The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change [Paperback]

As a novice to the Middle East Conflict she fails, however, in her analysis of the political events that are currently shaping our world. She paints a black-and-white picture of Islam vs the West. Christians and Jews good, Muslims bad, Sunni Muslims worse. If there's a problem, it must be attributed to the Arabs' or the Turks' failure to accept their own faults.It's possibly her partiality to the Shiites, that she skirts the role of Iran in laying the groundwork for suicide terrorism, the resurrection of political Islam in the region, and the transformation of Palestine into an Islamic cause. She calls for "ijtihad", the independent interpretation of the Holy Book, yet makes only a passing reference to the great Ataturk Reformation, the first and only Operation Ijtihad that created a whole new generation of liberated women, and millions of refuseniks, enlightened Muslims, and independent thinkers.

Despite its shortcomings this is an historical book by a courageous woman that should be read by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Will Islam respond to her call for change ? Not likely, at least outside of Turkey. That's where the future of Islam will be decided. If you want to know why, read "The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire" by Alan Palmer. Then read "Ataturk" by Lord Kinross, and see why he was The Man of the Millennium. Ataturk drew the road map for change 80 years ago. This is the only hope for Muslims, and indeed, for the world. As my friends from Afghanistan are saying, "All we need, and all that every Islamic country needs, is an Ataturk."

The only people who don't seem to like the way she writes (on Amazon.ca anyway) are the ones who write scathing reviews, and almost always spell Koran differently (e.g., Qu'ran, Coran, etc.), clearly identifying them as those Muslims who are unable to take a critical look at their faith. These reviewers are first to attack Ms. Manji on her young age, lack of knowledge about the Koran and Islamic history, "spiked hair" (read homophobic) and poor grammar (there's nothing gramatically incorrect with how she writes). Not surprisingly, these reviewers are also the exact people/Islamic-automatons that Ms. Manji is writing her book about. The same warped thinkers that blame Jews/Israel and "U.S. colonialism" for 9/11 and every other mishap in history.

Irshad, you're smart as a whip and a brave woman who is clearly ahead of your time. Thank you for such a compelling and timely read. You are a hero to Islam and I wish you the best in your quest for Ijtihad.

Manji is very clear about her position. Having grown up a Muslim in Canada she embraced the values of liberalism, tolerance and individuality that she found in western society. As a result her political philosophy is very "western" and she is much more sympathetic to western democracies than to Muslim theocracies. But her point is that while Muslim countries and the Islam religion have often been authoritarian and oppressive, they do not have to be. In her view Islam has been hijacked by a reactionary faction that gained control of the religion following Islam's "golden age." She wants to see a reformation of Islam, and she is challenging Muslims to be critical of the current orthodoxy and to start the process of reform. She is also challenging non-Muslims to question the position of mainstream Muslim friends and leaders who fail to question or critique more oppressive forms of Islam.

The book draws effectively on Manji's personal experiences growing up and as a television producer, and she also incorporates evidence from a wide variety of other sources to support her points. As would be expected in a polemical argument these are selective bits of evidence designed to illustrate and reinforce her point of view. They are not a definitive history of Islam or conclusive proof of her argument, but she does refer readers to her web site for details about the sources. The book moves from the personal to the historic and political and eventually to her suggestions for what's to be done. She has several concrete suggestions which she describes under the general heading of a campaign of "ijtihad" - a concept taken from the golden age of Islam that refers to a process of thoughtful development and reform.

Although I have limited knowledge of Islam and the Middle East, there are a couple of aspects of Manji's argument that I feel are lacking. First, she doesn't do much to relate the history of Islam to other social and economic developments that might help explain how and why it developed as it did. Second, she embraces western-style individuality and economic development uncritically. She seems to accept that economic development will lead to democratic institutions and social reform without appreciating how neocolonialism may operate to oppress less powerful countries and segments of society. While not totally embracing the position and actions of the United States she is willing to see George Bush and company as possible agents of social reform in the Middle East. Similarly, she is critical of Israel to a degree but she also admires the western, liberal aspects of Israeli society and contrasts these with the repressive nature of countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Because of this she pulls her punches with regard to both the US and Israel. Third, she argues that liberal westerners have been too tolerant of the intolerance of orthodox Islam. She is a bit muddy on this difficult question -- how to be both tolerant and critical at the same time. She doesn't seem to appreciate that western-style liberalism and individuality represent a particular cultural adaptation that might not be entirely appropriate for other societies. Instead she maintains a moral absolutism concerning western liberalism.

In spite of these misgivings I think the book is an excellent statement of a point of view that needs to be taken seriously. I would recommend it to anyone, if only so that they can better state their opposing views.