January 28, 2010: 7:28 pm: jonthonDay-to-Day
Muslim-Hindu punk rock bands part of new movement.
The movement’s birth is often credited to the novel “The Taqwacore,” by Michael Muhammad Knight, a Rochester, N.Y.-raised writer who converted to Islam.
Knight coined the book’s title from the Arabic word “Taqwa,” which means piety or God-fearing, and the word hardcore. The 2003 book portrayed an imagined world of living-on-the-edge Muslim punk rockers and influenced real-life South Asians to form their own bands.
Identity formation is such an interesting thing. Taqwacore represents what I see as a natural progression as children of conservative families define themselves against the stereotypes that they are held against all too often.
