Heretic : why Islam needs a reformation now / Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

By:

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan, 1969-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2015]Description: x, 272 pages ; 24 cmISBN:

0062333933
9780062333933

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

297.272 23

Summary: Today, Hirsi Ali argues, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims, and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam, and as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings -- not least the duty to wage holy war -- inspire violence not just in the Muslim world but in the West as well. For centuries it has seemed that Islam is immune to historical change. But Hirsi Ali is surprisingly optimistic. She has come to believe that a Muslim "Reformation" -- a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity -- is at hand, and may even already have begun. Partly in response to the barbaric atrocities of Islamic State and Boko Haram, Muslims around the world have at last begun to speak out for religious reform. Meanwhile, events in the West, such as the shocking Charlie Hebdo massacre, have forced Western liberals to recognize that political Islam poses a mortal threat to free speech. Yet neither Muslim reformers nor Western liberals have so far been able to articulate a coherent program for a Muslim Reformation. This is where Heretic comes in. Boldly challenging centuries of theological orthodoxy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali proposes five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims must make if they are to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. She also calls upon the Western world to end its appeasement of radical Islamists -- and to drop the bogus argument that those who stand up to them are guilty of "Islamophobia." It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, she argues, not the opponents of free speech. Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies, and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures, Heretic is not so much a call to arms as a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global tolerance.

Fiction notes: Click to open in new window

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	Adult Non-Fiction	297.272 HIR	Available		36748002284794

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Continuing her journey from a deeply religious Islamic upbringing to a post at Harvard, the brilliant, charismatic and controversial New York Times and Globe and Mail #1 bestselling author of Infidel and Nomad makes a powerful plea for a Muslim Reformation as the only way to end the horrors of terrorism, sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities.

Today, she argues, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam and, as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings--not least the duty to wage holy war--are incompatible with the values of a free society.

For centuries it has seemed as if Islam is immune to change. But Hirsi Ali has come to believe that a Muslim Reformation--a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity--is now at hand, and may even have begun. The Arab Spring may now seem like a political failure. But its challenge to traditional authority revealed a new readiness--not least by Muslim women--to think freely and to speak out.

Courageously challenging the jihadists, she identifies five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims have to make to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. And she calls on the Western world to end its appeasement of the Islamists. "Islam is not a religion of peace," she writes. It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, not the opponents of free speech.

Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures, Heretic is not a call to arms, but a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global toleration. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders, with jihadists killing thousands from Nigeria to Syria to Pakistan, this book offers an answer to what is fast becoming the world's number one problem.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-272).

Today, Hirsi Ali argues, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims, and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam, and as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings -- not least the duty to wage holy war -- inspire violence not just in the Muslim world but in the West as well. For centuries it has seemed that Islam is immune to historical change. But Hirsi Ali is surprisingly optimistic. She has come to believe that a Muslim "Reformation" -- a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity -- is at hand, and may even already have begun. Partly in response to the barbaric atrocities of Islamic State and Boko Haram, Muslims around the world have at last begun to speak out for religious reform. Meanwhile, events in the West, such as the shocking Charlie Hebdo massacre, have forced Western liberals to recognize that political Islam poses a mortal threat to free speech. Yet neither Muslim reformers nor Western liberals have so far been able to articulate a coherent program for a Muslim Reformation. This is where Heretic comes in. Boldly challenging centuries of theological orthodoxy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali proposes five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims must make if they are to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. She also calls upon the Western world to end its appeasement of radical Islamists -- and to drop the bogus argument that those who stand up to them are guilty of "Islamophobia." It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, she argues, not the opponents of free speech. Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies, and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures, Heretic is not so much a call to arms as a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global tolerance.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Introduction: One Islam, Three Sets of Muslims (p. 1)
Chapter 1 The Story of a Heretic (p. 29)
My Journey Away from Islam
Chapter 2 Why Has There Been No Muslim Reformation? (p. 53)
Chapter 3 Muhammad, and the QurÆan (p. 77)
How Unquestioning Reverence for the Prophet and His Book Obstructs Reform
Chapter 4 Those Who Love Death (p. 107)
Islam's Fatal Focus on the Afterlife
Chapter 5 Shackled by Sharia (p. 129)
How Islam's Harsh Relígíous Code Keeps Muslims Stuck in the Seventh Century
Chapter 6 Social Control Begins at Home (p. 153)
How the Injunction to Command Right and Forbid Wrong Keeps Muslims in Line
Chapter 7 Jihad (p. 173)
Why the Call for Holy War Is a Charter for Terror
Chapter 8 The Twilight of Tolerance (p. 207)
Conclusion: The Muslim Reformation (p. 223)
Appendix: Muslim Dissidents and Reformers (p. 239)
Notes (p. 251)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

In her best-selling books, Infidel (2007) and Nomad (2010), each a magnetizing blend of harrowing autobiography and religious and political inquiry, Hirsi Ali forthrightly condemns the brutality of sharia law and violent jihad, which, as she reiterates here at length, are firmly rooted in the Qur'an, not departures from a religion of peace as so many claim them to be. These assertions enrage Muslims everywhere as well as Western liberals incensed by what they perceive as cultural insensitivity and political incorrectness. Certainly her earlier call for Muslims to abandon their faith was over the top, as she concedes in her new book, which carries another boldly self-defining title. This time around, as undaunted, commandingly eloquent, and provoking as ever, Hirsi Ali calls for a Muslim reformation. Christians, Hirsi Ali observes, stopped burning heretics centuries ago, yet Muslims who merely question Islamic practices are subjected to severe punishment, even death, a harsh reality Hirsi Ali documents with appalling examples. Yet she also names courageous dissidents and shares her conviction that a covert movement for change is slowly coalescing as the atrocities committed by the Islamic State, Boko Haram, and other extremists increase. Citing five theses, or summons to action, that strike at the very heart of Islam, Hirsi Ali envisions a way forward to a more peaceful, more tolerant, more humane, and more flexible Islam. She also calls on the West to actively support heroic Muslim would-be reformers, declaring, Multiculturalism should not mean that we tolerate another culture's intolerance. Audacious? Quixotic? Visionary? Necessary? All of the above. This an urgent, complicated, risky subject, and Hirsi Ali, valiant, indomitable, and controversial, offers a potent indictment, idealistic blueprint, and galvanizing appeal to both conscience and reason.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2015 Booklist