“So what are you? I’m solely a Muslim and a human.”
This line was stated within the last seconds of the music video for‘Identify of God by Mustafa the Poet, a Sudanese-Canadian artist and songwriter, who not too long ago launched his newest album, Dunya, final month.
Being each Muslim and human can seem as the best, most elementary strategy to describe oneself. But for Mustafa, and lots of others, it may be essentially the most difficult facet of their existence.
In an age that’s more and more shadowed by Islamophobia, the place expressing one’s religion publicly and freely could be a supply of discomfort for others, Mustafa’s resolution to combine his faith into his creative expression has turn into a rarity, if not a type of defiance.
As he as soon as shared in an interview, “I attempted to separate my faith and profession at a cut-off date, as some have been more and more uncomfortable with the conflation of my creative expression and religion[…]however a lot of my life is linked to Islam. Identical to these songs are by no means full, neither is the method of worship.”
In his album, worshipping God is each a journey and a query, a studying expertise intertwined with humility, the place one stays ever a scholar, guided solely by their coronary heart. At instances, Mustafa feels a way of estrangement from his religion, whereas at others, it strikes him like a bolt of lightning.
This duality and complexity of religion lies on the core of Dunya, the title of Mustafa’s album. In Islam, dunya transcends the easy notion of life; it embodies the failings of the fabric world and the fleeting nature of our existence.
Whereas there may be normally a stronger concentrate on the foundations and practices of Islam in societies, Mustafa’s songs spotlight the merciful nature of the religion, permitting extra room for empathy towards these within the diaspora who wrestle to apply their beliefs or grapple with being flawed people whereas striving to be good Muslims.
In a time marked by demise, loss and the turmoil of struggle, from Palestine to Sudan, his album additionally invitations us to mirror on our existence inside this dunya. It encourages us to think about how the boundaries between this world and the afterlife might not be as distinct as they appear. The demise of our family members, together with their reminiscences and spirits, lingers on this realm, leaving an irreplaceable gap in our lives.
In an interview, he displays, “We’ve turn into accustomed to conversations with the useless[…] conversations with the useless appear to occur in a extra fruitful method than conversations with the dwelling. I feel I even titled it Dunya as a result of it’s concerning the people who haven’t departed from it but.”
Understanding that this dunya is transient offers solace to the devoted who navigate its harshest trials: struggle, poverty, and grief. Satirically, it’s usually in our moments of biggest vulnerability that we expertise the deepest expressions of religion—a theme that resonates all through the album.
Being human and Muslim
The album explores two intertwined and interconnected experiences: being a human and being a Muslim.
He begins by exploring what it means to be human, considering how it may be troublesome to remain tender in a world stuffed with cruelty, and the place cruelty usually wins and prevails.
Rising up in Toronto’s Regent Park neighborhood, he displays on themes of gang violence and poisonous masculinity in poignant tracks like What Occurred, Muhammed? and Leaving Toronto. But, reasonably than succumbing to the harshness of his atmosphere, Mustafa consciously chooses softness over cruelty.
All through the album, Mustafa honors his brother Muhammed, particularly in tracks like Identify of God and What Occurred, Muhammed? following his tragic homicide in Toronto. He tenderly displays on how their upbringing in a difficult neighborhood formed their bond and acknowledges how the cruel realities of that atmosphere can result in violence and loss.
Regardless of how deeply one strives to guard religion or their humanity, it’s straightforward to falter. As he poignantly sings, “I don’t blame you for dropping your coronary heart.”
When requested concerning the legacy he hopes the album will depart, he replied, “I would like it to be of a Black, Muslim boy who maintained his softness within the face of turmoil and failed, failed and failed once more but nonetheless maintained that softness.”
Whilst he appears to share his experiences and feelings with the world — struggling to maintain the tenderness of his coronary heart in a harsh, impassive atmosphere — it turns into more and more evident all through the album that Mustafa is, in reality, talking to God, and the way his relationship with the divine has advanced over time.
This transitions into the following section of the album, the place he explores the expertise of being Muslim. In tracks like “Imaan” and “I’ll Go Wherever,” he opens the window and invitations listeners to peek into the intimate experiences of religion inside one’s own residence. House is usually the place religion thrives, nevertheless it will also be the place it diminishes.
Within the music video for Imaan, for instance, which options Moroccan-Egyptian supermodel Imaan Hamaam, he sheds gentle on the duality of a girl’s expertise as she places on her hijab at residence and removes it at instances when stepping exterior.
As he sings with heartfelt ache concerning the issue of letting go of a liked one who has modified, and the way relationships can fade as folks develop aside, the phrase Imaan, that means religion in Arabic, additionally captures the wrestle of sustaining religion as one ages, and the way simply it could possibly slip away, like sand slipping by way of one’s fingers.
In a full-circle second, the problem of sustaining the religion that after grew inside one’s house is bolstered within the tune I’ll Go Wherever, the place he expresses how religion could be discovered in all places and anyplace, and continues to accompany him, irrespective of how far he strays from it.
As a Muslim, Mustafa understands that he can’t draw or paint God, as he expresses within the lyrics, “I can’t draw You, I can’t paint You.” As an alternative, he chooses to hunt religion in on a regular basis moments and the experiences he encounters.
He finds peace within the realization that his religion usually resembles a clean canvas — devoid of a transparent portray or portrait. But, he approaches this clean canvas with a way of marvel, striving to decipher the that means of the world round him.
The dunya that Mustafa portrays is stuffed with confusion, grief, and loss, but his mild and tender perspective softens its harsh realities. By the album’s conclusion, one is left with the sense that two important parts endure by way of this dunya: humanity and religion.
In his quest for religion, Mustafa discovers a deeper sense of humanity, and in embracing his humanity, he finds a deeper connection to his religion.