William S. Burroughs vs. The Qur'an

by Michael Muhammad Knight

When Michael Muhammad Knight sets out to write the definitive biography of his “Anarcho-Sufi” hero and mentor, writer Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey), he makes a startling discovery that changes everything. At the same time that he grows disillusioned with his idol, Knight finds that his own books have led to American Muslim youths making a countercultural idol of him, placing him on the same pedestal that he had given Wilson.In an attempt to forge his own path, Knight pledges himself to an Iranian Sufi order that Wilson had almost joined, attempts to write the Great American Queer Islamo-Futurist Novel, and even creates his own mosque in the wilderness of West Virginia. He also employs the “cut-up” writing method of Bey’s friend, the late William S. Burroughs, to the Qur’an, subjecting Islam’s holiest scripture to literary experimentation.William S. Burroughs vs. the Qur’an is the struggle of a hero-worshiper without heroes and the meeting of religious and artistic paths, the quest of a writer as spiritual seeker.

Genres: Religion, Islam, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Literature

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2012

About the author

Michael Muhammad Knight (born 1977) is an American novelist, essayist, and journalist. His writings are popular among American Muslim youth. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "one of the most necessary and, paradoxically enough, hopeful writers of Barack Obama's America," while The Guardian has described him as "the Hunter S. Thompson of Islamic literature," and his non-fiction work exemplifies the principles of gonzo journalism. Publishers Weekly describes him as "Islam's gonzo experimentalist." Within the American Muslim community, he has earned a reputation as an ostentatious cultural provocateur.

He obtained a master's degree from Harvard University in 2011 and is a Ph.D. student in islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Reviews

[Frater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. A very honest introspective search for oneself. The realization that we need to think for ourselves and not be consumed by what other people tell you to believe. You must find your own way, the way that makes the most sense to you, and speaks your own unique personal language.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book of truncations, though whether it's a cut-up or a hatchet piece is up to the reader. At the heart of this cobbled-together book is the issue of hero worship. Knight, confronted with circumstantial evidence that his guru/hero, Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey), has some creepy enthusiasms, makes a point to publicly kill and dismember his Buddha in the road. Sadly, this derails a very engaging history of the unusual Moorish Orthodox Church of America (full disclosure- I belong to and helped found the Dallas branch) which gets ignored in its post-Wilson/Bey manifestations. Repeatedly, MOCA members are arrogantly dismissed as white pot-smoking fan-boys, and toward the end of the book, the MOCA gets lumped in with the one-joke-wonder Church of the Subgenius and played for laughs. The only insight a reader gets into the many distinct and interesting MOCA temples is the position of each interviewee on the Wilson-Bey accusations. This is tragic since the first wave history of the Church is given in great and interesting detail. The subsequent spread of the MOCA, its scholars and luminaries, the various traditions and accomplishments are all ignored. Instead the reader gets another truncation- a fragment of Knight's ultimate, unfinished Islamo-Queer science fiction novel, which is much less compelling than what preceded it. Then Knight plays cut-up with the Qu'ran for a bit. What we're left with is a hodge-podge unworthy of the promise of the first section.

I have read a wide variety of forbidden and controversial authors, including criminals, perverts, murderers, fascists, monsters, whores, politicians, and more. I value the intellectual freedom to consider what others dismiss out of hand. I do not think that such curiosity taints readers. Knight takes pains to depict his literary hatchet-piece as a personal betrayal from his guru for not living up to expectations. Wilson, like Henry Corbin, studied Persian philosophy in Iran under the Shah, admittedly a tyrant. Knight finds fault. The books grinds down as Knight vents his Death of 1,000 cuts on his hero and personal teacher. Ironically, the MOCA is anti-guru and offers a wealth of interesting material to those, unlike Knight, who eschew gurus and masters. This makes 'William S. Burroughs vs The Quran' an interesting case of missing the point. While much of the book is well written and meticulously researched, it is also incredibly selective and curiously incomplete. Our only solace is Knight's plunge into a kind of self-indulgent breakdown, making an impromptu mosque on his late father's remote property, cutting up the Qu'ran, per the Burroughs and Gysin cut-up method, and realizing- too late for the reader- that he, too, is no hero. Having completed literary assassination, Knight can't measure up to the writer he disowns or even complete the history he began.

In short, this is a sometimes interesting mess that collapses as Knight cuts,pastes, undermines, snipes, and fails utterly to consider the impact of various MOCA temples and lodges, each with its own romance and specialty. Make no mistake- this could have been a great book had Knight's obsessive vendetta been relegated to a footnote. Having torn down the statue of Ozymandias, Knight whiles away the balance of this book biting that idol's stone ankles and using old fragments for filler.

[Ashur · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is sometimes the case with Knight's books, this book is more about Knight himself and how he wrestles with Peter L. Wilson/Hakim Bey and related texts/entities/ideas; whether or not this is a good thing depends on what you're looking for and your tastes. My complaint* is that I wish there were a section that details all the works cited or mentioned in the text, it'd be a fascinating reading list (that I wouldn't have to cobble together as I go).

If you're new to his work, I'd recommend reading his books in order of publication to fully appreciate how he and his writing priorities have changed over time.

*I feel uneasy complaining about books; they are what they are and that's how I tend to approach them, rather than whether or not I personally liked them, liked the characters, etc. What I feel/perceive may not be true for you depending on how you approach texts and your background, so I don't usually write "reviews" in those terms. I think I am a bad reviewer.

[Vika Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather odd book in the continuing saga of the author's exploration of his identity: as a Muslim, as a son, as a thoughtful author. He's always interesting to join on his intellectual travels. In this work we have a small piece of fiction, and a non-fiction piece of the author's pursuit of some American Islamic intellectual history. Unfortunately, it seems that the object of his attention surprises him -- unpleasantly. In some ways this shows us the limits of Knight's typical ability to be open to other people's sexual heterogeneity (antinomianism?).

[Abdullah Furqaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite me giving this book four stars, I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. I am very familiar with the ideology of Muhammad Knight and this book has a lot of overlap with the content in his other books (i.e. the hidden traditions of Islam, the theology of the Five Percenters, Islamic postmodernism, anarcho-sufism, etc.). Hence, I give it four stars because I've read this content before! Nevertheless, I suppose what make this one different is how raw and open the author is in regards to his own views on race, religion, and reality.

Throughout these pages, he struggles, he blasphemes therapeutically, he repents, he experiments, and provokes his readers - the takeaway I hope the reader gets from this text is an appreciation and renewed reverence for the Creator (whatever name or image you attribute to this very real deity) as a being (or spirit or whatever) much larger that any philosophy, culture, or religion.

Would God really be offended if you cut up bits of the Qur'an in order to express your creativity and arrive at new insights?
Would God really be offended if you put off studying classical Arabic?
Does God hate it when you skip a prayer?

Knight (as well as the other people he interviews and travels with throughout the book) demonstrates that faith is complex, history is a tangley mess, and that God is greater.

[Matt Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was brilliant in many respects, though it would be harder to follow for someone not familiar with many of the themes on which Knight touches (e.g., Five Percenter and Nation of Islam theology, Sufism, the writings of Peter Lamborn Wilson, etc.). The warning (and the reduced star) is due to the utter vulgarity through which one often has to wade to get to the insights. The pathos of his journey in his connection with Wilson, as well as with the author's father, is jarring and visceral (and necessarily so, given the details).

[Henry Begler · Rating 3 out of 5]

(texts to a friend)
Sooo frustrating I downloaded this Michael Muhammad knight book about his relationship w PLW [Peter Lamborn Wilson] and it has excerpts from his abandoned biography of him that’s like the secret history of anarcho-Islam in America and it’s so interesting
And then he falls out over the nambla stuff and the rest of the book is about his personal crisis and excerpts from his “radical queer islamo-futurism” novel and it’s like dude sorry I don’t care

Oh well. Got a lot of fascinating threads to follow from this book even if the book itself is wildly uneven.

[Michael Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar themes to his other books. Discusses his schizophrenic father, his relationship with his former Peter Lamborn Wilson, his Islamo-Queer fiction novel, the Nimatullahi Sufi order, his experiences of cutting and pasting the Qur'an using William S. Burroughs cut and paste method. The last chapter is kinda weird, as it details his urethra exam and shoves in heretical or obscure Islam references in there. Its a bit of an all over the place book.

[Mike Stolfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, the fall of teenage idols is hard.....
A very amusing read from a person I have the feeling would be a difficult housemate.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just superb. Inspirational, investigative, historical, biographical, gritty & witty, surreal, spiritual (obviously), honest, defiant, ultimately uplifting, connecting - and wrestling. This book deserves a far wider audience. Whether you are on a spiritual path or cynical about the whole esoteric camp, this is a book that will force you to look at the world through different lenses and ask yourself some compelling questions. Michael Muhammad Knight has lived - and continues to live - a wild gamut of walks on the side less visited; what impresses is his creativity, scholarship, sincerity and ability to compile such unlikely elements into an holistic and entertaining premise. Moreover, he does not shrink from exposing any holy cow he encounters along its less gleaming, shittier flank.

The Sultan of Love accepts no bribes. Build on, Brother Knight.

[Derek Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goes in about three or four directions at once, but it's all held together by Knight's heart-on-sleeve honesty and some of his strongest writing. Some of the the people he writes about are so fringe and/or bizarre that I started to wonder what the heck Knight thought he was up to. And yet, that limitless curiosity makes for a colorful narrative - not to mention some welcome mythbusting, and some light thrown into corners badly in need of disinfectant. (One character in particular, a writer hero of Knight's who ... well, you'll see.)

[Vonn New · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Muhammad Knight is one of the most important voices of our time. He writes with such heart-wrenching honesty that his struggles become relate-able across cultural and religious boundaries. In this book, we feel his spiritual seeking, his yearning for a mentor and disillusionment with what he has found so far. While learning much about social and religious sub-cultures that are foreign to me, what struck me most deeply was how much I felt in common with his struggles.

[David]

My first foray into Michael Muhammad Knight's work, very interesting. Definitely read it if you're interested in Peter Lamborn Wilson (a.k.a. Hakim Bey), heretical Islam, Sufism, or the Wu-Tang Clan.

[Rashid Al-robaee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as the rest

Huge fan of Michael Muhammad Knight, so this was fun. If you aren't a fan, don't pick it up. If you are, know that this is more about Knight than Islam