In Journey to the End of Islam, Michael Muhammad Knight-whose work has led to him being hailed as both the Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson of American Islam-visits holy sites in Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia, engaging both the puritanical Islam promoted by Saudi globalization and the heretical strands of popular folk Islam: shrines, magic, music, and drugs. The conflict of "global" and "local" Islam speaks to Knight's own experience approaching the Islamic world as a uniquely American Muslim with his own sources: the modern mythologies of the Nation of Islam and Five Percenters, as well as the arguments of Progressive Muslim thinkers for feminism and reform. Knight's travels culminate at Islam's spiritual center, the holy city of Mecca, where he performs the hajj required of every Muslim. During the rites of pilgrimage, he watches as all variations of Islam converge in one place, under the supervision of Saudi Arabia's religious police. | Journey to the End of Islam by Michael Muhammad Knight, Paperback | Indigo Chapters