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Trouble with Islam Today by Irshad Manji

Preprint · August 2018

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 The Trouble with Islam Today by
Irshad Manji
Leslie Terebessy

The Trouble with Islam Today was first published in Canada by Random House in
2003. At 234 pages, it is a semi-autobiographical account of Manji’s life. The book
has been banned in a number of Muslim countries. It documents Manji’s struggles in
her life, the most prominent among which appears to relate to her identity. “I’m
openly lesbian … I met my first girlfriend in my twenties.” (23)
Initially, “the question of whether I could be a Muslim and a lesbian at the same time
barely unsettled me.” (23-24) As time went by, however, she began to ask herself,
“How do you reconcile homosexuality with Islam?” (23)
As my TV work made me a more visible public figure, my hope of
reconciling homosexuality with Islam evolved into a preoccupation.
Viewers wanted me to justify my improbable combination of
identities. I was plunged into a serious bout of introspection, even
flirting with the possibility of finally giving up Islam for the sake of
love … But each time I reached the brink of excommunicating myself,
I pulled back. (24)
She appears to have concluded that it was possible to be “a Muslim and a lesbian at
the same time.” (23-24).
Manji arrived in Canada from Uganda in 1972 at the age of four. As an adult, she
hosted Queer TV in Toronto, Canada, where she was active in a TV and Internet
series dedicated to issues of concern to “gay and lesbian cultures” (24).
In 2007 she became Professor of Leadership and Director of The Moral Courage
Project at the Research Center for Leadership and Action at the Robert F. Wagner
Graduate School of Public Service, New York University. Her movie Faith Without
Fear, filmed in Yemen, was nominated for an Emmy Award. It was aired on the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Her intention in the book is “to judge my religion” (19). She highlights various abuses
that have taken place under the banner of Islam. These include the repression of
women, the practice of slavery, anti-semitism, honour killings, female genital
mutilation, and the stifling of dissent. Additionally, she faults Muslims for a
“literalist” reading of the Qur’an, the inability to be self-critical, practicing
dictatorship, and stoning victims of rape to death.
In the face of all these wrongs, she “grappled with the overriding question: Should I
bid good-bye to Islam?” (28). Islam, she assures the reader, “is on very thin ice with
me.” (1)
She appears to be reluctant to acknowledge that Islam does not commit abuses –
people do. She confuses what people do with Islam. To her, “how we Muslims behave
… is Islam.” (4).
 Interestingly, in an interview (which may be seen on YouTube) with David Frost in
2008, she is at pains to emphasise that her criticisms were not aimed at the Islamic
faith but rather at how Muslims “practice” their faith.
The book appears to have been written in haste. She censures those who “worship
desert Islam” (167) and asserts that Islam is a “gift of the Jews” (21). To her Islam is
“the product of intermingling histories” (21-22). She characterises mainstream Islam
as “intellectually atrophied and morally impaired” (50). Muslims have to ask,
according to her, whether Islam is “the uber-opressor of creativity, dynamism, and
democracy?” (132)
She insists that the Qur’an is “enigmatic.” Moreover, it is characterised by “blatant
inconsistencies” (36), displays “wild mood swings” (51), and contains “bad verses”
(44). According to Manji, “primitive forms of politics couldn’t be waged without
some help from the Koran” (37).
She alleges that, “the nasty side of the Koran … informs terrorism” (42). She feels it
is necessary to “question the perfection of the Koran” (36) She insists, “we can’t be
afraid to ask: What if the Koran isn’t perfect? What if it’s not a completely God-
authored book? What if it’s riddled with human biases?” (45). “It stands to reason that
the Koran has imperfections” (142-143).
The cause of the regeneration of the Muslim civilisation is unlikely to be helped by
The Trouble with Islam Today. This book, entirely devoid of references, (we are
advised to look them up on Manji’s website), “demonises the other,” stereotypes
Muslims, and fuels Islamophobia. It is a biased book. The story of Manji is a story of
one caught between two worlds. It documents an encounter between a Muslim and the
West, with key tensions playing themselves out in her personal life. Manji appears to
be still in search of her identity.

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