Chicago's Dancing Muslims Put Happiness on Display Thanks to Chicago Filmmaker

Pharrell Williams’ hit song "Happy" is likely to get you dancing in spite of yourself. For a 22-year-old Chicago filmmaker, the song was an opportunity to smash a stereotype. 

Rayyan Najeeb, 22, called on Muslims from the city and suburbs to join him in a film project to show "Muslims in Chicago being happy," a counterpoint to the perception that Muslims are "miserable and angry."

And he wanted to make people smile.

A diverse collection of 150 Muslim men, women and children responded.

"In our tradition, we believe that a smile is charity, that we get reward for it," Najeeb, a native of Milwaukee, with Syrian and Palestinian ethnicity, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It is a blessing being able to spread cheer."

The Northwestern University film graduate's video, posted on YouTube last week, has been viewed more than 55,000 times as of Monday, April 28. It's also engendered debate in the Muslim community, with some genuinely happy to see its diversity and joy, and others criticizing scenes of Muslim women dancing, arguing that dancing is sinful.

"In our tradition, there are different schools of thought and interpretations of the ... teachings of the prophet," Najeeb said. "I know what I believe in. I have teachers that I trust who also agree with my way of thinking. I’m very confident in the decision that I made and the direction I went with this video.