New Muslim Cool – the movie

[benben]

Jennifer Maytoreno Taylor’s movie New Muslim Cool (two videos at the bottom) revolves around the life, activities and thoughts of Hamza Abdul Mumit Perez, a Puerto Rican hip hop artist who stopped dealing in drugs after he reverted to Islam 12 year ago and his reaction to post-?/11 smearing propaganda by pro-Israel Islamophobes and survielliance by the FBI.

Bakari Kitwana reviewing the movie for Zionist think tank, Huffington Post, on June 30, 2009 wrote: “The film’s treatment of Islam as an actual religion that guides practioners on a spiritual path forces viewers to grapple with the last eight years of US propaganda that portrays Islam as a relgion of hate. The American homegrown Muslims, of Puerto Rican rather than Middle Eastern (I wonder if Bakari considers Israel Jews being from the Middle East too!!) descent, are central in the film makes this crash course even more jarring.”

Perez was born in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn in 1976. At the age of 21, an encounter with a old Sheikh prompted him to give up his life of drug dealing and convert to Islam. Perez then became active in setting up communities for Latinos and Afro-American Muslims. Along with his brother Suliman, he set up the Arabic hip hop group the Mujahideen Team or M-Team, which uses the familiar musical style to convey Islamic message. Eventually he would bring the M-Team to prisons and correctional facilities to inspire the inmates how to become good citizens by following Islamic teachings.

In the US – the largest group converting to Islam are Afro-Americans. However, Latin-Americans conversion to Islam have emerged a rising phenomenon. Among Hispanic-Muslims, the majority of converts are college-educated women between 20 and 30 year old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZra...layer_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F73PX...layer_embedded