Hip-hop abandons the bling to make music under Muslim law

CULTURE

Out go booze, drugs and nudity as big-name artists come together to promote harmony between Islam and the West

The simmering mistrust of Islam felt in many parts of middle England will not have been helped last week when Britain's most senior judge suggested that Sharia, Islamic religious law, may one day play a part in the British legal system.

Lord Justice Phillips's comments reignited the controversy begun in February when the Archbishop of Canterbury implied that aspects of Sharia would "unavoidably" be adopted in the UK.

However, efforts are being made to close the gap between Islam and the West. On Friday, Europe's biggest showcase of Islamic culture will begin at London's Olympia. Crash courses in Islam are being offered at the AlMaghrib Institute in London. And, most surprisingly, a British songwriter has gathered some of the biggest names in hip-hop - a genre renowned for its bling lifestyle of guns, girls and diamonds - to produce records and videos that comply with Sharia.

Public Enemy, Run DMC, the percussionist Larry McDonald and reggae legends Toots and the Maytals are a few of the names dispensing with the booze, drugs and scantily dressed ladies to promote "harmony and understanding between the West and the Islamic world".

The brains behind the recordings is Malik Al Nasir, a Liverpudlian poet and songwriter. Although most of the musicians involved are not Muslim, the recordings and videos were made according to Islamic law, with no alcohol, pork or female nudity allowed in studios or on set.

"We do not ... push religion in the music," Nasir said. "But we are Muslim, and we do not want anything that contravenes our faith."

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