Michael Muhammad Knight
How Not to Sound Like an Asshole When Talking About Islam
When non-Muslims operate on the assumption that Islam exists as one singular, absolute, and coherent entity that is understood and experienced by each of the world’s billion-plus Muslims in more or less the same way, they look like total douchebags.
Being the Muslim at a Christmas Party
As a Muslim from a Christian family, Christmas has historically been complicated for me. Converting to Islam as a teenager, part of what I wanted from my religion was a new identity; the differences between Christians and Muslims held more value for me...
Paris Hilton in Mecca
Paris Hilton’s new store in Mecca is not “poisoning the holy city.” Mecca has been overrunning with assholes long before Islam. If you’re trying to find peace and avoid shitty people, don’t go there for hajj, just go on vacation or smoke blunt.
Obama = Yazid
I have voted twice for a man who launches drone strikes on innocent civillians and defines what is happening in Gaza right now as "self-defense." As it stands, I have voted for Yazid.
Queering the Qur’an
Al-Kisa’i al-Kufi is the man who gave us one of the seven canonical readings of the Qur’an in Sunni Islam. He devoted his life to knowing and teaching the Qur’an. Along the way, he apparently fucked dudes. The lips that he used to recite divine...
Blood and Islam: Between Eid and Ashura
Many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, would say that spilling blood is disgusting and pain has no place in spirituality. But between these two holy days, Eid al-Adha and Ashura, we remind ourselves of the violence of our own lives—a violence that...
'Law & Order: SVU' Sucks at Depicting Muslims
Last week’s 'Law & Order: SVU' episode, “Acceptable Loss,” reminded me that if I want to see a TV drama treat Muslim characters as capable of full human complexity, cop shows might not be the best place to look.
The Theological Consequences of Seeing Hulk Hogan’s Penis
Being surprised that Hulk Hogan has a sex tape is kind of like being surprised that there’s a Burger King in Mecca. The “sacred/profane” binary often turns out to be artificial, but sometimes we need to imagine that the binary exists. The time will...
Who Will End the Undertaker's Streak at Wrestlemania?
Yes, the Undertaker’s 20-match undefeated streak at WrestleMania, which began back in 1991, needs to be broken. It’s wrestling’s cycle of life. The stars of each new generation must feed on the bones of the generation before them.
Brother Ali and the Secret Islamic History of Hip-Hop
Meeting Brother Ali after his tour’s stop in Chapel Hill, I didn’t ask him for his “How did you come to Islam?” story, and he didn’t ask for mine, but our shared matrix of references and anecdotes told me that we might have walked similar paths.
That Muslim Punk Thing, Ten Years Later
Imagine the nastiest, most rebellious things that anyone could say or do with Islam, the kinds of things that supposedly start riots; the fictional Muslim punks of my first book did of them all. It was a sincere and loving blasphemy, I thought. But...
The Innocence of White People
As an artist, I support everyone’s right to make shitty, cheap-looking art, and I do not believe that bloodshed is ever an acceptable way of responding to art. But in the big picture, this isn’t really about violent religion vs. nonviolent art; it’s...