Why the Muslim world needs Mona Haydar

Yazeed Makhlouf
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

I’ve noticed a bad habit in the young Muslim community:

Out of all the hate that Muslim figures get, the largest percentage seems to come from the Muslim community!

Whether it’s Mohammad Tawhidi, Linda Sarsour, or even Fouseytube, Muslims just can’t seem to establish a clear and agreed upon role model.

But one Muslim in particular seems to be breaking that mold.

Her name is Mona Haydar.

As her website says.. Mona is: a “rapper, poet, activist, practitioner of Permaculture, devotee, mountain girl, solar power lover, and a tireless God-enthusiast.” Pretty much, she does it all. Plus she’s extremely creative.

More recently, Mona has been publishing hip-hop music videos that really challenge the status quo. She addresses women’s rights, female identity, and Muslim identity. So far, she has released only two videos to date. But two videos that have extreme impact and are well thought out.

The first video — “Wrap my Hijab”

The first thought in my mind when I experienced “Wrap My Hijab” was this:

“Holy crap. Hamdilla. Finally. She has the message. And damn, she’s really abstract. She is going to be around for a while.”

Audio alone, WMH is an excellent hip hop song. Flow, delivery, production, message. It has it all. As a hip hop enthusiast and a student for decades now, I was very impressed with the sound of this record. Mona, I just wish you put the production credits in the YouTube description because the beat maker for this is DOPE.

Besides being a perfect aesthetic for a modern day Muslim woman, the video was a perfect strategy. From the dancers, to the colors, to the outfits, all the way to those mystery like poses, (Yeah, Mona, I caught that) this video is a number # 1 attention grabber. I watched it repeatedly back in March, and predicted it would go viral within less than a month. I was right.

The second video — “Dog”

Compared to WMH, “Dog” is much more aggressive. In “Dog”, Mona is expressing her reaction to her first release and how she is handling the momentum of her debut as a rapper, but more particularly the backlash she has received from critics. After WMH, Mona has received comments like:

“Music is haram.”

“Hijabis shouldn’t be rapping.”

“This is not modest.”

And plenty of more.

In my opinion, the audience who are saying this are probably not well educated or simply conservative beyond a standard. Either way, it obviously appears like it got to Mona as it would with anybody who acquires fame in a quick amount of time and is forced to deal with controversy. But I think she’s smart, because she used it to her advantage.

On the hook, or chorus of this record, Mona features Jackie Cruz. If you don’t know Jackie Cruz, she’s an actress on the hit Netflix show: Orange is the New Black which just released its fifth season. Again, Mona’s strategy was well thought out with this video as well.

If you are not familiar with Orange is the New Black, it’s a show about female inmates that caters to a strong feminist audience. Marketing wise for Mona, featuring Jackie is brilliant because Jackie’s fans from OITNB are going to watch this and ultimately become Mona’s fans.

Overall, I think the Muslim world needs Mona Haydar because she knows how to handle controversy. She can simply address any criticism in her content and turn it into art. She picked the perfect medium: Hip-Hop.

Bless you, Mona. Your movement is definitely Muslim. And definitely dope.

Yazeed Makhlouf

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Yazeed Makhlouf

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