arts & entertainment Muslim Chutzpah Author Irshad Manji calls on people of all faiths to summon moral courage in the face of extremism. Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer I rshad Manji's mother had a jar- ring experience in Michigan, where she accompanied her daughter on a promotional tour for the PBS Emmy- nominated documentary Faith Without Fear, which chronicled Manji's attempt to "reconcile her faith in Allah with her love of freedom." The program, chronicling Manji's exploration of individual expression and reform within Islam, met with anger from the larger Muslim audience and thanks from young Muslim women speaking with her privately. The incident is described in Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom (Free Press), Manji's latest book. Social networking has connected Manji with two others from Michigan, one Muslim and one not. Impressed with their ideas, she asked them to serve with confi- dentiality on her nine-member Guidance Council, established to respond to those writing the author for advice about devel- oping moral courage. Manji, winner of Oprah Winfrey's Chutzpah Award for boldness, teaches moral courage at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Earlier, she held posts in government and television journalism in Canada. The daughter of Indian and Egyptian parents who emigrated from Uganda to Canada, Manji has traveled widely, includ- ing to Israel, and she has asserted that neither America nor Israel is responsible for problems faced by Muslims, whom she advises to look to themselves. Logging many appearances to discuss religious issues coming to attention after the tragedy of 9-11, Manji answered relat- ed questions posed in a phone interview with the Detroit Jewish News: IN: What do you want Jewish readers to understand about Islam from read- ing your books? 60 September 8 • 2011 Asi IM: I want all people to understand that at the heart of Islam is a personal rela- tionship with one Creator for us all. That relationship truly may not be mediated by a clerical class. By reinterpreting Islam as a God-conscious faith, I would like young people in particular to appreciate that we don't need the approval of imams, theolo- gians and so-called scholars. We need love of God and integrity of self. IN: How do your books relate to each other? IM: One doesn't need to read The Trouble With Islam Today to engage with the new book. The earlier book came out almost a decade ago as a why-to. Why should a new generation try to ignite a 21st-century liberal reform within Islam? This new book is a how-to. How do we create new habits that fulfill moral courage? It is a book for non-Muslims as well as Muslims because I believe [these initiatives] will take people from across the spectrum. [Rabbi] Abraham Joshua Heschel is a hero of mine because he joined Martin Luther King Jr. [in a civil rights march] in Selma even when told by some Jews that it would exacerbate anti-Semitism. People like him have sown the seeds for my own understanding of how to develop world courage. IN: How do you hope that people of all religious backgrounds approach the observance of 9-11? IM: I'm a big believer in honest conver- sation. I also believe that 10 years after 9-11, moral lessons are more infused with fear than at any time in the immediate days following 9-11. My very hard experi- ences across the country and the world have shown me that people who define themselves as open-minded and progres- sive are afraid to ask questions about Islam and even more afraid to question those of us who practice the faith. They fear being branded bigots. On the flip side, liberal Muslims are afraid to discuss beliefs openly. On the one hand, we fear being declared traitors by Islam supremacists; on the other hand, we fear being proclaimed terrorists-in- waiting by Islam bashers. The so-called conversation that we're supposedly having actually is driven by fear, which really means a profound and dangerous lack of honesty. I want people to ask questions out loud. JN: How can Jewish and Muslim communities open communication? IM: When we come to the proverbial table for interfaith dialogue, we come with very heavy identities. Why does it not occur to most of us that when we come to the table, we are also multi-facet- ed individuals? I'm not just a Muslim; you're not just a Jew. We have much about us that we can never know until we begin treating each other as unique individuals rather than as mascots for this or that community. God creates uniqueness, and we, as individual Muslims, would do well to embrace that notion. IN: What gives you courage to speak out? IM: The predominant source of my willingness to speak out is gratitude. My family and I are from Uganda, [where I was born in 1968], and wound up in Canada as political refugees in 1972. We were gifted freedom, and I believe it's my opportunity and privilege to use that freedom in as constructive a way as I know how. I don't feel that's courage. It comes from faithfulness for all that I've had and con- tinue to get through the grace of God and the pluralism that we learn in this part of the world. JN: How hopeful are you that the uprisings in the Middle East and Africa will lead to democracy? IM: In this country, we had a couple hundred years to work out the more per- fect union and continue to evolve it. We need to give people in other parts of the world at least the amount of time that we've had. I've heard a flood of questions about interfaith marriage, and that tells me IRSHAD MANJI Alittm o! OE: Ne4 Th7le5 t!estEeiliog THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM TODAY ALLAH, LIBERTY! LOVE THE COURAGE TO RECONCILE FAITH AND FREEDOM there really is an embrace of pluralism among the young generation and a need to understand how to secure resources and organize to give Islamists a run for their money. There's a real intention, but the ques- tion remains whether that intention can be solidified into viable politics. Nobody really knows the answer to that. An Egyptian colleague is worried that the Islamists already have so much power. IN: Do you think it's ironic that you were given the Chutzpah Award? IM: I love it, and I love the word "chutz- pah" as I do many Yiddish words because they mean how they sound. I am proud to be given an award for audacity in a world that is so steeped in moral and cultural relativism. Cultural change is difficult. The mod- em civil rights movement in the U.S. did not happen overnight and did not come out of nowhere. If [cultural change] is what people like me are doing at this very early stage of the liberal reformation within Islam, I will happily accept that as my contribution. Many young Muslims contacting me are asking for advice on how to start clubs of independent thinking on their university campuses. This kind of change, though slow, is happening.