On a shelf above the computer in his Quincy living room, Munir Hassan keeps a sketchbook. He’s been interested in art since he was a kid and a friend taught him how to draw Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles. These days his sketches are more original and personal - a combination of Arabic letters and English words. They’re a reflection of his identity as both Muslim and American.
“You know – in this particular climate – where that could seem contradictory,” says Hassan, “You know, I just never saw it that way.”
Hassan grew up in Roxbury. He wears western style clothes, commutes to his job and comes home to a wife and two kids. He’s also a regular at his local mosque and keenly aware of the suspicion, even hostility often directed at his religion. But when he put one of his sketches on a t-shirt, it sparked a welcome conversation.
“A person came up to me and said – hey – is that Hebrew?” recalls Hassan, who explained the letters on the shirt were Arabic, but agreed that they did look similar to Hebrew. “We had this whole dialogue from there about these graphical elements and kind of tying in culture just in an organic way. Two people from completely different backgrounds just talking about something that was positive.”
It was the beginning of Sidikii Clothing Company : a line of hats and t-shirts that combines cross-cultural elements. Hassan runs the company on his off hours out of his apartment where T-shirts hang from a clothing rack. One of them features large block letters – reminiscent of the Nike slogan – it reads: “Just Dua It”. Dua is the Arabic word for pray. Another shirt combines Arabic letters separated from the usual cursive style and arranged so they look like the English word blessed.
“So, graphically, if you read Arabic, you may be wondering why the letters are backwards. If you try to read right to left, it doesn’t make sense,” explains Hassan. “You have to switch perspective a little bit.”
Which is his goal: to make people take a second look. The power of the graphics is not only about the design, but also the blank space that surrounds them, what graphic designers calls “negative space”. Hassan sees it as a metaphor.
“Being Muslim in America, it kind of seems like it’s a negative space to be in,” says Hassan. “Taking those two worlds and making something positive out of it is what the designs are about. It’s almost saying read between the lines, get something positive – positive message in the negative space.”
He says the feedback from his clothing line has been positive. Mostly. With the exception of a cardboard box filled with inventory, he runs his business entirely online where what he calls ‘internet trolls’ are part of the landscape. He ignores them and focuses instead of growing his company and spreading the message that inspired its name: Sidikki – the Arabic word for friend.
