The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight

The Taqwacores

Michael Muhammad Knight

Yusuf Ali is a Pakistani/American freshman. He is also Taqwacore - that is obsessed by punk rock and Islam as well as sex, and in this very funny but ultimately equally tragic novel Yusuf learns that it isn't always easy to combine his interests. Truly a 'Catcher in the Rye' for the twenty-first century.

Extract
'So, anyway, we had a band, called it "Hi My Name is Allah". It was a spiritual, beautiful thing but at the same time had the whole punk ethic of alienating people.'
'So what happened to the band?' I asked, repeating Dee Dee Ali's question.
'I can't sing.'
Parallels
  • The Islamist by Ed Husain
  • Milestones by Sayed Qutb
  • The Singer by Cathi Unsworth
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Violence
Explicit sexual content