Rock N Roll and Ramadan

I first met Stefan when Invasion played our first show in Belgium; he is a very interesting and charismatic dude and on that drunken night we had many a great conversation about music, life, the universe and everything. When he mentioned to me about his 4 year long experience with Islam and how it came about, I declared to him in my drunken state that it sounded like a great basis for an interview. Never did I think we would actually get round to it - but read on to learn otherwise…

Please tell us a bit about yourself, where you are from, what you do etc and how involved you are with the Belgium music scene.
I'm from a little Village in the south of Belgium near a very tiny city called La Louvière where the language is French.
With regards to music - I don't consider myself involved with a specific ‘scene’; I find the whole concept a bit limiting, but I've played in many bands. Most of those bands were bands that I was the founder of and there haven’t been many times I’ve joined a band that is already established. SUPERANTI is my most recent previous bands, my new band is called HAZY ANGELS (http://www.myspace.com/hazyangels), and I also perform alone acoustically with more intimacy and play songs which weren’t even intended to leave my living room. When i say I’m not involved in a music scene I mean - I just make music because I need to and I love it. That's where I feel alive; where I feel like I can be free.

Were you raised by your parents into any particular religion, and what was their influence on you in regards to music?
I've was actually raised by my grand-parents (grandfather atheist and grandmother catholic) and had to go to church with my grandmother, but it was more of a recreation for me than something I took seriously.
I stayed with my grandparents living until the age of 12 or 13 because my parents were too busy working and could only really look after me on occasional weekends. Even when I was with my parents on the weekend I didn’t really feel comfortable and often asked to go back to my grandparents. My father never liked the fact that i was involved in art, graphic art at school and music after school, but obviously that has never stopped me.

What made you consider Islam?
My experience with Islam came after I had searched in Christian religion for answers I couldn’t find. It was just a way to travel for me spiritually, meeting people from around the world, sharing points of view with other Muslims. Although I do have to point out that "SHARING" exists as long as you share the faith in Islam - not much if you're outside Islam.

It seems that because the majority of the UK press focuses on radical Muslims, a lot of people here see the Islamic religion as being very antediluvian and intolerant; did you experience much of this yourself?
Islam is strict - it is no fun and it is dogmatic. It is rules and methods, always speaking about Islam, dedicating all your life to god; every move, every thought, literally everything. That's what Islam means and that's what Islam is; complete devotion. So yes, it helped me meet very interesting people because they had different views, different ideas, but a lot of people were close minded to everything BUT Islam.
It’s a little frightening. Almost everything outside Islam is banned.

So do you think the press view of Islam is distorted or do you think the negative view of Muslims is somewhat justified?
The press view of Islam is at the same time distorted and justified because there are all kinds of situations that could be misunderstood; conflicts and different cultures, even conflicts between Muslims themselves - it’s so complicated. The press is right in highlighting the political way driven by leaders of wars in the name of religion, but they never tell us about the Muslims that live in humility that would be the same if they were catholic or Buddhist or anything else.

Did you follow the Islamic laws strictly – if so what did it entail?
I followed most of the fundamental rules of Islam, like praying 5 times a day at specific hours, not drinking alcohol, not eating pork - little things that were harmless i would say.
I was practicing Islam for four years; daily prayers, going to the Mosque, and of course during Ramadan fasting from sunrise to sunset. It helped me stay away from people and places where I could find drugs so I could get straightened out. I needed to be far from that "world" so I chose an extreme place.

Was it mainly the discipline you sought from Islam to help you in your situation?
At that time I was lost and had no faith in life or my future - so a lot of the time I was under the influence. I took a variety of drugs including alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, basically anything and everything that could send me outside my mind and create a distraction.
Obviously after a point it gets a bit much and I wanted to stop, but I had to find something strict enough to make me quit the way i was living – as I mentioned earlier Islam seemed to be perfect as it is extremely austere.
None of the Muslims seem able to think for themselves outside of Islam, they are lost so they stay within the community because they feel safe.
I fitted in as I too was lost and needed that security and discipline.

Did the Muslims within the mosque you joined have any idea of your history with drug abuse? If so how did they react?
They don't speak about past experience in Islam. When you get in then you are, as they say, all brand new - so everything before is forgotten. All your sins are forgiven and now it's up to you not to sin anymore and stay pure. You are always invited to go to places where brothers are together to look out for each other so no one is tempted by anything outside Islam. Because of this it was easy for me to quit drugs, hardly anyone in Islam even smokes, and even that is looked down upon.

Do you find you have a balance more now with drink and drugs - do you do them but in moderation?
I drink yes, and sometimes i get drunk, very drunk! I smoke weed occasionally, but other than that I don't do any drugs anymore. I feel more serene, more peaceful, like I found myself again. Islam made me go so far from all i knew, culturally, spiritually and everything, so i could come back to myself with a view that was more objective. I’m more open to people and involved in freedom, but not as a fighter.

Could you explain a bit about your thoughts on the Muslim beliefs in the context of the music scene?
Music is not tolerated in Islam; it is seen as devil phenomena that drives you to sex, drugs and any kind of twisted things.
They don't ask what you were before anyway; the fact that I am a musician was irrelevant. They only tell you how God wants you to be now.

Obviously becoming sober can have a massive influence on your music, musicians are well renowned for using substances to help them with their many demons and to inspire. Did you find that being sober affected your inspiration? Did you find any inspiration from the religion itself that you could channel?
My music was disappearing, not because of my sober state but because as I said there is no place for music in Islam at all. The time i spent in Islam is the time where i made the least music in all my life - I wasn’t in any bands. Even if i was merely speaking of playing music with friends they were all saying "what for? There is nothing in music that is good for you and for Islam - pray and study the Koran instead!”

There are obviously conflicts between the music scene and the Islamic religion; do you actually think it’s possible to simultaneously be involved in both?
No, you cannot be involved in both Islam and music - it's like being a pyromaniac fireman! You just can't believe in god thinking you’re Muslim but not really practicing (something impossible for a "real" Muslim) and be involved in music. You could say music is a kind of religion in its own terms when you’re dedicating your life to it.

Do you still practice as a Muslim, if not why not and would you consider it again?
Although it was most of all a positive experience for me and definitely helped me a lot in my situation, I am no longer involved in Islam. It is not a place where you can find peace and happiness, and it is not a place where you can find answers to questions about freedom (Islam means submission to the one and only god)

What do you think of the recent Burqa ban in Belgium and how have the Muslim community reacted?
With the Burqa or anything about a religious way of being - I think everybody's free, but we are fighting to be free from so many things like the Burqa and anything that separates us from others. Some women are fighting to have the right to wear a burqa here, but somewhere in let’s say Pakistan, a lot more are fighting and struggling and suffering to have the right to be without it. Women in extreme Muslim regions that tried to rise against the rules have been killed or are in exile, women like writers, journalists and all women that wanted to speak the truth or just wanted to be free. In Belgium people fight for the right to wear the Burqa, but at least you can speak out without fear.
As an added contradiction – if a great stylist designer was making Burqa with his name or brand on it then some non Muslim women would want to wear them, don't you think?

Anything you would like to add finally?
I especially want to say that people are people, in or outside Islam, there are idiots, fools, wise, tolerant and non tolerant, sick, insane, kind, rich, poor, and so on and so on...
There is a part of Islam that is unfortunately very intolerant and radical and it this way of thinking is spreading more and more. It’s becoming crazier just like the rest of the people in the world.
In every religion there is a will to find God, but behind every religion there is a will to take the power and control and to manipulate people pretending that it is the will of God.
It once was said that love is God and God is love... I say - maybe! But in a lot of men hate is what you will find.
I fear the fools that wear their religion like a gun and think that if you're not with them, then you're against them.

I think we should be free to do what ever we want to but some people think that they have the right to force others to think like them. Some people probably don’t deserve the right to be free and it is sad, but to be free you need to accept the differences in others. There is no place for difference in pretty much any religion, and of course in Islam NO DIFFERENCES ARE ACCEPTED.
For example, Islam is no place for homosexuality - more the hatred of it and homophobia. There is no room to be individual at all - it’s all the same for the same god, and when you are not Muslim you are not worthy of being a man.
No religion is truly tolerant – in the end they all want people to see the world their way.
I found and met people in Islam that are so great... But i believe that was not Islam itself that made them so great but life.