Back in 1998, i was a bad bad bad boy. Yeap… seriously, you have no idea how bad a 17 year old can be. Those were the days i used to hangout at my Korean brade’s place (yeap there are Koreans in Malaysia). It was somewhere during March, i skipped school after recess and went over to ma brader’s place. My brade was even more hardcore, skips school full time. I was a prefect so i did it part time ke ke ke ke. Anyway like i was saying i walked into his house, he opened the door and i heard hard rock music blasting away. I was freaking curious, cos the lyrics went something like “save the ummah!”. It was one of those WTF* moments, my Korean bro was listening to rock tuned nasyid!.
That is when i became acquainted with Soldiers Of Allah. They were the first rock nasyid band i ever listened to. I gotta warn you guys, their lyrics might just freak you off, but hey its music. So yeah dont get all worked up. Im sure some of you guys here would scream in protest about this, but im not going to hold back because i think rock tuned nasyid is awesome! Its amazing how devotion is expressed this way. Anyway here is a little bit on Soldiers Of Allah, Soldiers of Allah was a Muslim rap group from Los Angeles, California. The last Soldiers of Allah album 1924 was their most successful album. The name of the album refers to the year 1924 when “Islamic state was destroyed”. The album was recorded before 9/11, but it is supposed that after 9/11 the group became controversial as Islam came further into public awareness in America.
What has perplexed Soldiers of Allah’s fiercely loyal fans is why the group suddenly vanished into thin air. Some think they were silenced by the government, given the band’s departure from the net shortly after 9/11: The project was only meant as temporary project. The goal wasn’t to start a music band up and make money, but rather use the tool of music to pass the message of Islam. After a while, they noticed that their music was increasing the emotions of the people, instead of making them think. So they decided that the tool of music may not necessarily be the best tool to use since people’s emotions can easily be attached to it.
Since then i have been a fan of rock and pop tuned nasyid. My current favourite is SEVEN8SIX ! The name SEVEN8SIX (or 786) is a popular numeric shorthand for the Islamic bismillah,or saying, “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent,the Merciful.” The talented singing group consists of Shahaab Quraishi, Omar Razzacki, Zafar Razzacki, Muhammad Saadullah (Saad), and Muhammad Saeedullah (Saeed). These five guys come together to share a single stage with a single voice. SEVEN8SIX is the definition of harmony.
SEVEN8SIX first began in the summer of 2001 in the suburbs of Detroit. The group began as the guys unknowingly came together to sing at a friend’s wedding. They received such a positive response to their performance that the five decided to stay together as a group and direct their talents towards delivering an Islamic message. The group performed as SEVEN8SIX for the first time at the 2002 ISNA convention in Washington, DC. Most of the group’s subsequent public appearances have been at large concert events organized by Muslim groups, including major events co-sponsored in part by the Islamic Society of North America and other community organizations around the United States.
This group is working far and wide to please Allah (SWT). As Shahaab says, “We are using SEVEN8SIX as a tool for propagating Allah’s message. Although we all love to sing, that is not the reason for the group. It is something we do well together and share a passion for, but more importantly, we share a passion for being Muslim and spreading the message of Islam. None of us claims to be perfect, or that we do everything correctly, or even try to preach to others. We just want to open people’s eyes to what Islam truly is about and to tell the youth of this country that we know what you are going through and simply…we understand.”
You guys wanna get into roack and pop tuned nasyid? The best resource would be MuslimHipHop. Pop tuned nasyid, yea im sure you guys have heard some from our very own Rabbani and their Intifada right? But i wonder why Islamic hip hop isn’t flourishing in Malaysia, since we got so many hipsters around. Anyway people i hope you guys will enjoy the following Youtube video’s.
This one is by 786, i love this guys works!. Mind blowing!!!
This one is by Native Deen, but this guys are Hip Hoppers.
Apacam? Haha want more? Head on to MuslimHipHop. Await my next post, The Bruce Lee Philosophy… meeeeeeaaaaaaooooooooowwwwwwww! – over and out – The Desperado!
Diskopi 
muzik adalah tangga antara jiwa dengan tuhan – yehudi menuhin
nape xde wat link utk blogger kat sini?
i love this article!Absolutely.
it’s something fresh compared to a lot of other things cos rarely do we find reviews about Islamic Rock and Pop in Malaysia cos our society hasn’t fully evolved when it comes to religion according to our youths of this generation..we have to free ourselves from the conventional method of doing things first before we are able to create something that’s in line with the new age.
Peace be upon you my brother, and oh,do keep posting!LOL…Happy Syawal to all our Muslim brothers and sisters!
Almighty’s Blessings be upon humanity… 🙂 wassalam.
Just a note to Sherilyn Pang, im not a Muslim.
LOL…no problem.i hope my disclaim didn’t cause any heartbreak.LOL.Anyways…all festivals should be enjoyed by all of us regardless of beliefs and practices because what’s most important are the values that lie within the celebrations of our cultures:) and as malaysians,we get to learn about others because we are neighbours next door to one another.LOL.
No worries:) anyway..Keep posting,The Desperado! (^_^)
and,life is a learning process 🙂
Let music be music. It can be pop, rock or even jazz. there is no Islamic music, Christian music or even Buddha music. Pls………………..
A group of muslim band consider as Islamic band and Islamic band? Sound crazy.
Then it is justified to say that A group of Muslim rapist become Islamic sex?
Stop subjugating ourself to religion.
remember! no religion in this world only you and me are real.
to kita berjumpa nanti: please la. me plural too. me liberal too. haha islamic rock music that meant by the writer is music with islamic teaching, etique and islamic awareness.
lirik2 lagunya di isi dengan ide2 yang islami. kalau liriknya diisi dengan ide2 yang memuja kristus, maka apakah kita mau panggil ia islami? tentu saja ia music2 kristian.
kita berjumpa nanti, music has identity just like how a person has identity. Music forms apart of an identity.
it is unfair to judge by your logic, that ;
A group of muslim band consider as Islamic band and Islamic band? Sound crazy.
Then it is justified to say that A group of Muslim rapist become Islamic sex?
a group of hindu can sing songs which has praises to Allah, and their music will still be labelled Islamic. However they remain as a band of hindu musicians.
A group of Muslim rapist cannot become Islamic sex, because first rape isn’t sex, and rape is against Islam. Sex in Islam is a virtue, a nafkah to the spouse, and yes there are ethics in Islamic sex… i might write on that after my post on Bruce Lee. Just because they are moslem it doesnt mean they are islamic. i think hafiz has laid it out clearly.
I always ask myself, how come we have Islamic banking, islamic transaction and so on…… In Islam,beside they are governed by Quran, they are governed by Sunnah as well. This mean that whatever has done by Rasul is Islam. It is why the way Rasul undergone a transaction become as Islamic transaction, the way Rasul managing his finance considered as Islamic finance, the way Rasul has sex( sorry to say) with his wife called as Islamic Sex? That is really crazy and it create a mockery to me.
What is Islam? It is including the act of Rasul? Possible action taken by Rasul is does not form part of the same teaching about islam instead is his own practice.
For an example, apostasy, no sentence given regarding this offence but Rasul choose to punish them with death sentence which is contrary to Surah Al-Baqarah 256 where it stated that there will be no compulsion in religion in Islam. Hashim Kamali made a stand in his book saying that the death sentence was due to the fact that the apostasy was being accompanied by treason thus death penalty was necessary.
music is music. it can be played without lyric. as long as we can hear the sound. We cannot say that the music is islam just because the singer very beriman or the lyric full of arabic words or from top to bottom the word in used is no other than Allah. To me music can bring peace to human or otherwise. Every music create their own frequency and able to influence human.
Frezd…. religion is not everything. we should not relate everything to our own religion. If not in future we will have Islamic design, Islamic drawing, Islamic photo……………… let divide the category of music to pop, jazz, rock…. never ever insert religion to show and justified actually Islam is everything.
Sorry i may think out of the box and not within your box but no offence. Tq
To Kita Berjumpa Nanti,did we say religion is everything?Lol..personally,if not perhaps,some of the Muslims may be practitioners of the Islamic faith,but they are also free to read up on other religions’ books if they choose to read them out of their own free wil..It may be wrong for other muslims to judge them by saying that reading other religions’ books is against the teaching of islam.Practitioners of Islamic faith does not mean that they only limit themselves strictly to the teachings of Islam.Some do,some don’t.
Bak kate pepatah “banyak udang banyak garam, banyak orang banyak ragam”.
I see your point when you mentioned the dividing of music to pop,rock,jazz,etc…but as the desperado has explained,music has identity just like how a person has identity and during Chinese New Year,I know of Chinese Muslims who will definitely love to hear Chinese New Year’s songs to get in the celebrative mood.LoL..and during Christmas,my non-Christian side of the family still prefer to listen to some carols to paint the picture of being in a snowing nation while watching White Christmas pass by 🙂
There are pluralists in our society.Take Malik Imthiaz as an example…if you know what he knows he will have to face doing what he’s doing as a practitioner of the Islamic faith himself.and that’s only one Muslim you get to know about out of a population of over 6 billion in the world.
If my opinions or stand are not agreeable,then i still have the initiative to take the opportunity to express myself in articles that are relevant to my thoughts as much as you and all the rest of us have.. 🙂
Lol……yes,we may have different views towards different issues and topics that are being raised,so we can take the chance to express in a way that appears to everyone that we are willing to learn new things from others ,at the same time, share with them the things we got to know about 🙂
besides,our differences are a privilege that will motivate us from wasting the time of our lives doing non-beneficial activities and get out there to learn more about our friends.
Remember,The UDHR has stated all rights clearly,what we already have the moment we are born into this world.and you and I are no different from each other,just probably we are brought up into different geographical spectra.
Btw,Rock is my personal favourite genre so it was good to find out that there does not lack praises to my faith being sung in the context of Rock.LOL 😉
Peace to the world.Peace be (^_^)
Yes you may think in and out of whatever box that you subscribe to. Applying your analogy, that means we should never ever label people based on their race and culture. Because humans are humans, and we can never identify them by race, this means total annihilation of creed identity and culture. If you cannot apply religion on to music, then you shall not apply race onto music, or even ideology on to music? or even food, so there shall no longer be chinese food, indian food or malay food? I am sorry but i clearly see that your rebuttals are purely due to your disbelief in religions. You cannot deny that thee are genre of music called Gospel, if you can go to the level of jazz and rock then why do you stop there? Nu Metal is also a label which carries with it its own unique identity, so does heavy metal, so does black metal, so does Kirtan, Hymes, Nasyeed, Instrumental Rock, Christian Rock, Hindu Bhajan, Bhangra, you cannot deny the necessity of labels. Like it or not labels have a purpose and they signify identity.
To Desperado, you seem like like to give definition to everything and you have defined me as a free thinker “I am sorry but i clearly see that your rebuttals are purely due to your disbelief in religions” here let me tell you i m not.
We can recognize who is Chinese, Indian, Malay….. just focus on their physical appearance, what language they are using,…………… but religion is a personal things. Its neither belongs to any particular group nor race. Religion is a personal believe. I am malay but you wont know what religion i professing. If you believe there is a God there is a God, if you believe other wise it will become other things.
Music, we know there are different type of music. when say rock you know how it sound like, when you say classic you know how slow the beat is……..
but when you say Islamic rock or Pop….. i will Say OOOOOOOO my God what the hell is that!!!
Music create frequency and different frequency suit different people. Music cant embrace any single religion in this earth. Every single sound is music.
Chinese New yr Of course we listen to new yr song to create that atmosphere same thing apply to Christmas or even raya.
Aforesaid music i will say rock or pop but not Islamic pop or Islamic Rock.
When you started to define things as Islamic music, Islamic drawing, Islamic design, Islamic style, Islamic good, Islamic writing………………. I do not know what will happen. One more thing religion cant create an identity, so do Islam.
Lol…come on guys….
I give up. You win man/woman.
Sini Warung Diskopi, ruangan untuk bertikar lidah dengan ideal-ideal yang ada pada kita.
tiada siapa yang betul dan salah. tiada siapa yang menang atau kalah.
anyway, kita akan jumpa nanti. saya janji.
LOL…pasti akan berjumpe suatu hari nanti tak lame dari skarang..sume dah baik2 dah…haha
to kita berjumpa nanti:
bertikam lidah la… bukan bertikar lidah…
huhu… peace! =)
aku setuju dengan kita berjumpa nanti. muzik adalah muzik. kalau kita sudah mula melabelkan muzik dengan agama (contohnya muzik islam) aku rasa kita sudah merendahkan kekudusan agama itu sendiri. untuk aku agama adalah kudus dan sebarang pelabelan perkara yang bersifat profane seperti muzik yang di “agama” kan cenderung mencemarkan kekudusan agama itu sendiri.
tapi soal agama dan melayu yang diajukan oleh kita berjumpa nanti itu, aku tak setuju kerana di malaysia ini melayu dan islam adalah sinonim. ini sudah termaktub dalam perlembagaan. jadi perlembagaan malaysia sudah meletakkan parameter identiti melayu dengan meng “islam” kan melayu.
jadi melayu mengikut perlembagaan malaysia wajib muslim tetapi melayu mengikut sejarah, budaya tentulah tidak semestinya islam.
sebenarnya apa yg penulis cuba utarakan di sini, bagaimana seseorg itu boleh menyebarkan dakwah nya saja. salah ker? xda pun kita merendahkan kekudusan agama2 tertentu. contohnya, dlm agama kristian, byk kumpulan2 muzik rock yg dikenali sbg christian rock spt hillsong, yg menyebarkan dakwah kristiannya melalui lagu yg memuji nma tuhan. kesannya, rmai anak2 muda yg mula mengenal agama dan lebih mendekati agama kristian. rsanya x salah juga klu org2 islam melakukan hal yg sama utk berdakwah. daripada buang masa bom sana bom sini.
kepada kita berjumpa nanti, awk kata religion is personal thing. jadi ia adalah bersifat peribadi juga kepada penyanyi tersebut utk menyampaikan dakwah dgn mengunakan muzik untuk menyampaikan dakwah nya.
remember, muzik itu universal. nothing wrong to include some sort of religion in it. yg penting x melanggar undang2 agama tersebut.
klu awk x suka dgr muzik yg berunsurkan ketuhanan, so juz forget about it. dont listen to it.
seseorg pemuzik yg sejati, akn menerima apa2 jer jenis muzik, x kira berunsurkan ketuhanan atau tidak. yg penting indahnya sesuatu muzik tersebut. tapi lbh indah jika ada mesej penting yg ingin disampaikan.
muzik itu xkan indah jika tiada makna. every musician know this my fren.
berbuat sesuatu mesti ada tujuan. cuba fikir, knp awk nk create satu muzik? saja2? mesti ada sebab kan? sebab2 nya mungkin berbeza.
satu lagi. kita berjumpa nanti langsung tidak think out of the box. pemikiran dia ttg muzik sgt sempit dan conservative
tq