Music Helped Me Reconfigure My Muslim Identity
For immigrants, encouragement to pursue the arts is slim. Here’s why it’s important.
When I was younger, I heard that singing was haram, which means “forbidden” in Arabic — and in Islam is the term for sinful behavior. I never really understood this concept, especially since the Quran sounds like a melody when it’s recited. Some of my earliest memories are of my Palestinian father and me “singing” along to the Quran.
My mother, an American of Scandanavian descent, was a fantastic singer and had done musical theater. Her pipes were enormous. I remember one particular car drive when I was singing as loud as I could, trying to hear myself over her voice while we sang along to Shania Twain’s “I Feel Like a Woman.” She stopped exactly as the hook began, and I belted out with all the might of my five-year-old body, “Damn! I feel like a woman!” I don’t think she stopped laughing for the rest of the ride.
She and I would sing along to music just like this in the car every day — mostly old country songs, and she would laugh when I tried to sing along with lyrics I didn’t understand.
Our love for Shania aside, the arts were influential in our family. But we never felt like we could logically pursue them. It simply wasn’t deemed a practical…
