Vocal composition in four-part harmony
This piece is inspired by Professor Asani’s book, Infidel of Love: Exploring Muslim Understandings of Islam. The poetic trope of an “infidel of love” was one of the first and most exciting ideas I internalized from our course. In particular, I was inspired by this passage from Professor Asani’s introduction:
By relating to God through passionate, yearning and longing love, an individual can become so transformed that he is purified of all egotistical tendencies and becomes God- centric…love is such a powerful transformative force that it transcends socially constructed categories such as Muslim and Hindu which no longer have any significance…In this sense, the term “infidel of love” serves as a badge of true faith and challenges the narrow construction of religion as a static sociopolitical identity (14).
The idea of God’s love transcending narrow constructions of religious identity, is profoundly resonant to me. It is intricately connected to the ideas we learned early in the course about the difference between ‘islam’ and ‘Islam’. In Arabic, the word ‘islam’ means submission and the word ‘muslim’ means one who submits. Professor Asani explained that the inclusive term ‘islam’ was used to denote all who submit to God, including those who come to know God through Abraham and Jesus. Abraham himself would be ‘muslim’ by this understanding, even though he predates the Prophet Muhammed. But as the religion espoused by Muhammed became politicized and shaped by issues of empire, geographic dominion, and authority claims, a more exclusive ‘Islam’ emerged. (As is, of course, similarly the case with other religious identities!)
Even though ‘Islam’ now refers to a specific group of those who submit to God, even the dominant understanding of Islam – namely, as a religion defined by knowing God through the revelation of the Prophet Muhammed, the last and greatest of the prophets – does not do justice to its internal diversity. Professor Asani explained how the Five Pillars, which came from the Hadith of Gabriel and are therefore extra-Qur’anic, are not agreed upon even among Muslims. Some say there are seven. This goes to show that Islam – that “narrow construction of religion,” as an infidel of love might accuse – has emerged in many forms over centuries, as the result of cultural forces, and is not original to the times of the Prophet himself.
With this in mind, I was inspired to celebrate the inclusive term ‘islam’ and the possibility of transcending social constructs, and their divisiveness, through the transformative force of love. The lyrics of this song, “We are more love together,” and the interwoven voices, attempt to honor a simple truth about the power of coming together to relate to God and each other through love.