#if i say something about Islam or Ramadan or I try to make a joke about it and your first reaction is to try and debate the role of religion

[inmyarmswrappedin]

The good: 

Skam España set up Amira’s crush on Dani (and Dani’s crush on Amira) in s2 and, regardless of how it ends, they are following through with that storyline, instead of dropping it like a hot potato.

The bad: 

Okay, so first off I have to say I’ve never vibed with Lucas Nabor (Dani)’s acting. And by never I truly do mean never, as in the first day of Cris’ season, I found the way Lucas N played Dani in the confrontation with Cris after they get home extremely cringy. This was way before I could’ve ever dreamed that Skam España would whitewash Yousef’s character and turn him into a white character. 

So, for me, it’s not just an issue of whitewashing (which is already bad enough on a show with no meaningful male characters of color), but eskam pairing one of my favorite Skams character ever with the character I like the least for acting reasons.

But I figured eskam wouldn’t really have the audacity to whitewash a love interest and not give us a Yousef of color in another form. Just like the way we got that 5-second glimpse of Lucas Rubio hooking up with a boy named Iván in the s2 finale, so people could see the male Isak had also found an Even, or the way we got a full season of Miquel being the abusive boyfriend that Spanish viewers saw William as, but for Noorhelm fans, Alejandro still got to be Nora’s endgame. 

And so, when Sofian in the trailer was blatantly posited as a love interest, juxtaposed with shots of Dani with the same expression and filmed from the same angle, I thought, “Okay, so Amira will have an additional love interest who is actually Moroccan, and he’ll probably be around much less (like Iván in s2 and Alejandro in s3), but he’ll be the endgame.” 

Like... Never in my wildest nightmares would I have thought that Skam España would take... idefk... Lito from Skam and turn him into a full fledged character who’d play the fuck out of Amira and attempt to talk her into bearding. 

When Kasim was introduced and people immediately noticed the look between Lucas and Kasim, I thought, “no fucking way Skam España would pull an Elite.” WHEN, when has Skam España looked towards Elite for inspiration before? Not even just to “fix” Elite storylines and turn them into good storylines. Elite and Skam España have never existed in the same sphere or tried to do the same things or impacted each other.

When the spoilers came out, I thought back to the time in s3 when the same hackers said that Alejandro would hit Miquel with a bottle. At the time, I heard of the Alejandro spoilers and wondered to myself, “is this something Skam España would ever do?” And I thought nah, no way, Skam España has never been concerned with toxic masculinity or romanticized it. And I was right! 

So I did the same thing with these spoilers, and I was SO SURE that I had understood the show, that I had understood what Skam España had been trying to do all these three seasons, that Skam España was so disinterested in men as a whole that they’d never try something so complex with either Dani (a conversion storyline) or Kasim (a closeted storyline). Both of those storylines are storylines Skam España gives to GIRLS. Because men in eskam have always been more about what they symbolize for the girls, than their own entities. And I liked that! So, on that level I feel betrayed, because Skam España had been telling it was one thing for three seasons, until in s4 they decided Amira didn’t deserve the same treatment as all the other mains, where she doesn’t get to be by far the most complex character in her own season. (I’m not saying Amira isn’t complex - she is. She is the most complex Sana and the most nuanced.) 

There are a couple things that gave me a bad vibe about this season from the start: one was the fact that Kasim wasn’t introduced in episode 1. Skam España always introduces the characters that are significant for the main in episode 1, so for Kasim to not show up in episode 1, that was a sign. The other one was that Skam España gave the bonus clips to Alejandro. This is a show that refused to give Lucas bonus clips in s2, because his experience as a gay boy just wasn’t relevant to Cris. Not in the same Viri’s experience was relevant to Nora. And suddenly, Alejandro (and not Nora) gets the bonus clips in a season about Amira? Like, it was just fucking weird. It is weird as shit that a show that has always gleefully centered the female experience to the detriment of the male experience, would decide in their Muslim woc season, that it was time for the whitest, straightest, cisgenderedest, richest character on the show to be the first one to get some focus.

Because Sana seasons across the board have underperformed compared to the seasons that came before them (because of racism and islamophobia in Europe), I thought that maybe Movistar had decided to lean on the romance a bit more heavily this season, in order to make it seem more appealing. Kinda makes sense, no? We’re tired of seeing straight white girl seasons, so making Nora’s season lean a bit more on the educational side of Skam isn’t a risk. People will still tune in. But a Sana season is a bit of a harder sell, so we have to sweeten the deal with romcom tropes and all the other couples in the show making out and about to have sex, to make up for Amira not getting those scenes. I thought I could live with that.

But like, there’s adding some background fanservice from established couples and then there’s this monstrosity that leans into EVERY islamophobic Muslim trope ever (because it’s super commercial and high stakes drama and excitingggggg). Like, in Western media, Muslim men are either oppressors (abusive, strict husbands who beat their wives and are terrorists or thugs or thieves) or oppressed (closeted gay boys who resort to extreme means, such as bearding or dealing drugs, in order to stay under the radar). They never get to be the leading love interest. I have never seen a Muslim man of color on Spanish TV be the male love interest, and especially not the love interest to a Muslim woman. And Skam España will be no different.

I also hope people understand the way it undermines literally every other thing they’re trying to do with the show. Amira already explained at length both her own stance towards gay people and Islam’s stance towards gay people, in s2 and her bonus video with Lucas. if you want to be a Muslim in good standing, you can be gay as long as you don’t act on it. But you can also be a Muslim who eats pork, or a Muslim who doesn’t fast in Ramadan, or a Muslim who doesn’t pray five times a day, because ultimately it’s about every individual’s relationship with Allah. To go back on this for a homophobic Muslims storyline undoes everything they did in s2. 

It also undermines Dounia as a character. Here’s a practicing Muslim who longs for a safe space, who doesn’t want to answer questions from non Muslims, who thinks it’s better not to even open the door to a relationship with a white non Muslim, and who’s really confident in all those decisions. And if you think the show isn’t setting her up to be confronted with the fact her brother doesn’t feel safe among Muslims, who prefers questions from non Muslims over telling the truth to Muslims, who has happily opened the door to a relationship with a white non Muslim, who thinks that Dounia is a homophobe in short, and that she will be made to reexamine all her beliefs because of her brother... I just don’t know what to say to you tbh.

And also, this clip made it seem like Amira’s Muslim world wouldn’t accept her crush on Dani, undoing everything the show has done until now. Dounia didn’t disapprove when Amira told her she had a crush on a white non Muslim. She understood and shared her experience. Amira’s mother knew about her crush on Dani and never tried to stop it, nor did she discourage it when Amira told her about it. Why is Skam España suddenly acting like Amira can’t tell anyone about her budding relationship with Dani, when every anon on tumblr dot com will tell you that relationships between Muslim women and Christian men happen all the time?

And finally, it just makes me reexamine previous Skam España seasons and wonder... Did they make Amira only start wearing hijab in the first day of s1 because they knew a character like Sana wouldn’t contemplate a relationship with a white character who makes islamophobic jokes, drinks and makes out with the Sana’s friends in front of her after specifically inviting her to a party? Did they make Amira the show’s Isak’s best friend just so they could whitewash Yousef? Was the whole purpose and trajectory of Amira on the show, everything they did with her, a justification for whitewashing one of the few positive men of color on Western TV? For refusing to show a Muslim girl in a happy relationship with a Muslim boy? To only portray and devote time to Muslim poc/white atheists relationships? (Amira’s parents not withstanding.) As if the most positive outcome for a Muslim person living in Europe is to marry a white atheist. That is what Skam España did to Sana’s season, to Sana, to the balloon squad. 

#skam españa #anti damira #anti dani soto #if you are a damira or dani stan and click on this post #then you have been warned #if you come on anon to attack me for this post #do not expect me to be polite

[spencer-reids-veins]

Would You Be So Kind? Barista!Reader x Season 5 Spencer Reid

synopsis: you’re one of the baristas at the coffee that Spencer likes to frequent, fluff ensues

word count: 2.8k

warnings: none, just a whole lotta fluff!

You moved quickly behind the counter of the coffee shop you had worked at for nearly 5 years, fixing drinks as if you were in a daze, muscle memory had helped you move efficiently as you worked through the morning line that always formed on Saturdays. You heard the bell at the front of the shop ring as a familiar face entered, a tall lanky man with swoopy brown hair smiled at you as the two of you made eye contact. ‘I’ll cover this one, wait by the pickup station.’ You mouthed at him. He nodded smiling at you and returned with a quick ‘thank you’.

You set to work fixing his usual order, an espresso and a chocolate chip muffin. You smile remembering back to the first time he came into the shop, almost three years ago.

-Flashback-

You were working the register that day, not something you particularly liked but since it was a slow day for customers, you didn’t have to do much. You had actually started to doze off into a daydream until you were abruptly interrupted by the bell at the entrance ringing, signalling that someone had entered.

A tall man with short slicked back brown hair and horn rimmed glasses , dressed in a sweater vest and a brown suit jacket that almost matched his hair walked up to the counter. He seemed nervous, it must have been his first time in the shop. 

You smiled at him “what can I get for you today handsome?” you asked him, the words coming out without anything thinking. Your eyes widened slightly in embarrassment as you realized what you had said. “I’m sor-” You said but he cut you off “It’s ok, just not used to people calling me that.” The man responded, nervously adjusting his glasses. “I um-uh, my name’s Spencer.” He added quickly as he fidgeted with his hands.

“What can I get for you today then Spencer?” You asked him winking. “Um just an espresso and uh..” He trailed off peering into the case of baked goods next to the register. “And a chocolate chip muffin as well please.” 

As you rang up his order you smiled at him “That’ll be $7.48.” You told Spencer laughing softly as he fumbled pulling out his wallet and counted out the change. 

“Thank you very much, I’ll have that ready for you in just a minute.” You told him smiling as you put the money in the register.

-that flashback over, cue more recent one-

After almost two years of seeing Spencer come into the coffee shop and order the same thing, an espresso and a chocolate chip muffin, you had become accustomed to seeing Spencer almost every day. However, suddenly that stopped.

It had been almost two weeks and there had been no sign of him, you had asked your coworkers that had been in when you weren’t working if they had seen him, but none of them could recall Spencer coming into the shop. 

You were starting to worry, worry about this strange man that you had only talked to about what kind of coffee he wanted, hell, you didn’t even know his last name. 

Part of you wanted to dive into the internet to see if you could find any information on him in the hopes of seeing if you could figure the reasoning for his absence.

You were in the middle of making some fancy nonfat oat milk drink when the entrance bell rang, you looked up out of habit hoping it would be Spencer but instead it was muscular dark skinned man. Definitely not Spencer. You sighed to yourself slightly disappointed, not even fully understanding why you were upset, it’s not like you and Spencer were friends, the only time you saw each other was at the coffee shop.

You finished up the order then went to the register to help the man that had entered. “What can I get you today sir?” You asked him, putting on your customer service smile.

“Um, an espresso and shit give me a minute I don’t want to mess up his order.” The man responded, pulling out his phone and quickly dialled a phone number. “Hey baby girl, do you remember what kind of muffin Reid wanted? I can’t remember if he said blueberry or chocolate chip.” He said into the phone. Suddenly the wheels in your brain started to turn and you began to connect the dots.

“Ok thanks princess.” The man said as he hung up and turned his attention back to you. “A-” “Chocolate chip muffin?” You asked him quickly, accidentally cutting him off.

He gave you a surprised look. “Yeah, how did you know?” He asked quizzically. “Just a guess.” you responded as you shrugged slightly. “Is this for a guy named Spencer by any chance?” You asked him hopefully. 

The man looked even more surprised when you asked him that. “Yeah.. how did you guess?” He asked, trying to study your face.

“He came in here like every day, is there something wrong? I haven’t seen him in a while.” You told him, your voice laced with worry.

“He’s um, currently in the hospital, we had an incident at work.” He told you, not sharing many details. 

“I’m Derek by the way, Derek Morgan.” He told you. You introduced yourself and gave him his change letting him know that he could wait off to the side for the order.

Derek’s words get replaying in your mind. ‘He’s in the hospital’ those words filled you with more worry than you liked to admit.

After you finished making the order, you grabbed an extra muffin and put it in the bag with the other one with a few napkins, you knew that hospital food wasn’t exactly five star. You wrote out a quick note on another napkin and slipped it into the bag. ‘Spencer, I hope you’re doing alright. Enjoy the extra muffin, hope to see you soon - Y/N :)’

-Flashback over-

You looked at the clock and realized that you were almost done with your shift, you decided that today would be the day you would actually try to talk to Spencer about something other than coffee. You quickly scribbled out a note to put with Spencer’s muffin. ‘I get off work in like 15 minutes, would you want to go to a bookstore with me? I need to pick up some books and I could use the company- Y/N’ you slipped the note into the bag and set it on the counter for Spencer, hoping he’d open the bag before he left the shop.

You had hardly noticed that 15 minutes had passed by, you quickly slipped out from behind the counter and took off your apron. 

You finished packing up your things and looked around to see if Spencer was still there. You sighed, slightly disappointed when you didn’t see him inside the shop. As you headed out of the coffee shop, you heard someone call your name behind you. 

You turned and saw Spencer running towards you, his hair messy from the cool autumn breeze, you noticed that in one hand he was holding a crumpled napkin, your note. The sight made you smile as he stopped in front of you. “I’m sorry I didn’t see your note right away. I had to do a quick work call and I didn’t see it until after that.” He said, beginning to ramble which made you laugh quietly. “It’s fine, I’m just glad we were able to talk about something other than coffee for once.” You told him, smiling as the two of you started to walk together towards the bookstore that was a few blocks down.

“Did you know that coffee was originally a very religious drink? It originated in Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan and many Muslim people used it to celebrate Ramadan, they believed that the prophet Muhammed brought humanity coffee as a substitute for wine since Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol.” Spencer told you, his hands moving with his words as the two of you walked.

“I did not.” you responded putting your hand in front of Spencer to stop him from walking directly into traffic. “But did you know that getting hit by a car isn’t the ideal way to spend the first time hanging out with someone?” You told him, only half joking. Your comment made him laugh softly. “Thanks” he mumbled, slightly embarrassed “I get distracted sometimes when I get excited.” He added, his face tinged pink from a mix of embarrassment and the cold.

“Don’t worry about it.” You told him grabbing his hand to pull him across the street after the walk signal lit up.

Spencer seemed surprised at the contact but didn’t say anything as you both made it across the street and to the local bookstore. You didn’t even realize that you were still holding onto Spencer’s hand as you led him inside and over to the fantasy section first.

Once you stopped at one of the shelves, you realized that you were still holding onto Spencer’s hand and quickly let go, embarrassed by your action. You quickly scanned the shelves until you found the book you were looking for. “Bingo.” you said taking it off of the shelf. “Goldman huh?” Spencer asked you, looking at the cover and cracking a smile. “Do you have an issue with S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love Spencer Reid?” You responded as you raised an eyebrow at him. “No none at all, I actually really enjoyed it, I remember reading it when I was six, my dad gave me a copy for my birthday.” He said quickly, trying to backtrack in case he had said something wrong.

“I was just kidding, don't worry.” You told Spencer with a smile as you started walking over to the poetry section, he followed close behind you. “So, romance novels and poetry huh? You don’t really strike me as the cheesy story type.” Spencer mused as you squatted down to grab a copy of A Scattering by Christopher Reid, you laughed quietly to yourself realizing he and Spencer had the same last name. “And what type of book lover do I strike you as Spencer?” you responded with a smirk, interested to hear his response. 

“Well, I would guess more realistic fiction or even science fiction. Many of those types of books can be used as a form of escapism from our daily boring lives. Seeing as you work at a coffee shop and you don’t really seem like a super adventurous person, I’d make the conclusion that you find your adventures in books rather than in real life.” Spencer told you. Your heart dropped slightly as you heard what he said. “Wait you think I’m boring?” You asked him, suddenly upset.

“What? N-no Y/N, I was just saying that people tend to use books as their way to escape-” 

“From their boring lives yeah I heard that.” You interrupted him crossly. “So you think that I have a boring life, is that it Spencer? Is that what you concluded about me and what kinds of books I like to read?” You said as you narrowed your eyes at him, waiting for him to respond.

“I am so sorry if you thought that’s what I meant, it didn’t come out the way I meant it to. I don’t think you’re boring at all, very far from that in fact. You just don’t really exhibit many adventurous traits, you seem like you would find more interest in reading about other people’s adventures as opposed to taking part in them yourself. I’m the same way, books are about the only way I can lose myself and take a break from reality.” Spencer said quickly, trying to undo that damage he had done without thinking.

The tension in your chest started to disappear as he apologized. “I’m sorry, I lashed out at you, I’m not great at the whole socializing thing.” You told him, now embarrassed about yelling at Spencer. 

“Don’t worry about it, I need to work on thinking before speaking. At least, that’s what my friend Derek tells me.” He said waving you off. 

For the next 15 minutes, you and Spencer just wandered throughout the bookstore aimlessly. You watched as Spencer examined each book he took off  the shelves, his fingers following the lines as his eyes darted across the page. ‘Just ask him already stupid.’ you thought to yourself, suddenly you decided to just take the plunge and break the silence. “Hey um Spencer, can I ask you a question?” You asked him. Your words cause his head to raise. “I mean, you just asked me one, but sure, what is it?” He asked you. 

You took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now, do you want to get dinner or something together sometime?” You asked him, bracing yourself for the worst. “And you can obviously say no if you don’t want to, I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to.” You quickly added. 

“Like a date?” were the only three words he said in response.

“Yeah- i mean no! I mean, it doesn’t have to be if you don’t it to be, but if you don’t want to I completely understand and-” Your nervous ramble was cut off a pair of lips on your mouth, Spencer’s lips.

The two of you froze in that position for what seemed like an eternity until you pulled away instinctively.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Spencer said quickly, his face turning red. “I just-” You cut him off by moving in to kiss him again. Spencer was surprised but moved his hands to cup the sides of your face, pulling you in closer. 

When you both finally pulled away. Spencer’s face was bright red and he looked down at his hands, embarrassed. “I’ve uh, wanted to do that for a while now.”  He mumbled, now embarrassed

“I have too.” You admitted, your face equally as red.

“So um, do you want to have that dinner date tonight?” He asked you 

“Who said it was going to be a date?” You asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“I-I just thought that,” He said quickly

“I’m just kidding Spencer, a dinner date tonight sounds absolutely perfect.” You told him, smiling which made his body relax. “You really need to stop taking things so seriously Spencer.” You told him, poking his nose gently which made him laugh softly. “I get that you’re a scary FBI agent doctor thing but sometimes you just have to be carefree and in the moment.” You added teasingly, kissing his cheek gently. 

“Wait how did you know I work for the FBI?” Spencer questioned with a confused look on his face. “Google.” was your only response as you kept walking through the store. “You’re kinda popular apparently. With all of your essays and articles and such.” You told him, stopping at a shelf to browse the selection of science fiction. “Wait you’ve read my essays?” Spencer asked you, surprised that you took an interest in his work. “Yeah a few of them, I really enjoyed the one you wrote about how events in childhood can rapidly evolve into behavioral changes into adulthood.” You responded mindlessly as you kept looking at the shelves. 

“Y-you did?” Spencer asked you with a bashful smile, his cheeks turning slightly pink. “Yes Agent Reid that’s what I said.” You told him rolling your eyes slightly. 

“It’s Doctor.” He mumbled under his breath slightly, an action out of habit. You turned around hearing his words and looked at him “oh I know that too, it’s just fun seeing you all flustered and embarrassed. You’re so adorable.” You said with a smile and a wink. “And if you play your cards right tonight, maybe I’ll be calling you something other than Doctor or Agent.” You added winking again and giggling quietly as Spencer lost the ability for words, his face bright red. “I um..” Spencer trailed off, not knowing quite what to say.

You quickly realized that might’ve been a little too blunt and began to get embarrassed yourself. “I’m sorry if that made this whole thing weird, I’m not used to how this type of thing works.” You confessed, your face quickly turned a bright red shade which made Spencer laugh and lean in to whisper in your ear. “Well you’ll definitely get used to it tonight.” He said in a voice almost like a purr that sent a shiver down your spine. His words made you turn towards him quickly. “What are you trying to say Doctor Reid? Are you insinuating that you’re going to fuck me tonight?” You responded, raising an eyebrow at him. You had expected him to get flustered again but Spencer did quite the opposite. “Maybe.” He told you with a smirk, causing your face to turn bright red. 

“Come on.” You told him, regaining your composure as you grabbed his hand. “Let’s blow this pop stand.” You said, pulling him towards the register to pay for your books.

A/N: asdfjh this is my first ever time transferring stories from another site and also the first time i’ve really ever used tumblr so i apologize if anything is amiss!-M

#spencer x reader #spencer reid #criminal minds #fluff

[holly-mckenzie]

bitch! since no one asked you, I'll ask you myself! What is happening to your version of Sana, Noora, and whoever else you have done an absurd amount of research + written an entire essay about

wow its almost like I sent this message to myself! thanks “anon”

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking... Erica, how are you going to tell your version of Sana in an Indian, Malaysian, and Turkish context (especially because all of ‘em countries either are Muslim Nations or have a Muslim community...) to which I say: BEHOLD! 

9. Introduce us to your version of Sana

GERAM (SKAM Malaysia) : Kalifa Ahmed (name subject to change)

So, here’s the thing... Making Geram!Sana Malaysian makes absolutely no sense, especially because of the overall Muslim population. So I figure that there are three versions to do it 1) make her of another faith (which is tricky), 2) Make her not be Muslim enough, (she doesn’t wear her Hijab, interacts with dogs, has gay friends etc...) 3) or three which is the option I will be going with.

Kalifa Ahmed is a Somali-Malaysian (I haven’t decided if I want to make her half-Malay, half-Somali, or a Somalian who has emigrated to Malaysia). Kalifa, much like Sana is super close to her family, especially her mother. Kalifa enjoys playing the football/soccer and is the member of the group that says it as it is (think SKAM NL Imaan). She’s a bit rough around the edges from all of the things she has faced in life, however, she is super sarcastic and funny. She is super independent, so a thing that I want her season to focus on is her friends realising that she is more than the “strong-Black-woman” and does need help. 

Kalifa constantly feels ostracised from the Malaysian population, due to the large anti-Black sentiment that is rampant in Malaysian. Thus, as a product, Kalifa is very close to her family, due to all the racism that they face on a daily basis. This includes ”racial preferencing” when it comes to apartment hunting, to people avoiding them in public, and constantly hearing racist comments made towards them. 

Before the show starts, Kalifa had a close friend in the character of Jamila. Jamila would probably either be a character that Kalifa met in the apartment that she lives in or to the refugee school that she went too (in Malaysia refugees aren’t allowed to attend national schools and must attend refugee schools). They became fast friends, bonding over their shared experiences of facing racism on a daily basis. However, Jamila feels betrayed by Kalifa for “leaving” her to become friends with the Girl Gang. Jamilla is incredibly hurt by it, especially because Jamilla thinks that Kalifa lets GERAM!Vilde gets away with being casually racist. However, Kalifa, feels pressure because though she does speak out about the racism she faces, she knows that she could face backlash for it. Especially since if you are a foreign worker in Malaysia, you can face deportation for speaking about the injustice. This is one of the reasons that both Kalifa and Jamila don’t like  Geram!Vilde, because Kalifa feels like the prejudice that Geram!Vilde has, goes against their shared Islamic faith. 

An aspect of this that I would really want to touch on is the fact that Kalifa doesn’t face the same sort of “tension” that og Sana faces between having to choose between the secular world and Islam (because that makes no sense in Malaysia. Also, I thought the love triangle was stupid, so it won’t be happening.). Instead, Kalifa is torn because, she feels finally “settled” in Malaysia, however, her family, in particular, her brother, wants to go back/seek refugee status somewhere else (This is my version of the Sana-Yusaf-Noora love triangle). However, this all comes to head when her brother is attacked when he is going to the Mosque (which will replace the whole Elias punching Isak plot). With this we will see, just how ingrained into Malaysian culture anti-Black sentiment is. This will end, with her parents deciding, really deciding to seek refugee status somewhere else (which will replace the Yusaf leaving plot). 

* tw for the season : pain/angst, racism, hate crimes, Islamaphobia

** additional notes: Kalifa is probably really close to Nor (my version of Noora) and they are super cute (e.g. - they fix each other’s Hijab and stuff... it’s ducking adorable). Also, the show will focus on Ramadan (though that’s boring I know)... However, instead of having Kalifa invite the girls to Hari Raya, Nor’s family invites Kalifa’s to their house. (You get the idea that because Kalifa’s family is so ostracised from the community, that this act is super important because they are finally being invited in... Also, Nor’s mom tries to cook Somali food and it's hella cute). Lastly, Geram!Yusaf, is a Sabahan Muslim. He volunteers at the refugee school that I mentioned earlier (hence his whole being good with kids thing). He is also lowkey an activist and is thus, really educated in racism and stuff. One of the reasons that Kalifa falls for him, is because he doesn’t put up with the casual jokes by his friends, and instead corrects them. 

Okay, so I haven’t actually thoroughly throughout the rest of my Sana’s... Partially, because I’m not well educated on the countries/religions etc. So here’s a brief summary:

Mó Bafão (SKAM Brasil): Monica (name subject to change)

Monica is a young Afro-Brasileira (Afro-Brasilian) woman. Monica practices the religion Candomblé, and thus faces a lot of prejudice from her peers for firstly, being Black (because racism and against Black people is a thing in Brasil, regardless of what Josh Boone may think). However, the other prejudice comes from the facts that her peers are mostly Christian and Catholic and see Candomblé as a heathen religion. Thus, due to that belief, many of her peers have grown up learning to avoid signs of the Candomblé faith (e.g. - orange coloured strips of fabric near a tree, or a specific arrangement of "ingredients" or tools). Much like Sana, Monica feels torn between two worlds. However, unlike Sana what it really comes down to is colonialism. Monica has really seen how the Christian/Catholic faith has affected Brasilian society, and how Brasil is still very much facing the consequences of colonialism (the post-colonial hangover is a real thing guys). 

SKAM TURKÏYE : Sera

Sera is Turkish-Armenian. Sera comes from a family where her family is super supportive of all of her dreams and goals. She is the mom friend of the group and constantly wants to care for everyone. She is Armenian and thus the prejudice that she faces is largely tied to the denial and recognition of the Armenian genocide by her peers and schools. Due to this, Sera is very much an advocate for the rights of Armenians, as well as Kurds and Jews. She faces a lot of backlash from her fellow peers who would rather keep the status-quo and not believe that there is something wrong about the world. Much of the season will discuss what it would mean for Sera to live in a modern Turkey and whether that would mean assimilate to the culture or to stand up for her people and her beliefs. Also, I just think it would be neat if we made Turkïye!Yusaf Kurdish. 

7. Introduce us to your version of Noora

Mó Bafão (SKAM Brasil): Grace Lee

At the start of the show, (Marie Vitória Silva’s (Mó Bafão!Eva) season), Grace Lee is a new student at their school. Grace is  Korean-Brasilian, and though her parents offered to send her to Colégio Polilogos (a South Korean international school in São Paulo), she chose to go to the school that she currently goes too, where she meets the Girl Gang. Grace is a super interesting character because though she grew up in Brasil, she also lived in Korea and the States, before moving back to São Paulo. Thus, Grace has curated her own cultural experience, which accounts for the fact that she doesn’t drink, smoke, party, have a boyfriend, or subscribe to traditional beauty standards. Grace would probably be considered fat/thick by most Asian (and Brasilian) standards. She is also quite tall for an Asian and doesn’t have the fair skin that is associated with Asian beauty standards. Grace kinds walks to the beat of her own drum, and because of that, Marie really admires Grace, which is one of the reasons for their tight bond. However, Mó Bafão!Vilde discounts this, believing that Grace’s decision to not drink, have sex, or conform to the standard of beauty is due to the conservative Korean culture or Grace’s family’s religious values. I think an important aspect of Grace’s character that I would like to point out is the place of privilege that Grace has, because she grew up over-seas she hasn’t had the same societal pressures in regards to beauty, partying, or sex that the rest of the girls have had, allowing her to be the character that stands up against it. Grace also is a total foodie and her Insta posts are entirely made up food. She also, posts these really cute Meokbang’s where she and one of her friends go out and try different foods in São Paulo. 

Okay, so here’s where he run into a lot of trouble. Because, I hate the whole Magnusson brothers plot in the original show, and I much prefer what eskam did in that regards. However, I also know for fact that Brasil has a huge sexual violence problem, so... I feel like, I would *really* need to be *way* more educated to be able to tell a beautiful and honest storyline that deals into ideas of consent and what not in the Brasilian context, and I am just not there yet?

* tw for the season : sexual violence + slut shaming + fat shaming ** additional notes : Okay, so I would really enjoy is Grace lived at home with her family and you get to see her interacting with her family. In that scenerio, the Mó Bafão!Eskild would probably be a family member/family friend that lives with them. However, another option would be to make Grace be living in a homestay situation with Mó Bafão!Eskild being the host of the homestay. Another aspect that we could potentially go into is intimate partner violence, with Mó Bafão!Miquel being this super charasmatic dude, who buys Grace clothes to wear that she doesn’t like (they are tight + bright colours she doesn’t like) and encouraging her to diet, all the while talking about how much he likes her for not being like the other Brasilian girls. Mó Bafão!Mique would totally have a TikTok account where he would post one of those TikTok “pranks” that’s straight up emotional abuse. This is sees through Grace’s socials because she stops posting her foodie content and Meokbangs. However, the last social you see from Grace (at the end of her season) is a tiny Meokbang again (maybe with Mó Bafão!Alejandro).  

SKAM India : Nana

Nana’s is from Nagaland, though her family has been staying overseas and have just moved to Bangalore. Nana is super close with her family, especially her father, who is her number one supporter. Nana’s family knows one of Anjali (my version of Eva) extended family. Nana and Anjali are really close. To some degree, Nana’s peers are a bit taken aback by her because she’s from the Nagaland, and there are some misconceptions about whether she is actually Indian. Nana is super smart and a bit of a know it all, which gets her in a lot of trouble at school. She is also super hardworking and lowkey the mom-friend of the group and just wants everyone to be okay. Due to this, she always wants people to be comfortable and treats them with kindness (which is great when it comes to India!Isak, but not when it comes to Kabir (India!Miquel).

So, I don’t know if you have already picked this up, but I am a huge fan of the way that eskam dealt with the Magnusson brother plot and the Miquel vs. Alejandro plot... And obviously, India has a huge issue with romanticising toxic relationships(looks pointedly at Arjun Reddy) and sexual violence.

So, that being said, in the first season we get an introduction to Kabir (my version of Miquel), who is this Delhi boy. He is a shameless flirt and flirts with everyone until he meets Nana. When she doesn’t reciprocate his affections, he focuses all of his attention on winning her over. For the first season, we see scenes of Nana and Kabir talking and it is all framed as harmless and funny, with them having a back and forth about how she doesn’t want to date him. We see, how annoyed she is by his advances, but it is pictured as almost romantical. However, when we delve into her season, we really see into just how much Kabir’s advances affect her, especially because she (though she is friendly with him) doesn’t want his advances, and he keeps playing it off as her “playing hard to get.” Due, to this, he continues to push Nana, whether it is to touch her against her will (hug her, attempt to play footsie with her, touch her face) or insert himself into her life (introduce himself to her family). Due to all of that, plus the fact that Kabir comes from a good family, Nana’s family and friends think 1) she is pretending to hate him (because she actually likes him) so they discount her words and 2) she is making a big deal because nothing actually happened (he didn’t actually “touch”/r*pe her). However, with the encouragement of her friends, India!Alejandro (if he exists) and her grandparents, she is able to stand up against Kabir and pushes him away.  

* tw for the season : sexual harassment + victim blaming ** additional notes : Okay, so in the scenario where we establish India!Alejandro, I thought it would be *really* fun to kinda do a flip on what eskam established. Instead, of establishing Alejandro in the first season, and introducing Miquel later. We establish Kabir in Season 1 where we see their “love” unfold and what not... Then we see India!Alejandro in her season... And he is just so much of the opposite of Kabir, he is patient, and is always waiting for her to make the first move. They, also have a fun back and forth (that’s very reminiscent of the Pakistani film Cake), and when she tells the “Girl Gang” and India!Alejandro about Kabir, he immediately believes her and wants to help in any way (get in contact with his family friend in order to press charges). 

GERAM (SKAM Malaysia) : Nor 

Nor is Malay-Muslim, and would probably be what my Aunt would call a Modern Day Muslim, and what the government of Malaysia would call heretical. Nor, doesn’t always wear her hijab (only when she wants too), but is deeply religious and goes to the Mosque and prays and what not. She also helps out in the animal shelter with dogs (’causing a lot of her friends and family to believe that she is un-Islamic). She is a total activist and is constantly talking about the evils of conversion therapy (a thing that can be forced on gay Muslim folks in Malaysia), the treatment of Orang Asli, foreign immigrants, and the Indian community in Malaysia. At the start of the season, Nor has just moved back from New Zealand, which has created a lot of hub-bub in her friend group because they see her as totally fancy and such. Nor, is really close with her family, who she lives with. Nor and her mom were especially close when Nor was younger, but because of Nor going through the classic teenage drama stuff, their relationship is not as tight as it could be. Nor’s cousin (who is an out and proud gay man) and Nor’s maid combined become Geram!Eskild. Nor, kinda has that rich popular girl thing going for her (think the energy and vibes that Tina has in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai). She is kinda outspoken, which causes her a bit of drama because she sometimes (all the time) says things that get her into trouble. In Geram, I won’t be playing around. Nor, is constantly being harassed by this boy. To the point where it gets really depressed and causes her to lock herself in her room. Her maid Geram!Eskild, finds out about the assualt and tells Nor’s mother. Nor’s mom, finds out and presses charges against Geram!William.

* tw for the season : sexual harassment + victim blaming

** additional notes : Okay, so I have two things to say. I know that most versions of Noora focus on the fact that she doesn’t want to have sex/drink. However, I’m going to subvert that by having her not do that, but instead being such an activist and being willing to talk about “controversial” things thus causing people to give her the label of un-Islamic and slightly heretical. Additionally, victim-blaming is going to be a huge focus this season, with randoms blaming the assault on the fact that Nor doesn’t always wear the hijab + wears that red lipstick, or the idea that she its punishment because of her views. I also, know that most seasons focus on Noora dealing with her issues by herself... however, I really want Nor to have to lean on her family in this time. Lastly, I would probably combine both Magnusson brothers into one person, and have them be Eurasian, making all the girls want him (because of that white-worshipping). Additionally, because he is a rich he tells everyone that Nor wanted it, and frames it as her asking for it. However, everyone that is important in Nor’s life believes her and knows that he is an idiot (even as he posts defamatory things about her on the socials).

#skam #skammaker #skam malaysia #skam india #skam brasil #SKAM TURKÏYE #someone ask me about my versions of Yusaf #or William

[papersandkeyboards]

6/6-12 (1): Spend Your First Day of Fasting Effectively (i.e. Canoeing Under the Summer Sun and Count Tree Rings)

37th WEEK, JUNE 6-12, 2016.

“...you’ll get, what, eighteen hours of Ramadan?”

“No way. How will I survive?”

“You can do it. If you do it, you’ll get bragging rights.”

Main Topic #1: Ramadan 1437 Hijriyah (the Islamic calendar) fell in June 2016, which was in the summer. According to basic rules of fasting, one must fast—refrain from all kinds of food and drink and bad deeds—from dawn until dusk. That being said, in the beautiful summer of North America, fast will last from around 3am to 9pm. That’s 18 hours. Compared to equatorial countries—such as Indonesia—which has constant daylight of 12-13 hours, I’ve lived Ramadan my whole life only from 5am to 6.30pm. That’s 12,5 hours.

Main Topic #2: According to Brian, albeit fasting way more hours that I normally should is hard, at least if I survive 18 hours of Ramadan, I can brag to people back in Indo that I’ve fasted longer than them. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and—I’m sure—any other normative laws, boasting is not such a good thing to do. But still. Hehe.

That was a conversation from my first months in Seattle, when the sun rose at 7.30am and set at 4pm. I used to be able to wake up at 7am and still can do my morning prayer, but as time goes and summer approaches, the sun rises earlier and earlier that at one point it legit scared me how early it was. It scared me even more to realize that the shortest day of the year, the summer solstice, would be right in the middle of Ramadan.

Anyway, if any of you don’t get the concept of Ramadan yet, here it is: Ramadan is a month in the Islamic calendar where us Muslims are obligated to fast (the term has been explained above) for the whole month. Many reasons stand behind the ritual, mainly religious observance. However, other accompanying and underlying reasons also claim that fasting acts as a detox to your body from toxins due to food and drink you may have been gluttonously consuming, a method of a healthy diet (if you do it right), and an act of sympathy and self-reflection by putting ourselves in the shoes of those who have none to eat every single day.

The idea of eating and drinking nothing for 18 hours shocks many people (“not even water??????” they would exclaim), even Karen (and many of my fellow Indonesian exchange students’ host parents) was worried and suggested to skip fast instead and make up for it outside of Ramadan. Even though Karen’s background as a Public Health person is more than convincing, but despite the dreadful waking-up-at-2-am-to-eat and waiting-until-9-pm-to-eat-again, I was excited and was totally up for it. No joke, I prepared what I would eat for pre-fast meal to make sure I will survive the day (this surprises both sides of the globe: my parents and Indo friends would say “but how will you survive without RICE??????” implying the stereotypical Indonesian who cannot survive without eating rice; whereas my own host parents were surprised seeing my shopping list for Ramadan pre-fast meals: “Why do you plan this kind of diet only when Ramadan is coming?” implying a commentary to my not-so-healthy eating habits and why I didn’t try to be this healthy from before).

And some people even advised to go with the Arab schedule—following the dawn and dusk time in Saudi Arabia where it was shorter than in Seattle—but all I had in mind was, it’s not every Ramadan you can fast for 18 hours. So why not try? Hehe. hehehe.

One day, an email came from Brian, telling me that he was going to go on a trip with an English photographer Stephen Vaughan, who was doing a research and shots regarding the big Pacific quake in the 1700s (also well-known as the Cascadia earthquake), which was totally in Brian’s expertise. Knowing my interest in photography, he asked if I would like to come with him.

One catch: the trip, of course, was going to be a fully outdoor one, and it would be hours from Seattle, so we would have to leave early in the morning and would arrive back in Seattle at night. The catch was, it would be on Monday, June 6, 2016, which coincides with—you guess it—the first day of Ramadan.

Here’s the only consideration: I would take the offer, no doubt. But will I be able to survive the day while fasting?

Nope, don’t think I would. Plus, the location is like 280 kilometers away from Seattle (do your own math if you do miles). According to Ramadan Fasting 101, if you travel beyond a certain pre-determined range, you will be considered a ‘traveler’ and thus, a ‘traveler’ can omit from fasting (assuming back then in Prophet Muhammad’s times people had to travel by camel or foot across hot hot desert, so no way anyone could survive that without a drink), as long as one makes up for the fast they’ve ‘lost’ during Ramadan at other times, because the fast is nonetheless obligatory.

So, yay. My first day of Ramadan and I skipped fasting already.

I woke up earlier than I usually do and was picked up by Brian. Then we stopped by this coffee shop Zoka, which was right across the bus stop I usually took to get to Rainier Beach when I still lived in Brian’s, and got a taste of, for the first time, its delicious bagel and (a little way too hot) hot chocolate. Then we drove into another coffee shop in (what I inferred as) the middle of nowhere where we met Stephen the photographer, who would then hitched shotgun for our long long ride to Willapa Bay.

It’s not an often occasion that I spent a whole day immersed in nature. We parked by a bridge across a river, and we took out boots down the river delta—

—nope. Didn’t take my boots. All I did was tighten it and hoped for the best that it didn’t come off whenever I stepped because of the extremely thick mud. I got a few close calls, though. And this happened within the first hour we started our work. (well, Brian and Stephen’s work)

Throughout the trip, doing what I should be doing and what I do best—observing and enjoying, I realized that the area of focus Stephen conveyed on this trip was—well, how do I say this without me sounding stupid—layers of soil and rings of tree. You know, those circles you see on a cross section of a tree. I do know people read tree rings to figure out the age of a tree—the more rings, the older. There is even a whole field of study regarding this (Dendrochronology—the scientific method of dating tree rings to the exact year they were formed, Wikipedia). With what Stephen was taking pictures of and Brian’s fiels of expert, layers of soil and tree rings supposedly makes you look back in time and figuring out history.

After shoveling quite a fair part of the river bank, and if you pay close attention to the exposed soil, you can see layers distinguished by various color, from different shades of brown, black, or even dark yellow. Very much like brownies—layered brownies, if that’s a thing. These layers supposedly can tell you the events that happened in this exact location—what made these different colors of soil—like a drought, a huge flood, or a tsunami. If you ask what event caused what type of soil layer—beats me, Brian’s explanation was so thorough and it would’ve been good if not for my brain capacity voluntarily rejects knowledge to some extent, but maybe at the time I was just not paying full attention. At least I got the gist.

He told me, though, the events that happened here was somewhat related to the aforementioned huge Cascadia quake, because Willapa Bay rests at the edge of the Pacific Ocean along the American west coast, that some ocean waves impact affected this area. Correct me if I’m wrong, though.

(picture courtesy of Stephen Vaughan, 2016)

Uh... yeah. Don’t ask me what this picture meant. Brian and Stephen could probably tell a story by looking at this, but nothing came to my head.

From the river bank, we went back to the car and drove some distance to another part of the river. We set our boat, a small one that fit three people with two rowers. Brian packed snacks and told Stephen and me to put our gears in dry bags (dry bags are cool. I like dry bags). Then, off we went along the South Fork Palix River.

It was a nice day in the beginning of summer. The sky was stark blue, showing ever so little signs of clouds. That left us with nothing but our hats to shelter us from the strong ray and heat (given just getting out of a cold season, so to speak, a temp of 20 degrees Celcius was enough to make me sweat on a stroll down Capitol Hill. Even though I didn’t know the temp when we were in Willapa Bay, I dare to bet that as hot as it got, it didn’t even come close to what my home sweet home town Duri has to offer). The breeze blew slow, the water—though not a clear one—so calm it almost seemed like it was staying still, only disturbed by our boat. The surroundings was exquisitely tranquil, the sole obvious sound was the splash of the rowers against the water. I took a deep breath as I rowed on the left side and Brian on the right, three of us taking turns rowing. I was lucky to be offered the front seat. Probably Brian and Stephen had done this kind of thing a lot and decided to give a little poor town girl a chance to enjoy nature.

[source]

Every once in a while, we would stop by a river bank where Brian would dig out a part of the soil to expose the layers within, Stephen would take pictures, all while both of them discussing the meaning of the layers and what story lay behind them. I, understanding jack, took pictures of anything else but the soil layers.

[pic courtesy of Stephen Vaughan]

After a while of rowing, we pulled over. This time not digging out soil, though. We climbed out of the boat and sit by a small meadow to have snacks. Then we walked some more into the forest that surrounds the river. I remembered something Brian said about this forest being a ‘ghost forest’.

Nope. It was definitely not a forest of ghosts. Or maybe it was. Idk.

(brb googling)

Ghost forest. So, uh, from what I could infer at the least is that when the Cascadia earthquake happened, the shift of the tectonic plates caused the land to drop, and that made seawater came in, so the forest was ‘flooded’ with seawater and killed the trees.

So, what gave the forest the nickname ‘ghost forest’ was because it was occupied by a lot of dead tree stumps. How the knowledge of counting tree rings interpret history regarding this specifically, I do not know. I only came to understand as far as these dead tree stumps were victims/witnesses during the Cascadia earthquake, and that could tell us something, supposedly.

That was our next agenda: taking pictures of dead tree stumps and their rings. I wandered around, took pictures myself and played around the marshes while cleaning my shoes (they were soaking with mud to begin with, so why not finish it off by soaking them wet wih fresh, clean water).

[pic courtesy of Stephen Vaughan]

After successfully burning my hand by the power of the sun and Brian’s small-but-super-powerful magnifying glass he used to count tree rings (but somehow had been left to me for this trip) out of sheer curiosity, Stephen was done with his tree stumps and we paddled back to the car. It was late afternoon and was starting to get dark. We prepped the boat back on top of the car and drove to another forest. This one, I think, was not quite ghostly.

It was a dense forest, like any other ordinary forest. We parked by an open path, and walked in until we found this huuuuuuuuge tree. This one, I think, was very much alive and well, unlike the previous models which were practically tree corpses. This alive one, Stephen called a “witness-survivor”, indicated this tree was also a witness to the Cascadia earthquake, but it survived until the day we paid a visit. How they found out this tree was a survivor I had no idea. Maybe because it was huge and thus very old and old enough that it was alive when the quake happened.

It was really huge, though. Why I said it three times, it is because I’m not kidding. I could have gathered a dozen people and we could’ve joined our hands together to hug the tree.

[picture courtesy of Stephen Vaughan, 2016. BTW I don’t have the any comparison pics, but just believe me it was huge]

Well, since the tree was alive we couldn’t have very much slice it open to take a peep at its rings, so Stephen took a picture of its trunk instead. He whipped out this antique-looking camera and set a timer for a slow-shutter shot. The camera used a film, so he made us sure he was going to take every shot with care (and of course, that served as a warning to NOT mess with it—stay out of frame, don’t even move or else you might shake the camera and the picture could come out imperfect).

ALMOST FORGOT. If you wish to see the kinds of pictures Stephen takes, and his end result of this project he worked on with Brian, do check them out here, as I already inserted as courtesy for the pics I use in this post. Cool guy.

It was really getting darker, and by the time we went back to our car it was time to turn on the car headlights. We arrived in Seattle quite late at night.

---

Phew.

So much for the first day of Ramadan. Unforgettable experience, especially coming from me, who is not a huge fan of nature outing, but this one sure was fun.

Alhamdulillah hehe.

Udah, udah gaada alesan bolos puasa lagi. Besoknya udah harus puasa beneran. Dan besok sekolah.

Marhaban ya Ramadan, the holy month which all Muslims are excited about, come at me, bro.

#langkahanakbangsa #willapa bay #ramadan #stephen vaughan

[oneweekoneband]

Okay, so now we're going to take a break from the music and talk about something that's a bit harder for me to do. In the introduction to this oneweekoneband, I mentioned how some of Khalid's life and his body of work directly relates to the hyper specific experiences of mine. One, is weirdly enough, this partiular part of the Location video, where he shows everyone how to pronounce his name.

I lived four hellish years in Saudi Arabia. In an airconditioned classroom there filled with the children of expats, we had one compulsory class a week where we had sit in total silence, hands folded on our laps while the Islamic studies teacher explained the word of god, and we were allowed to no questions. Four times a week, we also had Arabic class where the teacher, a Lebanese Christian that I once accidentally discovered didn't wear a bra when we bent down to correct my work (and therefore may have accidentally fueled my sexual awakening), basically let us fool around all we wanted while she taught us how to make the shape of Arabic letters in our mouths. There are two K sounds in that language, a guttural, low growling sound in the back of the throat and one higher "Kuh" that makes up Khalid.

In my class in Saudi, a favourite activity of the classmates was making fun of British accents. All these Pakistani, American, Palestinian and Egyptian kids would drop into exaggerated impersonations in the middle of lessons or breaktimes, and then laugh loudly amongst themselves like they'd made the funniest joke of the planet. When I moved back to India years later, I then discovered that a favourite joke among my new classmates was making fun of Arabic, especially the guttural "Kha" sound. I can't count the number of times someone would pretend to break into a wooping cough after saying they "knew Arabic", and then beam at me like they were the first ones to think of it. One day, I decided I wanted to start wearing the headscarf full time, and came to school wearing it. One of my friends, with a bright smile on her face said "You look like Osama Bin Laden's cousin".

I learned the hard way, after uprooting life in a terrifying, totalitarian country and coming to what should have been home, that Islamophobia is a very difficult thing to talk about. Prejudices like racism and sexism affect one easily definable group of people, prejudices like Islamophobia affect a huge variety of the population that have practically nothing in common with each other. The best way I can explain being Muslim in the developed world is like living life with a totally normal appearance except for a single, mostly hidden third eye. You can go through life perfectly fine most of the time, but sometimes that part of you still sticks out like a sore thumb, makes you live with the uncomfortable awareness that you'll never be considered entirely normal. Being Muslim is losing attendence at school because your family celebrates Eid twice a year, and having to politely refuse food during Ramadan and having confused looks directed your way. Being Muslim is when shopping is agony because all the shirts fit you but are too sheer these days and cracking jokes about being held up at security as you go on holidays. Being Muslim is hitting it off with someone and then having to hear them ask, with no maliciousness if Shia was the term for ISIS supporters. Being Muslim is being brilliant enough at eighteen to write  a hit and then having to explain how to pronounce your first name. It's an uncomfortable, ever present itch.

Because Muslims in media are so few and far in between, there are two profiles of two very different Muslim men that stand out to me when I talk about this. One is GQ's interview with Mahershala Ali, a Black man and the first Muslim to win as Oscar. The second is the New Yorker's profile of Sadiq Khan, Pakistani Brit who's the first Muslim to become the Mayor of London. Both are drastically different men, growing up in different environments with drastically different aims in life. Yet the one thing that keeps cropping up in their seperate pieces is the same uncomfortable, ever present itch, the awareness of knowing you're the only person of your kind in the spotlight and the burden of carrying that awareness. One journalist describes how Sadiq Khan becomes the unofficial ambassador of his faith almost everywhere he goes, and how he carefully moniters his speech and behaviour because he knows that for many its the first time they're meeting a Muslim. In the second piece, its the interviewer himself that notices how Ali gets stares and whispers in the restaurant they're dining at but not a single patron steps forward to speak to the Oscar winner, almost like they're carrying some internalised, prejudiced fear that stops them. Throughout it all both men are smiling, calm, and carefully charismatic, restraining themselves from ever showing how it affects them even when all of us know it shouldn't be happening.

When it comes to Khalid, who is very much a private individual as much as he's an artist, it's dangerous to project a single situation onto him. Like I said, Islamaphobia affects a huge variety of people, and that includes people who are only Muslim in name. And its always been much, much easier for people who aren't brown women. Maybe Khalid cares about his identity, but isn't particularly religious. Maybe he doesn't even believe in god. Some part of me feels stupid for even writing this post because he's never given any indication its even crossed his mind. But the other part of me thinks about how often he smiles and gives careful answers to questions, thinks about how he seems so much more than his eighteen years and wonders how he became that way. Whatever the truth is, I hope people don't try to erase the fact a Black Muslim wrote one of the best albums this year. And I'm proud of him. He's a complete stranger to me, but I look at a fellow Muslim and I am so, so proud of him. Listening to this album makes me want to produce art in a way that few songs can. 

#khalid #intermission #i managed to pull through and finish this one yay

[thatssonano]

I am writing this right after Ichaa, the last prayer of the day and since it is the quietest, the most peaceful time to me, I decided to write down my thoughts. Actually, the most peaceful time of the day is around 3.30am right before Fajr but I never get to stay up until this hour.

I went to the mosque for a meeting right before they released the Ramadan clip and I did not have the time to watch it so I did when I came back. I just got to see the title and I was like “yes finally, talking about Ramadan!’

That was not what I was expected. But honestly, whenever a clip is out, we either feel very happy, very sad, very angry, very emotional; so I mean, I kinda saw it coming. But well.

I saw a lot of reactions about how badly the Balloon boys represented Ramadan because they did not talk about our own version of Ramadan, which is basically the most beautiful time of the year. And seeing the clip myself, I was not even mad about the way they talk about Ramadan. Because honestly, I heard their conversation a thousand times.

Islam is beautiful. It always will be. And no matter what we do, we will always get hate for being strong in what we believe in. And I actually don’t believe that boys joking around is gonna make the situation worse than it already is (don’t fight me on that, tell me your opinion if you want to). Because honestly, racists find the little detail they hear about Islam to throw shade at us. (I mean I lived the whole ridiculous story about Burkinis lmao that was insanely ridiculous). And a grown up man who is actually the father of a friend once told me that I was submitted to men and that unconsciously I wanted that. He also told me how I ought to follow the culture and civilisation of the country I live in and that Islam but only Islam is not adapted to the culture. Like yes, 50 year old sir. Please, do persecute a twenty something girl in front of everyone because it sure makes you smart.

ANYWAYS.

I feel like Julie Andem really represented well Islam so far; may it be about prayer, Quran, faith. We all saw it. We all saw how passionate Sana was when she explained why she fell in love with Islam. 

Remember, Muslims are humans, they make mistakes. Islam is perfect. A Muslim can be wrong in his actions, but never Islam.

So yeah Julie probably shouldn’t have introduced Ramadan this way but I mean, it’s also realistic. How many times does this happen in real life? It does. And I know representing good Muslim guys on TV is really really important but reality is too. Remember what Elias said anyway? Some people say they believe in Allah but some others act like they believe in Allah. And this is a huge difference. So maybe don’t demonize them just yet? Perhaps we will see more about Ramadan and forgiveness and love and peace than this? Patience perhaps?

At the meeting I attended at the mosque, the man (not imam, he was just a specialist I believe) explained how Ramadan is about feeling the hunger going through our bones so that we can understand how so many live in this world. But somehow in this society, Ramadan is about overeating, overcooking, oversleeping, over complaining. And this is kinda true. This has to change. He also explained how important it was for us to understand every verse of the Quran and how important it was to make research about it because it is way more important to act on the Quran rather than memorize it with no understandings. Which I also agree with.

When it comes to Sana, I am truly heartbroken to see her like this. But I just wish she will seek comfort to God and in prayer, because patience and love is found there. Whenever I feel sad, whenever something bad happens to me, I take the Quran and I open it. I don’t seek for a specific Surah, I just open the book and read the first verse I find. And may God have mercy on my soul, the first verse I read is always connected to the hardship I am living. This is Islam. This is beauty. It is quiet and powerful, it soothes the souls and the hearts. It makes us realize that nobody in this world is worthier than God.

To anyone reading this, or to anyone having read the texts I write about Islam and Sana beautiful Bakkoush, please do understand that all I am trying to do is to show how good and how open Islam is. I want to open discussions (and Skam actually opens discussions on different social issues). I have a master degree in Sociology and all the research I have done were focused on the conversations I had with people. Discussions raises awareness. It breaks barriers because you listen to someone’s point of view. And this is important. Human interactions can save us, I already said that but I will say it again. Be open, do not be afraid. Our differences are beautiful and even though you don’t agree with what people say, you should at least listen to what they say. Open discussions. We are the generations of today and tomorrow and we can develop a better place if we just talked and respected one another. You can agree, you can disagree, but don’t let stereotypes and prejudices take over.

 (Please do forgive me if I offended you in some way.)

#skam season 4 #skam #sana bakkoush #yousana #elias bakkoush #balloon squad #love #islam #ramadan

[everyoneisgay]

#LongestDaysSacredNights: Mari’s Letter

Everyone Is Gay is partnering with Masjid al-Rabia for a month of Ramadan programming specific to LGBQTIA+ Muslim youth. See all of the resources here on Masjid al-Rabia’s website, and follow us all month for resources, music, and letters from the LGBTQIA+ Muslim community. Today, we share Mari’s letter.

To my fellow LGBTQ siblings in Islam,

Assalamu alaikum.

It’s Ramadan again, alhamdulillah, and if you’ve ever experienced a Ramadan like I have, it might look something like this: everyone is getting closer to their faith, boosting their iman, people who might not pray as often as they should start to pray more (this has been me on more than one Ramadan, I must admit), everyone gets together all the time for everything, most notably the countdown to iftar where everyone makes jokes about dates (you know the ones—“Ramadan is the only month that I have a date every night,” possibly you’ve had a cheesy relative ask if you’ll be their “date” for iftar, etc.) and eats a lot. It’s a month that so many Muslims look forward to and enjoy. Often when I was younger, even though I knew that I should be enjoying the community involvement and strengthening my relationship with Allah SWT, I still found that rather than feeling excited or inspired I instead felt so painstakingly… alone.

If you’ve ever felt alone during Ramadan—especially if you feel alone this year—then this letter’s for you. Perhaps you’ve already come out to those around you and you’ve faced a less than ideal reaction, or perhaps you haven’t and that’s what’s making you feel alone. As a transgender woman and a lesbian who has identified as just about every letter of “LGBTQ” and who has spent many Ramadans “closeted” and recent ones “out,” I understand the way that Ramadan can make us LGBTQ Muslims feel isolated and rejected from the ummah. We don’t get a break from other Muslims calling us (either to our face or behind our backs) nonbelievers, telling us that our existence is a contradiction, saying that we are haram or that we can’t be Muslim if we’re LGBTQ—so instead of focusing on our faith and our community, we feel shut out from it. We feel unloved, depressed, and alone.

If you feel or have felt this way, then I’m here to tell you this:

Your existence is love in its purest form. Nothing about who you are or what you do disappoints Allah SWT or replicates a sin. Other Muslims will try to get you to believe otherwise, but it’s not true. They might throw out-of-context ayah at you or cherry-pick the parts of the Quran that allows them to feel justified in their homophobia and transphobia, but despite what they say you are not haram. Not once does the Quran imply or state that you are; Rather, the Quran calls for tolerance and diversity and allyship with the oppressed. You will not burn in Jahannam. Not for feeling attraction to your gender, not for acting on that attraction, not for accepting yourself as the gender that you are, and not for transitioning. And if you believe that Islam doesn’t accept you, know that there is just as much of a place for you in Islam as there is for cis Muslims and straight Muslims—in fact, I would argue that you are more welcome than them. Allah SWT would never punish or reject you for your existence when you’ve done nothing shameful or wrong. These Muslims who say otherwise do not speak for Allah SWT, their disappointment is not equivalent to His, and their hate in no way overshadows His love. Allah’s SWT love for you outweighs everything that homophobes and transphobes think and believe. They are in the wrong, always. Not you.

And you should also know this: You are not alone. This Ramadan, I want you to know that I exist. And I will know that you exist. And our existence is proof that it’s possible—it’s proof that LGBTQ Muslims can and do exist, that we are loved by Allah SWT, that we represent the greatest parts of love and acceptance in Islam, that we resist the institutions and communities and people that attempt to erase our identity, and that we aren’t going anywhere. There are people just like us all over the world experiencing this Ramadan together, even if we are alone. That is part of what inspires me about Ramadan—knowing we are here and knowing that will never change. Knowing that more people like us are coming out to themselves and learning more about themselves every day.

InshAllah you find something in this letter or in the knowledge of my existence that inspires you and lets you know that you can make it too.

Yours,

Mari (homojabi.tumblr.com)

#Longest Days Sacred Nights #everyone is gay #ramadan #lgbtq muslims

[hindsight222]

Worship begins in respect.

I feel that the definition of worship has a become lost on the masses. Worship is not blindly following and agreeing with someone or something, humiliating yourself or others, or harming yourself or others. Worship does not require you to go broke. Worship, at its very root, is respect. When ancient man saw the moon and the sun, they worshiped them as gods for they gave both light in darkness and sunshine to grow food. Ancient man regarded all things that added to their existence with some sort of great respect. (When I say “ancient man,” I mean all ancient cultures that predate modern religion around the world). There was respect of love, fertility, lightning, rain, crops and even war. Nowadays I think that our curiosity as an ever-evolving species, has strayed us away from respect. Why worship the moon? Why not study it? Question it? Understand it? Land on it. Claim it as our own. Colonize it. Our healthy curiosity causes us to smudge the line of respect. We don’t need to worship rain anymore, of course, however, in shifting our worship to curiosity of all things, we have caused harm to so many things that we once respected a lot more. Our earth should be the MOST respected — we live on it! Our oxygen should be highly regarded as important — we breathe it! Unfortunately, us humans have done a considerable amount of damage to our world, our oceans, our air quality. The damage does not just affect us, but every other living creature that has to live on this planet with us. Even if you take the spirituality out of worship, look at how much respect and reverence still remains. I’m having restraint and compassion for whatever we set our curiosity on, we can still have respect for life. Respecting & Worshiping Others. When a man opens the door for a woman, he is not worshiping her, he is respecting her femininity. Her returned gratefulness is her respecting his masculinity, and also knowing that he didn’t have to do that. I don’t know how others were raised, but I grew up knowing that no one uses foul language around my grandmothers and grand-aunties, no matter how “grown” you were. That was simply not done. You respected them as elders of the family, as Mothers, as queens that love you with all of the positivity in their heart, so you left that foolishness outside. When a pastor walks up to the pulpit and you stand up in church, you’re not worshiping the pastor, you are respecting the fact that this is the person that is going to attempt to deliver some love and positivity to the whole room, to try to relieve someone’s anxiety and pain the best way they know how. That is honorable. That is something to be respected. When the judge walks in the courtroom and you stand up, you’re not worshiping this judge, you’re not bowing to “massa;” you’re respecting the person that has put in enough years of interpretation of the legal system, that s/he is now able to deliver sentences, fines and essentially effect your freedoms. You and your freedom absolutely should respected in return at all times. We know our legal system does not always do a good job at this.. which trickles down to general distaste and disrespect for the “justice system” from those that it oppresses, but I digress. When a bride stands at the back of the church and everyone stands up, that is respecting the union that is about to happen. The reason you came was to watch these two become one family, you stand in respect of that. Traditions and manners have often been regarded as unnecessary. It doesn’t take much to turn on the news and see someone horribly disrespecting or, worse, harming someone else. The lack of the respect and civility will eventually reside in disrespect and an uncivilized society. Now the big one. God. I am a proud Christian so this will be according to my perspective. I also love studying other religions, so I will also do my best to be respectful to all readers. Where do I start? Okay, we have disrespected, chastised and executed followers of Christ, followers of Islam, followers of Judaism, and SO many of those that dare to have their own religion and gods. Who is anyone to tell another what can comfort their heart? Disrespectful and just wrong. On television shows, internet jokes, YouTube parodies, I see so many people make jokes at Christians’ expense. There are bands with names, plenty of lyrics that disrespect Christianity, or make light of it. Costumes that I won’t even go into. How messed up is it to be enjoying a TV program or listening to some music and then hear your faith disrespected? I believe God created the universe, planets, everything, my family and even me — I can’t just sing along to that! I can’t just act like I didn’t hear it. If you heard someone wildly disrespect your Mother specifically, you’d have an issue. Christians, like other religions, get a bad wrap because of extremists, but should still have their faith respected. All faiths can respect one another without accepting the same truths. I feel for the Muslim community very much. My father taught me the Muslim faith when he was married to a Muslim woman when I was younger. I got to spend a summer with them and learned so much. I got to wake up early and eat with them for Ramadan, I got to wear the headpiece and learn the prayers and movements. My Christian Baptist Mother allowed me to do this because she knew that I had always been curious about other people in general. I was also a pretty spiritual kid; me and Jesus were tight. She allowed me to explore my spirituality and I’m so grateful. I think Islamic culture is so beautiful! Have you ever seen a Mosque?! Come on now. Just beauty and details everywhere. Anyways, I just want to say that with all the stigma and stereotypes surrounded by your faith and tensions being so awful in America, I really do feel for followers of the Muslim life. I hope it’s not disrespectful to say I pray for the families, especially those that have experienced the extreme violence lately. When I was younger, I was told that all streams, no matter how shallow, have water. I may be quoting that wrong, but what I always took from it was that everyone has something in them that is true, that you can learn from. A lot of religions, both old and new, have very similar stories, and ask people to do the same things: be respectful to yourself and your surroundings, feel good inside and do good outside, be mindful, be grateful and be fruitful. There is no reason to disrespect anyone else for following those rules out of a different book, so to speak. Worship is different to different people. Think of someone or something that you respect the most. (God? Loyalty?) to worship is to just continue to build on respect. Egyptians built great pyramids to exhibit their respect and worship of their gods and royalty. Native Americans considered certain grounds sacred, built fixtures and sculptures. Some African cultures look at their elder and storytellers as royalty as they their lips hold the history of their people. Muslims do not pray without clean limbs. We Christians write songs, poems, do praise dances to worship God. If you’re Baptist, like me, you might even get a little loud with your praise, as if to shout your worship right up to heaven. It’s not necessary if it’s not your thing though. Your relationship to your Creator is your own. What’s Not Worship.

Celebrity and pop culture are ruining the line between fame and blasphemy. To respect the talent and beauty or whatever of a famous person is fine, to admire it is even good too. To support, be a fan of and be inspired by celebrities is all okay. What is not okay is to worship these people as gods. Celebrities are just famous PEOPLE. Just like you and I. You even put too much pressure on the famous people by overly loving them and wanting them to be a role model for your children, agree with what you believe in politically, and literally scrutinize every move they make! These famous people exhaust themselves to death to try to live up to an impossible standard because the masses don’t know how to RESPECT boundaries, within self or others. You shouldn’t love celebrities too much and wanna know everything about their lives simply because you like their songs or movies. You’re disrespecting their right to be a flawed human like you are. You’re disrespecting yourself by obsessing over the life of someone else. And you’re disrespecting GOD by giving that much energy over to someone who He made just like you! God loves you and made you special and you turn around give your self-love and self-worth over to someone else who is human just like you. God wants you to love Him and yourself. You gotta respect yourself too. Respect yourself. Respect yourself. You don’t need to worship yourself either. Comparing yourself to others to show how superior you are is... well it’s just silly, first of all. Second, it’s disrespectful. If you were born with fair skin or pretty feet or great hair, you can’t help that; you had NOTHING to do with it. If someone else was born with a learning disability, big ears, or something like psoriasis, THEY had nothing to do with that. If you’re the fastest person on your track team, that’s good for you, but that doesn’t mean everyone else on the team is just crappy. It means you’re the best, today. People that overly exalt themselves and brag on their talents, cause others to wish for their downfall. People that are humble about their many accomplishments, make others wanna exalt them for him/her and can’t wait to share in more of their victories. Don’t gas yourself up from your own headlines. Respect yourself.

Take care of yourself. Remember yourself. Pay attention to yourself. Who else is gonna be thinking about you, if you are never thinking about you? You can’t get mad at people for not considering you, if you don’t speak up for yourself when you should, if you don’t take care of yourself when you need care. It won’t even be intentional that you get disrespected or counted out, sometimes. You can’t forget about you and expect everyone around you to pick up the slack in your own self-love. Many of us are having a hard time with our own as well. Love. I think worship and love get confused, too. So many are obsessed with and even worship their partners, but they do not love them. If you’re obsessed with your lover, you need to take a step back. Being their biggest supporter, admirer, and genuinely just loving them so much, that is great. But can you imagine if someone just straight up told you “I’m obsessed with you.” That is terrifying! Men that are obsessed with their woman so much that they have to know where she is and what she is doing at all times, even hitting her when she steps out of line, do not love their woman. Women that are so controlling over a man that they don’t want him to have friends or do anything without her, don’t love him. That’s a human being. Human beings need friendship, love, community, alone time, freedom. If you wouldn’t want another human being trying to control those things in your life, think about if you’re obsessing over those things in someone else’s life that is not your young child. Then there are some women that lose themselves in a man so much that they end up disrespecting themselves in order to worship him. This is a sin against God, and, sis, it’s a sin against yourself. Willpower. Boundaries. As a “free spirit,” BOY do I struggle with those two words. I don’t like saying “no” to myself. Jackie Kennedy said that. I don’t remember the exact quote, guys, but she said it. I really don’t like stopping my joy. I struggle with depression and anxiety so much so that when I’m doing something that I like, that distracts me, I don’t want to stop. That doesn’t make it right, and it’s also single-minded. I’ve found that there is joy and great reward in having willpower. It goes without saying that you absolutely need boundaries in life, but typically that’s with others. 

In order to respect oneself, I feel that you have to set boundaries on everything. That sounds mechanical which is not my intent. I mean that you should pay attention to yourself in order to continue to enjoy your whole life the way you want to. If you love cheese, but know it can gum up your arteries, then you have to set boundaries on how often you indulge so that you can continue to indulge for as long as possible. I like alcohol, but if I want my liver to like me for the rest of my life, I have to set boundaries. Paying attention to the things you like, the things you need, and effects of those things all make it possible for you to set more reasonable boundaries for yourself. Love for yourself is rooted in respect, just like worship is rooted in the ultimate amount of respect that you can induce.

[thetruthseekerway]

Yahya Schroder, Ex-Secularist, Germany

New Post has been published on https://www.truth-seeker.info/guided-atheists/yahya-schroder-ex-secularist-germany/

Yahya Schroder, Ex-Secularist, Germany

By Yahya Schroder

Yahya Schroder, Ex-Secularist, Germany

My name is Yahya Schroder. I am a “European” Muslim. I became Muslim 11 months ago when I was 17. I am living now in Potsdam, Germany and I want to share my experience with you as a Muslim in a non-Muslim state.

As a convert to Islam, I think it is much easier to follow the deen (religion) than a born Muslim who is been raised up here. Almost all young born-Muslims I know want to become German. For them, Islam is only a tradition and they think that they have to give up their tradition (Islam) to be accepted by the Germans, despite the fact that the Germans will not accept them even if they gave up their religion.

I grew up in a little village. I lived with my mother and my stepfather in a huge house with a big garden and a big pool. And as a teenager I “lived a cool life;” I had some friends whom I used to hang around with, do stupid things and drink alcohol like every young German teen.

The life of a Muslim in Germany is quite difficult than one would think especially for me as a German Muslim because when someone asks a German what they know about Islam; they would tell you something about Arabs. For them, it is like mathematical operation, Islam = Arabs.

They still do not know about our big nation. When I converted to Islam I had to leave my family and I moved to the community in Potsdam near Berlin. I left this huge house and all my material valuable stuff.

When I lived with my mother and my stepfather I had everything; a big house, my own money, TV, Play-station. I was never concerned about money, but I was not happy. I was searching for something else.

When I turned 16 I met the Muslim community in Potsdam through my biological father who became Muslim in 2001. I used to visit my father once a month and we used to attend the meetings of the community which were held on Sundays.

At that time, I was interested in Islam, and my father noticed this and told me one day that he would not speak about Islam when we are together because he wanted me to learn from people of greater knowledge so that other people will not say: “Oh he became Muslim just because he is 17 and does everything his father does.”

I agreed and I started visiting the community every month and learned a lot about Islam but at that time something happened and changed my way of thinking. One Sunday, I went with the Muslim community swimming and I broke my back twice by jumping in the pool and I hit the ground with my head.

My father brought me to the hospital and the doctor told me:

“You have broken your back quite bad and if you did one wrong movement you will become handicapped.”

This did not help me much, but then just a few moments before they brought me to the operation room. One of my friends of the Muslim community told me something. “Yahya, you are now in the hands of Allah (God), it is like a roller-coaster  Now you are on the top enjoy the ride and just trust in God.” This really helped me.

The operation took five hours and I woke up after 3 days. I could not move my right arm but I was feeling like the happiest person on this earth. I told the doctor that I do not care about my right arm; I am so happy that God has let me survive.

The doctors had told me that I have to stay in the hospital for a few months. I stayed for only two weeks there because I was training very hard. One day a doctor came and said: “Today we will try to take one step on the staircase,” the exercise that I did on my own two days before the doctor told me.

Now, I can move my right arm again and I was just two weeks there alhamdu lillah (thanks God). This accident changed a lot in my personality.

I noticed when God wants something; the individual’s life can be turned over in one second. So, I took life more seriously and started thinking more about my life and Islam, but I was still living in this little village.

My wish to become Muslim became so strong that I had to leave my family. I left my stepfather, my mother and the nice luxury lifestyle to go to Potsdam. I moved to my father’s apartment which is rather small and I had to stay in the kitchen but it was okay because I had nothing just a very few clothes, school books, and some CDs.

It must sound for you like I lost everything but I am very happy, I am as happy as when I woke up in the hospital after the dreadful accident. The next day was the first day of Ramadan. The day after this was my first school day in my new school.

The day after my first day in school I said Shahadah (the testimony of becoming a Muslim), praise be to God. So, everything was new for me, new apartment, new school, and first time without my family. Like in my school when they first noticed that I am a Muslim they started to make jokes at me.

I think this is usual because of what they learned from the media. “A terrorist,” “Osama bin Laden is coming,” “Muslims are dirty,” some people thought I am just a crazy guy. And they even did not believe me that I am German.

But now after 10 months the situation changed. I made a lot of da`wah (inviting people to Islam) to my classmates and now I even have a praying room although I am the only Muslim in my school.

My classmates changed from making jokes to asking serious questions about Islam and they noticed that Islam is not a religion like the other religions. They noticed Islam is cool!

They see that we Muslims have Adab (good manners) in dealing with each other. They noticed that we are independent from all this peer pressure; we just keep it real we do not need to be in a special group like in my school.

At my school there are three main groups: the hip hop guys; the punks; and the party people. Everybody tries to be a member of one group, so as to be accepted by others.

Except me! I can be friends with everybody. I do not have to wear special clothes to be “cool.” So what happened is that they are always inviting me and my Muslim friends to their barbecue parties.

The special thing on this is that they respect me as a Muslim and even more, they get Halal (allowed) food especially for me and they have organized two barbecue grills one for them and one for us Muslims! The people here are very open for Islam.

  ——————————

Taken with slight editorial modifications from islamonline.net. It first appeared on islamonline.net (IOL) in 2007.

#adab #Allah #Arab #Berlin #conversion story #convert #dawa #Dawah #Deen #European Muslim #Ex-Secularist #Featured #German #Germany #God #hadith #halal food #Islam #Mohamed #Muhammad #Muslim community #Osama bin Laden #Potsdam #prayer #quran #salah #salat #shahadah #sunnah #teenager