Synopses & Reviews
The Salafi are a conservative Muslim sect misunderstood by most Americans, and even many Muslims. The New York Times first reference to Salafis as a distinct group appears in 1979 after a band of armed men seized control of the Great Mosque in Mecca. After 1979, there is not another mention of Salafis in the Times until 2000, in an article on links between Yemeni radicals and Osama Bin Ladin. In 2013, an article appeared in USA Today labeling Salafis as Sunni Islams most radical sect” and declaring them the most anti-Western” of any Islamist group.
Knightan acclaimed writer who has explored his own evolving religious beliefs in a range of novels, memoirs and essaysuses this mislabeling as yet another opportunity to engage those corners of Islamic tradition that others might dismiss as absurd or dangerous. If it has been in my job description over the past decade to take seriously groups and thinkers who are almost never taken seriously,” he says, I needed to look at the despised and ridiculed Salafiyya.”
Why I am Salafi is a tour inside the continuum of the Muslim religion illustrating why terms like orthodox or progressive, Sufi or Salafi cover such wide ground they cannot possibly contain their respective communities. But it is also the story of Knights own complex religious journey: one that has taken him to from praying in a mosque in Islamabad to drinking dimeythyltryptamine laced tea in the desert; to briefly identifying as a Five Percenter,” a marginalized group that view themselves as gods and rejects religious authority all together. Ironically, moving this journey of faith forward brings Knight back to his teens, a time when his religious questioning began, and he realizes, a time when he most identified as Salafi.
Review
Praise for:
WHY I AM A SALAFI
"Knight (The Taqwacores) invites readers into the desert of the real Islam,” offering a deconstructionist take on Islamic texts, tradition, transmission, and theology....Knights ambitious scope and captivating voice make Why I Am a Salafi a must-read for those interested in an alternative side of Islam."Publisher's Weekly Starred Review
"Knight traverses the scenic highways of Islamic history...Erudite, introspective, and relentlessly provocative, the author interrogates the traditions of Islamic historiography, Quranic exegesis, and hadith verification, elucidating how participating in the life of the Muslim community inevitably shapes, alters, and re-creates that community....The author's humor and generosity of spirit shine through... A vigorous treatment of how the sacred, in all its multifarious forms, continues to exercise power."Kirkus
TRIPPING WITH ALLAH
Framed as a kind of memoir-as-road-novel, Knights account is ostensibly about his journey to drinking ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea popular in South America. Yet, as with any good journey, the path includes numerous detours, and Knights side trips add depth and complexity far beyond what one might expect from the story of some guy looking to trip out. . . . Knight . . . never loses his authenticity, whether he is discussing religion, sex, or drug use. Booklist
JOURNEY TO THE END OF ISLAM:
Knight's storytelling allows for a memorable arrival at the destination.” Publishers Weekly
Does Knight succeed in melding ayahuasca and Islam? Its most certainly worth reading this intelligent book to find out, for it has, beg pardon, a higher purpose than its surface gonzoism might suggest at first, with its smart meditations on consciousness and the passage of time. William James, suffice it to say, would probably be appalled at first, and then fascinated.” Kirkus
Whats best about the Knight oeuvre is not just that he gets progressively more sophisticated in his readings of religion and the inherent tension between tradition and innovation, institutionalization and anarchy, but that his rage against hypocrisy is aimed at himself as well; he is critically wary of his own privilege, his own flawsincluding, notably, that sin of thinking that ones thinking makes one superior or that self-reflection insulates oneself from the flaws of others.” Rain Taxi
THE TAQWACORES:
compels the reader instantly
This is [
] a true brother to Howl and On the Road with Jehangir Tabari as Dean Moriarty and Yusef Ali as Sal Paradise
Knight has given us something wonderful: Introductory Islam, (a dictionary and Islam reference are essential companions for readers unfamiliar with Islamic terminology) a head-on clash of punk and the Quran
” Bookslut
Knight's talent lies in his ability to create this incredibly diverse group of characters who not only spring off the page because they are so vividly described, but also represent a variety of viewpoints when it comes to what constitutes being Muslim. What's even more realistic is how he shows that doubts can cut both ways; for while the liberal punks might doubt themselves on occasion, the hardline character has cracks through which his doubts about strict adherence to the scripture comes through.” Seattle Post Intelligencer
Not many people can say they created a music movement out of thin air, but one of the few who can is Michael Muhammad Knight, a writer whose 2004 novel, The Taqwacores, introduced the world to Muslim punk before Muslim punk was a thing that actually existed.” The Austin Chronicle
BLUE-EYE DEVIL:
In the end you realize Knight has grown dramatically during his odyssey, and this is what makes this tale so fascinating. Rarely does a reader get to share an author's actual personal transformation page by page - it is an intimate experience.” Lonely Planet
OSAMA VAN HALEN:
He's a writer only America could have produced, one whom contemporary American readers should be primed to appreciate - and maybe even learn from.” SF Gate
WHY I AM A FIVE PERCENTER:
An insiders view of a largely unknown belief system woven tightly with the authors own journey of spiritual discovery.” Kirkus
Synopsis
The Salafi movement invests supreme Islamic authority in the precedents of the Salaf, the first three generations of Muslims, who represent a "Golden Age" from which all subsequent eras can only decline. In Why I Am a Salafi, Michael Muhammad Knight confronts the problem of origins, questioning the possibility of accessing pure Islam through its canonical texts.
Why I Am a Salafi is also a confrontation of Knight's own origins as a Muslim. Reconsidering Salafism, Knight explores the historical processes that informed Islam as he once knew it, having converted to a Salafi vision of Islam in 1994. In the decades since, he has drifted away from Salafism in favor of an alternative Islam that celebrates the freaks, misfits, and heretical innovators. What happens to Islam when everything's up for grabs, and can an anything-goes Islam allow space for reputedly intolerant Salafism?
In Why I Am a Salafi, Knight explores not only Salafism's valorization of the origins, but takes the Salafi project further than its advocates are willing to go, and reflects upon the consequences of surrendering the origins forever.
Synopsis
The Salafi are a revivalist Sunni Muslim movement misunderstood by most Americans, and even many Muslims. The New York Times first reference to Salafis as a distinct group appears in 1979 after a band of armed men seized control of the Great Mosque in Mecca. After 1979, there is not another mention of Salafis in the Times until 2000, in an article on links between Yemeni radicals and Osama Bin Ladin. In 2013, an article appeared in USA Today labeling Salafis as Sunni Islams most radical sect” and declaring them the most anti-Western” of any Islamist group. Today, Salafism is widely implicated in the rise of ISIS.
Knightan acclaimed writer who has explored his own evolving religious beliefs in a range of novels, memoirs and essaysuses this mislabeling as yet another opportunity to engage those corners of Islamic tradition that others might dismiss as absurd or dangerous.
Why I am Salafi examines problems of interpretation, practice, and community, illustrating why terms like orthodox or progressive, Sufi or Salafi often fail to convey the reality of Muslim experience. Knights analysis includes examination of his own complex religious journey, having converted to Islam at sixteen, studying at a madrassa in Pakistan at seventeen, to
About the Author
Michael Muhammad Knight is a novelist, essayist, and journalist. He converted to Islam at 16, after reading Autobiography of Malcom X, and traveled to Islamabad at age 17 to study at a madrassa. He is the author of The Taqwacores, Impossible Man, Osama Van Halen, Journey to the End of Islam, and William S. Burroughs vs. The Quran. Knight lives in New York and North Carolina.