Summary Of Journey To The End Of Islam

Journey to the End of Islam is a travel narrative that follows the journey of Michael Muhammad Knight, an American born-again convert to Islam. His travels through historic Islamic sites in Ethiopia, Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia are made with the intention of facilitating a better understanding of his faith and the extensive range of variations to the religion. Throughout the journal, Knight is exposed to everything from devout orthodox Muslims to Islamic punk rockers who partake in what the former would consider heretic activities. In Journey to the End of Islam Knight describes the current state of globalization through his explanation of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca; Hajj. Globalization is the unavoidable process of becoming
The second group comprises of over 60 different variations of Islam, with varying levels of orthodoxy and acknowledgments of other sects of their religion. Many westerners are ignorant to the existence of the different groups, which unfortunately allows them to become misinformed due to stereotypes. The stereotypes about “‘bad Muslims’ (apologists for al-Qaeda, supporters of the Shari’a, bearded, mean).” (Knight 216) are created by radical fundamentalists. Radical fundamentalists interpret jihad in a literal sense and see it as justification for using violent force to stop the influences of the western world (Foody, class lecture, 9/30). One example of a radical fundamentalist groups is al-Qaeda, a group who follows Salafi jihadism, which is just one of many variations of the Salafi Islamic ideology (Keller (http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/salafi.htm)). This misinformation and ignorance of differences breeds feelings of hostility toward the entire religion of Islam (Jameson). This huge misunderstanding and its resulting prejudices are the motivation behind the conflicts that caused the misunderstanding in the first place. Knight provides a prime example of the ignorance and
George Ritzier, a sociologist and professor at University of Maryland is credited with creation of the concept of McDonaldization (Foody, class lecture, 9/25). In his book, McDonaldization of Society, Ritzer defines the term as the process of “the principles of the fast-food restaurant coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world” (Ritzer 1). Knight demonstrates this process throughout his narrative. He explains the change from the old ways of the Hajj, to the modernized ways of the hajj by constantly providing the reader with examples of how the journey to Mecca has become one that requires less sacrifices. In modern times, Hajj has become more efficient, calculable and predictable for pilgrims. In todays world of fast and reliable transportation it is more time and energy efficient for Muslims to travel to their (holy land) than in previous times when some pilgrims had to make the entire journey on foot, which could take weeks or months. Today most pilgrims choose not to walk for their entire journey; therefore, most will pass through at least on airport on there journey. The emphasis on efficiency has resulted in airports facilitating the hajj