It isn't hard to find a book about Islam or Muslims. It is hard, however, to find a really good one. Some of the more popular titles are actually terrible, if not malevolent. Swap out "Islam" for "Judaism," for example, and Glenn Beck's "It IS About Islam" reads like a Nazi screed. Part of the problem is authorship: We talk about Muslims frequently, but we rarely hear from Muslims. That's why Michael Muhammad Knight's latest book, "Magic in Islam," is such a treat, both for his perspective and for his scholarship. Finally an introduction to Islam that is entertaining, intelligent and well-informed. Even if you're well-versed in the religion, you'll still find Knight's historical and cultural foray to be powerful, rewarding reading.
Knight, who converted to Islam at 16, is one of the most creative Muslims writing today. He is the author of 10 witty and provocative books. Among my favorites are “Blue-Eyed Devil: A Road Odyssey Through Islamic America” and “Journey to the End of Islam,” which offer the singular viewpoint of a white Muslim surprisingly at home in a religion struggling with Islamophobia and racism within its own ranks, never mind a legacy of Western colonialism that still shapes how many, if not most, Muslims see the world. At a time when most books about Islam are sensationalist or stodgy, his are intimate exercises in autobiography, spirituality and theology.
Knight stands out all the more for tackling edgy subjects. His novel, “The Taqwacores,” imagines a Muslim punk movement, with images and ideas that some of my fellow Muslims called blasphemous; others credited the book with salvaging their relationship with a religion they found stifling. So I can hardly think of a person better placed to reintroduce Islam to America.
“Magic in Islam” is packed with fascinating insights and curious tidbits. Did you know the devil had a granddaughter? Knight even knows her name. Beyond that, who else would think of explaining Islam through magic? From potions to spells, from astrology to numerology, from dreams to demons, “Magic in Islam” unveils the allegedly talismanic and purportedly irrational ways Islam works in real people’s lives. Concise in his language and admirable in his breadth, Knight is remarkably efficient, providing a very nuanced, detailed and almost taxonomic take on Islam over some 1,400 years of human history — all in just 200 pages of text.
Knight wants us to see beyond the Islam of books, of pulpits, of headlines, of orthodoxies. He wants to create a more open Islam and does a great job of showing us the religion’s diversity. Any study of magic in Islam should look, of course, at the different kinds of magic that are practiced and at the different kinds of Islam that are practiced. But if the book has a flaw, it is that Knight should also have delved into what counts as Islamic and what doesn’t. This is not just an academic question when we’ve got a terrorist movement in the Middle East calling itself the Islamic State. At a time when extremists claim to be Islamic while committing atrocities that the Islamic tradition explicitly and consistently rejects, what counts as Islam? Given everything Knight has to teach us, I would have loved to hear his answer. But that’s a minor complaint, given everything else that “Magic in Islam” gives us.
Magic in Islam
By Michael Muhammad Knight
TarcherPerigee. 246 pp. $17. Paperback.
