As a Muslim, I have to say that this book is a sad attempt to bring bad name to the great religion Islam. Irshad Manji pretends to know that she knows a lot about Islam but I have heard that she is a lesbian. If she knows so much about Islam then she must know that being a lesbian is against Islam. When we believe in a religion, we have to adhere to the principals laid out by that religion. I very much like lesbians too in porno movies but my religion tells me that I should dislike Irshad Manji. There are no troubles with Islam, the trouble is with people like Irshad Manji.
I should add that I haven't read the book and neither will I ever because, as a Muslim, I should avoid such books.
Irshad Manji's book has generated a lot of knee-jerk negative reactions. Most of her detractors seem to be reacting to the fact that she's a woman, a lesbian, and an ally of Western values. Therefore, according to them, she is not fit to make any critical comments about her religion; her more radical opponents would even wish to see her dead for her beliefs. They are not, however, addressing her arguments and analyzing their merits; they are reacting to her, to what she represents and what she is bold enough to write.
They also illustrate one the chief problems she sees in her religion, even its mainstream variant - scarce public dissent, questioning, and debate. It's one thing to write a rational critique of Manji's book; it's quite another to rage against her for even daring to write it. To react to the book rationally is to engage in a debate, which is what Manji wants; to rail against its publication, to wish her silenced, is to promote tyranny and uniform thought in religion.
Manji is careful to point out that not all Muslims think alike or are all against dissent. She does not lump all Muslims into one group or one way of practicing Islam. She does, however, launch critiques and urges a kind of self-examination that might make a lot of Muslims uncomfortable... and also non-Muslims who feel they must bend unquestioningly to a certain PC way of thought and speech. To Manji, tangible actions, policies, and honesty count the most, not pretty words exchanged by diplomats or public organizations.
The book is deeply personal, and though it can have a choppy feeling to it - jumping from topic to topic, era to era, and switching not quite so seamlessly from general observations to personal anecdotes - it's difficult to ignore the kinds of questions Manji raises or feel detached from them. She raises excellent points, and the larger messages of her work are crucial to address. She writes, for example, that the best way to start liberating and improving a lot of the Muslim world is to empower women, who are all too often stifled, degraded, and kept hidden in homes and behind veils, their talents and skills wasted. How first to empower them? By allowing them to run their own businesses, giving them a stronger measure of economic independence and fostering literacy among them. And then, just as importantly? To encourage debate, among everyone in society. To encourage questions and creativity, to cultivate relationships with different kinds of people. What Manji craves is open dialogue and personal choice - if a woman wishes to wear a veil, for example, it should be her own choice, not enforced by her male relatives or a mullah.
The book is not written by someone who has abandoned Islam and is now providing the reasons for doing so. It is written from the perspective of a woman who sees herself as Muslim and wishes to radically improve how her religion is practiced throughout the world. She points out evidence of self-examination where she sees them, whether it be in her own city of Toronto or surprisingly enough in the op-ed pages of a Saudi newspaper; she also laments the rampant silencing and intellectual censorship she encounters. It is well worth it to read The Trouble with Islam and examine - as objectively as possible - its arguments, proposals, and the broad issues that it tackles.
