Last
Friday’s episode of “Nightline” featured an in-depth profile of attorney
Azhar Usman, an Indian-American Muslim who performs stand-up comedy. The segment
focuses on the role of religion in his act, and the reaction he’s received
from his family, the Muslim community, and audiences on the club circuit.
“Nightline”: Azhar
Usman Torrent (Quicktime,
19 MB, 18 mins.)
Requires a BitTorrent downloader — PC, Mac
Usman’s official web site hosts some choice cuts from his act: FBI Follows Me, Patriotic American Muslim, Spread by the Sword, Middle Eastern Characteristics and Criminal Defendants
Reading through Azhar Usman’s website I read so many references to Spain, and the glory of Islamic Spain. Moorish Spain has become the rallying point for some Muslims who wish to gloat over and glorify the wonder that is Islamic Imperialism. But there is a lack of critical self awareness here: decrying imperialism in one form, but indulging in sepia tinted nostalgia for the days when Islam made unbelievers submit to its heel over hundreds of years.
Instead of ‘The White Mans Burden’, we have ‘The Arab Mans Burden’
When Hindutvaites indulge in stupid sentimental fiction about the glories of Hindu India, you can bet their wonderings are matched by the nonsense of Islamic Empire and Glory fantasised by fols like Azhar Usman.
I wonder why he doesnt write about the wonder of the Mughals, given that he is a Muslim from teh sub-continent, though.
Lotsa religious Desi Muslims are more in tune with their non existent Arab identity than their South Asian identity.
That Nightline show was hilarious and brilliantly shot. Were it not for the increased media coverage of Islam due to American’s involvement in the Middle East, the episode would have mentioned his Muslim faith in passing instead of focusing on it as the main theme. (What I’m trying to say is that his routine seemed to be more Indian-focused than Muslim-focused, in my opinion)
I saw the program Friday night. He was really un-funny, even when performing in front of a Muslim crowd. Interesting enough, although he was born into an Indian Muslim immigrant family, he only referred to himself as an Indian-American towards the very end of the program. He identifed himself at various times as a Muslim, an American, a Muslim-American. Even his jokes had punchlines of, “We all have that one Pakistani aunt…”
The editing of the program may have been unfair, but to me, it sort of reinforced the stereotype that even non-bigoted Hindus sometimes hold towards Indian Muslims – that they will mention their Indian roots with great reluctance.
“When Hindutvaites indulge in stupid sentimental fiction about the glories of Hindu India…”
Their fantasies do not involve imperialism.
Al Mujahid
Why is that? They give legitimacy to those who want to lock horns with Muslims on Samuel Huntington’s battlefield.
When you glorify Islamic Imperialism you open up a whole can of worms. Decrying the Spanish Inquisition leaves you wide open to a simple question: what about the various inquisitions by Muslim rulers in their conquered lands? Already the debate has shifted to a discourse in which you accept the challenge of Hindutvadi’s, hard core Zionists, Extreme Neo-Cons.
And I simply will not accept as legitimate the views of somebody who decries imperialism in one breath but exhorts another form of Imperialism in another. Either through sentimental glorification of the past, or historical blindness, to bolster their own sense of victim hood. It is undignified to lick boots and be so without awareness of your own contradiction.
I think that’s a good point KXB… the editing may have been unfair. Although we, the viewers, will never know if he mentioned his Indian ethnicity throughout his interview – the editors (not Azhar) only chose to reveal it at the end of the program.
And, well, his wife thought he wasn’t funny either 🙂
He might be playing up more on his Islamic identity than his Indian indentity because ‘Islam’ is more ‘interesting/controversial’ in America these days. I think the reference to Pakistani aunt makes sense. Culturally Indian Muslims and most Pakistani Muslims are indentical. Food, social values, culture, religion, language are all identical. What I have seen is that some religious desis completely lose their identity and adopt a new Islamic identity. For example I have seen lotsa South Asian women in the US who wear Hijab. Hijab is a very Arab thing and no one wears hijab in South Asia. In South Asia religious Muslim women wear Burqa or Chaddor depending upon how religious they are. Most Indian Muslims in the US are pretty secular or moderately religious though and are neither Arabised nor purport to be Arab.
Culturally Indian Muslims and most Pakistani Muslims are indentical. Food, social values, culture, religion, language are all identical.
Not exactly. What about Bengali, Malayali and Tamil muslims. You mean they are irrelevent. Unfortunately, Malayali muslims, especially in North-Kerala are becoming more and more Arabised because of Gulf connection. I have not seen much of Urdu-isation. If at all it is there, it might be comparable to Hindi-isation of their Hindu brethren. Hindu and Muslim Tamils were indistinguishable till recently.
Manju, I stand corrected. What I meant was the North Indian Muslim community and the Punjabi/Kashmiri/Muhajir community in Pakistan.
I thnk that the muslim nostalgia for Spain needs to be contextualized. If you look at it in a historical context it was one of the most progressive empires for hundreds of years with an amazing ammount of scholarship and tolerance. Christians and Jews rose to great heights in the various dynasties. Not to fall victim to an social-evolutionary view of history, but a different standard needs to be applied to the 6th-15th century vs. modern USA empire building.
It is also important to be clear what they are being nostalgic for. It is not a nostalgia for empire, that is a by product. The symbols of this “golden age” is poetry, science, tolerence and music.
Most average muslims I know don’t know the names of the kings of andalusia, but of the scholars.
Just a shade of grey I thought I would add.
not that it matters, but I intended to write 8th to 15th centureis, 711-1492 that is.
peace
I thought the “Middle Eastern Characteristics” bit was kinda funny.
Find me unfunny, I honestly have no problem with that. But to allege that I am somehow reluctant to disclose, or somehow less than proud of my Indian heritage is pure rubbish. Please don’t project your own insecurities or misgivings about Arabized, or fundemantalist Muslims on me. I am a bona fide lover of India. My parents raised me to love the motherland – in fact they founded the Indian Community of Skokie, and the Bihari Cultural Association in Chicagoland, whose events I dutifully attended while growing up. That said, Chop Suey raises excellent points regarding historical dislocation and misunderstandings that many contemporary Muslims have about Andulisian Islam. I visited Spain in 2003 and had a wonderful time, learning about the region’s Muslim history. Another commentator on this forum was absolutely correct to note that my love for Andulisian Islam had everything to do with its progressive cultural and artistic developments, not to do with brutal imperialism, which I conscientiously denounce in all forms.
In any case, it’s heartening to know that the Nightline piece sparked discussion among thinking minds. If we could all learn the lessons from the lives of great Indians like Gandhi and Siddharth Gautama the Buddha, perhaps Indian Muslims and Hindus could learn to get along after all. Like my late grandfather used to say: “Hindustan, Jannat nishan,” which means, roughly: “India, a piece of heaven.”
Keep the faith!
Azhar Usman http://www.azhar.com