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For many years, Muslim artists \u2013 especially of the musical persuasion \u2013 have preferred the relative safety of playing in the Muslim sandbox. (We mean this literally, as most Muslim musicians have decided to cater to Muslim children with non-controversial themes and without conventional musical instruments.) Similarly, Muslim comedians \u2013 with the notable exception of Dave Chappelle<\/a> \u2013 have stuck with Muslim themes and\/or mostly Muslim audiences in an effort to provide some comic relief to the stress of life as a Muslim in the West. However, as the years pass after the 9\/11 attacks and hostile attitudes towards Islam and Muslims continue to grow, a concerted effort is being made to reach out to non-Muslim audiences for various reasons. While the desire for commercial success cannot be overlooked, the principal driver for this artistic shift seems to be the creation of a relevant place for Muslims in Western culture. <\/p>\n \u201cThe language of song is simply the best way to communicate,\u201d explains Yusuf Islam<\/a>, aka the former Cat Stevens<\/a>. \u201cPolitics essentially separates people, whereas music has the power to unify.\u201d Islam is making the leap back into mainstream music after a 28-year hiatus with a new single<\/a> (Heaven\/Where True Love Goes) and a new album, An Other Cup<\/a> \u2013 instruments and all. <\/p>\n The idea of returning to popular music struck Islam when his wife bought his son a guitar<\/a>, which Islam then picked up after the family had gone to sleep. \u201cIt felt like I was being helped to do it,\u201d says Islam. \u201cI can\u2019t describe it any other way.\u201d Similarly taking the plunge into mainstream music is the lesser known \u2013 although with an arguably larger fanbase among Muslim youth \u2013 Dawud Wharnsby-Ali<\/a>, who, like Islam, is another performer of Muslim children\u2019s music who is returning<\/a> to his folk musician roots. <\/p>\n Another Yusuf, namely British-Azeri nasheed<\/i> artist Sami Yusuf, has long since made waves with his well-produced albums of traditional Islamic devotional music. But in his last album, 2005\u2019s My Ummah<\/i>, he made the decision to release two versions \u2013 one with and one without musical instruments (Yusuf is himself a classically trained multi-instrumentalist who plays the violin, piano, and lute, among others). The result has been anger among some of his earlier fans who decry the use of instruments other than the duff<\/i>, a millenia-old percussion instrument, as haram<\/i> (forbidden), though others ban that too. Others, such as the Taliban-influenced journalist convert Yvonne Ridley, have derided Yusuf for selling his fans a \u201cpipe dream<\/a>\u201d while so many Muslims are suffering in the world. <\/p>\n Sami responds not only by saying he \u201cwant(s) to show that Islam represents a huge amount of people and cultures,\u201d but that he \u201clove(s) music. I love Bach<\/a>, I love Chopin \u2013 I love, I love U2!\u201d He also points to the passionate response to his music among Muslims as evidence of the majority opinion on music, that instrumentation and performance are allowed<\/a> \u2013 if not encouraged \u2013 if it uplifts people. The Muslim comedian Azhar Usman agreed<\/a>, saying Ridley\u2019s opinion was \u201cbased on a literalist and highly ideological, fundamentalist understanding of the religion of Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of Muslim comedians, two of the most notable \u2013 Britain\u2019s Shazia Mirza<\/a> along with Usman<\/a> \u2013 have branched out from their Muslim roots to seek audiences that will put their talents to the test. \u201cThe greatest comedy transcends all religions and colours,\u201d said<\/a> Mirza. \u201cWoody Allen transcends his Jewishness, Richard Pryor transcends his blackness.\u201d Azhar, best known for his stint with the \u201cAllah Made Me Funny<\/a>\u201d comedy tour, has reached out with his Tinku\u2019s World<\/a> sketches featured on MTV Desi<\/a>. Though there is still a passing reference to Muslim issues, those used to hearing non-stop jokes about veils or bombs from these two may now be disappointed.<\/p>\n The conflict that Muslim artists sometimes find themselves in arises from these creative lines in the sand. For musicians, it can comprise the use of musical intruments of any kind. Graphical artists fall afoul sometimes when they depict human forms. Comedians have a hard time laughing at themselves when critics, like Ridley, insist that Muslim suffering precludes any priority on leisure or creative fulfillment. When Yusuf Islam announced his reentry into popular music, he encountered a storm of criticism<\/a> from Muslim scholars who claimed he was crossing the line. Islam shot back with a paper<\/a> citing Islamic texts defending his position. \u201cIgnoring the power of the media is one of the main reasons, I believe, for our failure as a global community in creating a more peaceful and just world,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether or not these efforts will have their intended outcomes. Certainly all of these artists will find themselves challenged by the broader opportunities for creative expression, not to mention being judged by more discerning audiences than they are used to performing for. And new non-Muslim fans might miss the intended message altogether, given that it is purposely less overt and more universal. Other Muslim artists, like Everlast<\/a>, Mos Def<\/a>, Lupe Fiasco<\/a>, and Peter Murphy<\/a>, have chosen not to otherwise differentiate themselves from their non-Muslim peers, save for their public religious identification.<\/p>\n