Kamil and Adil Imtiaz.
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to connect with Adil Imtiaz, one half of the two sibling team responsible for the comic book BURAAQ, which stars a Muslim superhero. While he was the illustrator starting out he shared, and continues to share, creative responsibilities with his brother Kamil, and was more than happy to talk to me a little bit more about how this project came to be and why.
Ms. Marvel, as you may have guessed, came up in conversation, and I ended up learning a few things about Islam that I didn’t originally know.
Throughout our talk it was clear that this character and all he presents is a passion for Adil, and that he believes it can, and has done, good things for Muslim youth.
After thanking him for finding the time to speak with me about his work we got right down to questions and answers, the latter of which he was very ready to provide.
Evan: Now I can’t wait to get into talking about BURAAQ, but before we get there would you like to say a few words about yourself?
Adil: Adil Imtiaz is my name. I’m an IT professional, just so you know. And I came here from Pakistan back in 1990; me and my brother and my family. So we’re here with our families and that’s pretty much it as far as my background is concerned.
Evan: Would you say that your interest in comic books began at a very young age?
Adil: Absolutely. Even in Pakistan as kids, my brother and I used to have a stack of comic books by our bedside. Every night we used to read Marvel, DC, superhero stories. We were, and still are, fascinated with sci-fi and superhero stories and characters.
And movies, of course. Hollywood as you can see is all about superhero films. And we used to draw comics and superhero characters as kids. I got sidetracked when I had to focus on higher education, pursuing a career. I had to put it on the back burner so to speak.
Evan: In the PDF I was given to review you and your brother’s mission was very clearly stated, and I’m just going to reiterate it for all my readers:
- To provide a clean, fun (halal) and positive entertainment media alternative for our Muslim youth.
- Reconnect our Muslim youth to Islam and make them feel proud to be a Muslim.
- Enable interfaith dialogue and increase positive Islamic awareness.
- Our principles are based on the Quran, Islamic values, and the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
How long this been in the works? It seems particularly relevant now given recent events in North Carolina [with what I’m going to call a hate crime]-
Adil: Well, no, actually. This is something, the idea was born back in 2009 actually. Especially after 9/11 things changed in the US. And in the media, traditionally, Arabs and Muslims have been portrayed in a negative light in Hollywood, but after 9/11 things really picked up steam; a bunch of crazy people around the world who claim to be Muslims and other agencies at play, not to get into politics…
Sammy Sheik as Mustafa in American Sniper.
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Today marks the what would have been Christopher Hitchens’ 66th birthday. While the controversial writer lost his long battle with cancer in 2011, nearly half a decade later his legacy continues to remain a puzzle to most. To some, Hitchens was a brilliant iconoclast, fearlessly proclaiming truth and reason in a world crippled by political correctness and blind sentimentality. To others, Hitchens was a traitor who abandoned his radical roots in favor of jack-booted imperialism and militarism. After all this time, the question remains: Who was Hitchens?
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When Life Gives You Don Lemon
See, I started off writing this post with the intention of revealing the man as nothing more than an inept clown, motivated by bumbling incompetence rather than malice or spite. The more research I did, however, the less I found myself able to support that idea. There’s nothing innocuous or innocent about Don Lemon.
While many of us were probably unaware of Lemon until his “don’t get raped” comments (or his bull**** non-apology, which we’ll get to in a second), I actually recognized him the second I saw him. Back at the end of September, Lemon, along with co-anchor Alisyn Camerota, had an interview with Islamic scholar Reza Aslan.The “interview” (the whole thing seemed more reminiscent of a McCarthyist witch-hunt) swiftly degenerated into an agonizing fear-mongering session- the very memory of which still makes my blood boil. I’ll let the ever-entertaining Cenk Uygur (of “The Young Turks”) break the debacle down for you.
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Posted in America, Islam, media, morality, race, television
Tagged Alisyn Camerota, Autmatic, Bill Cosby, Cenk Uygur, cnn, commentary, corporal punishment, Don Lemon, ethics, Fear, fear mongering, gaff, gun, interview, Joan Tarshis, journalism, Lemon, media, news, race, racism, rape, Reza Aslan, scandal, Semi-Automatic, stop and frisk, stupid, The Young Turks, Time