Irshad Manji has produced an insiderís view of oppression, which has outraged Muslims. She talks to Michael Hirst about faith, religious reform and women

FOR a marked woman, Irshad Manji is remarkably unperturbed. She has received death threats for her book attacking mainstream Islam for its subjugation of women, its anti-Semitism and its authoritarianism. Even the title, The Trouble with Islamñ A wake-up call for honesty and change, seems designed to attract the fury of Muslim critics, many of whom have written off the 35-year-old journalist and television presenter as a "self-hating Muslim", and even a Mossad agent. As a lesbian feminist Canadian of Ugandan Asian origin who also happens to be an outspoken supporter of Israel and the West, Manji knows what it is to be despised by fellow Muslims.

"What can you do?" she shrugs. "One man has written me letters telling me he canít wait to make himself a martyr by taking me down in flames." While she takes the death threats seriously ñ she lives under close police protection with bullet-proof windows installed in her Toronto home ñ Manji refuses to let them dictate the pattern of her life. "The threats are alarming, but Iím not going to lose sleep over them," she says breezily, quipping that things could be worse: no senior mullah has yet issued a fatwa against her. And indeed, as she orders a cup of coffee in the Groucho Club in Soho, London, she betrays no traces of stress. Her bright red fleece, trendy hairstyle and lively, engaging manner ñ she has stylish glasses highlighting fiery dark eyes ñ are not typical of a woman who feels hunted.

Manji, all five-foot-not-very-much of her, refuses to be cowed by such threats for two reasons. While The Trouble with Islam has been met "with lots of anger, lots of vitriol", in 50 per cent of the reviews there has also been what she calls "a surprising amount of support, affection and even love" shown towards her. But what gives her more courage is a conversation she had with Salman Rushdie as she was writing the book. "Why should I write a book knowing that it might invite into my life the kind of havoc that has been visited upon yours?" she asked the author of The Satanic Verses. "Because a book is more than a life," he replied without hesitation. The gift of writing, Rushdie explained, is that a writerís published thought cannot be un-thought, even when it meets with vehement, violent disagreement.

"That answer gave me a great deal of strength," says Manji. "Iím not going to compromise my views simply to make the message more palatable. I do not live life in fear because I know that what Iím doing, Iím doing with integrity."

What she is doing is calling for a fundamental reform of her religion. "Not solely because of 11 September, but more urgently because of it," she says. "Weíve got to end Islamís totalitarianism, particularly the gross human-rights violations against women and religious minorities. If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, itís now."

Due for a continental roll-out across Europe during the next two years, The Trouble with Islam has already sold well in Germany and Australia, having spent several weeks at the top of the sales lists in Manjiís native Canada and, she tells me excitedly, reaching the revered heights of the New York Times best-seller list. Manji is clearly touched by the young Muslim women who have privately expressed their relief and gratitude that "someone has said publicly what they cannot say themselves".

A practising Muslim, who observes the month-long fast at Ramadan, gives alms and prays daily, Manji believes Muslims "need to know of their God-given right to think for themselves". Which is why she has launched a global campaign to promote innovative approaches to Islam she calls "Operation Ijtihad".

Ijtihad ñ or "self-jihad" ñ is a tolerant strain of independent Islamic thinking dating back to the ninth century which promotes critical appraisal of the Qurían. Manjiís main complaint against Islam is what she calls its "mainstream literalism", or allowing the words of the Qurían to take precedence over the will of God. In Ijtihad, on the other hand, scholars are invited to interpret a rule of divine law from the Qurían and its hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) without relying on the views of other authorities. The Trouble with Islam explores what Majdi calls the three consistent messages in Ijtihad: that only God knows truth; that God alone can punish disbelief; and that Muslims must have the ability to debate about their religion. "We must ensure that freedom of expression because anything less undermines Godís position as the ultimate judge and jury," she argues.

Recalling that a recent United Nations Arab human development report listed the three main deficits in the Arab world as the need for the empowerment of women, knowledge and freedom, Manji suggests that addressing the first of these needs could resolve the latter two. She points at the potential benefits of the enfranchisement of women ñ improving literacy, educating children, reducing unemployment and poverty. "If you educate a Muslim boy, you educate one boy," she says. "If you educate a Muslim girl, you educate her whole family."

The problem with Manji is that the campaigner in her often wins out over the writer. "Arab hypocrisy" is deplored, but no examples of Western hypocrisy offered; Amnesty International reports are cited to highlight atrocities committed in Islamic countries while little mention is made of Amnestyís critiques of Guant·namo Bay.

Her critique of Islam is equally selective. Citing controversial Quríanic passages, without offering much of a case in defence of the text, detracts from the objectivity of her argument. And, though she is happy to admit that her descriptions of the Holy Land are gleaned from a three-week tour of the area arranged by a Zionist group, Manjiís perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is so vehemently one-sided even liberal Jews have expressed concern at what they call its "echoes of right-wing Israeli thinking".

But she makes a compelling case, nonetheless. The core premise of The Trouble with Islam ñ that the religion would be well served by encouraging critical inquiry, as well as by the enfranchisement of women ñ is eloquently and articulately argued, in a conversational and engaging manner. Manji gives a credible argument for the possibility of being a faithful Muslim without being dogmatic. "Faith isnít afraid to ask questions; dogma is," she says. "It is precisely because I care about Islam that Iíve struggled with it."

Having been forced out of her local madrasah (Islamic school) at the age of 14 for asking "the wrong sort of questions", it would have been easy for her to lapse into the material secularism of a Western city like Toronto. Only her commitment to her faith, she says, coupled with independent study of an English-language Qurían, allowed her to re-establish a personal relationship with God.

Surely, I suggest, her case is not so much against Islam, but what is done in its name? But there is no distinction between the two, she says. "What is a religion if not the collective behaviour of its believers?" she asks. "You can call not questioning that behaviour complacency or passivity. I call it denial." Why is it, she asks, that thousands of Muslims will take to the streets of Paris to protest against the banning of the hijab in French schools when they remain silent on issues such as suicide bombings and honour killings? "I read about victims of rape being stoned for ëadulteryí, and I wonder how a critical mass of us can stay stone-silent. Why are we content with these double standards? I think that as someone inside the faith I have a right to hold Muslims accountable for their actions."

The very fact that reprisals are threatened is reason enough to go on publicising the message, she says. Within a day of the bookís 29 April release in the UK, booksellers in Oxford ñ where Manji received a rapturous welcome at the Oxford Union ñ were already reporting impressive sales. Her slickly choreographed PR campaign, a face made for television, a congenial manner and hyper-articulate rhetoric have all helped the sales. As has a "Chutzpah" award ñ "for women with guts who turn inspiration into action" ñ from Oprah Winfrey, who this month cited Manji as one of her women of the year.

But it is the reaction to The Trouble with Islam from Muslims in the West that is most telling. When the title first hit the shelves in her home country, Canadian Muslim leaders were approached by a TV station to debate with Manji. All declined. Three weeks later, when it reached No.1 in the best-seller list, several had a sudden change of heart, and were keen for dialogue. The reading public, Manji believes, gave her argument the credibility she needed, and brought the religious authorities to the table, rather than the other way around.

This reaction perhaps explains Manjiís decision to launch her book in the West, when some would suggest its targeted readership should be in predominantly Islamic countries across the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia. When I put this to her, she shakes her head. "Sure, I want my message to reach those countries and help alleviate Islamís suppression of women across the world, but Iím a Westerner, and therefore itís right to start here in the West, because itís here that we enjoy precious freedoms to think, express, and challenge without fear of state reprisal. In that sense, the Islamic reformation begins in the West."

It is true that some readersí reactions would be inconceivable in the Arab world ñ like that of the Muslim woman in Virginia who caused uproar by striding into the centre of the men-only section of a mosque and refusing to budge during prayers.

Manji takes heart from such incidents, which hint at Muslims beginning to reassess their relationship with God and Islam. Though she predicts such a reassessment may take longer than her lifetime, the author is excited by what she perceives as a shift in the right direction. It is enough to sustain her through the threats and the anger.

There are now plans for a television documentary to promote the tenets of Ijtihad, as well as an Arabic translation of The Trouble with Islam, which she hopes will be released across the Islamic world. If no Arabic- language publisher will take the title, Random House will give Manji permission to post the entire text of the book, in Arabic, on her website. She has begun a conversation, and it will take more than a fatwa to silence her.

The Trouble with Islam: a wake-up call for honesty and change is published by Mainstream Publishing, price £12.99.