Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 02-03-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Film/TV
A movie that began as a project in a University of Michigan film class has beaten out thousands of other entries for a spot at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Bilal’s Stand, the creation of 25-year-old Michigan graduate Sultan Sharrief, is one of eight films in the category, out of about 7,000 submissions. “This story is highly personal, about as personal as you can get,” Sharrief said in a video interview released by the university. “It’s about my life and my family … growing up in Detroit.” Five years in the making, the film tells of an African-American Muslim high school student who works for his family’s cab company.
Tags: sutlan sharrieff, bilal's stand, sundance film festival
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 02-03-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Music
Junoon—which in the Urdu language means passion—is the name of the band led by Salman Ahmad. Ahmad’s new autobiography, Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution, is the story of his passion for making music and of rock as a force to unite people.
Here’s a little bit more about Salman:
Tags: Salman Ahmad, Rock-n-Roll Jihad
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 02-01-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Music
Ahmad Zahir is the latest of NPR’s 50 Great Voices: influential singers around the world — living or dead, famous or not. Zahir was, and still is, the most famous singer in Afghanistan, often compared to Elvis. Like Elvis, the Afghan singer touched generations and kept his fan base for decades after he died in the 1970s.
Zahir’s rendition of Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never” :
Tags: Ahmad Zahir, NPR's 50 Great Voices
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-30-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Comedy
Video is a bit shaky, but Arab-American comedian Bashar Zikoor will make you laugh:
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Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-28-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Leaders/Stories
By RACHEL ZOLL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 20, 2010; 11:39 PM
NEW YORK—Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new survey found. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam. Still, a majority dislike the faith.
The analysis, for release Thursday, is from the Gallup World Religion Survey and is part of a project on finding ways to increase understanding between Americans and Muslims.
President Barack Obama and his administration want to improve America’s image in the Muslim world. Many analysts who study extremism also say that U.S. Muslims who feel alienated from broader society resist integrating, potentially becoming more vulnerable to radical ideas.
In the poll, just over half of Americans said they felt no prejudice against Muslims. However, 43 percent acknowledged at least “a little” prejudice against Muslims, a significantly higher percentage than for the other four faiths in the survey. About 18 percent of respondents said they had some level of prejudice against Christians, while the figure was 15 percent toward Jews and 14 percent toward Buddhists.
Asked about knowledge of Islam, 63 percent of Americans say they have “very little” or “none at all.” A large majority of respondents believe most Muslims want peace. Yet, 53 percent of Americans say their opinion of the faith is “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all.” By comparison, 25 percent of Americans say they have unfavorable views of Judaism, while 7 percent say they have “some” or “a great deal” of prejudice toward Jews.
Personally knowing a Muslim is not linked to a lower level of prejudice, although not knowing a Muslim is related to the greatest level of bias. The authors of the report say this finding underscores the need for better education on what Islam teaches. “What really seems to impact one’s perception of a group much more than knowing an individual is having a positive opinion of that group’s distinguishing characteristic, which in this case is their faith,” said Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. “That one person being nice enough could simply be explained as that person being an exception.”
Respondents who say they attend religious services more than once a week are significantly more likely to have a favorable view of Muslims. Mogahed said people who are more religious generally consider prejudice a moral evil and often have respect for the devout of other faiths. Researchers also found a link between prejudice against Jews and Muslims. Americans who acknowledged “a great deal” of bias toward Jews were much more likely to feel the same about Muslims. The survey results could not explain why the two prejudices are linked. Mogahed said bias against both groups should be tracked and studied together to understand the dynamic.
“Groups working against the two types of prejudices should perhaps form a closer alliance,” she said.
The report, from the Muslim West Facts Project, a partnership of Gallup and the Coexist Foundation, is based on a random telephone survey of more than 1,000 adults, conducted from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 of last year. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Tags: gallup world religion survey, bias in u.s. against muslims, muslim west facts project
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-27-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Music
Famous Muslim faces in hip-hop: Chamillionaire (aka Hakeem Sekir), T-Pain (aka Rasheed Najm), Akon (aka Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam), Ice Cube, Lupe Fiasco (aka Wasalu Muhammad Jaco), Ghostface Killah, Mos Def, Busta Ryhmes, Q-tip (aka Kamaal Ibn John Fareed), and more
Tags: muslim hip-hop
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-21-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Comedy
She was named “one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy” in 2003. In April 2007, Shazia Mirza presented a documentary on BBC Three called F*** Off, I’m a Hairy Woman and was a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing season 6. In March 2009, she was listed on the inaugural Muslim Women’s Power List as one of the 20 most successful Muslim women in the UK.
Tags: Shazia Mirza, F*** Off, I'm A Hairy Woman, Last Comic Standing, Muslim Women's Power List
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-18-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Film/TV
CBC News: Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-born comic who has been part of the Axis of Evil comedy troupe and TV shows such as Knights of Prosperity and Better Off Ted, will star in the new family sitcom Funny in Farsi.
The ABC comedy is based on the acclaimed comic memoir by Firoozeh Dumas about her family’s move from Iran to California in the 1970s.
Jobrani will play the father, Mohammed Sayed Kazem Jazeyeri, an oil company engineer in love with American ways who never quite learns proper English. Marjan Nehsat, also an Iranian-born actor, will play the mother, who finds it harder to assimilate. Jobrani has appeared on The Colbert Report and Comedy Central. The jovial uncle in Funny in Farsi will be played by Armenian-American Hrach Titizian, who also has an ongoing role as the president’s assistant on 24.
The comedy is directed and produced by Barry Sonnenfeld, who is also executive producer of Pushing Daisies. The book was adapted by Jeffrey Hodes and Nastaran Dibai.
American network ABC has approved a pilot, but has yet to assign an air date to the comedy about a Muslim family.
Tags: Maz Jobrani, Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas, Barry Sonnenfeld
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-14-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under:
Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Haiti during this difficult time. Please donate as much as you can!
Tags: Haiti earthquake
Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 01-12-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under:
International musicians are drumming for peace in Sudan as part of an international campaign to press world leaders to prevent more bloodshed in Africa’s largest nation. “Beat for Peace” features a drumroll starting in the war-wracked nation and being picked up and passed like a baton between drummers in over 15 countries. Drummers will include Radiohead’s Phil Selway, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, as well as Egyptian musicians Yehia Khalil and Mohammed Munir and Ghana’s Mustapha Tettey Addy.
Tags: Sudan, Beat for Peace
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