"I created the site last August with the aim to shine a positive light on Muslims, as opposed to all the negativity received in the media. I did not publicly release it until essentially the New Year (2011). Ideally, we plan on reaching thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide. We believe it is incumbent that Muslims work hard to remove the existing fear that some may be feeling by showing who they really are.

Located in beautiful sunny Irvine, California, One Legacy Radio broadcasts its Muslim waves worldwide. With increasing popularity and listeners from around the world, One Legacy Radio has been host to a collection of the planet's most influential iconic Muslims.


The Halal Man
As a fantastical mash of sharp presenting styles with Muslim ethics, Ali Mir co-presents the One Legacy's weekly show In The Mix under the pseudonym 'Dj Halal' (brilliant, or briliant?) Perched alongside is the "bird-man" Sami Matar, whose wit fuses with Dj Halal's inquisitive banter into a unique brand of "muslimness" that is refreshing and thought-provoking.

While mainstream radio shows focus on pop culture, and Muslim radio shows tackle popular issues affecting Muslim communities, Dj Halal takes One Legacy to a human and soulful level. Amidst the hilarity and chatty call-ins, listeners are educated on Islamic topics such as Arabic linguistics, historical Muslim figures, modern day dilemmas for new Muslims, and frequent mentions of the probing Cha-cha ji's - representing the stereotypical but real generational clash.

In The Mix also features outstanding individuals from the local Muslim community who have excelled in their talents, who are involved in activism, and contribute to society with the practical implementation of their specialist field of knowledge.

MUSLIMNESS asked Dj Halal (and his agent) what else they talked about:

"We've had segments on various topics (and we mean various!): the rights of a Muslim, eating halal food; dealing with death, revolutions, the effect and influence of Facebook, du`aa' (Muslim prayers), fashion, the prophets of Islam; amazing convert stories; Allah, Ramadan. We've also discussed pornography's detrimental effects on the community, and interactive segments like Word on the Street, which has dealt with many hot-button current event topics like Shari`ah or marijuana." - Dj Halal & Co.

Street Talks: Dj Halal Olr | Link to this video: {http://youtu.be/Wh8cKUzIzWc}

Past guests have included:
Sheikh Abdullah Hakim Quick; Qasim Basir, director/writer of "Moozlum", Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, Muslim singer Maher Zain; Hassan Elwan, Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Faqih; Omar Offendum; Sheikh Abdul Nasir Jandga, several humanitarian workers from organizations such as, but not limited to, ShineHumanity, ICNA, CAIR, MPAC.

In my most American accent, I have only two words to add: awe and some.

Check out Dj Halal on Facebook.com/DJHALAL.OLR | Twitter.com/DJHALAL
Listen back to the recorded shows on the Podbean: http://djhalal.podbean.com
Player Page: www.onelegacyradio.com/player



Thank you One Legacy Radio team, Dj Halal and all else involved in this brilliant effort from across the pond. A personal thank you to sister Aminah A. Rahman also. May Allah reward you all. MUSLIMNESS hopes our British presenters can take more active initiative from your enthusiasm.

Got a project to share? contact@muslimness.com

More Cool Muslim Dudes:
Fast Dreams: Potential Muslim Female F1 Driver
Muslim Good News: NASA Appoints a Muslim as Chief Scientist
MUSLIMNESS Writer Terry Holdbrooks Detained By FBI
We Found Dawud Wharnsby In Pakistani Drinking Milk

Graphic novels have a cult-like following from the very young, to the academically wise. Who knew they could teach you spiritual, or Islamic life lessons?

The 40 Sufi Comics collection by Mohammed and Arif Vakil do just that, and Muslimness has been following their blogging journey from inspiring onscreen comics, to their first book publication.



Check out the what? why? and who? behind 40 Sufi Comics in this interview with the artists.





First up, thank you so very much for sharing your work with Muslimness. Tell us, where are you both based and apart from running the Vakil.org blog, what do you do?
Our roots are from Gujarat - India, but we’ve never really lived there. We grew up in Dubai where we attended a School under the British Edexcel Board as well as a Madrasah. In 2002 we moved to Bangalore, India. For a living, we work together with our father in our family business, Vakil Housing. Vakil Housing develops residential properties focusing on giving its clients excellent returns on their investments.


Why did you create the Vakil.org blog?
We had an e-newsletter that started as early as emails began. The newsletter was called “Our monthly dose of inspiration”. That metamorphosed into our Company Blog. Since most of the stuff we would be posting would be personal experiences and less about work, we renamed it to The Arif and Ali blog. We blog about topics that are of interest to us i.e. productivity and spirituality. Sufi Comics is a project we started in 2009, and we used the blog to share the comics with our friends.


And the Sufi Comics, why did you choose the name ‘Sufi’, do you have any favourites?
Sufi Comics are short illustrated anecdotes from Islamic traditions. As Muslims we’ve often heard of these stories either taught to us when we were young or have read them in books.

Sufism is the study and practice that focuses on the spiritual dimension of Islam. 40 Sufi Comics are an expression of universal spiritual values taught in Islam, such as faith, love, respect, piety and truth, thus the name “Sufi Comics”.

We have many favorites! The Meaning of Love, No Problem!, Mother and The Blind Astronomer:


What inspired you to create Sufi comics?
We’ve been avid readers of comics since our youth and have seen how wonderfully cultures can be expressed in the medium of comics. Initially Sufi Comics was an experiment to explore how Islamic tradition can be expressed in the form of comics. We felt it would be a great way for the younger generation to learn about Islam and for non-Muslims to understand our faith.


I noticed you use a tablet to illustrate your comics. How does that creative process materialise?
I started off by drawing these comics using conventional tools like a paper, pencil and pen-brush. Then I would scan them and format them using Photoshop. This was of course a very time consuming process. So, I started searching online of the most efficient way to draw comics.





I found that Digital Art tools have matured, and after publishing a few comics I decided to invest in a Tablet PC for myself to speed up the process. Using a Tablet is similar to drawing on paper, except that it’s very forgiving thanks to the Undo button!



I think as long as one has the creative will, anyone can make comics. I didn’t have experience in drawing cartoons /comics before Sufi Comics, and if you see some of my first comics the art looks quite amateurish. Every time I came up with an idea to draw a comic, I would visit some youtube video or pick up a book to learn the techniques on drawing.




Masha'Allah, you've got some 'mad skills!' You do not draw the faces of respected individuals in Islamic history, why is that?
Interestingly when I started Sufi Comics, it was around the time when there was an uproar in the Muslim world on the cartoons of the Prophet ﷺ. Though we humans have a need to represent our beliefs through symbolizing them, if we over symbolize then we tend to focus on the symbol and forget what it was supposed to represent. Traditionally Islamic Art has stayed away from drawing faces of revered personalities. It does make the work of drawing the comics more challenging, but I felt it would be only appropriate to respect that tradition.


How did you get the first 40 Sufi comics published? What sort of reaction did you receive from fans?
We decided to take a different route to publishing the comics by opening it under the “Creative Commons” license, which essentially allows anyone to make copies to distribute the comics as long as they don’t make any changes. The print version of the book was self published using CreateSpace.com, which is an Amazon.com company.

Mohammed Ali Vakil: Book launch of 40 Sufi Comics

Overall the reaction to the comics has been wonderful. The most satisfying comments are the ones that I received from some non-Muslims who said that despite being from a different religion they enjoyed the comics and will give these comics to their children to learn what Islam is about.

Often the media is very negative about Islam and Muslims. I hope people will learn about Islam from books written by Muslims rather than from sensational news reports.


Some great motivation there; what else inspires you as young Indian Muslims?
The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) has said,

“He whose two days are the same is at loss”.
When we realize that the goal of Islam is for its followers to fulfill their human potential - first spiritually and then in all other fields, that thought motivates us to move forward.

The feeling growth and progress motivates us to try new things, take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. It also gives us the focus that whatever activity we undertake in life, we should look at how it can benefit us spiritually. Even mundane activities like eating and driving, if done with the right approach can be a spiritual practice.

India is a wonderful place to be. I am always awed by it’s diversity. What depresses us about India is the unprecedented gap between the rich and the poor. As Indians we need to work towards bridging this gap as poverty is the root of many evils.


Are you involved in any other projects? 
We’re part of The Lifeline Foundation {www.lifelinetrust.in}, that focuses on improving the living standards of the poor in Bangalore by means of providing microfinance and education. Other projects that we contribute when we can is:
- The Ugly Indian {http://theuglyindian.com} whose focus is on coming up with sustainable solutions in maintaining a cleaner Bangalore.
- India Against Corruption {http://indiaagainstcorruption.org}. This is a recent movement that we have joined to have a Corrupt Free India
- Also, we're working on a Project on Digitization of Islamic Texts and creating an Online Islamic Education website for Muslims.


Activism to the max, masha'allah. Finally, what’s the future for the Vakil.org blog? Will you continue making comics for us?
We’ve been having lots of ideas like creating short stories, a graphic novel, an iPad app and even some cool animation, but we need to be realistic as well. Our next step is to work on Volume 2 of 40 Sufi Comics, and we’re happy to share that as it's begun!

These days we're also experimenting with some Video Animation, and are planning to create a series of short videos called "Sufi Notes". Our first video was for our TED Full Spectrum audition.


Muxlim viewers: Watch {Sufi Notes on YT}

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITY:: We’re actually in search for a good publisher who can print and distribute the 40 Sufi Comics book to a wider audience. So if they're any publishers out there interested to publish the book, please get in touch with us through our blog.

Terrific! Shukran, thank you Vakil brothers for creating and sharing the whimsically smart Sufi Comics! 


Get your hands on a copy of 40 Sufi Comics:
Download and purchase:
→ Amazon.com - 40 Sufi Comics
→ FlipKart.com - Sufi Comics by Mohammed Ali

Images and video:: © Vakil.org

"Like" the {Facebook.com/SufiComics} page.
More behind the scenes of the {Astronomer comic on Arif & Ali's Blog}.

From Allahcentric | By Khuram Zaman

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Peace be with you السلام عليكم

Last Sunday April 17, over 1,200 people registered for SunniPath’s live event, “Confronting Islamophobia.,” with our venerable scholar of Islamic Law and Spirituality, Sheikh Nuh Keller. If you were not able to participate live, you can click {here} to access the full audio.


This memorable and timely event laid out numerous examples from the Qur’an and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Alhamdulillah, we learned new things about the dunya (material world), our Lord Allah Most High, and things about yourself.

Unfortunately, the reality after many Islamic lectures is that we gain new knowledge and we benefit, but often we just return to our normal routine—and our new knowledge leaves us quicker than it came. Don’t let this happen to you. Instead of letting your knowledge leave you, take this opportunity to increase it and fulfill the Quranic command: “My Lord, increase me in knowledge” (20:114).

For example, Sheikh Nuh talked about the environment, the series of natural disasters that we have witnessed either physically or via the media. How can you learn more about your role in the Environment and its implications? What is the best way a Muslim can overcome such trials? Register for SunniPath’s new course, “Islam and the Environment,” to increase your knowledge in this subject and learn how to deal with the environmental crises from an Islamic perspective.

Or, how about being like ‘Umar radiAllahu ‘anhu in his courage, affection, and justness? Increase your knowledge by taking our class “Navigating the Stars” with our academy director, Dr. Ashraf Muneeb, to analyze your life through the sahaba. Learn how to implement examples from the lives of the sahaba to enhance, rejuvenate, and guide your life.

The most important lesson from the live event was, of course, learning more about your Lord and the intricate ways He tests and tries us. At the same time, al-Lateef (the Subtle One) is one of Allah’s Beautiful Names and we must do our utmost to understand His hidden and delicate loving Gentleness.

“Introduction to Islamic Belief” addresses common questions people have about matters of belief, such as human responsibility and predestination; the meaning of “God;” and literalism and the Attributes of God.

Don’t be one of the those “I listened to one lecture and now I’m done with my Islamic education.” Act now and register to increase your knowledge.

SunniPath's online summer semester starts May 3, 2011. {Register}

Reposted with permission from Allahcentric the blog.

Jude Chehab is the director of "I'm Here", a 4 minute film based on how the society limits 'Hijabis' freedom of speech. Muslim women are tied down by society's accepted but non-Islamic gender roles; customs pre-determine what is to be expected of them, what the hijab entails and where women stand in the ranking system.

This is what {Jude} had to say,

"I made I'm Here because it is hard for most veiled muslim women to find jobs around the world. Employers and companies or general people are always judging them for the scarf on their heads - the way they are dressed."  

"I'm Here" defies these boundaries. It's uneasy and uncomfortable to watch, but as the Muslim women break themselves free, they speak proudly of their professions without uttering a word.

Director/Producer: Jude Chehab
Written By: Amani Al Banna
Music: Le Trio Joubran
Sound Effects: Jude Chehab

Got a film to share? contact@muslimness.com

More:
Still Writing To Detained Maryam Uloho
Link Love: "Badass Muslimahs" The Blog
My Online Muslim Marriage.com (Muslims In England)
'Love In A Headscarf' Book Launches In US
Very Cool 1001 Muslim Inventions Video

From Muslimology | By Dawud Israel

What can we learn from the Egyptian Revolution? Well the short answer as to what to take away is just how much determined Muslims are capable of, even this late in the hour. I think this has opened everybody’s eyes that despite how weak our sense of self-worth has become we still have a spark in us. The giant has awoken. Our eyes have been opened to the reality of what we can achieve. And I think that is the biggest thing to come out of all this: dignity. It says that we are not just the neglected subjects of an American hegemony, nor are we just the enemies of Israel, nor are we just angry, but we are people and we are not limited by the simplistic outlook of ideology. I think that is exactly the sort of mentality that is needed to revive Islam today because it speaks to living Islam and that is what Islamic rule is about - it is not just about dying for Islam, but living it. It speaks of a courage and calm calculation that is remarkable to see spring into action.

There have been some weak statements from Hamza Yusuf's recent Sandala blog post, Imam Zaid's 'Game Over, We Win?' post and others, that really disappoint in terms of leadership and action. I don’t think we should be looking at Islamic scholarship for leadership in this regard anymore since they have their own issues to deal with and their hands are tied. I will say of course there is still speculation about the USA backing ElBaradei and the fact that this whole revolution is orchestrated by activists who were trained by the USA and that's something worth reading up on - so we should be taking it all with a grain of salt.

There is also a sort of resentment among Muslims that "this isn’t an Islamic revolution" and that it should be or else its a discredit or disloyal to Islam. Islamic political parties have a history of being unsuccessful in government and often just end up attracting trouble and violence. The Muslim Brotherhood I think realizes it can’t offer much and even if it were to come into power, it would be paralyzed and unable to help the Egyptian people, so that it would be better for them to back down somewhat and play it smart. It is naive to think that just because a group is an “Islamic” political party that it has some gold badge from God, when in reality they are just ordinary folk and can make mistakes. Allah doesn’t need an Islamic party to work though. I think this revolution is actually how it should be: most of the people are Muslim so what more do people want? People are praying in the face of water cannons, which is much more “islamic” than shooting off firearms and thumping Qur'ans, right? People are being responsible for their government, there is a civic responsibility there and real courage. They have the courage to correct what is wrong amongst themselves so I imagine it will bear fruit. God doesn’t punish people for trying.

Rebelling Against Ones Political Leader in Hadith?

There is the usual pattering of discussion saying that good Muslims should not rebel against their leaders. I think that is hogwash in this instance. Yes there are hadith that mention that, with the idea being to choose the better of two evils, to reduce bloodshed and chaos, but in this case, Mubarak is the cause of greater bloodshed. It’s safe to say there is more good in this protest than in not protesting. The lesser of two evils is protesting, and there is lots of good that has come out of this protest: organization and camaraderie in keeping the streets safe, protecting the museum of Christians and Muslims protecting each other when they pray - and that is how it should be in true Islamic values. And there is really no going back so its wishful thinking to think this can all just stop, and the only ones telling people to give - in are usually old people who don’t know any better, government thugs or people who are loyal to a certain Arab monarch.

The New Knowhow

If you are not following what is happening on a micro-scale, I suggest you should at the very least, take notes on how activism is operating in Egypt and online. If you don’t have a Twitter account, think about getting one. The major aspect of this revolution is that social media has facilitated the organization and speedy movement of information. Twitter and Facebook have conveyed information but also given the next steps of providing instant commentary on speeches and developments, the criticism, the new ideas, the inspiration from all around the world, the global solidarity are all part of this. Its the new way to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, foot-to-foot with your brothers in Islam. But some creative ideas have come out of this - Google helped Egyptians convey information using an international phone number in the event of the internet blackout and other Internet anonymizer services have been operational. There is also the use of open source documents listing the missing that is circulating.

There is a lot of innovation going on and I can’t summarize it all here, but its important to note all this because its a learning experience. We learn things from one revolution and carry it over into another revolution. I don’t need to really comment on how it might be hard to see a revolution happening this successfully, this quickly, in countries that have little access to Internet. The grass-roots mobilization provides a rubric for other countries and makes one think that if they are capable of this much in a few days, how much more are they capable of?


MUXLIM VIEWERS: Watch {Aljazeera's video of police hosing praying Muslims}

Muslims in the West

I think there is a lot to be said in this incidence about where Muslims are in the West. A number of things came to light. There is little Western Muslims can do in this event and little Islam can do for them politically. "Islam in the West" has become a victim of circumstance and really impotent and suffocated from helping our brothers. That is a harsh reality to face.

What we did see was Maajid Nawaz, a secular-bent Muslim who is all around hated by British Muslims, who turned out to have connections to the proposed transition Egyptian government because of the time he spent in Egyptian prisons when he was a radical. That says something about keeping good relations amongst all stripes and colours of Muslims. Islam as a political ideology is more often than not an insult to the religion, because it concentrates Islam amongst a few, which is unfair, distorted, and creates a resentment and victim mentality, rather than spreading Islam out amongst the masses, which is the empowering reality we see in Egypt today. We need to pause and rethink. We can operate as plain, old normal people do, right? Perhaps we can do more that way than we can by waving a shahadah flag.

We should realize that there is information and knowhow in the West that we can convey abroad via the Internet. Just because we can’t do much in terms of money and physical support doesn’t mean we can’t do anything at all. We can do lots via dua and a lot more intellectually via the web. There are books and articles on political activism in the West and techniques that can be shared abroad via the web. This is something that cannot and should not be ignored.

Intergenerational Divide and Cultural Patterns

The revolution in Egypt is carried out by the youth and that says something about the global, intergenerational divide that we are witnessing between a generation that came out of colonial rule, and a generation that never experienced colonial rule which has been reawakened to Islam - but wants to go further in their lives than just the local mosque. Bani Israel disobeyed Musa 'alayhi salam because they had a slave mentality, and Allah commanded them to wander the desert for 40 years, a period of time in which the old generation of slaves died and a new mentality took its place, one that would lead to political leadership and autonomy for Bani Israel. We are seeing a similar situation today.

A few other things I noticed: There seems to be a small divide among Muslims - some of the more indigenous, African American brothers are ignoring Egypt, whereas the immigrants whether they are Egyptian or not are watching closely, and I think that leaves something to be desired about closer brotherhood though I would give everybody the benefit of the doubt. Also the fact some Egyptians do not want to get rid of Mubarak because they see him as a grandfather figure, a war-hero and feel guilty kicking him out, really says something about how we venerate elders and how too much veneration can hurt us. It says something about the weakness of patriarchy in Muslim countries. And lastly, am I the only one who is reminded of masjid tyrants and the politics at the local masjid in all this?

From Vakil.org Arif & Ali's Blog 

Sufi Comics are short comic strips that illustrate the eternal spiritual truths in the teachings of Islam. These comics were published on the Arif & Ali’s Blog over the last two years. 40 Sufi Comics is a collection of these comics in the form of a book. Along side each comic are verses from the Holy Qur'an & Traditions from the Prophet ﷺ & the Ahlul Bayt, related to the topic of the comic. Some of the titles included in the book:

• The Truth about Lies
• Mother
• Where does Wisdom come from?
• Where is God’s Treasure?
• No Problem!
• How far is Heaven?
• A Visit to Hell
• Can I see God?

and more…

More:
Muslimness Comics By Zaufishan
Sufi Comics 'Al-Hamdu-lillah'
StyleIslam - Street Style & Free Multimedia
Download Muslim Magazine MBM Jan Issue
The Simpsons Promote Healthy Eating In UK - FAT CHANCE
First Islamic Arts E-Magazine

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ Peace be with you السلام عليكم

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ Peace be with you السلام عليكم

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Peace be with you السلام عليكم

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Peace be with you السلام عليكم