Warped Galaxies: A Land Called Paradise

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

A Land Called Paradise

Aside from the fact that Kareem Salama is the first self-proclaimed Muslim country musician (which is quite something in itself) this video is really wonderful. It brings tears to my eyes... which I guess goes to show the depth of my own need to be seen as an individual human, not some automoton of religiosity, some nameless faceslesss "Muslim other." That, of course, is indicative of the state of mind of the entire American Muslim community at this time. After 9-11, far too many of us have felt others viewed us as some how now quite fully human, not quite whole, but as a caricature of Islamic identity, a epitome of Muslimness, and a Muslimness which is understood in horrible terms - violent, irrational, full of anger and hate, misogynistic, homophobic, extreme and backwards. The depth of pain that our community feels at these terrible judgements shines through this video which is a testament to the humanity of average Muslims.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If the video doesn't work you can find it at: http://www.linktv.org/onenation/films/view/238

¶ 11:34 AM

Comments:

Well, it made me teary eyed and very grateful :) Thank you, dear Sister, for the gift of such sweet tears :)

Ya Haqq!

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:35 PM

Thank you for posting this! I love this video... This is perhaps the only patriotic and/or religious music video that has ever moved me in any way. How wonderful.
Truly,
Indy feminist agnostic who feels that the God loves me and that conservatives have hijacked my country.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:36 PM

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: Name: Pamela K Taylor; Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.

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Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

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Causes Worth Supporting

This is just a short list -- a few of my favorites.

English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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