Det muslimska problemet

by Irshad Manji

translated by Margareta Eklöf  

Which is the true nature of Islam? The prophet Mohammed said that religion is the way in which we behave towards other human beings. According to that definition, the behavior and actions of Muslims create what Islam really is. To sweep the increasingly fundamentalist Islam under the carpet is to allow Islam – and millions of its believers – to sherk the responsibility of reforming the religion.

Det muslimska problemet (The Trouble with Islam Today) is an open letter from the author – a Muslim voice for change - to Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world. Irshad Manji, a Muslim herself, writes about how Islam must incorporate acceptance for a multitude of ideas, beliefs and people to be able to develop in a more and more globalized modernity. Manji talks about themes such as womens’ roles in Islam, the far-reaching hatred towards Jews and Judaism and the occurrence of slavery in Muslim countries.

The book shows how Muslims can – and ought to – rediscover Islam’s lost tradition of freethought, ijtihad , and with that modernize Islam for the 21th century. The possibility to reform Islam is mainly open for Muslims in the west, where they can make use of freedom of thought, freedom of speech and challenge, and be challenged, in their belief. Muslim reformation starts in the west.

Det muslimska problemet sketches a global campaign for the spreading of pluralistic and progressive views of Islam. It is a non-military campaign, “Operation Ijtihad”. The book is a call for honesty and change, a change that both Muslims and non-Muslims ought to be a part of. The Trouble with Islam Today has been published in over 30 languages, inclusive Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Malay. This is Manji’s first book in Swedish.

Irshad Manji (1968) is a Canadian, Muslim and feminist. She is writer, journalist and activist. Manji is the leader of Moral Courage Project at the New York University and a well known critic of radical Islamism and orthodox interpretations of the Qur’an. She was described as ”Usama bin Ladin's worst nightmare” by the New York Times.

October 2008