Sex, Drugs, and the Quran

In the spirit of So You Want to Talk about Race and The Year of Living Biblically, a deeply personal and provocative narrative that unveils a progressive, largely ignored vision of faith and identity, revealing an Islam that is compatible with modern ideas around sex and politics—and that even informs them in ways we’ve never before considered.

Did you know the Quran encourages civil liberties and the right to protest? Or that it gave women the right to divorce in the 600s? That it encourages the use of psychedelics and supports abortion? How about its preference and instructions for sustainable farming?

In Sex, Drugs & the Quran, Misha Euceph, a Pakistani American and practicing Muslim, takes the most misunderstood and controversial spiritual text and redefines it for a modern age. As Euceph turns the pages of the Quran, she invites all to step into the rich history and thought behind Islam—the grief borne and inequality witnessed by the prophet Muhammad; the concept of Divine Love; the belief in the interconnectedness of us all—and shows how useful the Quran is for everyone, even (and especially!) in the 21st century. All the while, Euceph takes us from her childhood in Pakistan to her adolescence in the Los Angeles suburbs; from reading the Quran for the first time with her Baba to calling herself Californian instead of Pakistani; and from calling herself “culturally Muslim” to simply calling herself Muslim.

A love letter to Islam, with uncompromising introspection and fierce affection, Sex, Drugs & the Quran sets the record straight on one of the world’s most misrepresented religions, through the eyes of one woman who discovered that the Quran, and her faith, are not incompatible with who she is, what she values, and what she believes.