I was asked a while back to contribute a guest post to Washington Post reporter Jack Fairweather’s blog “Islam’s Advance” (about “Islam influencing and adapting to the modern world”).
I ended up writing on a phenomenon that has interested me for a while, every since I read Patrick Haenni’s great book “L’Islam de Marché” (“Market Islam”), which I think unfortunately has never been translated into English: Islamic “branding” and Islamic consumer lifestyles. I also got to use one of my own all-time favourite interview anecdotes: the time a young Islamic TV preacher quoted Brian Adams to be to explain the concept of submission to Allah.
The post just skims the surface of what is a complex and interesting subject. (And this should go without saying, but my discussion of the intersection of capitalism and Islam is not meant as a critique of the Muslim faith).
Nice piece. You didn’t note, however, that Masoud mangled the lyrics to the Bryan Adams song in question and I feel that, as a Canadian, I should step up and point out that the words actually go
“Don’t tell me it’s not worth tryin’ for
You can’t tell me it’s not worth dyin’ for
You know it’s true
Everything I do – I do it for you
…
Take me as I am – take my life
I would give it all – I would sacrifice
…
I would fight for you – I’d lie for you
Walk the wire for you – ya I’d die for you”
Yes, we have to memorize this stuff in High School. He’s the Bobby Burns of Canada. That aside, I think that, well, I don’t know how to approach this diplomatically… but don’t you agree, all things considered, that Masoud might be better off digging out another song to quote? One that doesn’t lean quite so heavily on the whole death and sacrifice thing?