A call for 'independent thinking' among Muslims

By MAKEBA SCOTT HUNTER
VALUES REPORTER

Before a packed audience at Drew University in Madison last week, controversial Muslim author Irshad Manji tackled what she called "the problem with Islam."

The interfaith crowd of about 300 gathered in Baldwin Gym to listen to ideas that, according to Manji, have been whispered among Muslims for years but are rarely spoken publicly, particularly before non-Muslim audiences.

"The problem with Islam is literalism," said Manji, 36, who lives in Toronto and wrote "The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith."

"Every religion has its share of literalists. American Protestantism has its share of evangelicals, Jews have their ultra-Orthodox, Catholics have the principle of papal infallibility. The difference ... is that only in Islam today is literalism fast becoming mainstream worldwide."

That literalism - a literal interpretation of the Quran - is what allows the ill treatment of women, Jew-bashing and the practice of slavery in some Islamist regimes to flourish under the banner of Islam, Manji argued. Literalism also discourages any challenge to the Quranic rationales that support those actions, "and that's dangerous."

"When abuse happens under the banner of my religion, most Muslims today ... have not yet been able to debate, dissent or reform," she said. "That's not because we're stupid, it's because we have not yet been introduced to the possibility, let alone the virtue, of asking questions about our holy book."

Manji offered the alternative of ijtihad (eej-ti-haad), or independent thinking, as a solution. Ijtihad encourages Muslims to read, question and interpret the Quran on their own and challenge the extremism in Islam.

At a time when Muslims in America and around the world face increased persecution and discrimination, Manji's public dissent has stirred strong emotions among some Muslims.

"I'm troubled with the title 'The Trouble With Islam,'" said Farzanas Siddiqui, a Muslim and an electrical engineer from Mount Olive. "Islam is a religion and all religions teach magnanimity and brotherhood. ... She's judging against religion instead of culture. She's throwing away the baby with the bath water. She's throwing away Islam," she said.

Manji contends that her ideas are not disrespectful but traditional. Between the eighth and 12th centuries, critical thinking and analysis were encouraged in Islam, she said.

It was only after political states such as Saudi Arabia began to use the Quran to achieve and maintain political power that Muslims veered away from ijtihad. To this day, Manji argues, certain Arab nations hold Islam hostage for their own political benefit, a practice she calls "establishment-guided fundamentalism."

The forum sparked a lively question-and-answer session and, after the event, audience members lingered to continue the discussion.

"I found it very heartening to hear a more moderate voice," said Meryl Conrad, a social worker from Scotch Plains. "It's been very frightening as an American, and as a Jew, some of what we're hearing is being taught. I think she put it in a wider context that this is a distortion."
Manji's family fled to Canada from Uganda in 1972, after Idi Amin came to power. She said she was ejected from her madressa, religious school, at 14 for asking too many tough questions and spent the next 20 years studying Islam independently. That, she said, is how she learned of ijtihad.

Manji has received several awards - and, she said, a couple of death threats each week - since the January 2003 publication of her book, including Oprah Winfrey's first-ever Chutzpah Award for "audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction."

An interfaith coalition of organizations including the American Jewish Committee, Drew University's Interfaith Forum and the Ecumenism Office of the Diocese of Paterson sponsored Wednesday's event.