the five percenters: islam, hip hop and the gods of new york

I recently finished reading Michael Muhammad Knight's The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip Hop and the Gods of New York. The book is a pretty informative and detailed treatment of the early history (birth record) of Clarence 13X and the Nation of Gods and Earths. I definitely recommend it if you want to learn more about the movement.

My initial impressions: I was surprised at the extent to which Five Percenters seemed to get in trouble with the authorities for petty crimes even after being "civilized". (And Knight describes how he himself would "elevate with equality" i.e. smoke weed, with other Five Percenters). At the same time, I also was surprised by the extent to which Clarence 13X seemed to get along with with the "powers that be". (He had a good relationship with the New York City bureaucracy including the mayor and he was even a supporter of the Vietnam War.) Personally, I wish he been more thorough and in-depth when it came to the Five Percenter teachings, but all in all, it was a decent book.

See also:
Hip-Hop Linguistic: Interview with Michael Muhammad Knight

Grenada's Past:
Blue-Eyed Devil

blue-eyed devil

I just recently finished Michael Muhammad Knight's book Blue-eyed Devil: A Road Odyssey Through Islamic America put out by Soft Skull Press. The book is definitely worth reading but I think I would have felt better about it if I had checked it out of the library instead of buying it at Border's. The work is essentially a travelogue documenting Knight's journey's across the United States on what amounts to an Islam-in-America sightseeing tour. To be honest, I was massively impressed by the breadth of the book but he left me wishing for more depth.

He visits the annual ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) convention (twice) where he claims to have stink-palmed Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam) and Siraj Wahaj. He goes to the tombs of Elijah Muhammad, W.D. Fard and Alexander Muhammad Webb (probably the first white American convert to Islam). He meets with Azreal (one of the first white Five Percenters who followed "Father Allah" Clarence 13x). He builds with other Five Percenters in Harlem/Mecca. He goes to the compound of the followers of Malachi Z. York (or whatever he is calling himself now). He attends PMU's female-led prayer. Has dinners with Farid Esack and Irshad Manji. He has tea at Peter Lamborn Wilson / Hakim Bey's house. He visits Malcolm Shabazz (Malcolm X /El Hajj Malik Shabazz's grandson) in prison. And throughout he stops at both Sunni and Shia masjids as well as meeting with various followers of Elijah Muhammad.

For me, the most valuable aspect of the book was its discussion of who Fard was and what happened to him after he went into "occultation". Some other important points are his account of Malcolm Shabazz's (sad) life and Knight's behind-the-scenes insights on the "Progressive Muslim" movement. The rest of the book is well-written and interesting in its own way but often feels like being forced to watch a slide show from someone else's summer vacation.