Comedian Aziz Ansari has spoke to an ugly truth about how Americans think of Muslims, Islamophobia, in his viral act on “Saturday Night Live”. Ansari pointed out that when people watch movies or a TV show like “Homeland,” they often see a character who is Arabic and prays with “terrifying” music underneath.
“People are like, ‘Aah! What are they saying?’“ Ansari said. “Just ‘God is good!’ Normal religion stuff! It’s okay! You want to end Islamophobia? Honestly, just change that music. Like, if the music was different – if it was just, like, [singing theme to ‘The Benny Hill Show’], people would be like, ‘Man, Islam is one whimsical religion, isn’t it?’ “
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Ansari’s point is important, media, both entertainment and news, struggle to tell the stories of Muslims outside of the national security lens. The stories they tell tend to generate fear and they collapse everything that Muslims do into that perspective.
Islam is a religion. It has a deep spiritual meaning to those who adhere to it, approximately a quarter of the world’s population. Because of the love and passion Muslims feel for their faith, they have created majestic pieces of art and serve as the cultural contributors whom we all recognize.
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Rumi and Agha Shahid Ali are beautiful poets, among the thousands deeply immersed in Muslim cultures. Nobel Prize-winning novelists Naguib Mahfouz (a Muslim) and Toni Morrison (a non-Muslim) tell of the inner lives of Muslims with great sensitivity.
Ansari’s point is true. We need to stop working to make Muslims scary. We already find it too easy to be afraid of different people. He wants us to focus on the normal. The normal is beautiful, and we should focus on the intentionally beautiful.
By Premji
