Tripping with Allah
Islam, Drugs, and Writing
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
If Tripping with Allah is a road book, it’s a road book in the tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey, rather than On the Road. Amazonian shamanism meets Christianity meets West African religion meets Islam in this work of reflection and inward adventure. Knight, the “Hunter S. Thompson of Islamic literature” seeks reconciliation between his Muslim identity and his drinking of ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea that has been used in the Amazon for centuries. His experience becomes an opportunity to investigate complex issues of drugs, religion, and modernity.
Though essential for readers interested in Islam or the growing popularity of ayahuasca, this book is truly about neither Islam nor ayahuasca. Tripping with Allah provides an accessible look into the construction of religion, the often artificial borders dividing these constructions, and the ways in which religion might change in an increasingly globalized world.
Finally, Tripping with Allah not only explores Islam and drugs, but also Knight’s own process of creativity and discovery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There are few, if any, Muslim writers like Knight (Why I Am A Five Percenter), who has been called the Hunter S. Thompson of Islamic literature. This memoir of his time with the spiritual group Santo Daime and ayahuasca, the psychedelic drug community members ingest to get closer to the divine, cements Knight's status as Islam's gonzo experimentalist. The book references 1980s wrestling and cartoons, graphic descriptions of Knight's eating disorder while he was living out of his car, and his sexual dysfunction before he ingests ayahuasca. When he finally takes the drug, it is a fascinating, odd trip, but one that transforms him for the better and seems to make him understand women with a humanity that eluded him during his misogynistic past. Knight has a gift for humor and honesty, though it's not always clear where, or if, his trip will end. Chapters about coffee, cannabis, and other drugs seem off-topic, but Knight's storytelling allows for a memorable arrival at the destination.
