ONTD

5:56 pm - 06/21/2012

One Direction's Zayn branded a 'pimp for Islam'



ONE Direction singer Zayn Malik has been accused of "enticing jihad" and "pimping Islam to young female fans in an outrageous online attack by a prominent US conservative.

Malik, who has a Pakistani father and an English mother, came under fire from influential right wing blogger Debbie Schlussel as the band tours the US.

In one of her blogs, Schlussel warned parents to "keep their daughters away” from the boyband, claiming Zayn, 19, had posted tweets for fans about Ramadan and Allah.

"The scary thing is that millions of girls in America and around the world are infatuated with the members of One Direction, including Malik.

"He knows the power he has over these mindless girls and is using that influence to preach the Islamic faith. It's dangerous."
She even attacked Zayn for wearing a keffiyeh - a cotton scarf - which she called "official garb of Islamic terrorism".

"Keep your daughters away from Zayn Malik’s enticing jihad. With the boy band One Direction, it’s all about pimping Islam amid the deceptive visage of angelic, effeminate boys in a band."

US playwright Wajahat Ali rejected Schlussel's claims, saying: "What we have seen in the last 10 years is that you can be an artist who is Muslim and can be practicing and doing art that is inspired by your beliefs, but does not have to be overtly Islamic or using
religious language.

"A guy like Zayn Malik can really help open those minds and convey that as a generation we are moving ahead."

source




beatlesluv 21st-Jun-2012 01:10 pm (UTC)
I am more than a little bit disturbed and disgusted by this not so rhetoric. It's not just b/c he's one of my favorites either. I've always had a problem with people chalking ones identity down to their racial background. It is so ridiculous and in a lot of cases so limiting. Because part of his identity is Pakistani he's supposed to be a warrior for all Pakistani issues and speak out about anything any everything? I am just so tired of this kind of thing, so tired.

This racism, these assumptions about people it's just...damn I'm so fucking tired about this, but I can't help but talk about it because of how it affects me at home and outside of the home. Fuck.

Edited at 2012-06-21 01:11 pm (UTC)
evridis 21st-Jun-2012 01:17 pm (UTC)
preach bb
beatlesluv 21st-Jun-2012 01:20 pm (UTC)
<3
And I wanted to tumblr about this, but then I felt it would - specifically the disgusting human being who is the author - give her so much attention b/c of how many 1d fans exist in the world :/
bee_xx3 21st-Jun-2012 01:19 pm (UTC)
IA.
beatlesluv 21st-Jun-2012 01:24 pm (UTC)
I am uneasy rn
belkisa 21st-Jun-2012 02:10 pm (UTC)
ia. now that the group is becoming more popular in America Zayn's religion is suddenly a big deal. it's ridiculous, but I'm not really surprised tbh.
beatlesluv 21st-Jun-2012 02:15 pm (UTC)
I'm not surprised either... some people are quick to point out perceived ~differences~ in people. It's the sad reality of what I have encountered in my life and other people of any colour other than just white will face in their life. :/
grammaire 21st-Jun-2012 02:13 pm (UTC)
Yep.
ladyserenity84 21st-Jun-2012 03:16 pm (UTC)
Agreed, bb.
run_atreyu 22nd-Jun-2012 09:15 am (UTC)
It's so exhausting (I say this as someone white who gets occasionally exhausted trying to combat it in other people/discussing publicly-expressed racism, not even as someone actually experiencing it; I can't even fucking begin to imagine how exhausting it must be for you). Anyway, I agree. And I always enjoy your comments and send you internet hugs. I like that there's been an upswing of people talking about racism (and other -isms) on ONTD because it opens up the dialogue and means we're more critical of people expressing prejudice, but it's also very wearing dealing with the same old ignorance.

...as I'm writing this I have Graham Norton's show on in the background and Katy Perry just called something said "vaguely racist" and ohhhhh, the annoyed white comedian's response. JUST STOP, YOU EMBARRASSING SPECIMENS!
This page was loaded Jun 18th 2013, 7:04 am GMT.