Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam [Paperback]

Peter Lamborn Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1993

Peter Lamborn Wilson proposes a set of heresies, a culture of resistance, that dispels the false image of Islam as monolithic, puritan, and two-dimensional. Here is the story of the African-American noble Drew Ali, the founder of “Black Islam” in this country, and of the violent end of his struggle for “love, truth, peace, freedom, and justice.” Another essay deals with Satan and “Satanism” in Esoteric Islam; and another offers a scathing critique of “Authority” and sexual misery in modern Puritanist Islam. “The Anti-caliph” evokes a hot mix of Ibn Arabi’s tantric mysticism and the revolutionary teachings of the “Assassins.” The title essay, “Sacred Drift,” roves through the history and poetics of Sufi travel, from Ibn Khaldun to Rimbaud in Abyssinia to the Situationists. A “Romantic” view of Islam is taken to radical extremes; the exotic may not be “True,” but it’s certainly a relief from academic propaganda and the obscene banality of simulation.
Peter Lamborn Wilson lives in New York and works for Semiotext(e) magazine, Pacifica Radio, and the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. A long decade in the Orient (1968-1981) inspires his writing, including The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry and Scandal: Essays in Islamic Heresy.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Given the popular American misperception of Islam as monolithic and harsh, the timeliness of studies like Sacred Drift cannot be overstressed. Wilson presents a collection of well-researched essays on the heterodox beliefs and practices of Islam. The poet and historian, who is also a convert, is widely versed in Islamic history and spirituality. The first essay, which would be of interest to students of black American history, is an enlightening study of the life and work of Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929), an early founder of Black Islamic congregations. The four essays on spirituality, however, tend toward an ornamented style, and Wilson is sometimes strident in criticizing his ideological foes. Moreover, he presupposes a wide knowledge of Islam. This book will reward specialists in history and esoteric spirituality but will not appeal to casual readers. Recommended for academic libraries and large public libraries with interest in Islamic and black studies.
- James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Books (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872862755
• ISBN-13: 978-0872862753
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book Your Mullah Doesn't Want You to Read!, February 24, 2003

By 

C. J. Hardman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam (Paperback)

If you thought that Islam was just a bunch of fellows in white thobes and headdresses running anround oppressing people, this fun and educational little book will help expand your horizons! Another truely excellent title put out by City Lights Books, author Peter Lamborn Wilson covers some of the more...colorful patches in the tapestry of Islam. This book deals with Muslim Thinkers who for one reason or 'tother, are generally considered heretics by many of the larger sects of Islam. We are privalleged to meet Ibn Arabi and the Noble Drew Ali, and delve into subjects such as Satanism in Islam, sexuality and authority in Sufism, and more. The volume includes poems and enjoyable illustrations, photos, and calligraphy throughout.

As a note to anyone with a specific interest in African-American religious figures in U.S. history, the essay "Lost/Found Moorish Time Lines: In the Wilderness of North America", Wilson offers what may be the best essay to date in ANY publication, on the Noble Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America. Included is information about the relationship between the Moorish Science Temple, and Elijah Muhammed, who founded the Nation of Islam. Lots of NEW information in this essay alone, as with the others in this book...did you know about the connection between Islam, Masonry, Shriners, and Moorish Science? Wilson includes footnotes and references with his work, and there is a complete bibliography at the end of this volume.

The tone of this book is scholarly, it is by no means a sordid "tell all" work. You won't find proselytizing or propaganda in this volume. If you're tired of the same old repetitive drivel from the same old droning finger-wagging sources, give this book a read. I suspect you will appreciate the time you spend while journeying through its pages.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts the fun back in fundamentalism..., January 14, 2002

By 

A. Ort "aorto" (Youngstown, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam (Paperback)

Contrary to much popular opinion of Islam as a monolithic giant, in its midst are the 'heretics' that put the fun back in religion. Considering that such figures as Jesus and Muhammad were considered 'heretics' in their day the title is actually a compliment.

I picked this book up in a second hand bookstore on a whim. I have revisited it several times and continue to do so often. At first it appeared dark, mysterious, foreign, pointless. But as I continued to explore it became more and more obvious that the light of the Divine makes its way through these pages and this Divine light I swear is grinning like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.

Islam is diverse, vast, deep and this book explores some of those areas in the remote regions of both the physical and the spiritual world with style and wit and just a bit of a knowing smile. Well worth the adventure.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for both Burroughs and Gyson Readers, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam (Paperback)

A great book about the idea that it's the margins who mold the world, using as a parameter the history that has interested many: the history of the assassin, whose leader in the midle age declared himself God on Earth. Starting the book by telling all the story of how islamism has come to America, he draws a good picture of his ideas and life's contradictions.