TAQWACORE: THE BIRTH OF PUNK ISLAM

'I am an Islamist! I am the Antichrist!'

It's not often that a book can start its own musical movement, but Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel The Taqwacores, about a group of Islamic punk rockers, inspired a new generation of American Muslims frustrated by the constraints of their religion to rebel through punk rock.

Touting the contradictory mix of religion and anarchy in this emerging subculture, Taqwacore follows Knight as he rounds up Taqwacore bands and tours them through the US - where they play to unappreciative rednecks and religious zealots - before staging a concert in the heart of Pakistan, much to the bemusement of the locals.

Mashing up religion and politics, Taqwacore brings a new brand of punk to the mosque pit.