For this week’s sumblog I wanted to
discuss my thoughts on New Muslim Cool, which I finished watching at home. I
wasn’t sure what to think of it coming in, I have no knowledge or experience
with the Muslim religion. Of course I’ve heard all the ignorant and
discriminate crap that some people spout off about it, but I know better than
to use that as any kind of reference point. Though I still think it may have
left some kind of bias in my mind with all the negativity surrounding this
unknown religion.
Watching how Hamza has turned his
life around, and learned bit and pieces of his religion was very touching to
me. I could relate to the clear frustration and lack of knowledge his mother
had to his religion because it’s fairly similar to my mother’s response to my
lack of religion. Watching the way he interacts with his family was just
absolutely sweet. When I think about the stereotypes surrounding his religion
when it comes to women, the thought of abuse and neglect come to mind. This is
nothing like Hazma’s relationship with his family. He clearly loves his wife
and children, he is a very caring and loving father.
This kind of positivity and
compassion is prevalent in everything Hazma does. He takes a genre like rap,
which has a typically bad reputation and uses it to send a message of hope and
community to people. He uses it to help people in gangs and prisons. He was
able to assist others in seeing Muslim as more than the extreme
fundamentalists. Unfortunately they revoked his clearance to help those people,
and it blows my mind how that can be allowed without giving a reason. The
Patriot Act is such shit in some ways. It allows the government to abuse its
powers and not be held accountable in so many ways.
Watching the raid on Hazma’s mosque
was difficult, it made me extremely angry. Over and over Hazma has shown to be
nothing but an upstanding person, but continuously he gets shut down. I feel
like it is such a testament to their faith when facing such discrimination. At
the same time, I felt there were a few problematic areas that I wish they would
have elaborated more on. I really wish they would have allowed Hazma’s wife to
speak more. I felt like they didn’t not give her enough time to say her
thoughts and beliefs, and that maybe she was holding back.
Overall, I still don’t know much
about the Muslim religion, but seeing a bit of it in practice put a nicer light
on it. Hazma seemed like a normal guy just trying to get by in life and not
letting things hold him back. I might be interested in looking more into it, to
see what’s what.
I definitely agree with you. It was refreshing to see a Muslim man be presented in a positive manner. I think Hamza himself, as well as his life story, can do a lot to reduce untrue stereotypes of Muslims. I thought it was really interesting to see how he constructed his identity. He doen't hold what would generally be considered a "normal" identity for somebody in his position, and it was fascinating to watch the effects that reality had on is surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to how you felt at the beginning of this film. I felt the same way, but throughout the film my views on the Muslim religion shifted completely and I now have a much better understanding of it.
ReplyDelete