Rebellion defines Bohemia, but only Islam can sustain it. Bohemians rebel against the mainstream in three ways. They advocate lifestyles such as communism, sexual anarchy, pacifism, drug experimentation, or Islam. They dress to express these beliefs, as with psychedelic hippie tie-dye, punk sexual bondage gear, and Muslims' modest, baggy clothes. They preach what they practice through art.

The Establishment takes these lesser-known styles to freshen its own creative attempts, and so offer something new to buy for the new season. Further, the association, however vague, with an alternative to the dominant life pattern, seems to offer hope. Thus, youth flock to fashion the Establishment markets as rebellious, as with the long-sleeved plaid flannel shirts, combat boots, corduroy flood pants, and thermal underwear of early 90's Seattle Grunge , music marketed as woman-friendly Heavy Metal . As Third Wave feminist Founding Mother Naomi Wolf points out in the Beauty Myth, fashion flows from political movements; the late 60's/early 70's archetype of the woman with long, straight, unprocessed hair parted down the middle in an ankle-length peasant skirt came direct from feminism's Second Wave.

Bohemia does not exist without poets, actors, authors, painters, diarists, critics, sculptors, fashion designers, and playwrights. Many practice an art and don't achieve this status, however. Artists such as Steven Spielberg admit that they “whore” whatever art sells. Some artists pour their heart out – and what comes out has no quarrel with the way society functions, as with, say, Christian singer Amy Grant or Paul McCartney . The Bohemian artist advocates change, and so may invent new forms when the traditional, accepted ones do not express his or her statement – as with the pro-drug, pro-eastern mysticism psychedelia of John Lennon's “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Many times Bohemians may take root in a scene, but their need to express themselves and not limit what they feel valid takes them far beyond that sound. Goddess-worshipping Third Wave feminists Luscious Jackson rapped and sampled, but wrote and played Country-Western, house, funk, disco, drum and bass, jazz, punk, and Heavy Metal elements into their music. So, Bohemians experiment when they invent or develop new forms, or work in forms foreign to their scene but not to their hearts. (For both cases, see political leftists the Clash .)

The outsider status of the hipsters combines with the time and money they spend on their art and fashion to congregate them in poor inner-city ghettos. These Bohemia provide the low rent scenesters need so they can buy supplies and still afford an apartment (or a room), the time to work on their art, the fellowship of others with similar goals, tolerance of their lifestyle, and the working-class struggles to inspire art the public can relate to. This gave us the archetype of the Starving Artist . They wish to “make it,” to live in comfort off of their art, yet not “sell out” the alternative lifestyle they express in their art to begin with. Artists use the business term “sell out” as a metaphor. Say a pure juice company builds up customers with their nutrition and taste. Say they sell out their stock to a multinational-conglomerate corporation who they know will change their recipes for cheaper, lower quality ingredients. The original company betrays the trust their customers had in them in exchange for riches. The name brand remains, but they “sold out.”   Artists do this, too. Everyone needs to eat and pay rent, many need to raise a family, and musicians need someone to pay for the tours that promote their records: these reasons excuse some concession to economy. When artists – no matter what their posture remains – betray the claims they make to possess a superior alternative to the dominant life pattern, they sell out. To do this and lose their street credibility as Bohemians, they can sell the creative document of their lifestyle, beliefs, and experience – along with all that piece means to their followers – to a corporation for a commercial. A good example of this dynamic took place when Existentialists the Cure sold their song “Pictures of You” to a camera company. The artists get richer, the corporation gets richer, but the culture and the people nourished by culture starve when the meaning of that culture becomes “This Is the Toothpaste For Me.”  

Without Islam, however, Bohemians tend to gravitate toward the mainstream over time and sell out for lack of an alternative, even without the gentrification that kills scenes. Communism leads to oppression – read Animal Farm or history books. Sexual anarchy leads to HIV, AIDS, Chlamydia, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis C, gonorrhea, the miracle of mass abortion, abandoned teenage mothers, abandoned babies, and infanticide. Pacifism leads to nothing, as shown when Hitler, not Gandhi, liberated India. Drug experimentation leads to brain damage, PCP-induced murder, death and injury from car accidents, death by overdose, slow poison, AIDS, drive-by shootings, junkie muggers, inability to reason critically in politics, babies born addicted, loss of ability to sing or remember lyrics, and poverty. The dead ends of the alternative lifestyles preached by Bohemians – to use communism, sexual anarchy, pacifism, and drug experimentation as four examples out of many – lead some to consider Islam as the third option between those and the mainstream. Beat poet Abdul-Hayy Moore , rock photographer Peter Sanders , folk rocker Cat Stevens , Gothic Father Peter Murphy , King of Pop Michael Jackson , funk prince Rick James , Indian poetess Kamala Das , subversive comedian Dave Chapelle, the rappers known as “Everlast,” Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, Mos Def, Tyson , and Napolean all embraced Islam in recent decades. While Islam creates very normal people, not freaks, the outsider status remains for those who become Muslim in countries that do not possess Muslim majorities, or possess active Fascists. The U.S., for instance, has both, and views the new Muslims as traitors in politics and war. Third Wave feminists think the new Muslims hate women, or if women convert, consider them traitors. Irony abounds when the U.S. Fascists attack Muslim women on the street. So, whereas a country that enforces Islamic Law – and none now exists – would possess no room for a good Bohemia, since the mainstream life pattern would work, the Global North possesses many niches for the Muslim version. Every piece of art the Muslim Bohemians produce takes on political implications, however mild or indirect the work may be. Further, nothing gives artistic thrust like a fully developed ideology with personal politics as well as stances on foreign policy and social issues. Hipsters condemn anti-female bias, at least outwardly, and Islam possesses more rights and status for women than any other tradition. Hipsters have called for racial brotherhood for decades, and Islam achieves it. For the Bohemians who wish neither to sell out nor to burn out, Islam gives a comprehensive, practical, holistic, day-to-day life pattern for whatever stage of life they may be in. The fashion for Muslim hipsters orbits the example of the Prophet Muhammad , and I pray that the Creator grant him peace. He wore a skullcap, a turban, a fist-length beard, little or no mustache, and loose, baggy clothes. What Muslims wear in tribute find different incarnations throughout the world, whether the Moroccan hooded robe, the long shirt and tied pants of Pakistan, or the sweatpants and polo shirt of the U.S. Muslim women cover their hair, ears, and neck with a scarf. As for what else the women wear, many wear a female version of the Middle-Eastern robe, or a female version of the Indo-Pak long shirt and tied pants, or in the U.S., an ankle-length jean skirt cut to allow freedom of movement. Needless to say, in France, which bans Muslim teenage girls' headscarf, or in the U.S., which bans beards for many jobs, Muslim Bohemians strive to assert the counterculture and not sell out. As far as the art they produce, American Khalil Bendib wins awards for his political cartoons, shown in over 1, 000 newspapers. World-famous American calligrapher Mohammed Zakarriya designed the U.S. Postal Stamp for the Islamic festival of Eid and the Georgetown University prayer room in one of the main campus buildings. American painter Salma Arastu has her own greeting card company, Your True Greetings. Other Muslims include American Nu-metal leaders System of a Down , alternative rock band Project26 (who hail from Southern California and released an October 2006 EP), and the converts above.

Bohemia of the past include the 1920's and 30's Harlem Renaissance Scene, the1950's North Beach San Francisco Beatnik Scene, the 1960's Haight-Ashbury San Francisco Hippie Scene, the 1970's New York Punk Scene, the 1980's London Gothic Scene, and Bohemia's Last Stand, the 1990's Seattle Grunge Scene. None remain. Unless Islam reflects it, all that they stood for died. Punk makes no exception, because punk ceases to be Bohemian when it becomes a uniform for conformists based on chance, and a sound we limit ourselves to and fake in order to achieve. That's why the first punks used to say, “Punk died in 1980.” The various Gothic subcultures advocate little and agree on less. Islam remains. Peace.

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