Machine summary:
Knight presents himself as neither a specialist in nor a practitioner of the esoteric, and readers expecting a catalogue of Muslim occult practices will be disappointed (and perhaps enraged).
For this reason, Knight ex- cuses the use of the word “magic” in his title – which is fortunate, since much of what he discusses, such as precognition via dreams or reciting the Qur’an for protection – would be considered neither siḥr nor magic by most Muslims.
In fact, the concept of the divine power belonging to the Qur’an’s letters and words underlies not only Muslim piety but also medieval Muslim magic – which, admittedly, Knight discusses less than one would expect in a book like this.
These discussions, which encompass chapters 2 to 5, are grounded in the pre-modern Muslim tradition, with an eye to contemporary concerns.
The other chapter is the one on esotericism in African-American Muslim movements, in which Knight challenges dominant narratives about African- American Islam.
However, Knight argues that, first, most captured African Muslims did not actually practice a version of Islam that matched today’s dry, literalist “orthodoxy”; rather, their Islam was more likely to have been magical and syncretic.
166) through “magic” and gifts the reader with thoughtful reflections on the Muslim heritage as well as Islam and religion in America.
Knight could, at least, have brought in fatwas of contemporary jurists on questions like “Is it permissible to marry jinn?” to show that, to some, these are still present and real concerns.