Popping the Marks
The Theological Consequences of Seeing Hulk Hogan’s Penis
Being surprised that Hulk Hogan has a sex tape is kind of like being surprised that there’s a Burger King in Mecca. The “sacred/profane” binary often turns out to be artificial, but sometimes we need to imagine that the binary exists. The time will...
Who Will End the Undertaker's Streak at Wrestlemania?
Yes, the Undertaker’s 20-match undefeated streak at WrestleMania, which began back in 1991, needs to be broken. It’s wrestling’s cycle of life. The stars of each new generation must feed on the bones of the generation before them.
Brother Ali and the Secret Islamic History of Hip-Hop
Meeting Brother Ali after his tour’s stop in Chapel Hill, I didn’t ask him for his “How did you come to Islam?” story, and he didn’t ask for mine, but our shared matrix of references and anecdotes told me that we might have walked similar paths.
That Muslim Punk Thing, Ten Years Later
Imagine the nastiest, most rebellious things that anyone could say or do with Islam, the kinds of things that supposedly start riots; the fictional Muslim punks of my first book did of them all. It was a sincere and loving blasphemy, I thought. But...
The Innocence of White People
As an artist, I support everyone’s right to make shitty, cheap-looking art, and I do not believe that bloodshed is ever an acceptable way of responding to art. But in the big picture, this isn’t really about violent religion vs. nonviolent art; it’s...
Confession of a Muslim Psychedelic Tea Drinker
The place of drugs in Islam is much more complicated than most people recognize. Because the Qur’an only speaks specifically of wine, Muslims have had to figure out Islamic positions on other substances, like weed or psychoactive tea made from an...