Review: Impossible Man
Michael Muhammad Knight’s memoir is indeed a fascinating one. Famous for penning the novel The Taqwacores, his past has only been mentioned and hinted throughout his various novels including Blue Eyed Devil.
A country mile from the anger and shock of his “punk rock manifesto” of The Taqwacores, this memoir sheds light on an intelligent and precocious young man on his search for identity, an interesting (to say the least) childhood and his conversion to Islam at the age of sixteen. From the Mosque in New York where Knight took his Shadaha (declaration of faith) to the Madrassa at Faisal Mosque in Pakistan, the story’s lyrical prose blazes with intensity and beauty.
Never failing to impress, Knight’s memoir is a contemplative journey through Islam, wrestling and the best coming of age story that I’ve read.
If you’re looking for somewhere to start with this underground cult figure who established the Islamic punk rock movement, begin with this. *****
