Excerpt:
Hip hop artist Mo Sabri began a recent performance in Washington, DC, with "Heaven Is Where Her Heart Is," a song about a virtuous girl who travels to Mecca for the holy Muslim pilgrimage. For the past year, Sabri has been singing about pious themes in a genre not exactly known for godly messages.
"There's too many songs on the radio these days encouraging girls to do bad things," he told the audience of Muslim families attending the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which included screaming girls who were obviously excited by the 22-year-old Muslim hearththrob.
The son of Pakistani immigrants, Sabri grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee. He's one of a growing cadre of young Muslim American musicians who write "anaasheed," or songs with religious Islamic themes, that are beginning to appeal to a broader audience.