I was invited to the National Public Radio studios in St. Paul to be interviewed for a piece they’re doing on Islam & Hip Hop. We spoke for around an hour and had a pretty good dialogue. The lady who conducted the interview wasn’t scared to ask me tough questions. And yall KNOW I love nothing more than to answer tough questions. The camera work is hella sketchy but I wanted to share a portion of the conversation. I put some pics in there so you didn’t have to stare at my neck for 5 straight minutes.
A lot of yall have asked questions about my spirituality and I’m eager to address it. It’s a really vast topic so I need some more specific questions.
Talk at’chall soon!
-Ali
Sup Ali! I gotta be honest I’m really glad you toned down using the word fag or faggot in your work. Shadows on the Sun was the first album I heard of yours and of course on Dorian you’ve got the line “staggered him just by taggin him Mr. tough guy, one punch bring out the fag in him” and I was instantly thinking oh is this guy as dope as I thought? I used to really like Jedi Mind Tricks and listened to just about anything Vinny Paz was on but I just could not get around the fact that every song had him saying fag this fag that and it got real old real quick. So I’m glad you’re going the other way about that and I believe it. Any live performance I’ve seen of Dorian you don’t repeat that line so thats cool. Anyway Ali I got a question for you. In my experience, people who are spiritual have no tolerance for Atheists. How do you feel about people with no faith? Do you think of me as a lesser person because I don’t believe? What about people of other faiths? Do you hold them in the same light as your Muslim brothers and sisters? And lastly, what does the Qur’an really say about non-believers? When 9/11 happened a lot of the media talked about “are you surprised this happened it says right here in the Qur’an there is nothing wrong with killing an infidel” I’m gonna assume that the Qur’an does not say that but the line of thinking that it did had to come from somewhere right? Anyway… love the music… love the new site. Keep it up Ali it’s all amazing.
John Lightfoot–I’m not Ali, and I’ll let him speak for himself, but since this is an open dialogue kinda place, here we go:
If you want to know what it says in the Qu’ran, it’s best to read it yourself–that way no-one can tell you what it says, as you already know.
One of my favorite passages from the Qu’ran is “enough food for one is enough food for two.” That, more than “kill the infidels” captures the essence of Islam, in my opinion.
And to be fair, I’m not Muslim. I’m not religious, but I am spiritual. But as it stands, I have more leanings that are in the Buddhist vein of things more than any other, but the veins all run through the same body. Even the atheists–their non-belief is as strong as the belief of the sincerely faithful.
Dang, realize this might not be clear the first time I wrote it:
“If you want to know what it says in the Qu’ran, it’s best to read it yourself–that way no-one can tell you what it says, as you would know yourself what it says.”
That’s what I meant, hope it’s clearer now.
salaam alaykum,
just watched the islam and hip hop video. As another white american convert who did/does music i’m glad to see you talk about this. How about putting Mustafa Abdul Basit on the next album ?
wa salaam
Shu’aib a.k.a MeccaCentric
Ever since your song “Philistine David” on the last EP, I’ve been wondering about Islam and your music. It’s not the religion, it’s the politics that come with it. In this song, you seem to, at a minimum, empathize with this Palestinian suicide bomber’s plight for freedom for his people. I’ve heard you say elsewhere that Islamophobia is irrational and an unfortunate classification of an entire people. That is true. But what I do not understand is if you are true in your devotion to Islam, and truly believe in Islam’s good teachings and not in the perverse teachings of people like Osama Bin Laden, then how do you even try to entertain the thought of suicide bombing? I understand the intensity of being drove to devote one’s life to a cause greater than him, and I’m hoping you’re just telling a story. But there’s a thin line between empathy and sympathy. I’ve been a listener of your music ever since Champion EP dropped, and Shadows on the Sun remains at the top of my favorite albums. But I have to say this song has alienated me. It’s not the religion — everyone’s inspiration comes from somewhere. I guess I just wanted to know a little bit more about what you were thinking when you wrote the song before I start to make any false conclusions.
J
Ali,
Just finished watching you NPR interview about homophobia and islam, you have a couple gay friends, as do i. but you make some reference about homophobia in the muslim community being a cultural problem-not an islamic one… Being Homosexual or gay in Islam is 100 percent completely forbidden and it is stated you will go to hell for that. Now im NOT SAYING that you shouldn’t be supportive of them or have gay friends… no no no thats a great thing-they go through a lot. But i just wondered what your stand was on the fact that gays will go to hell are.
Brother Ali i hope i don’t offend you, I LOVE YOUR music and i hope i can have the honor of meeting you some day.
Your Brother-
Momin
Bro, I love your music.. it speaks the truth. im a fourteen ur old living in egypt wid an converted white american father. i love to produce and make hip hop/rap music. i look forward to hearing some more of ur music
ooh and something else, Dont bother with all those muslim extremists who make up there own crap and litterlay go against everything the quran stands for.