Muhammad's Body

“A stimulating academic analysis of writings about the way Muhammad’s body supposedly blessed others during his lifetime and after his death. . . . [Knight] offers fresh insights into Muslim masculinity, esotericism, and power. This is an erudite, provocative tour de force.”—Publishers Weekly

“[Knight] takes the reader on a well-researched and impeccably sourced journey. . . . Muhammad’s Body: Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage give[s] readers a deeper understanding of the complexity of Islam in particular, and religious belief in general.”—Qantara.de

“A much-needed advance. . . . This richly researched and theoretically robust work adds significantly to scholarly understandings of how Muhammad came to hold a diverse array of meanings for Muslims throughout the whole course of Islamic history.”—Journal of Religious History

“Thought-provoking and compelling. . . . The book is unusually successful in speaking to audiences across conventional divides of academic level, scholarly discipline, and religious commitment. Knight writes unusually well, displaying a light touch and a gift for the memorable phrase.”—Journal of the American Academy of Religion

“This groundbreaking, theoretically sophisticated book eloquently demonstrates the potential of applying theory to the study of hadiths. It will be sought after for teaching in Islamic studies and religious studies as well as gender studies.”—Aisha Geissinger, Carleton University

“Michael Knight presents the reader with a picture of the Prophet Muhammad as a boundary-breaking body that manages flows of baraka, or blessing, through its corporeal connection to other bodies. Engaging issues that are in hot debate—the status of hadith reports and proper methods of interpretation, gender and sexuality, and power hierarchies in Islamic culture—this is a vigorous and powerful book.”—Scott Kugle, Emory University