georgephillip
Diamond Member
Michael Muhammad Knight was number 13 of 20 children born in 1977 to a Pentecostal preacher in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. His first exposure to Islam came at age 13 when he was introduced to Malcolm X through the lyrics of hip-hop. Knight converted to Islam at 15, the same year he met his father for the first time since he was two; dad revealed he was a white supremacist. At 17 Michael migrated to Islamabad to pursue his studies in Islam.
He understands why westerners are joining movements like IS:
"You see, I’m the jihadi who never was.
"Twenty years ago, I ditched my Catholic high school in upstate New York to study at a Saudi-funded madrassa in Pakistan. A fresh convert, I jumped at the chance to live at a mosque and study Qur’an all day.
"This was in the mid-1990s, during an escalation of the Chechen resistance against Russian rule. After class, we’d turn on the television and watch feeds of destruction and suffering.
"The videos were upsetting.
"So upsetting that soon I found myself thinking about abandoning my religious education to pick up a gun and fight for Chechen freedom.
"It wasn’t a verse I’d read in our Qur’an study circles that made me want to fight, but rather my American values.
"I had grown up in the Reagan ’80s. I learned from G.I. Joe cartoons to (in the words of the theme song) 'fight for freedom, wherever there’s trouble.'
"I assumed that individuals had the right — and the duty — to intervene anywhere on the planet where they perceived threats to freedom, justice and equality."
Ultimately, some very conservative Muslims at Michael's madrassa reminded him of Muhammad's statement "the ink of scholars was holier than the blood of martyrs."
Michael obtained a master's degree from Harvard University and is currently a Ph.D student in Islamic Studies at UNC at Chapel Hill.
I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them. - The Washington Post
He understands why westerners are joining movements like IS:
"You see, I’m the jihadi who never was.
"Twenty years ago, I ditched my Catholic high school in upstate New York to study at a Saudi-funded madrassa in Pakistan. A fresh convert, I jumped at the chance to live at a mosque and study Qur’an all day.
"This was in the mid-1990s, during an escalation of the Chechen resistance against Russian rule. After class, we’d turn on the television and watch feeds of destruction and suffering.
"The videos were upsetting.
"So upsetting that soon I found myself thinking about abandoning my religious education to pick up a gun and fight for Chechen freedom.
"It wasn’t a verse I’d read in our Qur’an study circles that made me want to fight, but rather my American values.
"I had grown up in the Reagan ’80s. I learned from G.I. Joe cartoons to (in the words of the theme song) 'fight for freedom, wherever there’s trouble.'
"I assumed that individuals had the right — and the duty — to intervene anywhere on the planet where they perceived threats to freedom, justice and equality."
Ultimately, some very conservative Muslims at Michael's madrassa reminded him of Muhammad's statement "the ink of scholars was holier than the blood of martyrs."
Michael obtained a master's degree from Harvard University and is currently a Ph.D student in Islamic Studies at UNC at Chapel Hill.
I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them. - The Washington Post
