ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM WORTH WATCHING

 

I watched this show the other night and was pleasantly surprised. The creators of the programme deserve great kudos for showing just how normal these folks are!  You can see women in full hijab roller blading just for the sake of interest, but the focus is on the very real lives of very real people. If this show takes off the way Sister Wives has done, it could do a great deal to enhance the standing of Muslims in America, something that is way overdue.

I am sure the Wahhabist amongst us might quiver in outrage at some of the things they might see and hear and put out nasty old fatwas about the programme, but these folks are just real and they struggle like any other people striving to find a way of life that allows them to maintain their religion and be part of  the nation in which they live. Besides, these ole Wahhabists need to be taken down a few notches and have no place pushing their mores in North America.

I loved the part about changing football practice time to the night during Ramadan... There is a way for us all to make it work. And the wedding was a delight.

"I learned you don't need alcohol to have fun" one Irishman gushes.

Now for mainstream Americans to watch the show and learn... and act on what they learn in a positive manner. The series of clips below will give you an excellent overview of the programme.

Scene from Part One of All-American Muslim which centers around a wedding. The groom is Irish American and the bride Lebanese Muslim American. The mix of cultures was charming.

Amy Hunter

wtop.com

November 15, 2011

One is a tattooed single mom with an affinity for piercings. Another is an ambitious businesswoman with a husband, a 6-year-old son and dreams of opening a nightclub. And another works part-time as a secretary, raises two kids and always wears a hijab. 

Shadia Amen, Nina Bazzy-Aliahmad and Zaynab Zaban are very different women, but they have a few things in common. They are Muslim Americans, and they are the stars of a new TLC reality show, "All-American Muslim." 

The eight-episode series, which premiered on Sunday night, takes an inside look at the lives of five Muslim American families living in Dearborn, Mich., home to the largest population of Arab Americans in the U.S. 

"The whole point of doing this is to bring out what Muslims are," Nawal Aoude, a cast member, told the The Detroit Free Press. "We want to set good examples, show that we are still traditional but that we are Americans, too." 

The show is the first of its kind depicting the lives of Muslim Americans, a diverse, often misunderstood community. The five families chosen for the show vary greatly in their conservatism and observance of certain Islamic traditions, but all avow their Muslim faith and their Americanism. 

Haris Tarin, director of the Washington D.C. Office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, watched the show's premiere and was pleased with what he saw. 

"I think it's a good start. The fact that Hollywood and TLC are taking an interest in the Muslim community is a good thing. 

"It's not representative of the whole Muslim American experience, but TLC is not looking to be completely representative. TLC is looking for a compelling story and these families have compelling stories," he says. 

Tarin says the show zeroes in on the experiences of Arab-American families living in a particular location, creating a "snapshot of a part of the Muslim American experience." 

"Just as 'Sister Wives' is not representative of all Mormans, 'All-American Muslim' is not representative of all Muslims," he says. 

Still, Tarin sees the series as a positive step in showing "that Muslim Americans have everyday lives, that they are struggling to be Americans and they are struggling to lead happy lives. It personalizes the experiences of our community." 

The show airs on TLC on Sundays at 10 p.m. For more information, click here.