Muslim rappers take on 9/11 world

Che Bin compares a bin Laden speech with one by Che Guevara

Following the 11 September terror attacks in 2001 - and later bombings in Madrid and London - singers from Bruce Springsteen to country star Toby Keith have been making records about their thoughts on the "war on terror."

BBC World Service's The Beat programme talked to two young British Islamic artists who use music in very different ways to reflect their view of the world.

AKI NAWAZ, FUN-DA-MENTAL

Rap group Fun-Da-Mental have been in existence since 1991, but have suddenly received considerable attention with their latest album All is War (The Benefits of G-had).

The album's release has been delayed after it received criticism in the UK press aimed at its explicit tracks - such as Cookbook DIY, which describes the process of building and exploding a terrorist bomb; Che Bin, which compares Osama bin Laden to Che Guevara; and 786 All Is War, which calls for "a mosque on Ground Zero."

Two directors of Fun-Da-Mental's label Beggars Banquet Records have threatened to resign if the album is released. There have been some calls for frontman Aki Nawaz to be arrested for glorifying terrorism.

I knew the album would touch a nerve - it was intended to touch a nerve - but not on this scale.

I had to have a couple of helmets to avoid the missiles that were coming at me.

We actually appeal more to non-Muslims - lefties, anarchists, skateboarders - than we do appeal to Muslims

It does have strong lyrics - but we're living in extreme times.

These are serious issues that are going on around us. It's not a joke.

People are getting murdered, slaughtered, and I want to be really responsible. I want to dissent, I don't want to toe the line - but I've also got to pick my time a bit better, so I pulled back. I have turned down 100-200 interviews.

Each track on the album has its own story. Cookbook DIY is about going into the minds of three different characters. The first is an anarchist bomber - what he is thinking about, and how he makes a bomb for £50.

The second is a dissenting bomber - someone like the Unabomber, or a suicide bomber in Palestine - how they make their bombs. And the third is the scientist who works for the White House, and how he makes his bomb.

It is also about how we as people contribute, through our taxes, to make that bomb. We also play our part in terrorism of the state, where the state terrorises people - whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, or South America.

It is to show the absurdity of all of us, who give more moral grounding to someone who makes a bomb which kills 200,000 people, and say he is better than someone who makes a bomb which kills 50 people.

We actually appeal more to non-Muslims - lefties, anarchists, skateboarders - than we do to Muslims.

A lot of Muslims ask me why I'm using music to make political soundbites, because that is not Halal - it is not permitted in Islam.

RIZ MC

Actor-turned-rapper Riz MC - real name Riz Ahmed - has taken a different approach, emphasising comedy with his debut single Post-9/11 Blues, a satirical take on the fear people have felt since the attacks.

The song has been a massive hit on the internet already, with its video being one of the most downloaded on website MySpace.com.

I'm throwing up questions rather than answering them.

What I'm trying to do with the song as a whole is talk about the way that there is a post-9/11 industry.

I think quite a lot of the way in which our cultural landscape has been shaped post-9/11 is laughable

We're so bombarded with words like "fundamentalist", "British Muslim", "beards", "rucksacks", "planes" - this language, and our public symbols, have been invested with new meanings.

What I'm trying to do is investigate that, but in a different way.

I think quite a lot of the way in which our cultural landscape has been shaped post-9/11 is laughable.

I think a branding exercise has taken place. The war on terror; Osama bin Laden as a James Bond super villain - it seems as though the political debate has been packaged in the way you package a product.

Wars are being sold in the way in which lifestyles are sold in glossy magazines.

I wanted to throw up this absurdity, and take this climate of fear to its illogical conclusion.

Both myself and Fun-Da-Mental are sitting as "Muslim protest music" - but actually the main demographic we appeal to is white middle-class students.

It's easier to ghettoise this music at a safe distance, say it is by Muslims for Muslims, and categorise it as a fringe sentiment. But it is not a fringe sentiment at all.

Actually, this music belongs firmly in the mainstream.