The Trouble With Islam

United Press International ^ | January 14, 2004 | Arnaud de Borchgrave

[quidnunc]

This could be Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare. Expelled from a madrasa (Koranic school) when she was 14, Irshad Manji's pretty face, sans scarf, graces the cover of her new book and its title — "The Trouble with Islam" — is written inside a strip of duct tape placed over her mouth.

"The reason for our stony silence vis a vis 9/11," she says, "is because Muslims are afraid to explore rationality. We have to rediscover independent thinking, which our religion does not tolerate. Islam has to come to terms with diversity. No one can be immune from universal human rights. The ill-treatment of women, Jew-bashing and the scourge of slavery are all part of fundamentalist Islam."

The book, published in the United States this week (St. Martin's Press), is a Muslim woman's call for reform of her faith. Her parents were refugees from Idi Amin's Uganda. They moved to Vancouver and Manji was sent to a local madrasa at the age of 8.

"Women are inferior and Jews are treacherous," were the two messages "drummed into us as children." She kept asking questions and the teacher kept on repeating that this was conduct unbecoming a Muslim girl. When she was 14, she asked him, "Where is the evidence for a Jewish conspiracy against Islam?" That got her expelled from the madrasa.

"If the Koran is a message of peace from Allah, why did his prophet slay an entire Jewish tribe?" she asks.

"Through our screaming self-pity and our conspicuous silences, we Muslims are conspiring against ourselves," she explains. "We're in crisis and we're dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it's now. For the love of God, what are we doing about it?"

-snip-

[Luke]

The Trouble With Islam... "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many, who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

[swarthyguy]

She is not only an affront to Muslims, she would be an affront to most people of faith.


How silly. Speak for yourself.

[anniegetyourgun]

You're right - first and foremost, her affront is to God - with whom she has a disagreement. And He's always right. Those who like to make it up as they go along are always wrong.

[quidnunc]

Cicero wrote: As the comments so far suggest, Islam won't be easy to reform. This book is published by St. Martin's Press, which is generally "mainstream" or liberal. They accept this woman's criticism of Muslims because she is a woman, certifiably oppressed, and because she claims to be a Muslim herself. The question is, however, whether she can make these kinds of arguments and still legitimately call herself a Muslim. I wonder how many of the basic Muslim obligations she observes. The obligations for Muslim women are different than the ones for men, as I understand it. Among the primary obligations of women are to cover themselves up, stay in the house, keep their mouths shut, and obey their Muslim husbands. So, although the idea of a woman criticizing Islam appeals to St. Martin's Press and many westerners, it's unlikely to appeal to Muslims.

I suspect this book will have its greatest impact upon non-Muslims because it will help burst the religion-of-peace myth that has been perpetrated by not only TROP™ spokesmen, but by some non-Muslims as well.

But there has to be a start somewhere if the bubble of myth surrounding Islam is to be pricked.

[swarthyguy]

That's right.

Ignore the bravery of this woman in standing up for civilisation and modernity. Ever hear of tangents?

Tis a shame that she is inclined as she is; I wonder if it's not more a political statement than a sexual one.
A pity she's a lesbian; looks, courage and brains in a sweet package as this are thus squandered.

And an anti Islamist willing to stand up and be heard, to boot.

Should get an award for guts.

[quidnunc]

This sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-God thinking is too much akin to that of the Muslim crazies.

The fact that she is a lesbian does not negate the truth of her message.

[Helms]

Our government needs to tell the Arab world and Islam to grow up and thus far we might was well be dealing with aliens from another star system. Islam doe correctly highlight some real problems within Western culture and
Abercromite Fitch capitalism.

[anniegetyourgun]

I never said her message about questioning Islam was unworthy. I was agreeing with another poster about how Islam will see her position.

And yes, most would equate a stand with the Truth of His Word with something "crazy." It always has been foolishness to those who are perishing.

[AuthenticLiberal]

Why haven't other Muslims realized that an Islamic movement similar to the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment is the only way their faith will survive?

Islam has already splintered the way that the Protestants have. Any whacko with a different interpretation can found his own sect of Islam just as the same can be done with Protestants. What Islam needs is a Pope. It needs a guiding institution that institutes Islam-wide laws and traditions and excommunicates extremist minorities like Bin Laden.

More than anything, Islam needs to be secularized and ultimately, if possible.... destroyed. Islam is the mind and soul's equivalent to AIDS.

[quidnunc]

anniegetyourgun wrote: And yes, most would equate a stand with the Truth of His Word with something "crazy." It always has been foolishness to those who are perishing.

It is a grievous mistake to attempt to introduce any kind of Christianity-vs-Islam theme into any criticism of Islamist fundamentalism.

To do so only reinforces the argument in Muslim's minds that the War on Terror is the Crusades redux.

Our fight is with Muslim terrorism, not Islamic theology.

[swarthyguy]

>>The Koran would have to be rewritten for Islam

There have been discoveries of ancient Korans rumored to be different than the one currently used. in Yemen.


And you're right, no returning to islam's roots. It didn't cleanse the Arabian peninsula of Jews, Christians and Pagans by charm and good looks.

And The Purity factor lends itself to a jihadi interpretation.


Perhaps a version edited by her might be a start.

[ValenB4]

Martin Luther's complaint was that the Catholic Church was too liberal and too worldly. A Muslim Martin Luther would likely side with the fundamentalists. Islam's problem is that it is organized in a manner similar to some wings of Protestantism. Islam would be better off with the equivalent of a Pope or a Papacy, or some sort of official organized body that can establish and modify an official dogma, and excommunicate and condemn heretics. Furthermore, such a body would be something that can be negotiated with, and, if necessary, also threatened to keep its followers in line.

[RLK]

If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it's now.

--------------------------

Islam can not be reformed any more than a king cobrah or hyena can be reformed. In the first place it is rooted in worship at the feet of a madman from sixteen hundred years ago who believed his madness was a message from allah. It's downhill from there.

[evad]

Because they reveal her to be a radical and not the moderate voice that we need to hear from

Well, there must be something faulty with that line of reasoning since she is the only moderate voice from Islam that I have heard speak.

Until this thread, I had never heard of this person. Having read about her, her message would seem to be exactly what muslims need to hear.

Bear in mind, I have no use for Islam or it's "message" but at least she seems to be quite moderate and above all, peaceful.

[nuconvert]

I Agree

[TASMANIANRED]

The problem with Islam is that it is a cult rather than a religion.

Religions even non- Christian are uplifting, claim respect for all peoples even non believers. Their existance brings peace and stability in an unsure and unstable existance. Religions have made the world a better place by shaping cultures and moral foundations of law.

Islam is a cult of death, it tears down rather than uplifts. It codifies all non believers as worthy of death, it requires the oppression of women and children, It still accepts slavery as being a moral choice. It allows for the stoning of rape victims and sometimes uses rape as a punishment for transgressions.

Rather than trying to make this life more endurable it would rather see the world burn than attempt to move into modernity. They slaughter medical missionary's because the message of forgiveness makes their young men weak.

At one point in history it may have been a bona fide religion but it has been perverted and twisted into a sick ersatz version of a religion. It is as if Jim Jones of Jonestown was the version of Christianity that survived.

Like liberalism it is codified, certifiable insanity. The price of pointing out that it is insanity is the fatwa and death.

[evad]

You're right - first and foremost, her affront is to God -

Annie..I don't know what to say to you other than...
.. even with hindsight you'd still get it wrong.

[swarthyguy]

>>the equivalent of a Pope or a Papacy, or some sort of official organized body that can establish and modify an official dogma, and excommunicate and condemn heretics. Furthermore, such a body would be something that can be negotiated with, and, if necessary, also threatened to keep its followers in line.

Yeah, We got Saudi Arabia, aggressively expanding its wahabi version and squelching all the others.

They're attempting to do what you advocate.

The problems is their our allies, and their version of islam is the most fanatical, lifehating, joykilling ideology that has probably ever existed.

Such is our fix.

It's not islam, primarily it's Saudi Arabia and its wahabs, secondarily, the mullahs of Iran.

[evad]

My point was, given that she lives a rather unorthodox lifestyle for a Muslim, I doubt that the people she wants to listen to her will listen to her.

Good point.