IRSHAD MANJI

Moslem fundamentalists use 7th century customs to keep 21st century women in line.

Verses of the Koran and of the Prophet are being isolated and used to justify violence.

In a chaotic world, fundamentalism can be a moral compass.

Our—Islam’s—problems didn’t start with the dastardly Crusaders. Our problems started with us. To this day, Muslims use the white man as a weapon of mass distraction—a distraction from the fact that we have never needed the “oppressive” West to oppress our own.

In Islam's golden age, so much progress was made that it became the basis of the European Renaissance. We Muslims have to change ourselves, that's the main difference. We can't keep blaming America or Israel for our misery.

Free societies allow for the reinvention of self and the evolution of faith.

We Muslims are conspiring against ourselves. We’re in crisis and we’re dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for Islamic reformation, it is now.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the recognition that some things are more important than fear - and what's more important to me is faith.

Guys like Bin Laden have been responsible for injuring and maiming and murdering more Muslims than any foreign imperial power has in the last hundred years.

Despite obscenely overstuffed money vaults and a whole lot of land to spare, the Saudis will not take in Palestinians as citizens. The will however broadcast telethons to raise millions for the financing of suicide bombers. They also award the families of successful bombers a trip to Mecca, all expenses paid.

Learning to live with offence is the price of living in a diverse society.

In a chaotic world, fundamentalism can be a moral compass.

Moslem fundamentalists use 7th century customs to keep 21st century women in line.

In the last 50 years, more Muslims have been killed and tortured by other Muslims than by all the external powers.

Verses of the Koran and of the Prophet are being isolated and used to justify violence.

Muslims have been sticking it to each other for decades.

Fact is, given a choice to erase or embrace Western popular culture, most Muslims would gleefully embrace it.

Despite obscenely overstuffed money vaults and a whole lot of land to spare, the Saudis will not take in Palestinians as citizens. The will however broadcast telethons to raise millions for the financing of suicide bombers. They also award the families of successful bombers a trip to Mecca, all expenses paid.

Our—Islam’s—problems didn’t start with the dastardly Crusaders. Our problems started with us. To this day, Muslims use the white man as a weapon of mass distraction—a distraction from the fact that we have never needed the “oppressive” West to oppress our own.

In Islam's golden age, so much progress was made that it became the basis of the European Renaissance. We Muslims have to change ourselves, that's the main difference. We can't keep blaming America or Israel for our misery.

Home is where my dignity lives, not necessarily where my ancestors put down roots.

Free societies allow for the reinvention of self and the evolution of faith.

The trouble with Islam is that lives are small and lies are big.

We Muslims are conspiring against ourselves. We’re in crisis and we’re dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for Islamic reformation, it is now.

There is a profound unfairness embedded in the economic system.

I'm asking Muslims in the West a very basic question: Will we remain spiritually infantile, caving to cultural pressures to clam up and conform, or will we mature into full-fledged citizens, defending the very pluralism that allows us to be in this part of the world in the first place? My question for non-Muslims is equally basic: Will you succumb to the intimidation of being called "racists," or will you finally challenge us Muslims to take responsibility for our role in what ails Islam?

Bin Laden-ism, I don't think, is dead yet. And I think there's a long way to go before we can legitimately say that, you know, it is no longer in our midst.

One of the enduring lessons of history is that whenever an empire becomes insular to 'protect' itself, intellectual decline and cultural intolerance are sure to follow.

I have to be honest with you. Islam is on very thin ice with me... Through our screaming self-pity and our conspicuous silences, we Muslims are conspiring against ourselves. We're in crisis and we're dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it's now. For the love of God, what are we doing about it?

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the recognition that some things are more important than fear - and what's more important to me is faith.

Guys like Bin Laden have been responsible for injuring and maiming and murdering more Muslims than any foreign imperial power has in the last hundred years.

We often hear Islamists declare, 'We love death as much as you people in the west love life.' Well, if we're going to now celebrate and jubilate in the death of Bin Laden, I have to say, I think that comes eerily close to mimicking the likes of the Islamists. And that gives me the creeps.

A lot of Arabs have proven to themselves that there is an alternative to Bin Laden-ism if they want to do away with the corrupt, autocratic regimes in their countries.

If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it’s now. For the love of God, what are we doing about it?