The Trouble With Islam Today First Quarter

1. The Trouble With Islam Today First Quarter David D’Achiardi AP English Language October 23, 2011

2. In the first pages of The Trouble With Islam TodayIrshadManji judges the sincerity of her contact with Islam throughout her childhood. By acknowledging discontent with her faith and the actual interpretation of the Koran in respect to her condition, a culturally active woman with religiously unacceptable sexual orientations, she breaks down the arguments she has encountered for both the orthodox and reconciling interpretations of the sacred book. She reports some of her early experiences in the madressa, where she had to accept some of the traditional rules regarding the separation of the sexes, the unquestioned faith for the preacher’s interpretation and the unavailability of other information sources. Subsection 1: Cultivating Curiosity

3. Manji urges us to highlight the privation of truthful contact with the sacred book, emphasizing the nonexistence of two equal or similar interpretations of important statutes regarding the mandated relationship between the sexes. By revising her childhood and first job experiences, the author suggests an overwhelming and ever-present discrimination due to her disregard for traditions and orthodox thinking. Soon enough, the author reveals her troubles with reconciling her faith with some of the shocking practices and the personal attacks received by her religion. The unstoppable questioning about an accurate interpretation of the sacred book reveal her discomfort of practicing a religion that doesn’t allow for her lifestyle. The critique offered by Manji regarding an Islamic childhood turns out to be a motive for her professional career standpoint and her inquiring, religious self. Subsection 1: Cultivating Curiosity

4. Manji demands answers for her questions regarding the acceptance of women, gays and alternative interpretations from the Koran. Some of her research attempts end up with the requisite of blind, unreasonable faith, such as her inquiry regarding the real recipient of her donations, an inquiry which simply ended with the assurance of the recipient being a Muslim. While studying some of the prominent philosophers, interpreters and the history of Islam, she stumbles across the tradition of itjihad. This tradition urged Muslims to be in constant debate regarding their beliefs, using the Koran to support their arguments. The reader is instantly transported to the golden age of Islam, a time of peace and cooperation between the Abrahamic faiths, a time when religious toleration involved the participation in inter-religious debates and philosophic quandaries. Section 2: Back to the Text

5. Manji exemplifies the arena in which Islam is now presented by reporting on Muslim organizations and leaders in the US and Europe which plead for pardon and distanced themselves from the 9/11 attacks. The need for Muslims of today to either adhere to Western culture or to repudiate it through the means of physiological manipulation and ignorance reveals an immense hole in the religious education of this people according to Manji. The lost tradition of itjihad, the adaptive, ever-changing force which demands tolerance and independent thinking is the clear culprit of the current motivations and practices. Corroborating the use and benefits of itjihad for religious coexistence in a difficult time period serves the author to conclude about the need for a reestablishment of the old practice. Section 2: Back to the Text