Irshad Manji

Irshad Manji is a self professed lesbian.  A lot of her anger with Islam seems to stem from the fact that her deviant sexual practice is not accepted by Muslims.

From what I have seen of her on television interviews and programs, her understanding of Islam is not very good at all.  I believe she has the right to question whatever she wishes but her method of grabbing media attention by putting down Islam and Muslims is really very sad.  And of course, the media is only to glad to give her tons of air time.  Her method of questioning her faith is very harmful to the ummah, in my opinion.

Peace, ummziba.

Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem,

Bismillah ir rahman ir rahim,

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullah,

Israfil, first of all, am very happy that you are back. I hope there will not be too many untoward incidences, insha allah. I personally want to thank you for changing your mind. Your presence was grately missed, and Br. Suleyman can confirm to this

No comments on the said woman, as am too slow with ppl in somewhat the lime light.

I would however comment on one of your remarks. Your analogy of faith to the flame of a candle is true, I agree and very much like the metaphor (or was it a similie?).

Brother, i want to state that knowledge kindles knowledge. It is observed in many incidences that the laws in islam are not derived very intelligently, but those who are studying fiqh will be able to tell us a better picture. I read a lot on a fiqh website (sunnipath.com) and have concluded that the scholars of Islam, even to this day, have concrete knowledge, awareness of the society and flexibility of temperament within the limits of Islam - sadly they  are not the ones screeming fatwas.

If we have read something thru a reliable authority, and then read it again said by someone else, it is only a confirmation. On the other hand if one had not heard the concept, it takes time to sink in. What i am trying to say is familiarity with knowledge helps us confirm it in whatever form we encounter it. ( I hope am not confusing you). Just as an example, long ago there was a member, he was a very young man, a student from Iran, who was quite aggressive about Islam (he was not shia). One of his statements was "I have read islam enough, now I want to contradict it, or challenge it" or something like that. We used to have very heated conversations. One day he brought a thread asking why nobody ever married aisha (RA), when she was such a young widow? When he was shown the ayat which says that the wives of the prophet(saw) are your mothers, his tone changed greatly.

So there are ppl who think they know a lot, thus they argue, but when will this fact dawn on them that actually they have got their concepts wrong, we dont know.

Perhaps for us as individuals, who notice these defects in the ummah, may it help us grow stronger in faith, insha allah.

Maa salaama.

Nausheen

 

Edited by Nausheen

Alhamdulilah Sister and Br. Suleyman for your kind remarks,
even though my absence was very short. I agree what you said
concerning the individual who comes to the knowledge of God
through the experience of learning. You made mention that the
implimentation on Shariah Law as well as Islamic
Jurispurdence is not always implimented by those who
understands it. I extend on my metaphor ( you were right it was
a metaphor) as faith is as fragile because in the world today
there are certain local figures in our communities who do not
impliment laws correctly and justly hence the various negative
accounts going on in the world today.

What my problem is with Irshad Manji is that she is using her
apprehended knowledge of the world (not Islam) and allocating
it with the probnlems of Islam and calls for reformation. She is
calling the reformation of how doctrine as well as Fiqh is being
interpreted. However correct she may be on some points I
frankly disagree with her premises in saying that Islam needs to
be reformed. Islam is complete. What may need reformation is
how Islam is conducted by the grand population.

I cannot understand how one individual can use the problems
of the world as something "Islamic" because Islam does not
condone such behaviors as we have explained in perennial
fashion. There are many so-called Muslims who say that they
are rationalist and disagree even with the truest points of Islam,
this we call people who commit bid'ah or innovation on Islamic
principle/practice. I remember a sister I know who told me that
another Muslim-refusenik who at Columbia speaking in a forum
said "We must evaluate the Qur'an with an open-mind and must
interpret doctrine in our own mind."

This may be true in context but in reality (and I shall not
contradict my view on this subject) the Qur'an or it laws cannot
be interpreted or carried out in its fullest since these (doctrines,
laws) came from Divine providence and since these laws are
divine we carry them out to the best of intellectual capacity
through the apprehension of these sacred laws. I believe that to
understand God is to grasp the basic principles of the Qur'an
and Sunnah. More importantly Muslims cannot forget that Allah
does ask us to be rational, just, and kind to those who do not
always accept us. Perhaps what this sister saw was another
world that became hidden behind Islam and mistook such an
illusion as Islam. I have convinced myself that I may read her
book after all to uncover her madness.

God's Blessings,

Unfortunately I wasn't able to pyt up the web article you had the link to, is there any other way I could get to the article of interest?