Syniks
07-03-2006, 03:09
http://visitshoremagazine.com/shorelines_20questions.php
Irshad Manji is too cool, and totally on the mark.
Although many disapproving Muslims have engaged in thoughtful, substantive debate with me, they're far outnumbered by those who would rather shut me up altogether. I regularly receive threats through my website. Some of my would-be assassins emphasize the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the "flames of hell" in exchange for seventy-two virgins. Others simply want to know which plane I'm next boarding so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't feel the urge to share my schedule. A few threats have been up close and personal.
A lot of cute police officers and detectives have interviewed me about the death threats I receive. But I don't think that's where you're going with the question. In the Netherlands, I was interviewed by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born member of Parliament who lives with four bodyguards thanks to her own vocal criticism of Islam. Even though she has left Islam and I've kept the faith, we're both marked women. The newspaper figured it would be interesting for us to swap recipes and security tips-heretic to heretic.
When did you start spiking your hair like that? When I realized that my role model is Lisa Simpson. It's not just her hair; it's her approach to changing the world. She asks for forgiveness, not for permission. That's a beautiful balance of action with compassion. Mind you, it won't win everyone over. A Muslim man angrily wrote to me: "Irshad Manji, you lie so much that even your hair stands up in protest!"
Irshad Manji's best-selling book, The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith, is one of the most readable, reasonable, fascinating descriptions of Islam-past, present and hopefully, future-on the market. A former student-body president and television host, she has published and spoken all over the world-to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Her book has been published in twenty-five countries, including Pakistan, India, Turkey and Lebanon. In those countries that have banned The Trouble with Islam Today, she is reaching readers by posting free translations in Arabic, Persian and Urdu on her website (www.muslim-refusenik.com).
A pixie Martin Luther, she's banging on the walls of Internet mosques, demanding introspection, extro-spection, confrontation-nothing less than Reformation, Renaissance, and a total feminist upheaval that would compel all Muslims to take responsibility for their teachings, question the veracity of interpretations of their Holy Book, and denounce the actions of those who take their religion's name in vain. And she wants them to do it now. Right now.
A brilliant, forceful, feminist, Egyptian-South-Asian-Ugandan-Canadian, spiky-haired, lesbian, Muslim woman, she is on a self-appointed mission to reform the faith espoused by more than a billion people in the world (of whom, she notes, only 20 percent are Arab-and of those, she humbly suggests, there are a few that might just deserve the "h" word).
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Go read the article.
http://visitshoremagazine.com/shorelines_20questions.php
If you are anywhere near the Southern shore of Lake Michigan, go see her. Irshad Manji is coming to Michigan City to speak on March 12th. Sponsored by the Sinai Forum, an organization which has been bringing national and international authors, politicians, media stars and scientists to Northwest Indiana for more than 50 years, she will speak at the Elston Middle School, 317 Detroit Street, Michigan City, beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the Michigan City Public Library and from Kabelin Hardware, 512 Andrew Avenue in LaPorte.
Irshad Manji is too cool, and totally on the mark.
Although many disapproving Muslims have engaged in thoughtful, substantive debate with me, they're far outnumbered by those who would rather shut me up altogether. I regularly receive threats through my website. Some of my would-be assassins emphasize the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the "flames of hell" in exchange for seventy-two virgins. Others simply want to know which plane I'm next boarding so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't feel the urge to share my schedule. A few threats have been up close and personal.
A lot of cute police officers and detectives have interviewed me about the death threats I receive. But I don't think that's where you're going with the question. In the Netherlands, I was interviewed by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born member of Parliament who lives with four bodyguards thanks to her own vocal criticism of Islam. Even though she has left Islam and I've kept the faith, we're both marked women. The newspaper figured it would be interesting for us to swap recipes and security tips-heretic to heretic.
When did you start spiking your hair like that? When I realized that my role model is Lisa Simpson. It's not just her hair; it's her approach to changing the world. She asks for forgiveness, not for permission. That's a beautiful balance of action with compassion. Mind you, it won't win everyone over. A Muslim man angrily wrote to me: "Irshad Manji, you lie so much that even your hair stands up in protest!"
Irshad Manji's best-selling book, The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith, is one of the most readable, reasonable, fascinating descriptions of Islam-past, present and hopefully, future-on the market. A former student-body president and television host, she has published and spoken all over the world-to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Her book has been published in twenty-five countries, including Pakistan, India, Turkey and Lebanon. In those countries that have banned The Trouble with Islam Today, she is reaching readers by posting free translations in Arabic, Persian and Urdu on her website (www.muslim-refusenik.com).
A pixie Martin Luther, she's banging on the walls of Internet mosques, demanding introspection, extro-spection, confrontation-nothing less than Reformation, Renaissance, and a total feminist upheaval that would compel all Muslims to take responsibility for their teachings, question the veracity of interpretations of their Holy Book, and denounce the actions of those who take their religion's name in vain. And she wants them to do it now. Right now.
A brilliant, forceful, feminist, Egyptian-South-Asian-Ugandan-Canadian, spiky-haired, lesbian, Muslim woman, she is on a self-appointed mission to reform the faith espoused by more than a billion people in the world (of whom, she notes, only 20 percent are Arab-and of those, she humbly suggests, there are a few that might just deserve the "h" word).
-----------------------
Go read the article.
http://visitshoremagazine.com/shorelines_20questions.php
If you are anywhere near the Southern shore of Lake Michigan, go see her. Irshad Manji is coming to Michigan City to speak on March 12th. Sponsored by the Sinai Forum, an organization which has been bringing national and international authors, politicians, media stars and scientists to Northwest Indiana for more than 50 years, she will speak at the Elston Middle School, 317 Detroit Street, Michigan City, beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the Michigan City Public Library and from Kabelin Hardware, 512 Andrew Avenue in LaPorte.