Manji to Tackel Islam in Speech

Published 9-18-07
http://www.doaneline.com/2.7185/manji-to-tackle-islam-in-speech-1.761539

Irshad Manji, author of the best seller The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith, is scheduled to speak in Heckman Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. She will present "Faith Without Fear: A Muslim Woman's Journey From Oppression to Hope."

"The Trouble with Islam Today is a wake-up call for honesty and change on everybody's part," Manji's Web site said.

Banned in various countries, her book challenges Muslims to re-discover Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking. Currently published in 26 countries, it is also available on her Web site for countries where the book is prohibited.

Born in 1968 in Idi Amin's Uganda, Manji's family settled in Vancouver in 1972. Manji questioned her faith from a young age, getting kicked out of her "madressa," an Islamic religious school, at the age of 14 for asking too many questions. In 1990, Manji earned an honors degree from the University of British Columbia, also winning the Governor-General's medal for being top graduate.

"Books remain Irshad's passion," according to her Web site, although she is also a columnist and a television personality.

Manji has received many honors, including the Young Global Leader designation by the World Economic Forum and Oprah Winfrey's first annual Chutzpah Award for "audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction."

Even though her book has caused death threats, Manji has continued to lecture internationally. Her visit to Doane is presented through the Annadora Gregory Lectureship, which is a Doane College event created in the early 1980s that sponsors nationally known speakers who are active in a variety of fields including art, music, science, social science, philosophy and religion.

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