786 Boulevard

Arij Mikati is the managing director of storytelling and culture change work at Pillars Fund. Her work with her team at Pillars Fund helps to support Muslims who want to tell authentic and provocative stories full of mess, nuance and beauty, looking for infuse the existing landscape of media with fresh ideas and voices. Alongside actor Riz Ahmed, USC Annenberg and Ford Foundation, Pillars Fund recently unveiled their blueprint for Muslim inclusion, which found Muslims  missing or misrepresented in aa study of top grossing films from 2017-2019.  

Alongside Riz Ahmed and his production company Left Handed films, Arij and her team at Pillars Fund have helped create the Pillars Artist Fellowship program, which seeks to empower Muslim writers and directors on their pathways to success, and features an all star advisory committee with names like Mahershala Ali, Hasan Minhaj, Lena Khan and others, a group who have affectionately been dubbed by Riz as the Muslim Avengers.  

We’ll be speaking to Arij about the helping build this initiative and why it’s so important to empower Muslim storytellers.

0:48 – Bassam Tariq is directing the next Blade movie!

5:00 – Logistics of getting a dynamic team for the Pillars Fund

10:30 – How to repair the damage islamophobia in the industry?

17:04 – Was the Riz test a blueprint for the Pillars Fund?

21:28 – difficulties for Muslims to ascend in Hollywood?

24:01 – Hasnain is coming to the party with his butterbeer. Lack of resources/funding for Muslim filmmakers to progress forward.

30:16 – Muslim art community is so special!

32:36 – Criteria for individuals to submit to the Pillars Fund grants.

37:29 – The importance of good Muslim representation and how important is that you the public psyche.

43:03 – Relationship between spirituality and your art craft?

45:55 – Arij’s piece of advice to upcoming and new Muslim Filmmakers.

Helwa is the author of the international bestseller, Secrets of Divine Love. Secrets of Divine Love teaches you how to unlock your spiritual potential and unveil your divine purpose. In the book Helwa uses a rational yet heart-based approach toward the Quran, weaving together inspiring mystical stories, Quranic verses, poetry, psychology and science, breaking down Islam in a way that is digestible and inspiring for millennial Muslims.  

We’ll be discussing her journey in writing the book, her decision to make it an inclusive experience, faith, sectarianism and true love of God. 

0:10 – How did Nouri get his hands on Secrets of Divine Love by A.Helwa? 

1:22 – What inspired you to write this book? 

7:05 – Hasnain giving away books like Oprah! The issue of translating the book to different languages. 

8:46 – What was the reaction to the book as it reached international best seller? 

14:55 – Who are your readers and why has this book hit home for so many Muslims? 

20:29 – Practicing from a place of Love 

29:26 – Theory of faith to the practicality of faith 3

5:35 – Hasnain goes off on his unusual questions again – asks Helwa how she filter through the amount of information and knowledge to be specific within her book? 

41:00 – The struggles of self-publishing. Advice for future authors. 

46:15 – Importance of practicing faith from a place of love

#secretsofdivinelove #ahelwa #islam #muslimpodcast 

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786 Boulevard is a podcast by Nouri Sardar & Hasnain Ali, who have conversations with Muslim artists and creatives at the intersection of culture, art, spirituality.  We're on the Podcast platforms below - subscribe!  

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3f1svZ0

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/786boulevard

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cDTnNf 

Check us out on Instagram: @786Boulevard And Twitter: @786Boulevard

Azhar Usman is a standup comedian, actor, writer and producer based in Chicago. He has worked on a variety of shows including Ramy as a staff writer and co-executive producer, and the upcoming Disney-Marvel series Ms. Marvel on screen in a  recurring role. He is the co-creator of Allah Made Me Funny-The Official Muslim Comedy Tour, the groundbreaking stand up comedy tour that found mainstream success in 2008.  In this episode we’ll be travelling on an introspective and spiritual journey, picking apart the idea of Hollywood and mainstream media, how the art we create fits into our spiritual metaphysical journeys, exploring Sufiism and so much more.

0:34 - Azhar gives us a small glimpse of Ms. Marvel and show business 

21:45 - Distinction between Muslim Media and Mainstream media

48:43 - The founding of Azhars Numinous Company (Creative Producing and Consulting)

54:49 - What is the hardest part of the artistic process? 

1:06:22 - "You blossom where you are planted", Azhar enlightens us about his journey in Sufism

1:13:51 - Relationship between art and your spirituality

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786 Boulevard is a podcast by Nouri Sardar & Hasnain Ali, who have conversations with Muslim artists and creatives at the intersection of culture, art, spirituality.  

We're on the Podcast platforms below - subscribe!  

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3f1svZ0

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/786boulevard

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cDTnNf 

Check us out on Instagram: @786Boulevard And Twitter: @786Boulevard

Kayem is a Libyan-American hip-hop artist. The son of a Libyan political prisoner who helped form a pro-democracy movement for Libya after escaping prison, he was filmed in the docuseries “Sing Freedom” when returning to Libya for the first time after living in exile. Kayem relaunched his career after a three-year hiatus due to US government restrictions. He has been featured in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Complex Mag, the New York Times, and today on 786 Boulevard.  We’ll be discussing his connection to Libya after a lifetime living in exile, the concept of home, building his art form, using art in general to voice resistance and giving a voice to the voiceless, and how his art intertwines with his spirituality.

Ruby Jaffrey is a Calligraphy Artist specializing in Arabic script and modern Islamic Art. Born and raised in London, England, Ruby moved to Dallas, Texas in 2002. Her love for the arts was nurtured at home by her mother who is an an Urdu lecturer and poet. Ruby became increasingly interested with the aesthetics of written script. Encouraged by her husband, Ruby began her artistic journey in 2007.  Her works are a celebration of color, spirituality and faith that are in keeping with the stylistic zeitgeist - expressed with a modernism that she hopes will resonate with the artistic sensibilities of today’s youth. Her work has been exhibited al  over the world in London, Washington DC, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, and Karachi.  We’ll be chatting to Ruby about her art, cultivating her talent, becoming another Brit lost in the US and how her artistic craft impacts her spirituality and vice versa.

1:10 – Experience of Brits migrating to the U.S? How was the transition?

4:47 – Ruby’s fascination with written script.

10:06 – Pushing the boundaries and pursuing your art as a career?

12:48 - Challenges of being a female artist.

15:33 – Art as a career in the South Asian community. Advice from Ruby.

20:24 – Hasnain always talking business. Ruby’s business model to monetize from her art.

29:13 – Art and mental health.

34:24 – What role does spirituality play in your art?

37:52 – Hasnain shifting the conversation again and asks how Ruby’s differentiates herself from other artist within her industry.

47:01 – Hasnain’s art film idea shattered, Ruby art process from idea to final canvas.

Ahmed Twaij zealously tells stories as a means to promote equality, as well as holding those in power to account. An independent freelance journalist, his work has been published in numerous outlets including The Independent, The Guardian, New York Times, Vice, BBC and many more. His work focuses on US politics, social justice issues and the Middle East.

Ahmed is also a manager of everydayiraq, an online social media platform dedicated to shedding light on the daily life of Iraqis and providing a new narrative for the nation. We speak to Ahmed about his journey, his ventures into journalism and filmmaking, and reclaiming Iraqi narratives.

1:22 – Nouri forgets to turn off the soundtrack but asks Ahmed about his journey within Journalism without actually going to school for Journalism

3:32 – Shifting from being a medical doctor to Journalism 

7:18 – Where do you find the motivation to want to help people? 

10:02 – Everyday Iraq (Instagram) platform 

15:01 – Changing (humanize/normalize) the Iraqi narrative 

19:28 – Hasnain goes off on his random thoughts – asks Ahmed how he deals with normalization of target killings towards specific people 

24:01 – Ahmed shares his experience during the mall bombing in Baghdad 

29:04 – Nouri asks how he feels to see his country in a tough situation 

31:55 – Post 2003 Iraq, how has art suffered? 

39:25 – Hasnain ponders again, resistance art 

43:06 – Ahmed’s venture into filmmaking 

47:15 – What role does your craft mix with your spirituality?

With the recent images and videos coming out of Palestine, a resurgence in pro-Palestinian voices has taken over social media, with many artists from various fields highlighting the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians.

In this episode, we speak to Mazzi, an artist based out of New York and hailing from Jersey City, New Jersey. Mazzi has been vocal about the Palestinian cause his entire career, visiting Palestine multiple times for humanitarian work, conducting workshops, talent shows and live performances for Palestinian youth. Committed to philanthropy, he has donated 100% of all the proceeds of his albums to charitable causes.

We’ll be speaking to him about Palestine, speaking up for Palestine, his charitable work and his career.

Serena Rasoul started her acting career in 2013 by appearing on the award-winning House of Cards. She founded Muslim American Casting to highlight incredible Muslim talent and to consult industry professionals on how to best include Muslims in the creative process. We’ll be discussing her journey as an actress, what sparked her inspiration into founding Muslim American Casting, changing the tide of Muslim representation in the industry, and more.

2:08 - Becoming an actress 

9:25 - Being a Palestinian-American Muslim in the Film Industry  

15:57 - Nouri and Serena tag team and ask Hasnain about doing intimacy and hope in the film industry scenes 

27:15 - We get into Muslim-American Casting  

42:58 - Why is it important to have correct representation of Muslims in film? 

52:13 - What is the future of American-Muslim Casting?

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786 Boulevard is a podcast by Nouri Sardar & Hasnain Ali, who gather Muslims of all kinds to discuss culture, art, spirituality, and how the three intertwine.    

We're on the Podcast platforms below - subscribe!  

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3f1svZ0 

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/786boulevard 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cDTnNf 

Check us out on Instagram: @786Boulevard 

And Twitter: @786Boulevard

In this clip from Episode 27, Nouri quizzes Sheikh Faiyaz Jaffer on the lines between progression and perception, as part of a greater conversation on artistic expression in Islamic thought. Listen to the full episode!