Muhammad Rocked the Casbah

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Muhammad Rocked the Casbah

San Antonio's Muslim punk scene goes national, and Europe is next.

Lydia Crafts | December 14, 2007 | Books and the Culture

Kourosh Poursalehi was a 16-year-old Sufi from San Antonio in 2004 when he created a song that made a fictional punk-rock movement come alive. Hypothesizing that no one in the world was like him, Poursalehi went looking for other Muslim punks and discovered The Taqwacores, a novel written by Muslim-convert Michael Muhammad Knight about a fictional underground Muslim punk-rock scene in upstate New York. In the book, the punks called themselves taqwacore—a combination of the Arabic word taqwa, meaning consciousness of God, and hardcore.

Poursalehi thought the taqwacores were real and set out to meet them. He found a poem written by Knight at the beginning of the book called "Muhammad was a punk rocker" that portrays the Prophet rebelling against the oppressors of his time, smashing idols and sporting a spiky hairdo. Poursalehi put the poem to music—spawning the first-ever taqwacore song.

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Clubs Bloom in the Desert

Daryl Visscher for The New York Times

The 360 bar at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Dubai Travel Guide

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

What to Do

Go to the Dubai Travel Guide »

From the New York Times - December 9, 2007

Party Destination | Dubai
Clubs Bloom in the Desert

By SETH SHERWOOD

SIX years ago, Dion Mavath, an Australian D.J., flew to Dubai to take up residency at an upstart local nightclub. Dubai, a fledgling metropolis, was still mostly known as an airport hub and a shipping port, and the local night-life scene, he quickly found, was nearly as sterile and undistinguished as the flat Middle Eastern desert landscape.

"It was dire," he recalled with a laugh. "It was very backwards. There was absolutely no musical knowledge whatsoever."

But few places on the planet have transformed themselves with as much deliberateness and aplomb — to say nothing of oil money — as the tiny city-state on the Persian Gulf. Three mammoth palm-shaped artificial islands have risen from the sea, and scores of five-star hotels and futuristic skyscrapers are exploding from the barren ground.

Amid them, the Middle East's most dynamic clubs and chic lounges have also coalesced from the dust, boosted by an enormous expatriate community, tolerant local mores (a Dubai branch of Hooters is reportedly in the works) and a proliferation of glittery events like the Dubai International Film Festival. From a night-life backwater, Dubai has become the kind of city where you might run into Michael Jordan at the Buddha Bar or stumble across Naomi Campbell celebrating her birthday with a multiday bash, as she did last year.

"Everything is growing exponentially in Dubai, and the party scene is just another facet of that," said Mr. Mavath, who plies his trade from Miami to Malaysia. "Dubai is one of the leading scenes in the world right now for the D.J. community."

The evidence is on view every week at Peppermint (www.peppermint-club.com), a Thursday-only megaclub at the Habtoor Grand Resort, with six bars, 50 V.I.P . tables and its own Facebook page. The boldface D.J.'s that have propelled the jam-packed, Dolce & Gabbana-sporting crowds include Carl Cox and Derrick May.

At the Madinat Jumeirah hotel is Trilogy ( www.madinatjumeirah.com/trilogy), a members-only house-music center. (Travelers can apply for free membership cards through Trilogy's Web site.) Jazzy Jeff, David Guetta and scores of other faces from the Mount Rushmore of D.J.-dom have graced the soaring, sultanically decorated three-level palace. The rooftop lounge offers sublime views of the gulf and the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, the tallest in the world.

Though Dubai is thousands of miles from St.-Tropez, the Middle Eastern princes, the Russian moguls, the dolled-up Euro girls and the abundant wannabes who pack the plush baroque interiors of the 400 Club (Fairmont Dubai, www.the400club.com) are oblivious. Everyone from Roberto Cavalli to Ludacris has luxuriated amid the crystal chandeliers and gilded mirrors of this year-old club, where a chilled six-liter bottle of Dom Pérignon runs a cool 31,000 dirhams, about $8,447, at 3.74 dirhams to the dollar.

For a more populist night out, lounge chair travelers can go around the world in 80 bars, stopping for fruity Polynesian cocktails at Trader Vic's at the Crowne Plaza Dubai ( www.tradervics.com), mojitos at Cuban-themed Malecon (www.dxbmarine.com) and vodka à go-go at the Red Square Discothèque in the Hotel Moscow ( www.moscowhoteldubai.com).

The only crimps in the social scene are a lack of options for gay partygoers (in 2001, authorities shut down a club for holding a gay night featuring a transvestite D.J. from England), the prohibitions on alcohol during the Islamic holy period of Ramadan and the year-round 3 a.m. closing time.

But as you would expect from an energetic juggernaut of a city, revelers make up for the limited partying hours by redoubling their efforts. Between midnight and last call, Mr. Mavath said, "people just go mental."

Namaste

Students Fight for Social Justice at Columbia’s Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic

From the Columbia News

Dec. 10, 2007

Students Fight for Social Justice at Columbia's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic

Inspired by professor, students find new ways to combat discrimination

The issue of human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals is debated around the world, fraught by cultural, political and religious mores. To help prepare students interested in this emerging field, the Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic, directed by Professor Suzanne Goldberg, a renowned human rights lawyer and advocate, provides opportunities for aspiring lawyers to participate directly in the development of sexuality and gender law while tackling the difficult questions posed by law reform work.

Last semester, law students prepared to bring the discrimination claim of a transgendered woman before the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR).

At the last minute, the claimant changed her mind. Nearly an entire semester spent learning about the commission and preparing her claim seemed wasted.

But it wasn't. The students decided to share what they'd learned by creating a guidebook for others who might have discrimination claims. The guidebook provided an opportunity for Goldberg's students to blend their legal skills with advocacy.

"Instead of dropping the project altogether," said Eileen Plaza (LAW'09), "[we] decided to find a way to leverage the work that had already been done…" The guide aims to raise awareness of how NYCCHR prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and how the commission is an inexpensive option for enforcing these rights.

The guide is just one of the clinic's achievements. In only its second year, the clinic recently won political asylum for Jamaican and Turkmenistan nationals who, because of their sexual orientation, risked persecution, violence and possibly death if they returned to their home countries.

This week, the students are submitting a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that addresses the intersection of race and domestic violence in New York City. The CERD report—a coordinated effort led by Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, supervising attorney for the Law School's human rights law clinic, along with other students and faculty—details how minorities and immigrants in New York City are disparately impacted by domestic violence.

Goldberg, who joined the faculty in 2006, credits her students for these achievements. "The students receive supervision from me and lawyers from our partner organizations, but they do all the work," she said. In the case of the Jamaican national's petition] "they handled all client meetings, drafted all the documents and accompanied the client to his asylum interview. In every project, the entire clinic pitches in as a team whenever necessary….They have become a group of great legal strategists."

The students, however, give Goldberg credit for their skills.

"Working with Professor Goldberg has taught me how to look at any given problem from a variety of different angles," said Sadie Holzman (LAW'09). "I've learned to always think about all possible strategies for addressing a problem, from using the media to litigation to dialogue, while making sure we think through any possible consequences—both positive and negative—that may result from whatever strategy we use."

"Professor Goldberg really empowers [us] to think critically about our choices," said Plaza. "Our discussions are never about doing the right thing, but rather about what are the implications of our choices and how does that affect our end goals."

Plaza also learned that there are many ways to effect positive social change: "Litigation is one important tool, but there are many creative solutions. The point isn't just to write the best brief or to win the case, but to change public discourse on important issues that effect lives. The clinic has helped me think outside of the box."