This article is about the book Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight. For the film, see The Taqwacores (film)

The Taqwacores (film)

The Taqwacores is a 2010 film adaptation of the 2003 novel The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight. The film was directed by Eyad Zahra and stars Bobby Naderi, Dominic Rains, and Noureen Dewulf. The film imagines a fictitious Islamic Punk Rock scene through characters living in a punk house in...

For the Taqwacore music movement, see Taqwacore

Taqwacore

Taqwacore is a subgenre of punk music dealing with Islam, its culture, and interpretation, originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel, The Taqwacores. The name is a portmanteau of hardcore and the Arabic word Taqwa, which is usually translated as "piety" or the quality of being...

.

For the documentary by Omar Majeed Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, see Taqwacore (film)

Taqwacore (film)

The documentary Taqwacore is one of two films based on on Michael Muhammad Knight's book The Taqwacores. In 2008, the book had been made into a feature film by director Eyad Zahra starring actress Noureen DeWulf as Rabeya, actress Rasika Mathur as Fatima, and actor Bobby Naderi as Yusef.The film...

.

The Taqwacores is the debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

 by Michael Muhammad Knight

Michael Muhammad Knight

Michael Muhammad Knight is an American Muslim novelist, journalist, and performance artist. His writings are popular among American Muslim youth...

, depicting a fictitious Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 scene. The title is a portmanteau of taqwa

Taqwa

Taqwá is the Islamic concept of the fear of God.-Etymology:The term taqwá comes from the Arabic root W-Q-Y from the 8th stem verb, ittaqá "be wary, Godfearing."...

, an Islamic concept of love and fear for Allah

Allah

Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...

, and Hardcore

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

, the punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 subgenre. Some of the most popular taqwacore

Taqwacore

Taqwacore is a subgenre of punk music dealing with Islam, its culture, and interpretation, originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel, The Taqwacores. The name is a portmanteau of hardcore and the Arabic word Taqwa, which is usually translated as "piety" or the quality of being...

 bands are: The Kominas

The Kominas

The Kominas are a Pakistani-American Desi punk rock band from New York City. The band currently includes Basim Usmani , Imran Ali Malik , Hassan Ali Malik and Abdullah Saeed .- History :...

, Al-Thawra

Al-Thawra

Al-Thawra is an experimental crust punk band from Chicago, Illinois. Current members are Marwan Kamel , Micah Bezold , and Mario Salazar .Marwan Kamel once quoted Cesar Chavez, saying that "Revolution starts with one person at a time, talking to...

, Secret Trial Five

Secret Trial Five

-Origins:Sena Hussain formed Secret Trial Five with four friends following 9/11, when she became interested in making music with political messages. Secret Trial Five takes its name from a group of Muslims suspected of terrorism currently held without charge in Canada.-History:In fall 2007, Secret...

, Fedayeen

Fedayeen (band)

Fedayeen is an American punk band, composed of Abu Taha al-Amriki, Raheem Vukas, Hajirah D. and Taha Husayn. They identify themselves with the Taqwacore Movement, a Muslim punk based sub-culture known for challenging extremism, homophobia, sexism, and violence.-History:Fedayeen formed in 2009...

, and the Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate. The novel has also been credited by Asra Nomani as first presenting her the idea for woman-led prayer

Women as imams

There is a current controversy among Muslims regarding the circumstances in which women may act as imams—that is, lead a congregation in salah...

, leading to a historic woman-led congregation on March 18, 2005 with Amina Wadud

Amina Wadud

Amina Wadud is an American scholar of Islam with a progressive focus on Qur'an exegesis . As an Islamic feminist, she has addressed mixed-sex congregations, giving a sermon in South Africa in 1994, and leading Friday prayers in the United States in 2005...

 acting as imam.

Knight originally self-published The Taqwacores in DIY zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

 format, giving copies away for free until finding distribution with Alternative Tentacles

Alternative Tentacles

Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label originally based in San Francisco, California and was established in 1979. It was originally used as the label name by the Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single "California Über Alles", and after realizing the potential for an independent...

, the punk record label founded by Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...

. After receiving an endorsement from Peter Lamborn Wilson

Peter Lamborn Wilson

Peter Lamborn Wilson , is an American political writer, essayist, and poet, known for first proposing the concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone , based, in part, on a historical review of pirate utopias...

 (aka Hakim Bey), the novel was published by radical press Autonomedia

Autonomedia

Autonomedia is one of the main North American publishers of radical theoretical works, especially in the anarchist tradition. For many years, it was linked with Semiotext, one of the major sources for English language translations of post-structuralist literature, especially in the 1980s...

. A UK version is published by Telegram Books. In its Italian translation, the novel is retitled Islampunk.

The narrator of The Taqwacores, Yusuf Ali, is a Pakistani American

Pakistani American

A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...

 engineering student from Syracuse, New York

Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

, who lives off campus with a diverse group of Muslims in their house in Buffalo. Besides being their home, the house serves as a place to have punk parties and a place for Muslims not comfortable with the Muslim Student Association or local mosques to have Friday prayer

Jumu'ah

Jumu'ah is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in lieu of dhuhr...

.

The book also inspired a documentary entitled Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, directed by Omar Majeed, which follows author Michael Muhammad Knight and several Taqwacore bands across the United States. It will be released in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, at the Cinéma du Parc on October 19, 2009.

Soft Skull Press

Soft Skull Press

Soft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...

 is publishing the revised edition, which became available in December 2008.

Censorship

Due to the Danish Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...

, the UK edition of The Taqwacores was partially censored.

Film

A feature film adaptation of The Taqwacores directed by Eyad Zahra premiered this year at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 in Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. also titled The Taqwacores (film)

The Taqwacores (film)

The Taqwacores is a 2010 film adaptation of the 2003 novel The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight. The film was directed by Eyad Zahra and stars Bobby Naderi, Dominic Rains, and Noureen Dewulf. The film imagines a fictitious Islamic Punk Rock scene through characters living in a punk house in...

External links

• "Noureen DeWulf"
• Autonomedia's official site for The Taqwacores, now out of print
• "Muhammad was a Punk Rocker" in Eclectica Magazine Vol. 7, No. 1 January/February, 2003
• http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2003/06/juma_with_the_p.phpJum'a with the Punks: An Excerpt from The Taqwacores @ Muslim WakeUp!
  Muslim WakeUp!
  Muslim Wake Up was a website founded to promote progressive and reformist ideas within Islam. Their website was cofounded by Ahmed Nassef and Jawad Ali in January 2003. It published articles contributed from affiliated collumnists as well as guests on its main page as well as opinions on its blog...
  
  ]
• Whitaker, Brian, "Punk Muslims"
• Preview the novel at Google Books
• "Soft Skull Press, publisher of the revised edition, 2009"
• Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam web site