Muslim country singer breaks all the stereotypes

c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) He wears a mighty nice cowboy hat, hails from a small town in Oklahoma, and sings with a twang about wantin’ to hear the ayyyn-gels. He drove a pickup truck in high school and admits he used to take his dog hunting. And did we mention that he’s a […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) He wears a mighty nice cowboy hat, hails from a small town in Oklahoma, and sings with a twang about wantin’ to hear the ayyyn-gels. He drove a pickup truck in high school and admits he used to take his dog hunting.

And did we mention that he’s a devout Muslim?


There have been Muslim comedians, Muslim runway models, Muslim sitcoms and even a Muslim punk band. So perhaps it’s no surprise that there’s now a Muslim country singer _ although Kareem Salama doesn’t fit most people’s image of either.

Salama, 30, already has two self-produced albums and is in talks with an independent record label about making a third. Besides an affinity for country, he has a law degree from the University of Iowa and an interest in classical Arabic poetry.

His songs are as likely to be about philosophers _ one of his songs is called “Aristotle and Averrhoes” _ as about broken hearts. One song, “A Land Called Paradise,” was recently featured in a winning entry for a short-film contest about American Muslims. Filmmaker Lena Khan, who won the $20,000 grand prize for her video, loved the qualities of Salama’s song.

“The song is catchy and sweet,” Khan said, “and that’s kind of the sentiment I was going for.”

Khan had heard of Salama because his work has already spread among American Muslims “like wildfire,” she said.

“As outlandish as it sounds to many people, it sounds more outlandish to us. We love and embrace it.”

Salama names a range of influences on his work: country legends Alabama, Garth Brooks, alt-country chanteuse Nanci Griffith and the Dixie Chicks, among others. But non-musical figures also affect his work, including the eighth-century Arab jurist Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i, whose poetry shapes the first verse of Salama’s song “Generous Peace.”

An American politician and contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, Salmon Chase, prompted Salama’s reflections on civility and other values in his tune “The Good Old Days.”


“Lots of things inspire me,” said Salama, who now lives near Houston. “I always have a million different ideas.”

Salama’s music resembles contemporary country that crosses genres, with elements of pop music, said David Fillingim of Shorter College in Rome, Ga., who’s studied the theology of country music.

“It’s not like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, but pretty consistent with a lot of contemporary country,” said Fillingim, author of “Redneck Liberation: Country Music as Theology.”

Fillingim said the country genre can as easily accommodate the teachings of Islam as those of Christianity, given country’s recurring themes of human dignity, moral responsibility and fatalism. “These things are just as strong in the Muslim tradition as in Christian tradition,” he said.

Salama’s “A Land Called Paradise” could make it as a church hymn. “I could take my guitar and sing this one in church next Sunday,” Fillingim said.

Recording and performing music wasn’t necessarily a lifelong goal for Salama, though he performed in school plays as he grew up. He also liked poetry, and he found it easier to memorize if it was set to music.


“I always believed that music is a powerful tool for touching people’s hearts,” Salama said.

For the moment, Salama has put his law career on hold, though he can envision a future in intellectual or patent law, given his interest in entertainment. He recently appeared in a benefit concert in London for Islamic Relief, and will tour across Europe this summer.

Judging from the mail he gets from fans, his work has struck a chord with listeners.

“I get powerful e-mails from people that move me,” he said. One of them was from a soldier. “His wife let him hear one of my songs, and he said he had to excuse himself to go to the restroom because it made him cry,” Salama said.

Though polls show measurable suspicion of Muslims among some Americans, Salama said he hasn’t experienced much prejudice, though he did get what he calls a nasty e-mail after appearing on a television news segment last year. But more supportive responses provided perspective.

“The good doesn’t just outweigh the bad,” he said. “It nullifies anything bad.”

KRE/PH END NELSON725 words

A photo of Kareem Salama is available via https://religionnews.com.

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