The trouble with Islam

This is the title of Irshad Manji's book, with the subtitle "a Muslim's call
for reform of her faith." It is a breezy read in which she hits all the
high points of Muslim aberrations, the excess violence, the anti-Semitism,
the proclivity towards terrorism, the terrible treatment of women, the
closed minds, etc. etc. The main value of this book is that a Muslim wrote
it, since it contains many of the facts and opinions that we as Jews and
Israelis have been pointing out for years. She tells how those Muslims who
criticize Israel and castigate the West do so from a perspective that allows
no self-criticism, while within Israel and the West all opinions are
allowed.
Growing up in Richmond, BC Canada, Irshad was a troubled and troublesome
girl, asking awkward questions of her Islam teacher and finding little in
Islam that corresponded with her reality. She could not understand how the
Jews she was constantly warned against in her madrassa (Muslim religious
school) seemed much less dangerous than she was taught. She played with
Jewish girls and went to Jewish shops and the Jews she met seemed normal,
not terrible anti-Muslim madmen.
But, as a self-confessed outspoken lesbian, Irshad obviously is not your
typical Muslim girl. For every one of her there may be 10,000 other Muslims
who accept at face value the kind of dangerous nonsense she was taught.
Although she represents part of the response to terrorist murder that we
have been asking for, namely a moderate Muslim who publicly dissociates
herself from it, she is hardly a typical Muslim spokesperson.
I found her book enjoyable and worth reading but light and probably written
for a much younger audience than me. It is not a work of scholarship, and
avoids the citations that would usually weigh the book down, although it is
nevertheless well argued and quite comprehensive, quoting many of the
authors and works that I quote.
She states that with her "Islam is skating on thin ice," but she cannot
bring herself to jettison the faith, even with its myriad of problems that
she enumerates. She instead suggest a "project ijtihad," in which ijtihad
means open questioning of the faith, that was found in early Islam until
about the 12th century when the ulema, the band of Imams who protect the
faith, proscribed individual enquiry. It is this lack of openness and
questioning, the very antithesis of Judaism, she argues that is the main
fault of Islam as it now exists. It seems unlikely that a woman such as
Irshad, although she has made a valuable and brave addition to the cause,
will be a significant factor in bringing about such an evolution.
An example is Theo van Gogh, the great-great nephew of the painter Vincent,
who was stabbed to death on an Amsterdam street in broad daylight because he
had made a movie criticizing Islamic treatment of women. This is an example
of the extreme intimidation that Muslims wreak on anyone who dares criticize
their religion. As Irshad pointed out when interviewed about this on CNN,
other religions don't find it necessary in this day and age to eliminate all
those who criticize them, from within or without. But, even if the
majority of Muslims, especially those in the West, don't support this kind
of terrorist intimidation, it makes little difference unless they assert
themselves and apply to Islam the same degree of tolerance and restraint
that they demand from the rest of society for themselves.
Her main hope and ours is that a secular society with its liberal tolerant
tendencies will spread to the Muslim world and so dilute out the more fierce
antagonisms to Western or non-Muslim culture. But, that is a faint hope.
There are parts of the world, such as northern Pakistan and eastern
Indonesia, that Western culture has hardly touched, and the slog of fighting
the Sunni insurgency in Iraq may have to be tackled one city at a time.
Only once the extremists are defeated and the Iraqis and the Palestinians
actually accept democracy can there be progress towards making peace
agreements with them. And how long could that take? Irshad's book is but a
leaf in the forest of hope.