Author: Irshad Manji
Publication: Interest!ALERT
Date: November 2, 2004
URL: http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/11020000aaa06e02.upi&Sys=siteia&Fid=WOMNEWS1&Type=News&Filter=Women
Tuesday's slaying of Theo van Gogh,
a Dutch filmmaker who criticized Islamic practices, reminds all of a nagging
truth: More than 15 years after the government of Iran issued a death warrant
against novelist Salman Rushdie, challenging Muslims remains a risky business.
As a Muslim dissident, I speak from
experience. My book, "The Trouble with Islam," has put me on the receiving
end of anger, hatred and vitriol. That's because I'm asking questions that
we Muslims can no longer hide from. Why, for example, are we squandering
the talents of half of God's creation, women? What's with the stubborn
streak of anti-Semitism in Islam today? Above all, how can even moderate
Muslims view the Koran literally when it, like every holy text, abounds
in contradictions and ambiguity? The trouble with Islam today is that literalism
is going mainstream.
Muslims who take offense at these
points often wind up reinforcing them in their responses to me. I regularly
get death threats through my Web site. Some of my would-be assassins emphasize
the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the "flames of hell"
in exchange for 72 virgins. Others simply want to know what plane I'm next
boarding, so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't feel the urge to share
my schedule.
A few threats have been up-close
and personal. At an airport in North America, a Muslim man approached my
traveling companion to say, "You're luckier than your friend." When she
asked him to explain, he turned his hand into the shape of a gun and pulled
the trigger. "She will find out later what that means," he intoned.
But, for all of the threats, there's
good news: I'm hearing more support, affection and even love from fellow
Muslims than I thought possible. Two groups in particular -- young Muslims
and Muslim women -- have flooded my Web site with letters of relief and
thanks. They are relieved that somebody is saying out loud words they have
only whispered, and grateful that they're being given the permission to
think for themselves.
That's why I don't take my bodyguard
everywhere I go. It may be necessary to have one when I visit France next
week. But in my day-to-day life, I refuse to be closely protected. If I'm
going to have credibility conveying to Muslims that we can, indeed, live
while dissenting with the establishment, I can't have a big, burly fellow
looking over my shoulder. I must lead by example. So far, so good.
To be sure, I haven't tried visiting
Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan since the release of my book. (One
challenge at time, please!) Still, the relative safety with which I've
debated Islam in the West -- from Britain to Belgium, from Australia to
Canada, from the Netherlands to the United States -- convinces me that
Muslims in the West have a sterling opportunity. They are best poised to
revive Islam's tradition of independent reasoning. Why in the West? Because
it's here that we already enjoy the precious freedoms to think, express,
challenge and be challenged -- all without fear of state reprisal.
I'm not denying that some Muslims
have been targeted for harassment, profiling and discrimination by Western
governments. I faced the same during the 1991 Gulf War when I was marched
out of a federal building in Ottawa, Canada for no apparent reason. However,
none of this negates a basic fact: If Muslims in the West dare to ask questions
about our holy book, and if we care to denounce human rights violations
being committed under the banner of that book, we need not worry about
being raped, flogged, stoned or executed by the state for doing so. What
in God's name are Muslims in the West doing with our freedoms?
I know what many young Muslim would
like us to be doing -- thinking critically about ourselves and not solely
about Washington. Indeed, a huge motivation for having written my book
came from young Muslims on American and Canadian campuses. Even before
9/11, I spoke at universities about the virtues of diversity, including
diversity of opinion. After many of these speeches, young Muslims emerged
from the audiences, gathered at the side of stage, chatted excitedly among
themselves, and then walked over to me.
"Irshad," I would hear, "we need
voices such as yours to help us open up this religion of our because if
it doesn't open up, we're leaving it."
They're on the front lines in the
battle for the soul of Islam. Whatever the risks to my own safety, I won't
turn my back on them -- or on the gift of freedom bestowed by my society.
--
(Irshad Manji is author of "The
Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith." She can be
contacted through her Web site, www.muslim-refusenik.com.)
--
(United Press International's "Outside
View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in
a variety of issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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original submissions are invited.)
