In an attempt to forge his own path, Knight pledges himself to an Iranian Sufi order that Wilson had almost joined, attempts to write the Great American Queer Islamo-Futurist Novel, and even creates his own mosque in the wilderness of West Virginia. He also employs the "cut-up" writing method of Bey's friend, the late William S. Burroughs, to the Qur'an, subjecting Islam's holiest scripture to literary experimentation.

William S. Burroughs vs. the Qur'an is the struggle of a hero-worshiper without heroes and the meeting of religious and artistic paths, the quest of a writer as spiritual seeker.