Osama Van Halen

May 18, 2009
Knight (The Taqwacores
) goes meta in this very self-involved satirical blitz, throwing characters from previous books into a psycho showdown with the author. The less than cohesive central narrative follows Iranian Shiite skinhead Amazing Ayyub—after he and burka-wearing punker Rabeya kidnap Matt Damon in a bid to end Hollywood’s puerile depiction of Muslims—on a cross-country journey to assassinate a sellout Muslim punk band. As Amazing Ayyub travels and dodges zombies and psychobilly jinns, first-person recollections by “the author” document his attending Islamic academic conferences and drolly conversing about Sufism, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his inability to create well-rounded female characters. The obligatory (and somewhat disappointing) final showdown between Knight and his perennially pissed-off creations hints that Knight’s interest remains with the antic adventures of the characters he clearly adores, rather than in, say, any traditional notions of plot. Knight’s potential is evident on nearly every page, but the in-jokes and frequent self-references will limit this book’s appeal to readers well versed in things taqwacore.

July 1, 2009
Satire and religion mixed together often form a potent brew, as such literary works as Vonneguts Cats Cradle(1963) amply verifies. Yet this riotously inventive punk-horror-sf novel from Muslim author Knight moves satire into another category altogether. Amazing Ayyub is an Iranian Shiite skinhead with a singular grudge against Hollywood. Together with his burka-wearing pal, Rabeya, Amazing Ayyub takes Matt Damon hostage in a bid to rid Hollywood films of Muslim stereotypes. After Damon rightly points out that his abduction will only bolster those mischaracterizations, Ayyub leaves the actor in Rabeyas hands and sets off on an alternative mission to assassinate the punk-rock band Shah 79. The real fun begins, however, when Michael Muhammad Knight (i.e., the author) comes face-to-face with his creations and discovers he is less the master of their destinies than a pawn in another one of his characters mad schemes. Knight throws punk-eating zombies, Arabian-style genies, and even some gratuitous autobiographical tidbits into a madcap plot that should make most readers alternately guffaw and scratch their heads.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)