Muhammad: Forty Introductions (2019 Knight), nonfiction book

Michael Muhammad Knight, Muhammad: Forty Introductions (New York, NY: Soft Skull, 2019).

Abstract

""[This book] offers a distinct and nuanced take on the life and teachings of the prophet Muhammad, using a traditional genre of Islamic literature called the forty hadiths collection. Hadiths are the reported sayings and actions of Muhammad that have been collected by the tens of thousands throughout Islamic history. There is a tradition in which Muslim scholars take from this vast textual ocean to compile their own smaller collections of forty hadiths, an act of curation that allows them to present their particular understanding of Muhammad's legacy and the essential points of Islam. Here, Michael Muhammad Knight offers forty narrations that provide windows into the diverse ways in which Muslims envision Muhammad. He also examines his own relationship to Muslim traditions while exploring such topics as law, mysticism, sectarianism, gender, and sexuality."--Publisher description.

Contents

Introducing the introductions -- 2. Punk rock and Bedouin piss -- 3. The Prophet in his world -- 4. The Hadith of Gabriel -- 5. The end of prophethood -- 6. Who created God? -- 7. Muhammad the "Pure Greek" -- 8. Portrait of the Prophet as a young man -- 9. Muhammad the orphan -- 10. The mountain of light -- 11. The ascension -- 12. "His character was the Qur'an" -- 13. The people of wudu' -- 14. The seven oft-repeated -- 15. The Prophet and suicide -- 16. Hadiths of intention -- 17. The greater jihad -- 18. Death of the Prophet -- 19. Muhammad as light -- 20. The city and the gate -- 21. The people of the house -- 22. The lady of light -- 23. Muhammad the grandfather -- 24. Like the stars -- 25. Mother of the believers -- 26. Prophetic sexuality -- 27. The 'A'isha question -- 28. Muhammad the lawgiver -- 29. Deleuzian fingernails -- 30. Muhammad and the animal -- 31. The bag of meat -- 32. Muhammad the shaman -- 33. Dreaming Muhammad -- 34. Knowledge in China -- 35. Hadiths for losers -- 36. Queering Muhammad -- 37. Knowledge of self -- 38. Hair and skin -- 39. The mercy of difference -- 40. Thank allah for Amina Wadud -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography.