Irshad Manji; Muslim, Yes. Muzzled? No.("The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith")(Interview)

Byline: Malcolm Beith

At the age of 14, Irshad Manji finally pushed her madrassa teacher to the brink when she demanded that he provide evidence of the "so-called Jewish conspiracy" against Islam. He ordered her to shut up or get out. So Manji fled that madrassa near Vancouver, screaming on her way out, "Jesus Christ!" But rather than walking away from her faith, she spent the next 20 years questioning standard interpretations of Islam. Her "self-study" led her to what she calls a "truly progressive side" of Islam, which she lays out in her controversial new book, "The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith." Manji certainly brings a rare perspective to bear on the subject: the 35-year-old Canadian, born in Uganda of Egyptian and Indian descent, is also an outspoken lesbian. NEWSWEEK's Malcolm Beith spoke to her last week. Excerpts:

BEITH: You've been criticized by some Muslim scholars for writing a book that they argue you are not qualified to write.

MANJI: Who is to say, among us mortals, what belief actually is? My personal reading of the Qur'an leaves me with three recurring messages. The first is that only God knows the truth of anything. The second is that only God has the ability to punish disbelief, since only God knows the truth of anything. And finally, as a result, we as Muslims are set free to explore the Qur'an's contradictions without obligation to toe a dictated line. These three messages really show the virtue of critical thinking. I've never understood how anyone pays tribute to a majestic god by reducing him to a manufacturer of robots.

You argue that the Qur'an is contradictory and, in fact, human. And simply acknowledging this promotes reform?

Muslims have not yet had our liberal reformation. We've had several conservative reformations that continue to bring Islam back to the seventh century. At this point in the history of Islam, reform doesn't mean telling people what to think, it means giving them the permission to think, allowing them to ask tough questions of our sacred text. To this day, this is something of a heresy even among mainstream Muslims.

You argue that Islam wasn't really hijacked on September 11--that it was adopted by some for the wrong purposes long before.