|
In his
new novel, Osama Van Halen, Michael Muhammad Knight
(author of the highly acclaimed Muslim punk rocker novel The
Taqwacores) uses his characters and outlandish situations
(zombies, kidnapping Matt Damon) to further explore what it
means to be young, Muslim, and punk in the contemporary United
States.
With
the raw energy and exuberance of an all-ages hardcore matinee,
the book showcases Knight's authorial fearlessness. The author
is not afraid to explore the characters' interest in sex and
drugs and where (or if) that fits into Islam, nor is he afraid
to throw around a ton of ideology, philosophy, and religious
terms while the characters come to grips with their conflicting
relationships with music, religion, and the opposite sex.
In
Osama Van Halen, Amazing Ayyub, an Iranian Shi'ite "skinhead,"
along with his female friend Rabeya, kidnap actor Matt Damon
and threaten to kill him unless their demand is met: that
Hollywood stop the Muslim stereotyping. As Rabeya says, "No
more of this Delta Force bullshit!" Of course, Damon
points out the hypocrisy inherent in acting in a way that
may be perceived as stereotypically Muslim to stop Muslim
stereotypes. When Rabeya takes off with Damon to parts unknown,
Ayyub strikes out on his own quest, this time to rid the world
of the poseur taqwacore (Islamic punk) band Shah 79. Along
the way, Ayyub and Rabeya get separated, and Ayyub goes to
punk shows, battles zombies and djinns, and eventually meets
up with the author.
Osama
Van Halen recalls a great work of Islamic literature,
One Thousand and One Nights, in the way it weaves mythology,
religion, and contemporary life together. Just like Scheherazade
in Nights, the author sometimes stops the narrative
to discuss abstractions and Islamic philosophy, and readers
are likely to enjoy the lessons being taught in his hilarious
and entertaining stories. Knight has an incredible knack for
dropping a lot of information into passages that seem perfectly
natural, mixing the lingo of punk rock with Islam:
"What's that lion say on your back?" asked Ayyub, turning
the singer around so he could see it again.
"La fata illa Ali, la saif illa Zulfikar," answered the
singer. "There is no hero except Ali, no sword except
Zulfikar."
"That's tits, bro," said Ayyub. "You don't see a lot of
Shi'a taqwa-punk bands out here. There was this one I
saw in L.A.—I don't even remember their names but
the dudes were fuckin' slicing their arms up with razor
blades and crying and going nuts."
"There are different ways to manifest your love for the
Ahlul-Bayt," replied the singer, coming off almost as
a professor.
Because
Knight wrote the book on taqwacore and the bands in the movement
subsequently sprang forward like conjured spirits, it makes
sense that Knight includes himself in Osama Van Halen
and sometimes breaks the narrative to tell the reader about
things that occur outside of the story or what is real and
what is not real within the text. It's almost like annotation,
and it works for the most part—mostly when the character
of Knight interacts directly with Ayyub. However, a few chapters
with Knight alone don't seem to serve the novel very well;
for example, Knight's story about being a white Muslim convert
isn't written with the same intensity as the rest of the book.
Osama
Van Halen is primarily a book about young Muslims struggling
against stereotyping in the United States, but it's also a
novel about music that manages not to be corny or annoying.
Knight has a real knack for writing about youth music and
culture in a way that seems authentic and not at all cheesy,
adding just enough information—like band names, genres,
and influences—to allow readers to imagine what the music
might sound like. The Kominas, the "kings of Shi'a death metal,"spend
time traveling to gigs discussing the problems of too much
sex while they smoke hash. Other people talk about starting
bands and discuss their religious viewpoints along with talking
about what bands they like. Knight doesn't get into the minutiae
of lyrics or music, which often make books about music seem
clueless. Mostly Knight has singers screaming proclamations,
or in one case, trying to make a Minor Threat-type song from
the Qur'an.
Essentially,
Osama Van Halen manages to both educate and entertain,
and it shows that people are the same no matter their religious
beliefs. Teenagers are teenagers, captivated and excited by
sex, drugs, and rock, and in this case, Allah.
(July
2009)
|
