The Taqwacores

Taqwacores are a legendary group of California Islamic punk bands with their own superstars and customs: Sunni straight-edgers, riot grrls in burqas, and stoned, mohawked Sufis acknowledge the old rules, but live a riotous American tradition of Islam. Buffalo, NY is a collegiate microcosm of the Khalifornia scene where debate rages about whether electric guitars are halal and what the Quranic sources are for an Iggy Pop song. A trucker incarnation of Rumi who leaves love poems at rest stops is among the other Muslim iconoclasts who inhabit this surprising milieu, an intimate, new American Islamic experience.