By Aisha Gawad
February 11, 2010
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is a very busy man. So busy in fact that it was hard for this elan writer to think of a title that encompasses all that he does. It turns out, you can’t. You could call him an author, or a sports radioman, or an environmentalist or a community organizer. On top of all that, he is a newlywed and the writer of a popular local blog, the Brooklyn Bedouin. A native New Yorker, he was born in the middle of the 1977 blizzard and still loves cold weather. He (and in some cases, his wife Fatima) took a break from their busy schedules to talk to elan about everything from Muslim-American activism to his reaction to the Super Bowl.
elan: You certainly are a busy man. Out of all the things you do, what do you consider your day job?
IA: I’m an organizer and a consultant around green jobs and environmental policy. And a writer of course.
elan: You recently hosted IMAN’s Community Cafe at the Apollo Theater featuring artists like Mos Def and Aasif Mandvi. How was the event and how did you get involved with IMAN, the Inner City Muslim Action Network?
IA: I was the research coordinator for their study of the Muslim community in NYC to see what about IMAN’s Chicago-based model could work in New York. And most recently, I was the host and the MC of the Community Cafe event at the Apollo. The event was pretty fresh. It was totally sold out and we raised about $13,000 for Haiti through Islamic Relief. I would say it was a pretty successful event.
elan: How do events like the Community Cafe impact the Muslim community?
IA: There are two main things: The first is that it’s a moment of cultural production. The Muslim community can have doctors and lawyers and engineers but until we engage in artistic and cultural production, that’s when we know that we’ve truly arrived and that we’re a part of the larger mosaic of this society.
The other thing is that events like these serve as tents - they bring together Muslims and non-Muslims and Muslims of al varying types of practice in a way that would never happen otherwise because they all have their different mosques and neighborhoods. The event is like a big tent where everyone is welcome in the space.
elan: You’ve just recently finished your first book, “Green Deen: How American Muslims Go Green,” a nonfiction work due out in the fall. Tell us about the book. Why Muslims and environmentalism?
IA: The book is made up of stories about Americans that are Muslims who are doing sustainability work around the country. It’s a way to highlight the fact that we all have a responsibility to protect the planet and Muslims are no different. Muslims have a unique tradition where science is not separate. Science and religion mix in Islam, so we’re not having a debate about whether climate change is real or not. Because there’s actually evidence in the Quran that humans can negatively impact the planet and it’s our responsibility to protect the planet. At its core, the basic argument is that as Muslims it is our responsibility on earth to praise Allah, to protect the planet and to protect and support one another. At its core, Islam is a very humanist religion. Allah doesn’t necessarily need anything from us, but we need stuff from each other. Part of “Green Deen” is just showing human beings that are Muslim and that are involved in sustainability works and are involved with protecting the planet.
elan: When did you start working as an environmentalist?
IA: I’ve always been involved in environmentalism. That’s been a driving force throughout my entire life. I’ve worked with Outward Bound. I was a director of youth programs at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I’ve lead outdoor adventure tours in the woods. This is just an opportunity for me to take the three sides of me - the social justice part of me, the environmentalist part of me, and then the Muslim part into one sort of tightly woven expression of what’s happening today. How I describe is, it’s a Facebook of the American Muslim community that uses the environmental movement as the lens.
elan: How long have you been working on the book?
IA: I spent a long time researching and gathering information but the actual writing didn’t take long. I wrote it in a short time, about...(he puts the phone down and calls across the room to his wife: “Hey Fatima, how long did it take me to write ‘Green Deen?’") About three months. And I couldn’t have done it without the help of my wife.
elan: Do you have any plans or ideas for future books?
IA: Hold on. ("Fatima, do I have any plans or ideas for future books?") Oh yeah, my wife just reminded me of an idea I had. I want to do an American Muslim family saga about a black man who marries a Desi woman and their family histories that lead them to that point. It would be all fictionalized of course (Abdul-Matin’s wife is of Indian descent).
I also have a couple science-fiction books I want to write. I’m sure there’s other nonfiction I can write, too. ("Fatima, what nonfiction should I write?") Oh my god, she just gave me a great idea - something on Muslim arts and culture. Maybe I’ll write the story of IMAN. Maybe it would be a larger book on Muslim arts and culture...something comprehensive.
elan: What do you think about the literary works that are being produced by Muslims in the West?
IA: The problem with American fiction that deals with Islamic themes or Muslim characters is that most of it is East to West redemption narratives - like a “Kite Runner” or...("What’s another East to West redemption novel, Fatima?") or “The Domestic Crusaders.” Not to knock the play, but it’s very much like “we came to the West and these are the things we encountered.” There’s very little written about the indigenous African-American Muslim experience from a cultural standpoint, for example. This goes back to my point about cultural production. If we’re not creating literary works, we’re barely on the cultural landscape.
The only thing we have now is like Salman Rushdie - it’s not really reflective of the American Muslim experience. It’s stories that say, “I came to the West and was redeemed by Western values.” In a place like New York City, immigrants came and left and went to different places. African Americans sort of operated like immigrants because they were creating culture from scratch to create a Muslim identity out of the non-Muslim identities they were raised in. They were creating something new so we need to document that. Those are the kinds of literary works we should be producing.
elan: As well as a writer, you also host a sports radio show for The Takeaway. How was the transition from writing to radio?
IA: The thing with radio is that you have to be passionate about whatever it is that you are talking about and you have to know the topic inside and out, and I’m like any typical male in America in that I follow sports better than I follow a lot of other things. I’m a nerd about sports. I’m very into the drama of sports and of communicating that drama. So that’s what I’m looking for and that’s what I’m trying to convey. It’s much less about me being an expert.
elan: How did you feel about the Super Bowl outcome?
IA: I am, of course, happy about the spiritual resurgence of the city of New Orleans and about the transformation of the ‘Aints to the Saints, erasing the struggles of the past 42 years of only winning two other playoff games. They made history in an exciting fashion. The acceptance of the trophy where quarterback Drew Brees shared an intimate moment with his newly born son was especially touching - that is what championships are made of, the biggest achievements having the most impact on the smallest people.
elan: Where do you think Muslim-American activism is going in the next couple of years?
IA: I think Muslims are constantly coming of age and figuring things out. I mean, we’re not going backwards. We’ve had a hard time trying to figure things out and I think a lot of it is our own fault because we sometimes are totally in love with dominant culture and then other times we hate dominate culture. I think once we’ve kind of figured out how we relate to the dominant culture, until we start to say, ‘I could care less about what they think,’ until we start to say, ‘oh we can build our own institutions.’ Until dominant culture starts to look to us for inspiration and leadership than we’re still going to be confused. In terms of political organization, we’ve seen examples where people are coming together in a positive experience (like the campaign for Muslim School holidays). So there’s development but not at the level that you would want to see at this point. Most people are optimistic that things are getting better.
It’s like bike lanes (sports reference of course). There used to be no bike lanes on 9th Street in Brooklyn and I used to ride on that street on my bike all the time. I used to zip along and notice how dangerous it was to ride at certain points, but now there’s bike lanes. The more we lay down the paths, the more the people behind us will be able to feel safe.
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