In the past few years, Islam has experienced a heightened visibility in the West. Both positive and negative images have been put forth, discussed and deconstructed. Is Islam a matter of organised religion or of personal faith? Is it readily translatable into a political system? In recent years, a plethora of writing has emerged on the vindication and vilification of the religion, and renowned Canadian journalist and activist Irshad Manji takes this historical excavation one step forward. She asks what the future of Islam in the modern world is going to look like, and unlike many other commentators, she also offers her readers some concrete answers.

These days, Irshad Manji is primarily discussed with reference to her latest book, The trouble with Islam: A wake-up call for honesty and change. However, Manjis resume is as diverse as it is impressive. Graduating with a degree in history, she became the press secretary for a minister for womens issues in Canada and penned speeches for the first female leader of a Canadian political party. In 1997 she wrote her first book entitled Risking utopia: On the edge of a new democracy. Her journalistic work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, amongst others. She is perhaps best known in the West for producing and hosting Queer television, the worlds first commercial programme exploring the lives of gay and lesbian people. Appearing as a guest on major networks such as FOX and the BBC, she currently hosts Big ideas, a television programme showcasing innovative thinkers.

In The trouble with Islam Irshad Manji uses her media savvy to address a global audience, and poses some rather tricky questions. A self-proclaimed Muslim Refusenik, Manji has in no way abandoned her Muslim identity, but rather, is seeking to effect change from within the parameters of Islam. Part of her personal project has been to reconcile her feminism and lesbianism with being a Muslim, a personal journey which cannot be separated from her political activism. What exactly Irshad Manji is refusing to do is simple: she refuses to accept that Islam is a stagnant and unchanging structure; she refuses to accept that people and states should continue to repress women in the name of Islam; she refuses to accept that Muslims are being passively held back by anyone but themselves. She addresses Muslims worldwide when she says Whats stopping us? Not the Jews. Not America. Only ourselves.

As recent history has shown, public comments criticising Islam run the risk of being treated rather stringently by the orthodox establishment. I asked Irshad Manji if she fears having to face a fatwa as Taslima Nasrin did in Bangladesh a decade ago. She responds pragmatically, I don't expect to have a fatwa issued against me. For one thing, Muslims worldwide know that our behaviour is under the microscope. This wasn't the case ten years ago. Moreover, my Muslim critics recognise that issuing a fatwa against me will only reinforce my points about intolerance and insularity in the faith today. Additionally, anyone with a working knowledge of the media can attest to the fact that bad publicity is still publicity. In a recent radio interview for BBC Pakistan, Manji wryly commented, If you want to harm me, first ask yourself: Do I really want to help this woman sell more books?

In The trouble with Islam, Irshad Manji discusses three significant themes which she sees as hindering the potential of Islam and violating human rights. She addresses the inferior treatment of women in Islam; the Jew-bashing that so many Muslims persistently engage in; and the continuing scourge of slavery in countries ruled by Islamic regimes. While acknowledging that all religions have their share of literalists she opines that only in Islam is literalism mainstream. Which means that when abuse happens under the banner of Islam, most Muslims have no clue how to dissent, debate, revise or reform. Conversely, non-Muslims in the West often feel uncomfortable speaking out against something which is considered to be sacred or traditional, while non-Muslims and minority sects living in Muslim states may be actively silenced from voicing their dissent.

Though it is always daunting to criticise someone elses religion, Irshad Manji argues that while Muslims in the West should be mobilised to use their freedom of speech to voice human rights violations, non-Muslims in the West must join them. Just as culturally and historically informed people should draw a distinction between the government of Israel and the Jewish population as a whole to avoid making unsavoury generalisations, likewise non-Muslims must be prepared to criticise the curtailment of civil liberties perpetrated by political Islam while remaining sensitive to Muslims as individuals and Islam as a faith. For example, it is largely due to whistleblowers from abroad, as well as vocal sectors at home, that the international community has become aware of the violations of Muslim womens rights such as honour killings, female genital mutilation and child marriages.

As one would expect with such a passionately-written book, The trouble with Islam has garnered equally passionate responses. For an activist who encourages global discussion and debate, this is a good thing. Irshad Manjis website, www.muslim-refusenik.com, displays an extraordinary range of responses she has received from Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, humanists, feminists, liberals, and atheists. The fact that the website posts messages from both supporters and detractors reinforces Manjis dialogic ethos: she wants to know what you think.

Who are Irshad Manji's most extreme critics? She explains that they are mostly Muslims angered by her questioning the literalism of the Quran, and that she has received, and continues to receive, death threats for making this point. Perhaps it is unsurprising that many of those who feel most affronted by her critique of contemporary political Islam are Muslims. However, it is also Muslims who have expressed the most praise for Manji's work.

Many of the most positive responses she has heard come from young Muslims in general and young Muslim women specifically. The most common forms of praise she receives are of solidarity and self-assertion. Im astounded by how many times I hear the phrase, Youve helped me find my voice. They go on to tell me that Im saying publicly what they have only dared to think privately, and that my book is giving them the courage to speak up.

However, Manji also notes that sometimes the voice that they're finding dissents with my own voice and this is a paradox that I love. She recounts an incident at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, when a young Muslim woman in hijab thanked her by tossing her a backhanded compliment, saying, I'm so angry about what youve written that youve inspired me to hit the books and prove you wrong! Manjis response is consistent with her desire for a constructive sharing of opinions: Honestly, I thought it was a fabulous reaction. If this book does nothing more than inspire ñ or incite ñ one intelligent Muslim to write her own book about why Im mistaken, all the while reconciling faith with reason, then I consider it mission accomplished for me.

Nonetheless, a sizable number of Muslim men have voiced their encouragement of Irshad Manji's work. In fact, she states, men who express support are always those who see themselves in relation to the women in their lives. For example, as the father of three girls, I want to thank you for being a role model to them or as a son, Im grateful that youve shown me how my life can improve when my mothers improves.

Though extremists infuriated by Manji's book may issue death threats, other critics settle for making conspiratorial allegations. Though Irshad Manji is largely unconcerned with irrational criticism, she receives mail accusing her of being a Jew, a closet Jew or an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. This line of attack stems from one of the major themes in The trouble with Islam, namely, her critique of the currents of anti-Semitism coursing through some Muslim communities and governments. Manji underscores the irony of this charge saying, It boggles my mind that so many Muslims resort to anti-Semitism in order to counter my point that anti-Semitism runs deep in the practice of Islam today.

So what are we going to do about it? The trouble with Islam offers a concise plan of action: a global campaign to promote innovative approaches to Islam. I call this non -military campaign Operation Ijtihad. Manji is seeking to revive the Islamic concept and application of ijtihad, the use of rational thought. This project involves a global coalition of Muslims and non-Muslims working together to reform the most rigid and violent aspects of political Islam. This includes mobilising the media, economically empowering Muslim women, making the Saudi Arabian administration more accountable and fostering an interfaith exchange of ideas and activism.

Some feminists have criticised the use of micro-financing to provide start-up loans to destitute women, arguing that it paves the way for violent backlashes against female earners, marginalises disabled and migrant women, and can produce an unhealthy reliance on donors. However, Manji asserts, I speak regularly with people who work with poor Muslim women, and they consistently tell me that these women are ready, able and willing to accept such loans, as well as the social obligations that go with them ñ such as becoming literate, teaching their own children to read and write, and even starting their own schools.She indicates this trend is now apparent in parts of Kabul, where schools that women have established bear signs reading Educate a boy and you educate only that boy. Educate a girl and you educate her entire family. The trajectory is simple: the economic assistance for Muslim women in developing areas leads to empowerment for the family, community and society. Finally, the concomitant result will be an increase in women's literacy, all the more important for Operation Ijtihad, because when women become literate, they can read the Quran for themselves and pick up on those verses that mullahs and imams usually don't convey.

The argument that womens advancement will be a benefit to all of society is nothing new. Back in the twelfth century, the Spanish-Arab philosopher Ibn Rushd remarked that it is a detriment to everyone when women are forced into solely a domestic and reproductive role. He wrote, because women are considered unfit for any of the human virtues, it often happens that they resemble plants. That they are a burden to the men in these states is one of the reasons for the poverty of these states.

So, what else is Irshad Manji doing to kick-start Operation Ijtihad, besides promoting the global dissemination of her book? I hope to start an Institute for Independent Thinking in Islam that will serve as a leadership centre, she begins. The institute would attract young Muslims throughout North America, and eventually throughout the world. It would educate them about Islams Golden Age, during which time Muslim civilisation led the world in the arts and sciences precisely because critical thinking was embraced. By teaching young Muslims about Islams towering intellectual figures is something that very few madrassas are doing as such an institute could embolden young Muslims to transcend their fear of persecution, return to their communities and launch projects that reconcile Islam with freedom.

Many may criticise some or all of the points which Irshad Manji raises, which is certainly the prerogative of the reader. The point is to begin a discussion, hear different viewpoints, and to prove that there are indeed many Muslims exercising their God-given powers of rational thinking. The bottom line is that Irshad Manji, in the name of freedom of expression and pluralism, welcomes dissent as well as support.

For the meantime, Irshad Manji is trying to circulate her ideas and her book widely, to encourage constructive debates. The trouble with Islam is already widely available in North America, Europe and Australia, though it will take longer for the book to be readily distributed in Muslim countries. However, the good news is that Pakistan will be the first Muslim country to publish Manji's book. For security reasons, the publishing house is being kept a secret until the last moment. I personally hope that the readership here will take the book as it is intended: something to read, think about, and discuss, not just to blindly criticise. In the book itself, Manji asks why slurs against other religions may raise a few eyebrows or an angry letter to the editor but in many Muslim states, comments deemed blasphemous often carry stiff penalties and civil uproar. Hopefully Pakistan will set a positive example by allowing Manji's book to be circulated freely and discussed openly. Recognising that it may be difficult for some readers to obtain and read the book without fear of censure, she has decided to post the Urdu version of The trouble with Islam on her website.