Michael Muhammad Knight ist ein amerikanischer Autor, dessen Schriften besonders bei jungen amerikanischen Muslimen Anklang finden. Sein Werk wird oft als notwendig und hoffnungsvoll beschrieben und brachte ihm den Beinamen „Islams Gonzo-Experimentator“ ein. Knight ist für seinen provokativen Ansatz zur zeitgenössischen Kultur bekannt und erforscht Themen wie Islam und Identität mit einem einzigartigen literarischen Stil. Seine Essays und journalistischen Arbeiten, die häufig den Prinzipien des Gonzo-Journalismus folgen, bieten eine mutige und unkonventionelle Perspektive.
Focusing on the historical context, this monograph delves into the Supreme Wisdom Lessons, examining the political and metaphysical discourses that shaped Fard Muhammad's environment. It highlights various interpretive traditions surrounding the Lessons and features an annotated edition, providing readers with a deeper understanding of their significance and impact.
Focusing on the life and teachings of the prophet Muhammad, this book blends historical and religious scholarship with original research and personal perspectives. It explores Muhammad's impact, illustrating how he is revered as a beloved figure while also facing significant criticism and controversy. Through a detailed narrative, the author examines the prophet's legacy and its diverse interpretations globally, providing a nuanced understanding of his role in the Islamic tradition and beyond.
Analysing classical Muslim literary representations of Muhammad's body as they emerge in Sunni hadith and sira from the eighth to the eleventh centuries, Michael Muhammad Knight argues that early Muslims' theories and imaginings about Muhammad's body contributed in significant ways to the construction of prophetic masculinity and authority.
Exploring the multifaceted life of Muhammad, this book offers forty distinct perspectives on his roles as a prophet, statesman, and mystic, among others. Each window reveals insights into his teachings and enduring legacy, inviting readers to appreciate the complexity of his character and contributions to history and spirituality.
The progenitor of "Muslim punk rock" and one of today's freshest spiritual voices pushes back against the common assumption that the historic faiths have no occult or magical tradition in this richly learned historical and personal journey through the practice of magic in Islam.Magic in Islam offers a look at magical and occult technologies throughout Muslim history, starting with Islam's earliest and most canonical sources. In addition to providing a highly accessible introduction to magic as it is defined, practiced, condemned, and defended within Muslim traditions, Magic in Islam challenges common assumptions about organized religion.Michael Muhammad Knight's deeply original book fills a gap within existing literature on the place of magic in Islamic traditions and opens a new window on Islam for general readers and students of religion alike. In doing so, the book counters and complicates widespread perceptions of Islam, as well as of magic as it is practiced outside of European contexts. Magic in Islam also challenges our view of "organized religions" as clearly defined systems that can be reduced to checklists of key doctrines, texts, and rules. As a result, Magic in Islam throws a monkey wrench into the conventions of the "intro to Islam" genre, threatening to flip popular notions of a religion's "center" and "margins."
The book explores the Salafi movement, a revivalist Sunni Muslim group often misunderstood in both American and Muslim contexts. It traces the historical timeline of Salafis in media, beginning with their emergence in 1979 during the Great Mosque seizure in Mecca, and highlights their portrayal as radical and anti-Western. The narrative addresses the complexities of Salafism, particularly its association with contemporary extremist groups like ISIS, aiming to clarify misconceptions and provide a nuanced understanding of this significant movement within Islam.
The author tries to reconcile his Muslim identity with his drinking of the psychedelic tea ayahuasca, while also exploring the bigger issues of drugs, religion, modernity, and identity.
The Five Percenters are denounced by white America as racists, and orthodox Islam as heretics. Encoded within Five Percent culture is a profound critique of organized religion, from which the movement derives its name: only Five Percent can act as "poor righteous teachers" against the evil Ten Percent, the power structure which uses religion to deceive the Eighty-Five Percent, the "deaf, dumb, and blind" masses. Questioning his own relationship to the Five Percent, Knight directly confronts the community's most difficult teachings
The plot centers on an unconventional kidnapping where an Iranian Shi'ite skinhead and a burqa-clad punk hold actor Matt Damon hostage, demanding a more positive representation of Muslims in Hollywood. As tensions rise, Damon grapples with the implications of their demands, questioning whether their actions reinforce negative stereotypes of Islam. This provocative narrative explores themes of identity, media representation, and the complexities of cultural perceptions in a post-9/11 world.
Michael Muhammad Knight shares his compelling personal journey, detailing a tumultuous childhood and his conversion to Islam during a challenging adolescence. As a prominent voice for American Muslim punk, he captures the experiences of teenagers caught between cultural divides, reflecting on identity and faith. Through his unique narrative, Knight explores the complexities of belonging and the search for self amidst societal expectations and conflicts.