Five years ago, young Muslims across the United States began reading and passing along a blurry, photocopied novel called \u201cThe Taqwacores,\u201d\u009d about imaginary punk rock Muslims in Buffalo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis book helped me create my identity,\u201d\u009d said Naina Syed, 14, a high school freshman in Coventry, Conn.<\/p>\n
A Muslim born in Pakistan, Naina said she spent hours on the phone listening to her older sister read the novel to her. \u201cWhen I finally read the book for myself,\u201d\u009d she said, \u201cit was an amazing experience.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The novel is \u201cThe Catcher in the Rye\u201d\u009d for young Muslims, said Carl W. Ernst, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Springing from the imagination of Michael Muhammad Knight, it inspired disaffected young Muslims in the United States to form real Muslim punk bands and build their own subculture.<\/p>\n