Photo: Jorge Lascar (Flickr)
The wudu room in the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. A wudu is a space inside a mosque where Muslims can wash or purify themselves before prayer or reading the Qur'an.
There are a lot of podcasts being produced about Islam and Muslim life.
In fact, we at Muslim Voices produced one for a few years.
One podcast, just a year old, is attempting to tackle some sometimes serious matter in an accessible way. Which means there are a lot of jokes.
The Wudu Room creators describe themselves as “just a bunch of guys looking to give the world a fresh spin on things.”
They recently took the time to answer some questions about their podcast.
Rosemary Pennington: What is the Wudu Room?
Wudu Room: Wudu Room is a weekly Muslim podcast which discusses topics ranging from the Ahadith (the sayings and traditions) of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him -PBUH) to current events and issues which Muslims nowadays go through. The podcast was created to provide lessons in an easy to understand format where knowledge is derived from group conversation.
We here at Wudu Room find that this is the key to actually learning. One must think, question, and discuss these questions with a group, a halaqa (a religious gathering for the primary purpose of learning Islam), or any gathering of honorable people. In this way, we do not release a lecture every week. That method could be very hard to listen to, to understand, and to benefit from.
Rather, we raise questions and discuss topics in our beautiful religion with each other, and welcome the input and questions of our audience every step of the way.
RP: Where did the name come from?
WR: This is a funny one to answer. So, back in the 90’s, there was a show, The Amanda Show, which starred Amanda Bynes and touched the hearts of many. There’s a skit in the show called “The Girl’s Room” where Amanda and the cool girls heckle anyone trying to get in.
So one day, we, naturally the cool kids, were hanging out in the wudu (ablution) room of our local Masjid (mosque), and thought it would be funny to do something similar and prank people trying to get in.
We should clarify that our version of “The Girl’s Room” would have been far more manly with lasers, tigers, and the like. We would love to say that the name came to us in a dream or something, but nope, it is due to Ms. Amanda Bynes.
RP: Why did you start it?
WR: We started the Wudu Room just over a year ago, in September of 2011 because we realized that the youth in our community were unable to make it consistently to the Masjid for a lecture or lesson, and even if they did, the person giving a lecture or presentation would not make that connection to the youth. This is not the fault of the imam, or whomsoever it may be spreading knowledge.
The youth just need someone who can connect to them, understand what they are going through, and converse about these issues. No one ever speaks about the more minute things which end up being huge problems such as where does one pray in their workplace or school, or how to properly deal with Islamic criticism as a Muslim.
We also opted for the podcast format because of its ease of listening and lack of a time restraint. As opposed to a radio show or lecture, our listeners can listen during their commutes, their down time, exercises, anywhere, and everywhere they like at any time.
We had our benefactor, Ahmad Fahmy (ironmuslim.com) listen to us while in a sandstorm running across the Saharan desert in the Marathon De Sables. We’re pretty proud of that one and every listen we get, really.
RP: What should a first time listener expect?
WR: If someone’s listening for the first time, they could expect to learn something they didn’t know before, hear a hadith or story of a sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) for the first time, or at the very least, hear a different point of view on an argument they hadn’t thought of before.
They could also expect laughter. We don’t laugh and joke out of a lack of things to do. The Prophet (pbuh) advised against this. Rather, we laugh and joke because we love what we do and love each other and our listeners for the sake of Allah.
We start the podcast each week with a status update for each person on the table of their weeks. This discussion usually goes in a million directions due to how different we five guys are. So, if a person is listening for the first time, they can expect to get to know us a bit better, for better or for worse.
They can also expect to hear a hadith or quote in our “Wisdom of the Week” section, a discussion on current events in the world, space, Poke’mon series, and in any place where something important is happening.
Finally, we speak about an issue which affects us as youth in modern day in the “Islam & You” section of the podcast and round off the podcast with a joke from our senior bad joke correspondent, Mousa Hamad. We would like to think that hidden underneath the Andrew Jackson fun facts and the random moments where one of us breaks out into song or speaks only in Linkin Park lyrics that there’s a lesson to be had.
So if you’re listening for the first time, you can expect to learn, laugh, cry, get angry, depressed, confused, and come out after an hour wondering how you learned something. The Wudu Room is a rollercoaster ride of emotion.
Most of all, if you’re listening for the first time, we welcome you, and hope you like us as much as we like you for giving us a chance.
RP: Is anything off limits?
WR: No and yes. If there’s a hairy topic that we believe needs to be discussed, we will. We will speak about anything if we think it is beneficial for the listener. There’s no such a thing as a bad lesson, unless you’re learning something bad.
If we get a question, we’ll answer it or have someone more knowledgeable than us answer it anonymously. So there is nothing off limits for someone with a question to ask. We’re open to answering anything.
As long as we’re respectable to ourselves, the position and responsibility we have as the supposed “teachers,” respect each other in our conversation on and off the podcast in discussion and action, and respect our listeners of all faiths in their beliefs, backgrounds, and situations, then we should be fine.
If there’s a line that we shouldn’t cross, we usually straddle that line as far as we can go in the name of getting a point across.
RP: It seems like this is an educational podcast that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Is there anything you’ve learned in doing this that you did know before?
WR: We may not take ourselves too seriously, partially because of how long we’ve known each other, but we take the responsibility of the things we say on the podcast very seriously. We make sure to research and teach ourselves before saying anything on the podcast.
Before each podcast, we go over what we’re about to say. If it is something that does not have a valid source or footing in our religion, then we scrap it. We can’t expect people to listen to us when we, ourselves, have no idea what we’re talking about which is why we consistently consult and even invite those who are more knowledgeable than us.
We have each learned an astonishing amount by the means of our own podcast. Every lesson that we give, suggestion we make, or wrongdoing we define is a lesson to us first and foremost before it goes out to our listeners.
If we are spouting out ahadtih and ayaat (verses) of the Quran, outlining what is prescribed for Muslims without ensuring that we, ourselves, are taking note of our own lessons, then we have failed and revealed a hypocrisy in our hearts, which we would ask Allah to help us get rid of.
RP: Why should someone listen?
WR: Someone would listen to us if they want to learn something about Islam, be it a minute detail of faith to a basic reminder. If someone would like to learn more about the faith of Islam, if it is their faith or not, then we welcome them to listen, contribute, and question.
We would like to think that by the Grace of Allah, we have been able to provide a service to Muslims that they did not have before and are happy to see our project grow more and more each week. If someone is on the rails of whether or not to listen, we hope we have something to offer so that they can enjoy a relaxed discussion of what we centralize our lives around — our religion.
There’s information on the podcast at its website: The Wudu Room.
You can follow The Wudu Room on Facebook and Twitter. They also have a YouTube Channel. And, of course, you can download their podcast at iTunes.
