{"product_id":"osama-van-halen-isbn-9781593762421","title":"Osama Van Halen","description":"Amazing Ayyub, an Iranian Shi'ite skinhead, and Rabeya, a burqa-wearing punk, have kidnapped Matt Damon and are holding him hostage. They demand that Hollywood depict Muslims in a positive light—“just one movie where we're not these two-dimensional al Qaeda stereotypes.” But Damon's concerned they're playing into that same terrorist paradigm, thereby furthering the neoconservative perception of Islam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile, Ayyub embarks on a mission to rid the taqwacore scene of a Muslim pop-punk band called Shah 79. Along the way, he makes himself invisible, escapes punk-eating zombies in a mosque off the desert highway, and runs into some psychobilly jinns. Things turn existential when Ayyub finds himself face-to-face with his creator—no, not Allah, but the author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis riotous journey of enlightenment reads like a religious service for teenagers on Halloween. But it isn't all raucous fun; written into his own novel, the author finds he is at the mercy of his creation.\u003cb\u003eMichael Muhammad Knight\u003c\/b\u003e is a novelist, essayist, journalist, and scholar. He converted to Islam at sixteen and traveled to Islamabad at seventeen to study at a madrasa. His books include \u003ci\u003eThe Taqwacores\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBlue-Eyed Devil\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eWhy I Am a Salafi\u003c\/i\u003e. He is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.","brand":"Soft Skull","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300161769701,"sku":"NP9781593762421","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781593762421.jpg?v=1767734285","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/osama-van-halen-isbn-9781593762421","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}