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| "The Hunter S Thompson of Islamic literature." —The Guardian |
| A manifesto for the Muslim punk movement. —Newsweek |
| Infinitely readable. —Maximum Rocknroll | |
The Taqwacores
Michael Muhammad Knight
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| Paper | 4 1/2" x 7" | 256 pgs. | ISBN: 9781593762292 | List: $12.95 | 01/1/2009 |
Available on Powells.com, Amazon.com, from your local BookSense store, and bookstores everywhere!
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About the book: A Muslim punk house in Buffalo, New York, inhabited by burqa-wearing riot girls, mohawked Sufis, straightedge Sunnis, Shi'a skinheads, Indonesian skaters, Sudanese rude boys, gay Muslims, drunk Muslims, and feminists. Their living room hosts parties and prayers, with a hole smashed in the wall to indicate the direction of Mecca. Their life together mixes sex, dope, and religion in roughly equal amounts, expressed in devotion to an Islamo-punk subculture, "taqwacore," named for taqwa, an Arabic term for consciousness of the divine.
Originally self-published on photocopiers and spiral-bound by hand, The Taqwacores has since been published in foreign translations, become the basis for two films, and is taught in various colleges and universities as a "Catcher in the Rye for young Muslims."
About the author: Michael Muhammad Knight's work has been censored, boycotted, confiscated, and threatened with legal action. He is also the author of Blue-Eyed Devil, The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip-Hop, and the Gods of New York, and the forthcoming Impossible Man, a memoir, Journey to the End of Islam, an account of international pilgrimage, and Osama Van Halen.
Links: The Taqwacores in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/us/23muslim.html
The Taqwacores in the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-muslimteen19-2008nov19,0,2014572,full.story
From the book:
The Ghilmans singer grabbed his bassist's nuts right there on stage as nothing more than a Fuck You to Islamic homophobia. Those guys were Muslim too. Their drummer wore hejab. Reminded me of the burqa that Rabeya gave me. Burning Books for Cat Stevens covered 'Wild World' punk-style while everyone shoved at each other in the pit. The bisexual Pathan girl singer from Gross National did her anti-WTO song and burned an American flag. The Imran Khan Experience burned an Israeli flag though its guitarist wore the Star of David. Then Vote Hezbollah did a pro-Bush song that pissed everyone off but that was the whole point and even when the crowd booed, they had a great time doing it because they got the joke.
You have to stop trying to make sense of Punk - what it's for, what it's against. It's against everything.
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