Irshad Manji

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Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Canadian author, journalist, and activist. She is an outspoken feminist, and critic of Islamic fundamentalism and literalist interpretations of the Qur'an. She was once described by The New York Times as "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare".<ref>Krauss, Clifford. "An Unlikely Promoter of an Islamic Reformation". The New York Times, October 4, 2003.</ref> Irshad is an ardent advocate for the use of critical thinking, known as ijtihad in Islamic tradition.

Her bestselling book The Trouble with Islam (Since renamed "The Trouble With Islam Today") has been translated in more than a dozen languages, including Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Manji's articles appear in many major publications around the world and she makes frequent appearances on widely viewed global media networks including the BBC, MSNBC, CSPAN, CNN, FOX News.<ref>Interviews with Irshad and book reviews - Archives at muslim-refusenik</ref>

1 Biography
2 Views
3 Criticism
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 See also
7 External links

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Biography

Manji was born in Uganda in 1968 in an Ismaili family, a minority sect of Islam. Her family moved to Canada when she was four, as a result of Idi Amin exiling all South Asians from Uganda. In her book, Manji describes her turbulent youth, including an incident when her father chased her around the house holding a knife.

Manji holds a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of British Columbia, and became the first humanities student to win the Governor-General's Gold Medal for the top graduates.

She has been a legislative aide in the Canadian parliament, Press secretary to the Ontario Minister for women's issues and a speechwriter for Audrey McLaughlin, the first female leader of a Canadian political party. She has been a national affairs editorialist for the Ottawa Citizen, the youngest person to sit on the editorial board of a Canadian daily newspaper.

Between 1998 and 2001, she was the host and senior producer of Q Files on Citytv. She was also the host and producer of In The Public Interest on Vision TV, and was involved in the televised debate series Friendly Fire.

Manji is the current President of VERB, a Canadian channel aimed at young people and specializing in diversity. She hosted the Big Ideas program on TVOntario until Andrew Moodie took over on January 7, 2006, and is a writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto Hart House.

Manji was awarded Oprah Winfrey's first annual Chutzpah Award for "audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction". She is also a recipient of the Simon Wiesenthal Award of Valor <ref>Dallaire recounts Rwanda genocide at tribute to Nazi hunter by Pual Lungen</ref>. Manji has spoken at a number of forums, including the International Women’s Forum Leadership Conference, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference on Technology, Learning and Culture and the Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations. She is also involved in the international public speaking circuit.

Manji is lesbian and has argued adamantly that condemnation of homosexuality by most strains of traditional Islam is at odds with Qur'anic doctrine that "Allah makes excellent everything which He creates." Her partner is Michelle Douglas, a Canadian activist.

Manji is a friend of controversial writer Salman Rushdie and has received numerous death threats. The windows of her apartment are fitted with bullet-proof glass.

Since May 2005 she's been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

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Views

Manji has been a vocal critic of orthodox Islam, especially the treatment of women by some Muslims. She does not wear a headscarf or chador whereas most traditional Muslim women do observe the hijab. She has criticized the Palestinian leadership and the opinions of some Muslims about Israel.

In March 2006 a letter she co-signed entitled MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism with eleven other individuals (most notably Salman Rushdie) was published in response to violent and deadly protests in the Islamic world surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.

She questions historical interpretations of the Qur'an and advocates the concept of ijtihad, "the Muslim tradition of independent thinking".

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Criticism

Her writings on Islam have been criticized for allegedly "sloppy" scholarship and her lack of Arabic proficiency has been criticized.

Manji's views are also considered by some to be anti-Arab. She has often decried Arab culture for what she believes to be its extremist interpretations of Islam. She insists Arab power has exercised far too much influence over a religion with such a culturally diverse following.

Many critics question the basis for her critiques of Islam, considering her lifestyle and personal value system, and contend that the attention she receives in the western media is disproportionate to her qualifications. Her critics claim that Manji's popularity derives from saying what the western media want to hear about Islam.

She has also been criticized by other liberal Muslims such as Tarek Fatah, who repudiated the acknowledgement she gave him at the beginning of The Trouble of Islam after she accused Muslims of "complicity in The Holocaust" and generally alleged that her book "is aimed at making Muslim haters feel secure in their thinking."<ref>Thanks, but No Thanks: Irshad Manji's Book Is for Muslim Haters, Not Muslims by Tarek Fatah</ref>

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