Dawah or Club Salat?

I was of the blessed few to watch “New Muslim Cool” before it's premiere on PBS. This film follows the life of a true da'i. This brotha offers a lot of footage with all of the foot work he commits to. The film crew follows him from the prison, to the community center, home, the studio, and to the stage. While watching this film I had to shake my head in disappointment. Not in the film, because it's excellent, but at one particular portion of the film that featured the M-Team on stage in front of a crowd of Muslims.

The topic of 2009, especially with the release of the film “Deen Tight,” is the use of hip-hop as dawah. I feel that human beings tend to lay the light of responsibility at the foot of others to hide their own blemishes. To have the capability of accepting responsibility one gains the opportunity to cast his ego to the side and “get nurred', as Ismaelo says. Throughout the history of hip-hop men and women who did not know how to be parents shoved their parental defects on the entertainers for having influenced their child's life in a way that they could not or did not. Now we find that Muslims want entertainers to take responsibility for the adab or lack there of in the crowd.

In the footage you can see the adab of the Rasool go out the door and kibr (pride) and riyah (showing off) walk in. An open- mic turns in to Club Salat featuring DJ Akbar. Brothers and sisters who were once shy to look at each other in the Masjid parade around in their freshly shaved “Sunni”, thinned eye-brows and heavy make-up. The Muslim get-down is a time for showing off in movement, dress, and demeanor. Let's not front. Where is the dawah in this? Is this pleasing to Allah ta'ala?

The dawah was in the intent to bring Muslims and non-Muslims together. The dawah was in creating the lyrics to inspire Muslims to do right. The dawah was in creating lyrics that non-Muslims can relate to and show them the truth. The dawah was in proving to others that it is not too late to change your life. Hip-hop is not to blame. The culture of hip-hop can be a great meal, but when you place this meal on a garbage lid it's not so appetizing.

Many in the Muslim community are not going to buy this meal when it is presented like this. I love hip-hop. I love Muslim hip-hop. I love my brothas and sistas who come out and wow the crowd. But what I can't appreciate is when “Sunna” comes out later. As the audience, we must keep our dignity, our adab, and keep our deen tight. We must remember that our character is dawah as well.