term monogamous relationship (marriage or otherwise) is the ideal, marriage and children are desirable, and parents are important (mostly as an impediment to them expressing their love for each other!). These songs aren’t religious in substance or style but they are Egyptian. Owing to its status as Egyptian, the content of these songs must proceed on the basis of certain basic norms which shape Egyptian life. Egypt, a country in which religion, primarily Islam, sits at the center of life, naturally has norms reflective of some basic religious virtues such as: belief in God, the desirability of marriage and children, the expectation of fidelity in relationships, the importance of parents, etc. And therein lies the hidden religious value of culture. It allows people across a wide spectrum of religious commitment—from barely interested to sincerely devoted—to engage the basic values promoted by faith in an organic way.

Lest we become too romantic concerning this idea, I think we should plainly acknowledge that cultural production is messy business. Within the performing and fine arts especially, authentic American Muslim culture will inevitably reflect the best, the so-so, and the worst of religious commitment or lack thereof among Muslims. Nevertheless, in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imam Muslim, Abū Hurayra relates that the Prophet (upon him be Peace) said:{“The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, but there is goodness in both…”} Indeed, in so much as what we produce in the name of American Muslim culture reflects something of what it means to be Muslim in America, it will contain some redemptive value. Much of the critique that followed the release of the ‘Mipsterz’ video was appreciable: Art should provoke conversation. The social, moral, and religious questions raised by a group of young, presumably well to do Muslims posing to uncensored rap lyrics which include the word ‘nigga’ and strutting their stuff are compelling. Nevertheless, the fact that the video begins by identifying the actors as Muslims, features women in headscarves, and doesn’t include any male actors should not be dismissed. These presuppose that religious affiliation is something to esteem, modesty is cool, and that young women can be hip without the validation of men. For a reminder of the contrast between these values and those implied by the dominant culture one need only peruse the latest offerings of the ‘reality TV’ world.

We need culture. Cultural production that expresses us at our best, worst, or average will always express us. The American Muslim narrative is unique. We must encourage the kind of cultural production which can anchor a set of shared religious values and basic norms generous enough to embrace a community that aims to produce saints while staying relevant to its sinners.

Ubaydullah Evans
Chicago