Irshad Manji

I know, I know... Many Muslims will dislike her and just brush her aside without bothering! She is, after all, a typical product of the West, seeming like a billboard for how Westerners wish 'modern, liberated' Muslims should be like! You have to acknowledge her boldness, though; as she tackles topics too often brushed under the carpet by so-called 'moderates' - be it because of cowardice, complacency, or (more often than not) just plain denial. 'The Trouble with Islam' is therefore a worthy show more read, for pressing hard where it hurts.

Here's an open letter, then. An open letter calling for self-evaluation because, clearly, Islam is in crisis right now and so in serious need to be saved from within.

First of all, she slaps the hypocrisy of many in seeing the West and/or Israel as their foe. This is not where the problem lies. To her (and I can't disagree!) the problem lies with some Muslims themselves, who completely hijacked the religion, dragging it towards its downfall.
Are all Muslims Arabs? Nope. Then how come Saudi Arabia still has such a strong hold upon the faith?! Isn't it funny indeed that the events in the Middle East (as perceived by some... ^Just saying^...) came to define how many Muslims feel about their identity around the world? Well, the West and Israel are just what she calls 'weapons of massive distraction' (I like that!), which is truly a strange state of affair, considering Islam is a religion that has always been very pragmatic and adaptable throughout its history. Muslims who want to denounce a toxic imperialism should therefore correct their target...

Then, she tackles from antisemitism to homophobia and terrorism; and she is here brave enough to punch into the political correctness. It may hurts, but she is not naïve.
She accepts perfectly well that some of the extreme behaviours causing those problems are not alien to Islam, but, on the contrary, supported by the texts. She is not in denial, and it's refreshing to see someone actually recognising that! What she does from then on, is to encourage a critical re-evaluation of those texts, to modernise them and make them relevant to the 21st century. This means, of course, to first of all understand their context and extirpate them from the 6th century to make them relevant to the modern world...

Now, yes, of course, her call is far from being new! Whoever tells you that there was no such an equivalent as the Enlightenment in Islam is ignorant; and the mindset she is encouraging is actually what made Islam's glory in the past (I live in Europe, so let me quote the case of Spain...). Ijtihad is a bold intellectual tool which is at the core of Islam, and always has been. Everybody can agree, too, that fanaticism (from Algeria to Pakistan and Iran) has been nothing but a disaster. Her stance is therefore far from new. It's obvious. Yet...

In those times of rising hatred and bigotry, fuelled by some Muslims feeling more and more alienated and having to reassess a religion in serious crisis, it's quite nice to see some of them (as the author is) digging their feet in and hold their stance against the rising stupidity!

Now, Muslims, of course, will solve their theological problems as they want. Most can even ignore her completely, for being either of a questionable faith or just stating the obvious. Personally, I found it good enough to see an intellectual of her character yet again appropriating themselves the heritage of philosophical liberalism so as to go and kick some bigots.

Here's a jewel of freethought. show less

This book is full of facts and real-life truths. In this open letter, a call for reform of Islam, Manji makes a compelling case for worshiping strategically rather than tactically. Some reviewers have said she doesn't present other sides; I say she didn't promise to do that. The book's title is not ISLAM TODAY, it's THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM TODAY. And she puts her finger right on it.

Among many other astoundingly insightful points, she says that one of the biggest hurdles for Muslims is the show more tendency to apply the Qur’an as though the practitioners still lived centuries ago, in a desert civilization, following behavior and rules that made sense then but might no longer apply, given the knowledge and social infrastructure to which we have access today.

Manji is a journalist who has traveled broadly in the Islamic world, and in making her point she speaks openly and honestly about her experiences with the practices common to fundamentalist versions of Islam, including what it’s like to conform fully with the traditional dress and demeanor of a strict Muslim woman. The waste, as she sees it, of fully half of Islam’s humanity as the rights—and brains—of women are dismissed, screams for the reform she seeks.

Manji is a devout Muslim. She is a lesbian. And she lives behind bullet-proof glass. show less

A thought-provoking read that has made me keen to learn more. I found the six chapters of this book excellent. As an atheist who knows little about Islam, I found much to learn from the book, and much that I wanted to learn. I suspect it may be an unintended consequence of this book that I feel I can understand, better than I could before, some actions taken in the name of Islam. I can also see where the author is coming from on her call for reform; the concept of, and the author's show more questioning of, 'foundamentalism' is very relevant, and needs to be considered by, at the very least, every Western Muslim.
Where the books loses points, for me, is that the author fails to acknowledge that some of the problems she highlights in relation to Islam, could equally apply to Catholicism or other religions; nor does she recognise that the roots of any religion lie in the desire to control, and will always reflect the traditions and mores of the area and time in which it originated. show less

This was a very good book. It is written as an open letter to Muslims by Irshad Manji, a devout liberal Muslim who happens to be a lesbian. I really liked the style and her tongue-in-cheek humour and sarcasm. The book was call for Islamic reform and posed more questions than it answered, but all the questions were extremely thought provoking. It was interesting to read this so soon after finished The Palestine-Israel Conflict by Gregory Harms. Without getting too political, I tend to show more sympathize with the Palestinian cause and the Harms book only bolstered my position. Manji's book actually challenged me on that and shed a more sympathetic light on the Israeli side of the equation. I highly recommend this book to anyone, it was very readable and accessible. The only caveat is that it has no footnotes or endnotes, she puts everything like that on her web-site. show less