Irshad Manji’s Moral Courage Project
March 26th, 2008I had the pleasure of meeting Irshad Manji last October at a conference in Washington DC. After talking to her, I really saw how genuinely passionate she was about the causes she believes in.
Recently, Irshad launched the Moral Courage Project, which I believe deserves attention here since I find that Mideast Youth exemplifies the essence of MCP’s purpose in many ways.
Two weeks ago, the first featured guest hosted by Manji was none other than the Sudanese Muslim scholar Prof. Abdullahi An-Na’im who recently launched new book “Islam and the Secular State“, one I’ve been anxiously looking forward to.
These are some of the ideas Abdullahi presents in it:
* “I do believe that it is possible, indeed necessary, to reinterpret Islamic sources in order to affirm and protect freedom of religion and belief. This is my position as a Muslim, speaking from an Islamic perspective, and not simply because freedom of religion and belief is a universal human rights norm…”
* “The possibility of belief in anything logically requires choice in the matter, as one cannot believe in anything without the freedom and ability to disbelieve it.”
I don’t know about you but this certainly excites me – a book full of concrete Islamic arguments and rooted in Islamic tradition calling for separation of religion and the state, and challenging the current Islamist status-quo of the Muslim world.
If you have time, check out the site of the upcoming conference which will feature An-Na’im’s work. It’s Heretic Muslims – A Celebration of Heresy Conference: Critical Thinking for Islamic Reform. I love the whole idea behind the “heresy” theme. Very interesting and deeply thought-provoking.
I think it’s cool that Irshad is featuring such intellectuals and collaborating with them to achieve common goals. I’ll be keeping track of MCP and Manji’s guests in the coming months. I encourage you to do the same. Like I said, I think the Moral Courage Project is highly relevant to this site.
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That’s really interesting. I am going to submit a video about Kareem. He is a solid and inspiring example.
Actually, that’s not such a bad idea. Yeah, why not. Heck, submit your own story and the site’s too.
I, for one, am very impressed with Irshad Manji, and other women like her. They take their lives in their hands, and are indeed infused with “moral courage.” I read her book, and at one point she concluded that female entrepreneurship is probably the best way to bring about reform in the Muslim world. And I think that’s true.
One of the big problems in the Middle East is that the moderating influence of women is stifled there, and as a result, the ideological extremism of some of the men is not kept in check, and is allowed to flourish. By empowering women we would be able to tap into their inclination toward peace, and to make that inclination part and parcel of the politcal and religious landscape of the Middle East.
I also believe that Islamic scripture contain plenty of material that would support freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state. All religions contain scriptural passages which are not palatable to the modern mind. We have no choice but to use our common sense to separate out the good from the bad; to hold on to the good, even as we “white out” the bad.
And Abdullahi is absolutely right to suggest that you cannot really have true belief, without allowing for the possibility of disbelief. Forced religious belief, or the compulsion of belief, is against Islamic teaching, and is against the nature of true religious belief. You must allow dissent, and disagreement, for people to make valid choices with respect to their beliefs. Belief without choice is not belief, but is rather the false appearance of belief.
Nicely said Nissim.
I think Irshad Manji is a racist bigot. She has one issue I sympathize with, her lifestyle choice. What I despise is her ignorance on the issue of the Palestinians, her factually incorrect statements about Palestinian rights, and her clear hatred of Arabs who criticize Israeli government policy. She’s not my role model, just another kind of fanatic who cloaks herself in one good issue to spew venom in every other possible direction.
Ray Hanania
I never read any of her statements concerning Palestinians and their rights, and Arabs who criticize Israel. Can you point to some?
Ray, I don’t know the lady personally. I’ve heard her speak here and there, and mostly, I know her from her book, The Trouble With Islam.
In the book she develops her concept of “Itjihad” which calls for reform in the Muslim world, and which includes the need to: honor oneself, bring about the sparation of church and state, and promote the concept that everyone is equal before the law.
Specifically, she calls for the following reforms:
1. Empower Muslim women entrepreneurs with financial help.
2. Use the media to broadcast the sories of successful women. Women should also own some of the media stations.
3. Promote interfaith dialogue.
4. Challenge Saudi Arabia, and don’t be afraid to ask the right questions.
5. Use the courts to presecture hate crimes.
6. Empower Western Muslims to speak out.
7. Introduce economic reform, and don’t base everything on oil revenues.
8. Dare to ruin the moment. Ask questions.
9. Allow Muslims to work in the West.
10. Don’t let multiculturalism to cause you to accept injustice.
Now I agree with you that she’s pretty tough on Islam, and on some of her fellow Muslims. But I wouldn’t call her a “racist bigot.” She is sending a heavy duty wake up call, and she’s doing it in a forceful way. But she is not hateful, and I think her intentions are good.
I don’t think she resents Palestinians. I think she would urge them to cut a deal with Israel for the sake of peace. For those of us who care for Palestinian rights, and for the cause of justice, that is probably the only way to achieve our aims. We can dwell in the past and kill one another, or we can sit down and cut a deal for the sake of a better tomorrow. Sooner or later people have to get the courage and the wisdom to move on.
There are some additional questions that Irshad Manji needs to ask and answer:
1. Why aren’t people who are outraged over Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations demanding that the Untied States stop accepting trillions of dollars of investment money from the Saudis? Why aren’t people demanding that the United States stop selling billions of dollars of weapons to the Saudis? The Saudis do not even have the qualified personnel to operate the weapons; their county is just a storage place for the weapons the United States uses in its military interventions in the Middle East.
2. Why did the United States recruit and train Muslim extremists to fight it’s proxy war in Afghanistan against the Russians, instead of collaborating with secular pro-democracy groups?
2. Why did Israel support Hamas as a rival against the secular Yasser Arafat? Despite Israel’s claims that it wants to peace, it goal is to perpetuate the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as amongst the Palestinians themsleves.
Randall, you are rightly pointing to the difference between short-term goals, and long term policies. There are many instances when a short-term benefit can come at the expense of a long term policy goal. We persue this type of short-sighted thinking because it is termpting, in the short run, even though there will be hell to pay later on.
So we do business with Saudi Arabia, because we need the oil to keep flowing in. Our economy is thirsty for oil. But we know in our hearts that Saudi reform is in our long term interests.
We support the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union, because it is an easy fix for us in fighting a mighty enemy, but we know that a Taliban regime will not bring stability to the region in the long run.
Israel may have supported Hamas as a way of countering the threat from Arafat, but obviously, as current realities demonstrate, putting extremists in power is not in Israel’s long term interests.
So sometimes it is difficult to do what is right, especially when doing something wrong is a lot easier. But easier in the short run does not necessarily mean easier in the long run. And I think you are right to suggest that it is time to start planing for the long haul that lies ahead, if we are ever to bring peace, or to protect the environment.
Nissim Dahlan,
I don’t think its the oil as much as controlling the oil wealth that the United States wants, as well as the money it makes from selling weapons. The United Stats buys more oil from Canada than Saudi Arabia. It buys almost as much oil from Mexico as it does from Saudi Arabia; sometimes Mexico sells more oil than Saudi Arabia to the U.S. Look up “Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries” from the EIA. Canada and Mexico do not invest the huge amount of money the Saudis do, nor do they buys as much weapons.
What the United States does in the Middle East, it has done similar things in Africa, Asia, and South America, but it does not get the same media attention as the Middle East.
I don’t know if the paths the United States, Britain and Israel have taken are the easiest paths to take. These countries had to rely on propaganda and keeping the truth from their citizens to do what they do. If these countries have the minds to make technological advances they can use their minds to create economic and foreign policies to create a world that does not result in mass deaths, destruction, and oppression of people in other countries.
You’re right Randall. The U.S. has accumulated a lot of wealth, and a lot of power, as have other countries in the West. The question remains: To what end will American use her wealth, and to what purpose will she put her strength?
I agree with you that many of our policies are dead ends, or worse. We need to reconfigure our time horizons, our priorities, and our ideological perspectives. And it’s not just about us. Various countries around the world are going to have to take a hard look at themselves, and to chart the course that they wish to follow. And the U.S., and the Western powers, could then make themselves avaiable to help, so that each and every country on earth is able to realize its aspirations, in such a way, so that we are all the better for it.
That’s the game we’re in, Randall. Not because of our sense of innate goodness. But because as a species we have brought ourselves to a point where the world, as we now know it, will become less and less sustainable. There are too many competing interests, and too many points of view. We will have no choice but to come to an ideological consensus, and to give credence to that consensus with economic and political policies that give everyone on earth a place at the table, a stake in his or her future.
It is a daunting task we face. But I see no alternative that will insure our place here on this good earth.
I agree with Ray on this, I attended some of her lectures and grew up watching her on local TV and I find everything to be very OMG OMG OMG look at me thing than, OMG I really want to change the Muslim world thing.
She comes off as a little abrasive, Jina. But I have to believe that given the risk she’s exposing herself to, it’s got to be more than just about fame. And regardless of her personal motivations, her book does make a good number of important points. Her basic message goes something like this, “Stop blaming others, and start taking responsibility for your own future.” And then she proceeds to prescrible some reform measures, most of which seem to make sense.