This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants including:

1. Life of This World Media
2. Salam Studios
3. Challenge Your Soul

Sorry about that.

I was a contributor to the KhalifahKlothing channel. A lot of the lectures and Gem Reels I produced for AlMaghrib Institute had been uploaded on KhalifahKlothing with AlMaghrib’s permission. Those videos are now gone. However, I have all the original files and I will be uploading them to my own channel over the coming weeks.

If you want to be kept aware as I load up that content, go ahead and subscribe to my channel by clicking here.

News on the KhalifahKlothing Account Situtation

Update (Oct 19, 2011): KhalifahKlothing YouTube account has been restored.

KhalifaKlothing has made a new backup YouTube account called: DigitalMimbar

There’s a discussion about the account suspension on YouTube’s support site: http://bit.ly/qCUB5Q

Here’s a video uploaded online by a fellow YouTuber:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Salam Studios has posted a statement on their blog: The Truth About KhalifahKlothing’s Youtube Suspension. Here’s what they said:

There is a lot of information floating around about what happened to KhalifahKlothing’s YouTube channel.

The truth is KhalifahKlothing posted a number a videos they pirated from our YouTube channel. Having trouble contacting them in the past we filled out YouTube’s automated form to have a video removed becuase it was copied from our channel.

A few days later we were contacted by the owner of the KhalifahKlothing channel. He informed us that the channel had been reported for copyright infringement many times and was on their last strike.

Through an intermediary we came to an agreement that they could keep Salam Studios content on their channel if they simply linked back to ours with a credit.

At that point we retracted our complaint, we helped KhalifahKlothing file a counter claim, and we contacted YouTube directly by email and phone.

KhalifahKlothing sheds some light - copied from the comments section below

as-salaamu ‘alaikum

Firstly, Wallahi I have no ill feelings towards the brothers that filed that copyright claims. I’m sure if they knew that it would lead to this they would not have gone forward with it. I am disappointed that none of the brothers ever messaged me regarding the videos before they went ahead and contacted YouTube.

Now, I have never claimed that all Islamic material (DVDs, CDs) should be available for free. I tried to be careful enough and didn’t upload material that wasn’t already available for free online, so I’m shocked when brothers accuse us of stealing and piracy.

These are the videos in question:

1. “Interview with Belal Muslim – The Deen Show” – Brother Eddie used footage – only seconds if I’m not mistaken – from YouTube of brother Belal’s video which was produced by “Life of this World Media”. Now I’m not denying that they own that footage, but please don’t accuse us of doing dawah through theft when we never received any warnings or complains or refused to comply with your demands.
   -
2. “Covenant with Allah – Nouman Ali Khan” – A really good lecture by Ustadh Nouman which I saw on Salam Studios’ channel with very few views, so I decided to give it more exposure by mirroring it, and placing a link to their website (Salam Studios) the time it was uploaded. The only other video by them was “Islamophobia – Nouman Ali Khan” which was very necessary and popular, which also had a link back to their website, since the time it was uploaded. I was naive enough to assume they would not mind if this material was shared with a much larger audience since they had contacted me before regarding posting other lectures they recorded (Tafseer Sessions). I received no warnings or any messages from them. Again, I have no ill feeling towards the brother and he was very cooperative when I contacted him through a mutual friend regarding retracting the claim, and he did so right away.
   -
3. “Judgement Day – Khalid Yasin” – This was the only Khalid Yasin lecture on the channel even though there are a ton of DVDs by him out there. And the very reason why I never uploaded anything by him is because he does not allow his DVDs to be put up for free online. The reason why this was uploaded is because it was recorded and edited by a friend of ours from ‘Ahlussunnah Productions’ circa 2004 and it was distributed and sold by them. At that time Khalid Yasin made no contract with them, and did not prohibit them from recording and distributing the lecture. Some time after that Khalid Yasin started making contracts with those who recorded his lectures and granted them specific permissions. “Challenge Your Soul Media” assumed that this was most likely a lecture that fell under a contract, and went ahead and filed a copyright claim shorty after it was uploaded. Again, without contacting us. They cooperated and retracted their claim, and said they would not be able to message every single channel who uploads their material, because there are hundreds every week.

Alhamdulilah the brothers have been cooperative, and have all retracted their claims by contact you tube. I’m not sure how long this will take to process, just make du’a that Allah makes us sincere and keeps us away from violating other peoples rights. May Allah forgive us all and guide the channel to that which is pleasing to Him.

Life of This World has posted a statement – copied from the comments section below:

We cant speak about the issues regarding Khalid Yasin and Salaam Studios, but we can tell you that Life of This World Media made every effort to contact “The Deen Show” before we filed a copyright claim. We sent at least 3 messages and never received a reply. So it is not truthful to say we never made contact or that they didn’t receive any complaints.

Also, just to clarify, the Deen Show episode in question used at least 5 minutes of our video, not a few seconds. It was included in its entirety, not just the parts which concerned the show, but also parts showing other people who had nothing to do with that episode of The Deen Show. It was literally just “dumped” in with no thought given to the editing or the context. Also the video was not a “dawah” video as such (ie it was not a lecture or designed for non-Muslims) It was in-fact a regular, commercial video.

With no reply or contact from the brs for around 2 weeks we then initiated the copyright infringement. The very next day we got emails back from both the Deen Show (brother Eddie) and Khalifahklothing. Both apologized sincerely for their mistake, and we accepted the apology immediately. At this point the video in question was blocked by YouTube, but the channel was still up and running.

The brother at khalifahklothing then asked us to write back to YouTube and retract the copyright notice, which we did. He also said he would credit the use of our video and link it back to our channel, which we agreed to.

Since then the actual entire channel has been suspended pending further investigation on multiple claims. This is of-course a regrettable situation, that could have easily been avoided with just the basic courtesy to fellow Muslim organizations.

1. In the 1st instance this situation could have been avoided if they had simply asked for permission. If they they took the time to research and find our video, took the time to rip it off youtube, took the time to edit it into their own video, and took the time to upload it onto their own channel, then surely it is not too much to ask that they send a polite email/message asking permission to the channel they are actually ripping it from?
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2. Even beyond that, the action could still have been avoided if they had responded to the 3 messages we sent via the Deen Show website. But we waited for 2 weeks and received nothing until after the copyright infringement had been logged with youtube.

Since then we have sent 3 messages to YouTube asking for the channel to be re-instated, as well as complying with a counter notification from KhalifahKlothing to help speed up the process. InshaAllah we hope to see the channel up and running very soon.

Its of the utmost importance that organizations who are operating within the field of Islamic media are aware of copyright laws protecting individual works, and that they respect each others work. We should be exemplary in the way we run and manage our affairs. If you look at our youtube page, or our facebook group, you will not see one single video that has not been filmed, directed, edited and produced by Life of This World Media. If we did not produce a video, there is no way we would upload it. This is just one of the basic rules we operate by, So processes need to be put in place that will stop this from happening again in another few months.

To this end we have offered to send The Deen Show some of our own literature and useful web links on copyright and will inshaAllah be supporting brother Eddie promote his show further in the UK. We pray that our efforts in the media industry help promote professionalism and integrity within Islamic media circles.

JazakAllah Khir

Life of This World Media
http://www.youtube.com/lifeofthisworld

Statements from Muslim Speakers

Muhammad Alshareef – copied from Google+

Definitely a sticky situation. The copyright issue has always been a touchy one, and now this: you gotta feel for the great work KhalifahKlothing was doing, and at the same time one has to respect the work people have put together and that they should have a say in how their videos are used. I don’t have an opinion on the issue, I just pray it can get resolved and KhalifahKlothing reinstated.

Nouman Ali Khan – copied from his personal Facebook

Someone posted some silly comments while pretending to be me online and apparently its spreading. Just a small word of caution…if its on a forum, or social media outlet other than Bayyinah or this one, it ain’t me!

I have no problem with my videos online and dude, whoever you are, not cool… (referring to false statement below)

Nouman Ali Khan – copied from the comments below Turned out to be a fake post.

Assalaamu Alaykum

@KhalifahKlothing @SHEIKH DANISH RIYAZ: Please don’t upload any of my videos. I respect the hard work and copyright of my Muslims brothers. I humbly request you all to understand the rights of others and treat it accordingly.

Humbly,
NAK

Copyright and Islam

A lot of visitors have been posting comments declaring “there is no copyright in Islam” or how people shouldn’t claim copyright on knowledge.

Our individual beliefs and opinions on copyright are irrelevant in this context.

The right to claim copyright infringment comes from the fact that all of us operating on the YouTube platform have agreed the policies (when we registered for an account). If someone uploads something, whether they invented it or not, no one else has the right to upload it to another account without permission from that account holder or from those who performed, compiled, produced, and edited content originally.

Here’s an example for clarity:

If I made a video of myself reciting just straight Qur’an, I own the copyright to that digital content. If I upload that video to YouTube, no one else on YouTube has the right to upload that video to another account without my permission.

If someone does upload it without my permission, I have the right – as per YouTube terms of service – to claim ownership of that digital content. I’m not claiming copyright on the Qur’an. I’m claiming copyright of the digital content that I produced and uploaded. You’re more than welcome to record yourself doing the same exact recitation the same exact way, and you have full rights over that.

The knowledge and Qur’an itself isn’t the subject. I hope that’s clear.

This situation has to do with an individual’s character and honoring agreements.

When an individual creates an account on YouTube, that individual is contractually agreeing to follow the policies that YouTube has in place. In the event that individual takes content from one channel and uploads it to another without permission, that individual is breaching that agreement – an act that is most inappropriate of an honorable human being.

Respect for people and good character always comes before knowledge. It’s with the best of human character that dawah is made possible.

What any one of us believe about copyright and islamic knowledge is irrelevant in this discussion.

However, if you’re looking for insight on the scholarly position of Copyright in Islam, you might find the following to be insightful.
Taken from: http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/99558/copyright%20knowledge

Question:
What is the ruling on printing and selling Islamic books and making a profit from this? Like the books of the scholars of the Salaf (early generations) and also the books of the recent scholars who write these books so that people benefit from them and not for profit. Is making profit from these books not my right? I have read the answers regarding the intellectual property rights, but I need more explanation.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

Copyright is one of the intangible rights that are protected by sharee’ah, as has been explained in the answer to question no. 26307.

Secondly:

There is nothing wrong with printing and selling religious books, because the basic principle is that it is permissible, and because it is a means of spreading knowledge, improving its quality and making it available to people, which cannot be done except by dealing in books.

Based on that, there is nothing wrong with printing any of the books of the salaf or contemporary scholars, unless their authors have not permitted it, in which case it is essential to have their permission, as well as to be trustworthy and honest in publishing these books. That also includes things that a scholar wrote without the aim of making money. It is permissible to print it and sell it and make money from it, so long as he did not object to that, in which case it is essential to have permission from him or his heirs.

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (13/187):

Question: Is it permissible to record a tape and sell it, but without asking permission from the author or, if the author is no longer alive, from the publisher, to record it? Is it permissible to make many copies of a book and sell them? Is it permissible to make a copy of a book and not sell it, rather keep it for myself? If the book carries the mark “All rights reserved”, should I ask for permission or not? Please advise me, may Allaah bless you.

Answer: There is nothing wrong with recording useful tapes and selling them, or copying books and selling them, because that is helping to spread knowledge, unless the authors have not allowed that, in which case it is essential to have their permission. End quote.

And Allaah knows best.

Original Blog Post

My Thoughts

I loved that channel. It literally had thousands of great videos with beneficial knowledge that was built up by the contribution of many content producers and syndicators alike, yours truly being one of them.

I was truly disappointed.

Disappointed toward the names mentioned, by whom the copyright infringement was claimed, and disappointed toward those who uploaded the content without getting their permission.

I was disappointed at the copyright claimants because, as a content producer you want your stuff to be seen by as many people as possible. KhalifahKlothing’s channel had well over 50,000 subscribers. It’s the best place to get exposure if you’re trying to reach the mainstream conservative Muslim audience. The videos I had uploaded to the channel for my clients had collectively well over two million views.

I understand as a content producer, you don’t want other people ripping off your hard work for their own gain. However, I know for a fact that KhalifahKlothing never benefited from ad revenue. That channel’s purpose was dawah.

I was disappointed at the contributors for not clearly getting the permission from the companies and organizations who originally produced the content. Everything that I had contributed to the channel I either produced myself or had a hand in it.

I’m not perfect

I once had a situation where a series of videos I had edited for YM ( Young Muslims ) back in 2004 had never been distributed. Since YouTube hadn’t existed then, the terms in which the work was done wasn’t clear on the issue of online distribution. I decided to I uploaded them to KhalifahKlothing as a benefit to the organization.

The gentlemen behind YM instead of filing for copyright claims, sent a few emails to the channel and myself. They were launching their own YouTube channel and wanted to host the content there exclusively. We agreed to take down the video from KhalifahKlothing and the issue was resolved without a problem.

I wonder if a similar process was followed by copyright claimants and the contributors of the KhalifahKlothing channel regarding the videos in question.

My Professional Advice to Fellow YouTubers

Don’t be an idiot.

We need to be professional in our work and dawah. When you produce content, make sure that you have written releases that state you have permission to distribute the content online. If you happen to be a YouTube partner, make sure that you state you’re a partner and you’ll be participating in revenue sharing with the content that you’re producing.

If you didn’t produce it, don’t upload it.

Whether or not you believe copyright has a place in Islam is irrelevant. You cannot impose your beliefs on others when you’re in their domain. Doing so is anti-dawah and unislamic.

YouTube has rules, and you agree to those rules when you create an account. This country had governing laws and as a citizen or resident alien you have agreed to abide by those laws.

Be an example for others to follow.

As stated earlier, all the videos that I had produced and uploaded to KhalifahKlothing are now gone from YouTube. However, I have all the original files and I will be uploading them to my own channel over the coming weeks. Most of the content was of AlMaghrib Institute instructors.

If you want to be kept aware as I upload that content, go ahead and subscribe to my channel by clicking here.

Remembering my experience of not having been able to really attend the sessions due to meeting post production deadlines, I recommended that he should keep it simple and straight forward. This way his class time experience wouldn’t be interrupted.

The following is what Shiraz delivered:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Afterward Shiraz requested I do a critique of the project and give some feedback. So, here it is!

My Critique & Advice

Shiraz,

Firstly, now that you’ve gotten your feet wet, enroll in Secrets to Video Production over at MessageMastery.com. It contains over seven hours of content you can benefit from and greatly improve your future videos.

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4 Tips to improve future talking head and interview videos with your current tools:

• Give a STRONG opening –
  Example: Scream! Do a funky dance, spin and stop to a STOMP! and yell “HEY THERE! You’re watching Shiraz – THATS ME! (two thumbs pointed to yourself) – at ILM SUMMIT! YEEAAAAHHH!” -  jumping up and down like you just won the lottery.

• Get out of your comfort zone -
  Sometimes the best people on screen are the kind that are loud and bouncing off walls. A static camera shot needs to have something on screen to bring it to life – like a monkey! You seem like a very calm and collected individual. Maybe in real life that’s cool, but on screen you need to break out some funk! Movements and expressions need to be exaggerated.  Body movement should demonstrate behavior. What fun, funky, outlandish character do you wish to embody?

• Do your research before the interview -
  Know who they are, what they do, when, where and how they did it, and why. Don’t let the onscreen video be your discovery period. Have that basic information to work with and take it deeper from there. Before you drill a hole in a wall, you first make an impression or mark as to where the hole will go.

• Tell/Pull a story from the guest -
  Have the interview be less of an interview and more of a conversation or discussion where a story is unraveling. During the interview I believe the audience wants to know about the person and what drives them as a human being. Who are they as a person? What can we learn about them that’s not already known?

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2 Production Tips to make the video POP! out

• Get a microphone -
  If you’re filming just yourself, a lavaliere mic would be appropriate. However if you have two or more people on screen, for your situation you’ll need a shotgun mic taped to a stick hanging over or under the people on screen. Don’t be afraid to get the mic caught on screen.

• Get in closer -
  Get someone to help film while you interview the people. Have the cameraman get in real close to the subjects/talents on screen. They can move the camera appropriately from one person to the other. This pulls the audience closer and be more engaged with the moment being captured.

  Take for example the following video which was filmed with one camera:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This next video from 2:15 onward may be closer to what you may have been trying to achieve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Personal Branding Tips to make you more marketable

• Change your YouTube name -
  I don’t think all your future videos will be featuring you at Ilm Summit. For that reason, I think you should just call it something that doesn’t limit your personal brand to just Ilm Summit. I think it would be cool if you make your name cool and fun. If you’re going to do an off the wall personality have the name reflect it.

• Develop your online persona/character -
  What are some personality and character traits that you already embody and you can bring out more. Something that can be visually seen. Make a list and see how you can super exaggerate them. At first it may feel weird, funky or even embarrassing but it’ll make the video that much more entertaining and interesting to watch.

I hope that helps!

Again, check out Secrets to Video Production over at MessageMastery.com for everything you need to make some awesome videos for the future.

Firstly I want to give Rami Santrisi a shout out and congratulations on completing this project. I’m sure it had its fair share of challenges and lessons. I pray that he continues to practice keep putting forth work.

As the motto goes: It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get going.

This is the trailer for the film:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re interested, you can also check out the article about the short film on the Muslim Link newspaper: DC Area Film Makers Join Forces On 3D Movie

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A well constructed film tells a good comprehensible story visually and audibly. To give the film a proper critique, I watched the full Leap of Faith short film four times.

• First, I watched it without sound
• Second, I just listened to it with no visuals
• Third, watched it normally in 2D
• Finally in 3D on YouTube

Below are my thoughts, feedback and a rubric for the review. All feedback I’ve given below is a means for all of us to improve our craft of story telling.

You can watch the film first by clicking the image below:

My Review (spoiler alert!):

Fun Factor — How entertaining was the film? — 2/10

It was cool seeing the film in 3D and it was fun seeing guys jumping off cliffs, but that’s as far as the fun factor went.

The film seems to drag during many parts making it seem much longer than it really was.

Performance – How was the acting? — 3/10

A sign of good acting and character directing is when you watch the film without any sound and you know what emotions the character is feeling. In the scenes of dialog, the characters didn’t have much dynamic range in either their body language or their facial expressions.

The best acting in the film was the professor. However, I felt his scene wasn’t needed for the story.

Eye-Candy — Quality of cinematography, production value, special-fx — 6/10

Visually the short looked great. The composed shots weren’t poster quality but the use of the Canon 7D HD-DSLR cameras certainly brought out the color saturation and lens usage certainly brought forth focus appropriately.

It think it would have been really cool if a water proof underwater rig was used to capture the splash of the actors as they fell in.

3D was cool and certainly different from most short film projects out there. There aren’t that many interesting 3D videos out there on YouTube either. I was certainly curious how this was going to look.

My only complaint about 3D on YouTube is that you can only watch the classic stereoscopic 3D (red/blue, red/green, etc) and not the polarized projection light technology they used in the movie theaters and special (expensive) monitors today. However, this isn’t something the producers budget or control.

Story — How well the plot and characters play out? — 1/10

When it came to story, there was much left to be desired.

I felt as though:

• There was no conclusive plot
• There were no believable character motivations
• Most dialog didn’t add to character or further story
• Most of the scenes were completely unnecessary.

I understand that there were two completely different plot lines.

• Plot Line #1: Man overcoming his fear of heights so he can jump with is friends off a cliff.
• Plot Line #2: Man overcoming his fear of financial insecurity to sponsor an orphan even, although he makes $200/week

The two stories didn’t really seem to connect. If two stories don’t connect and tie into each other, why tell them at all together?

Why was the cliff jumping scene necessary at all? He swallowed his fear and jumped off the roof of his house to save the girl. That should have been the end of the film. All other scenes that didn’t build up to that should have been cut out.

Something that I didn’t understand is how sponsoring an orphan is a life changing decision that the main character has to go about telling everyone about it. In the real world, someone making two hundred dollars a week has other financial priorities than figuring out whether or not they can sponsor an orphan.

After watching this film, I felt as though it would have been more appropriate to make this into two separate films.

Even if the two plot lines were separated into two films, what did him applying to the job have to do with his fear of heights or wanting to sponsor an orphan. Was he going to make more money in the new job? If thats the case, it wasnt clear. This scene didnt fit into the story at all.

If I had to approach the story using the resources the filmmakers used, this is what it would be:

Opening

Kareem, his brother and friend are hiking until one of them takes a tumble off a cliff and the brother is hanging on for dear life. He tries to save him but the extreme emotional stress anchors him to a fear of heights which makes him unable to pull up his hanging brother, watching him fall to the river below to his death leaving an orphaned son.

Everyday Life of Main Character

Its several months since the incident. Kareem still blames himself for the deaths and the depression keeps him from keeping a steady paying job and passing up lucrative opportunities because he believes he won’t be successful  just as he wasn’t successful in saving his brother, resulting in major financial difficulties which bears to question as to whether or not he can care for his orphaned nephew who’s mother died at childbirth.

Pressure Increases

Kareem being Jameel’s uncle and closest next of kin, risks loosing Jameel to child services if he doesn’t get his act together.

Situation Arises

One day Jameel and the neighborhood kid are playing catch and the ball goes on the roof. Jameel finds a ladder and climbs up the side of the house to get the ball, but the ladder is unstable and collapses, leaving Jameel hanging on the side of the house screaming for help.

Responding to the Situation & Facing of Fear

Kareem hearing the cries sees Jameel hanging on the side, climbs through a window and onto the roof in an attempt to save Jameel. All the while the ball is on the gutter and rolls down due to vibration from Kareem hitting one end of the gutter while reaching for Jameel. Neighbor’s kid goes for the ball but cant see the car speeding down the street. Kareem sees flashbacks of his brother’s death.

Triumph

With tears in his eyes, Kareem swallows his fear, with an burst pulls Jameel onto the roof and then immediately leaps off the roof leaving Jameel sitting on top to witness as Kareem dashes the neighbor’s kid out of the way of the speeding car just as we hear the deafening “POP!” of the ball as the car runs over it.

Aftermath

Kareem having overcome his fear of heights and is able to forgive himself for his brother’s death and is able to move on with his life. He starts a successful business and also spends his time going around giving motivational speeches helping people overcome their fears, using his personal story to inspire people.

Dialog – 2/10

There were many moments during the film where I felt the dialog wasn’t necessary.

The whole dialog between the main character and his friend while hiking talking about creation, the jummah salah scene of the main char falling asleep, the tennis scene and the whole “high class” cloths story arch  didn’t seem to have a place in the story. The dialog in those scenes didn’t further either of the plot lines much or add to character development that was necessary for the story.

I also felt that the pacing of the film between the characters lines was super slow. I’d recommend tightening up the editing to fix that.

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

There wasn’t much depth to the sound design. There wasn’t much use of Foley or environmental sounds to really bring you in. The slow dialog made the film seem that much slower.

Message/Theme — 5/10

The idea of overcoming your fears and donating or orphans is great. I just felt that the two themes presented together didn’t work well. If there was focus on one theme, it would have made the film that much more enjoyable.

–

Overall Score — 3/10

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Final Thoughts

I’m wondering how well the film has been received by others. I haven’t seen too many comments on the particular videos that have been uploaded on Vimeo and YouTube. I noticed on the video trailer itself, most of the views came from it being advertised (paid). However, it seems that most of the views for the trailer came from India which I assume isn’t the target market. I hope Rami reaches his goals for the film.

In the future I’d love for the opportunity to collaborate with Rami in the scriptwriting and story phase. I believe I have a lot to offer and it’s an area that Islamic media as a whole is desperately lacking.

Salaam alaykum all,

I wrote an article on MM about voice only music, my experiences with it, and how I’m personally dealing with the different issues that come up as there are at times unclear answers.  I also mention the AlMaghrib trailers because one of them was a turning point in what I did and didn’t listen to.

There’s no condemnation here, simply the going over milestones and how I’ve dealt with them, and looking for feedback from others.

- Siraaj Muhammad

You can check out the article by clicking the image below.

– –

The issue of beat-boxing, vocal play and a capella in Islamic media has been an issue of some controversy. I think this is mainly due to the confusion on many people’s part as to whether it’s really permissible or not.

You can get the gist by the article linked above.

When I produced the last AlMaghrib promo – the one that features the instructors, student body locations and what AlMaghrib is – a lot of concern came about.

Several months back, Yaser Birjas and I had a talk addressing the concern and the discussions that were taking place. The following points were made:

The objective and purpose of sound in a video is like the objective of a carpet in a room.

It’s suppose to add warmth, pull you in and at the same time bring forth a specific emotion.  The carpet enhances the room and increases the overall impact and impression it has on you many folds.

There is of course the potential to choose the wrong carpet for a room and at times putting a carpet in a room where there isn’t suppose to be any.

– –

Assuming you got the analogy -

What’s the solution to people’s perception of vocal play and beat-boxing being looked upon as music” when in truth, by standards this society – “if its got rhythm then its music”?

Personally I think the solution is branding.

Fact is that the videos don’t use musical instruments and from my understanding its the instruments that are prohibited. Not the rhythm or sounds.

I think market education is a big part of solving the Muslim student’s concerns. Also pushing the bar on professionalism is also key.

A professional sound designer will deliver so long as the framework to work within is made clear.

I know for a fact that some of the non-Muslim film makers and producers I know love the sound scores of the AlMaghrib trailers, and they especially love the fact that it’s made from no musical instruments.

– –

I think the fact AlMaghrib videos don’t have musical instruments needs to be made more clear.

The only way I think it can be made clearer is in addition to the “No Musical Instruments” screen at the beginning of the videos, add a “no musical instruments were used in this score” as part of the “ending credits” of all future videos.

This way perhaps others who miss the beginning screen can catch it in the end.

Another solution is to teach a seminar about – or include the subject in a seminar of sort. Many people are unclear on the issue.

– –

As a follow up to Siraaj’s email, there was another email sent today via AlMaghrib’s HQ saying:

Recently our senior shyookhs and management team had this discussion. After going back n forth, we’ve decided that we will not use beat-boxing in our trailers anymore.

More importantly as time permits, we will be editing the past trailers in sha Allah.

It begs me to question, what will the stance be on the use of non beat-boxing sounds that are also non instrumental used in a rhythm? The effect is the same.

I guess time will tell.

– –

Posts in the past that address this issue:

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