Celebration of Arts A Fun Dawah Event

By Nargis Hakim Rahman, MMNS

Native Deen invited kids onstage, while the audience sang along to  their new single, “I’m not afraid to stand alone” and “MUSLIM”  Photo courtesy Zasia Chowdhury.

Zain Shamoon, MSU senior, is a local artist from Novi. He shared his poetry piece “Voices For Change (Get Up)” and many others at COA.  Photo courtesy WSU-MSA.

The crowd screamed, clapped and sang along with the artists brought in by Wayne State University last Friday, for the Celebration of Arts.

COA was a free Islamic entertainment event hosted by MSA to give back to the community, for Muslims and non-Muslims, Treasurer of Muslim Students Association, Mansoor Siddiqui, said.

“We hope people enjoyed themselves and realized, there is such a thing as Islamic entertainment,” Vice-President of MSA, senior Tazeen Ayub, said.

The show was different from two years ago – with performers, including local talent Zain Shamoon from Novi.

Shamoon, senior at Michigan State University, shared a poem “Voices For Change (Get Up)”, as the crowd cheered him on.

He recited this piece during the “Voice For Change” competition, an effort for youth to convey their views on society, religion, growing up, and education in positive-messaged entertainment, “Through poetry, hip-hop, or comedy…to create awareness about issues among a general audience,” MAS Youth Detroit’s, Fatima Younus said.

It was sponsored by the Muslim American Society last summer.

Beating local performers in six major cities in the U.S., Shamoon did an opening piece – and several other pieces – for the grand finale of VFC, an Outlandish concert tour.

Outlandish is a trio of singers with different religious backgrounds but one common interest – creating musical narratives to “make a difference,” according to their website, www.outlandmoro.com.
“Outlandish was chosen as the tour’s headliner because the group has used their music to reflect the value of religious faith and equality,” Leslie Wade, Public Relations officer for MAS Youth Detroit said.

According to Native Deen’s official website, www.nativedeen.com, the hip-hop and R&B group are searching for, “creative ways to educate and inspire Muslim youth,” as well.

At COA, they allowed kids onstage for a lively performance. The audience sang along to familiar songs, including their new single, “I’m not afraid to stand alone,” and “MUSLIM.”

Rosa Hassen, junior at Wayne State and MSA member, said Native Deen was awesome, and had a lot of energy.

“They tried to get everyone rowdy. They started their chorus and people sang along,” Hassen said.
They are not the only ones.

The Muslim Funnymentalists came from different backgrounds and professions to share their common interest in stand-up comedy to help break cultural and religious differences.

Aman Ali, a journalist, Asif Ali, a comedy contest winner, and Baba Ali, a YouTube blogger make-up the Funnymentalists.

A few students said they would have attended if they knew Baba Ali was coming. Ali’s blogs about controversial issues in Islam, using humor.

Hassen said she liked, ‘the Muslim family in America’ and the ‘go to the bathroom with the bottle’ jokes.
Everyone enjoyed themselves, Siddiqui said.

“We were able to put the diversity of MSA and Islam on display,” he said.

“Insha`Allah we will work to build on this success in the future.”

WSU-MSA put on this year’s Islamic entertainment show with the help of Wayne State’s Dean of Students Office. DOSO paid for the guests’ tickets, arrangements and food.

“I’m happy with Wayne State (DOSO) and how they treat Muslim students,” he said.

The program was not a fundraiser. Flyers were handed out to various Masjids and campus dorms.

Artists were chosen through suggestions from MSA members.

People can attend weekly MSA meetings (Mondays 3:30 in the student center) or visit www.wsu-msa.com, for more information about WSU-MSA.

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