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Irshad Manji's Inconsistencies...

Reader comment on item: A Muslim reformation?

Submitted by Richard (United States), Feb 9, 2004 at 18:13

I listened carefully to Irshad Manji last night speaking about her book, 'The
Trouble with Islam', on C-Span. She is very articulate, and certainly
courageous. One could almost say that, as a Muslimah, she is playing with fire!

Irshad Manji knows her subject. Of this there is no doubt. One cannot help but
feel, however, that many things she states are based on hope rather than
reality. She answered one person's question about the pitiful state of Muslim
women in the Koran. On the one hand she stated that there are indeed many verses
in the Koran stating categorically the inferior status of women; yet on the
other, she referred to other verses which venerate women. One cannot help but
feel that if the Koran really were to be God's final revelation to humankind, as
Muslims profess it to be, then He would surely have 'ironed out' these
inconsistencies before revealing it to His 'final' Messenger!

Irshad Manji is obviously, very obviously, aware of such inconsistencies. She
also goes so far as to bring into question whether the Koran is indeed God's
final revelation! Yet she stubbornly fights her way forward as a Muslimah -- a
very unconvinced Muslimah if you ask me!

Her basic premise, as I understand it, is that Islam needs to reform in order to
come into the twenty-first century. It needs to metamorphosize. It needs to
catch up. It needs to become more open and more pluralistic. These are wonderful
hopes for the future of Islam, to be sure. They are hardly likely to be realized
given the nature of Islam itself, though.


Mark Alexander's book, 'The Dawning of a New Dark Age', takes a different tack. In this book, he argues that it will be difficult indeed to reform Islam, simply because Islam
has been 'written in stone', so to speak. Muslims boast that not one word or
syllable of the Koran have been changed in more than fourteen hundred years.
They consider this to be one of Islam's great strengths, of course.

How, then, are we to be optimistic and expect, after centuries of no change or
re-interpretation of the religion, that somehow, miraculously, Muslims are to
'see the light', so to speak, and change anything in Allah's final revelation?

It seems to me that Irshad Manji is hoping against hope that Islam will change
its very nature. Hoping, too, that lesbianism will one day become acceptable to
mainstream Islam. Hoping, too, that terrorism will just go away.

Her sentiments may be noble. One cannot help but feel that she is living in a
world of make-believe
Submitting....

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Reader comments (34) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Why this pessimism? [75 words]Mahendra MathurApr 7, 2008 19:04124994
Examples of obsolete and harmonious verses [89 words]Mahendra MathurApr 15, 2008 08:40124994
Dignity of Muslim women [305 words]Mahendra MathurApr 21, 2008 22:05124994
Equal [105 words]AK_83Nov 18, 2008 06:16124994
Muslim women [81 words]Mahendra MathurNov 18, 2008 16:56124994
Women in Islam [246 words]Mahendra MathurDec 6, 2008 20:21124994
islamophobia [69 words]adalJun 1, 2007 07:0695624
My response to some of these comments... [1316 words]Adil Manzoor.Dec 11, 2005 14:5629775
Hope and a better understanding over fear and prejudice [80 words]TimothyJul 6, 2004 09:5015897
allah [19 words]adnanOct 8, 2007 13:0115897
verse (9:11) Quran [31 words]Glen BosFeb 24, 2004 23:3313990
Doubt about Qur'an 9:11 [90 words]Ray ThibodeeauxFeb 15, 2006 16:1313990
It is a hoax [205 words]LuiAug 24, 2007 13:3913990
Spread the Message of Allah and His Messenger Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) [25 words]K.J.Haroon BashaSep 18, 2007 18:0113990
evil of 911 [52 words]akifSep 29, 2007 16:1913990
Wrong verse [47 words]TuranJan 14, 2009 19:3213990
Doubt about Qur'an 9:11 [28 words]M MalikJan 26, 2009 15:0413990
Irshad Manji's Inconsistencies... [427 words]RichardFeb 9, 2004 18:1313818
irshad is a hope [32 words]HasanJan 16, 2004 19:1413382
Difficult problem [127 words]Josef ZuaresOct 26, 2003 09:2611904
21st Century Islamic Warfare [161 words]An InsiderOct 23, 2003 01:0211888
salaam [5 words]adalJun 1, 2007 08:4111888
Muslim reformation and small players like Irshad Manji [273 words]Pund KamathOct 8, 2003 09:5811752
A Muslim Reformation? [96 words]Albert DowshenOct 6, 2003 13:0511708
Look at the History of the Christian Reformation First [91 words]Peter J. HerzOct 6, 2003 01:1911703
Moderate Muslims vs. Islamists [52 words]Bob BornOct 5, 2003 21:1711700
Question [29 words]Boris FeinmanOct 5, 2003 21:0911699
Missing part of the boat [150 words]Tova MatteroOct 5, 2003 19:4811698
Islamic Reformation [109 words]Arlinda DeAngelisOct 5, 2003 18:1111697
Re-discover Islam,,,Re-Socialize muslims [154 words]nawaz khanMay 11, 2009 03:2711697
Quran - the primay source [97 words]Mahendra MathurJul 21, 2009 23:2411697
Islam: Reformation May not be the Answer [581 words]SAbry Fawzy Gohara, M.D.Oct 5, 2003 14:1111694
A Muslim Reformation? [115 words]Mr. Menahem DunskyOct 5, 2003 10:2411690
is the prison arena actively recruiting conversions to the Muslim religion? [21 words]vanessa crossOct 4, 2007 11:1311690

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