Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Some marked their calendars to save up and prepare themselves for the release of major May blockbusters like Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, and Disney-Pixar’s Up.

Some saved up and prepared themselves to attend the first ever Ilm Week hosted by QMajd, Toronto’s student body of AlMaghrib Institute.

I had the audicity and excitement of doing both.

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:: What’s the point?

Do you wish to learn more about me, the characters I meet or something else?

It might be a good idea to discuss the story of Yusuf and compare that to the foundational elements of these major May blockbusters and apply the lessons to apply to our projects, but then I figured – most people prob don’t even fully know or appreciate the story of Yusuf-may peace be upon him in the Quran.

Sad reality is that many Muslims – especially youth – haven’t taken the time to connect with the Qur’an or any of the characters that Allah has presented to us in it.

It’s not really their fault. People just haven’t relayed who these awesome characters are.

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:: What connects us to people and characters?

This is a question that I’ve been asking myself for a while. What REALLY connects us individuals to people? Whether or not they’re fictitios, what makes us love them or hate them?

I saw Disney-Pixar’s UP yesterday with my little sisters. It’s about following one’s dreams, acheiving goals and keeping promises. I laughed and – almost – cried in that movie. I know there were others in the theater who did shed a tear.

It’s no wonder that Pixar’s consistantly releases hits. Their characters totally connect with the audience.

When we watch movies, TV shows, webisodes, vlogs – are we connecting with the story, eye-candy, or the character(s)?

I’m convinced that subconsciencely as human beings our goal is to connect with the character. When it comes to people, whether or not they’re real we want to love or hate, but never tolerate.

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:: What does this have to do with you and I?

Whether were in busines, education, dawah, or entertainment – in order for us to effectively communicate our message we need to develop our characters.

Lay out not only the character in relationship to the story we’re telling but revealing and developing them as the story progresses.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What are the character’s basic human needs, wants, desires, and aspirations?
• What are their internal and external struggles that they’re contending with?

As the story progresses, what do you want to reveal about them to the audience so that the audience can releate and connect with them?

• What do they LOVE?
• What do they HATE?
• What do they FEAR?
• What makes them ANGERY?
• What moves them forward?
• What makes them SAD?
• What makes them HAPPY?
• What makes them ANXIOUS?

The answers to these questions is what adds depth and realism to any character. If you yourself want to connect with an audience, perhaps you want to think about revealing some aspects of YOUR character to people to connect with them.

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:: What does this have to do with Leechon and the work I’m doing?

Coming out of my comfort zone, really excites me. It’s a chance for growth, experiencing new things, and making new friends.

After releasing my second episode of Browntourage I decided to take the time out and ask YOU what you felt that could be improved. The feedback that you gave on Facebook and Leechon Blog-post was excellent and definetly woth applying, but it was missing something.

As I had been filming for the coming episodes, I wondered what is it about me and others that you want to learn about? It’s for that reason that I posted on “Tweet-booked”,

Flying out to Vancouver mon with Sensei (Muhammad Alshareef). If you could ask him a question, what would it be? Rply n I’ll ask it for you.

I figured people would want to know more about a “character” that I would be featuring in my episode – Muhammad Alshareef in this case – but turns out the questions they asked were of a different nature…

It’s for this reason I shared a “commenty” of sort on Facebook (click the image)

This sort of brings me back to my original question – what is it about the characters on my trip that you wish to learn? What do you want to know about them? Am I the character that you wish to know more about?

Reading time: 7 – 11 minutes

The Word TRY is for People Who Don’t DO. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get going.

Umar ibn Khattab-radi’ Allahu anhu (the second khalifa of Islam after the death of rasulAllah-sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), would welcome criticism from the nation during his leadership. And he would take that criticism open heartedly, no matter how soft or harsh it was or how well grounded or unfair it was. May Allah be pleased with him, and may He guide us all to that which is pleasing to Him. Ameen.

So…here it goes

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Sensei (my friend, brother in Islam, teacher, and coach) said that there are two things that are critical to the success of a dawah project:

• Making sure intentions are for Allah
• Execution (getting things done), which is way more important then perfection (which, if you haven’t noticed, is impossible).
• Outstanding Optimism — alhamdulillah this is something the brothers and sisters over at Ummah Films have plenty of. May Allah bless it with more.

We need not be like the shop owner who won’t open his shop because he is too busy cleaning it. Open shop. Learn from the mistakes. And keep growing.

This is the formula for success.

Hats off to the brothers and sisters over at Ummah Films for their work on releasing their first short, “Tomorrow Never Comes“.

This short initially written by Ali Ardekani (Baba Ali) and produced by Yusuf Chowdhury (Abu Yaqob on the Ummah Films blog). This is a first for them and like all series of first steps we fall and bump our heads on the table. If you see a baby fall and cry, it doesn’t take long for that baby to get up and attempt to walk again. The baby forgets the pain and moves forward.

As Muslims we don’t blame anyone or anything. We only know results and lessons. Each of us alone will be held accountable for our actions and each of us alone will reap the consequences for them whether they be good or bad on the day of judgement. — That is the day that truly counts.

Just a note, the video below has music (I have a thing or two to say about that in the review below).

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First the short and then my critique
Below is a rubrick that I use for rating films.

Fun Factor — How entertaining was the film? — 6/10

I’ll admit that the film did keep my attention throughout. Having been an adviser to the team I got to see the initial cuts of the film as it progressed through its stages. I didn’t start skipping through the film until after the final release, and that was less about the fact that it didn’t keep my attention and more about the fact that it has instrumental music in it (I’m going to discuss this part further).

Performance – How was the acting? — 7/10

Considering that that actors are not real actors, they did an great job of playing their roles. Although at points it felt like they really weren’t into character, I think the main man did his job well.

Eye-Candy — How well the cinematography, visuals, special-fx — 9/10

For a first film to have the look that it did was excellent. One of the brothers went out of their way and personally bought a 35mm lens adapter (which costs over $1000) for the camera they used for the production. Adapter narrowed the depth of field to a level that you see in professional productions. This was excellent.

The use of the dolly in this film was superb. I still love how they director had the camera dolly back one the character at the end of the basketball scene. I’m definitely going to use that in a future production inshaAllah.

If you had read the script you must have through to yourself, “Excellent story but how will they show this?” — They answered my question. Job well done.

Story/Plot — How well the story and plot play out? — 7/10

When I initally read the script I loved the ending, mainly because I didn’t realize what was going to happen in the end. Of course I imagined this taking place in a city and it being more dramatic. Regardless I felt the story could be expanded a little more with a little more depth.

In the end you are left desiring more. What happens after he gets hit by the car?

Character Development — 7/10

I think a good amount of time was spent developing the main character, but at the same time the other characters in the film weren’t give much time. Even the main character could have been better defined in the sense of increased arrogance.

Dialog – 5/10

It seems as though that the film consisted mainly as an exchange of one liners. With the exception of the basketball scene there didn’t seem to be much substance in the conversation taking place between the characters.

Sound — How well is the sound used to enhance the film? — 3/10

In the professional world it is said “A good composure will lay a carpet for your film.” The carpet enhances the room, but it doesn’t stick out. You don’t really notice it but it makes it work. Sound works the same way in film. If used incorrectly thn it can hurt the film.

The use of sound effects was well placed. The crispness of the speech of the characters as well as the noise of the environment was quite clear and well positioned. The particular use of music was a major disappointment on a professional level and on an Islamic one (this I’ll explain further in the next criteria). The use of blunt emotional music to tell me “be sad” or “feel energetic” was misplaced.

In the basketball scene, the use of high energy music was misplaced. Its obnoxious to say “feel energetic” when you already have an energetic scene. Same with the whole contemplation sequence where the piano plays to say “feel sad and reflective”. It stands out way too much. Personally I felt that it took away from the film.

Content – How does the film rank up against Islamic standards of visuals, sound, and dialog? — 7/10

There was nothing wrong with the visuals and the dialog. The issue stands with the sound. More specifically the use of instrumental music.

Upon seeing the completion of this film I was happy at the fact that something great was accomplished but vastly disappointed at the use of the musical instruments. I’m not going to delve into the fiqhi discussion because this isn’t the place for it.

I’ve spoken with the producer (Yusuf) about the whole music issue and he said that he believes that it’s permissible (although as I’ve learned from my teachers and the Qur’an and sunnah that the evidences state the contrary). Personally I follow that musical instruments in general are haraam except the daff (open ended drum) and sounds made from the human body (mouth and otherwise) and If I was supervising a project I’d keep it to that principal.

Fact is we won’t go very far if Allah is not pleased with us.

Personally and professionally I don’t want to be answerable to something that as I understand that Allah has forbidden. As far as I know I don’t have any control over the actions and decisions of the brothers and sisters involved with this particular production. I’m just an adviser.

Upon giving my my advice to Yusuf we agreed that I would help in making a audio track that was along that lines of the principal that I follow.

I made a post about music stuff in the past, and if you wish to read it you may do so here:

• Who said you can’t make good music without instruments?
• Muslims in Acappella…in English!

Brother Kamal Elmekki did a program titled “The End of Music” in New York. I recommend everyone listen to it and think about the subject.

• The End of Music

Message — 10/10

Death and correcting oneself are very important reminders. Reminders such as these are what change people’s lives. I’m thankful to Allah-swt that he’s sent brothers and sisters who can deliver such a reminder. I pray that they don’t forget themselves in the process.

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Overall Score — 6.78/10
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Reply with your thoughts, comments, and reflections

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

So, instead of my last post I deleted.. I decided to talk about something I once discussed with one of my teachers… “To Catch a Predator”… Is it OK/ethical to do or not?

Many of you have seen the Dateline NBC special. It’s one of NBC’s biggest rating shows…

For those of you unfamiliar, I don’t suggest you watch it because of the obscene and rather shocking things these guys say and do, but basically they hire a watch group called “Perverted Justice” to catch Sexual Predators. They set up fake profiles posing often times as 12-year-old boys and girls and wait for one of these guys to IM them. They often talk to them for about a month and then the guy wants to meet the “girl” when she’s home alone… only to find Chris Hansen waiting for them to bust them.. then they end up going to jail.

Entertaining? Perhaps. From an Islamic point of view most of these girls aren’t really children. So they are basically getting caught trying to commit Zina. Which in all honesty they get what they deserve. A lot of the guys caught are married, teachers, bus drivers, a rabbi and convicted sex offenders.

Still want to send your kid to public school?

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that MANY Muslims were caught on the show. One Muslim guy kept asking, “Is my family going to see this? Because this is going to ruin my life.”

Yeah.. not only your life, but your family’s life too.

I have mixed feelings about this show. On one hand I think these guys get what they deserve. But on the other hand. It is kind of entrapment. And more is being done to increase ratings now- like actually having the girl posed as a 13 year old talk to the guys for a while before Chris Hansen comes out saying.. “Why don’t you have a seat right there.”

One thing that I kind of really like about the concept of the program is that It’s actually making a REAL difference. A lot of the people that get caught have seen the program before.. and who knows how many people got too scared to actually go through with it after watching.

But then I got to thinking.. What if something like this were done in say.. Egypt? The streets of Egypt will finally be clear.. because most of the perverts outside and in internet cafes would be in jail. In any case it wouldn’t be something good to do as a Muslim, but it was a pretty amusing thought.

One thing I think “To Catch a Predator” should do is to do a report on the families of those people who were caught.. how their wives felt, what they will tell their children, etc. (which is actually another reason I have mixed feelings about the show… their families didn’t do anything wrong to be humiliated publicly like that.)

For once I wish a report could make just as much difference, be just as popular and not talk about sex, drugs and violence.

This is for you New Jersey Folk, guy got caught in Ocean County:

Maybe I should start a “To Catch a Hick”…for the Muslim crowd, and from behind the scenes catch ignorant people get caught saying something bigoted at the dawah table. Like this one guy who came up to me after I asked him if he knew anything about Islam and said, “A little. I know you guys chop off heads…. Good luck with that whole Je-Haaad thing” and walked away…

Islamic Journalism at it’s finest….

Wallahu ta’ala alem.