I do confess that I find her really annoying in her demeanor on Maher’s show. She interrupts others way too much, talks too frenetically, has that Marcy of Married With Children chicken hair cut. And she is looked upon as some kind of expert when she isn’t. Is she a dumbass? Not really. Her shilling for the iraq war makes me question her insight. Of course, most of us think it would be nice to get rid of Saddam . That has no major bearing on the US”s decision to go there.

But first, one must have a conscience.

I can understand the media’s craze with giving bad press to Islam after terrorism. But there are many many families like mine where women have been highly educated because it was Prophet Muhammed ‘s (pbuh) instruction to educate women. The trouble is that a large majority of the Muslim population around the world is poor. Very poor. They have no access to any kind of opportunity that would lift them out of their poverty and achieve greater heights. Wife beating is one of the worst crimes but one that is not sanctioned in islam. These are very typical of cultural behaviour. Its ingrained in human society.

Covering heads is not an oppressive thing. Allah instructs women to wear outer garments when we venture out of our homes so that we may not be molested. I’m a girl and I have seen the difference when I cover my head, and when I don’t. I feel safer because there are fewer comments passed on me on the road, and not many would dare to touch you. Maybe they keep away because I look visibly Muslim, but I would prefer to be safe. The fact is that the world is not safe for women, and there is nothing wrong in Muslim women protecting ourselves. If someone would argue that women are raped in Muslim countries, its because of the man who is the kind of vile man he is, not because of Islam. If he were to follow even a bit of islam, he would know that it is not permissible to even touch a strange woman or look at her lewdly. All I can say is that I am very disappaointed by the kind of image Irshad Manji and her ilk portray of Islam. I agree that there is a lot of more freedom and a better life outside Muslim countries, and its a very sad fact, and one I feel owes to its origins in political Islam and religious fanaticism.

I don’t know why the article mentioned her spiked hair. Is that a sign of secularism and modernism ? Islam isn’t against women stylign their hair. Lots of practicing Muslim women I know have spiked highlighted hair though it never shows under their scarves. I don’t know why she came out with a book on Islam when in all probability she has based her claims on lives of Muslim families she has only seen and experienced from afar. There is always a point in your life where you struggle with your religion, but that does not mean, you go and criticize a religion which you haven’t followed or even tried to follow. She was an Ismaili Muslim (not currently an Ismaili as I have read), a sect of Shia Islam who follow Islam in a very different manner, as in, not exactly from the Quran. You cannot take an example of the actions of a few Muslims and say that they represent Islam.

You crooked women should be ashamed of yourselves.

Irshad is a heroine to me and millions. She is brave beyond belief. And, above all, she is a truth teller. Without truth we all perish.

Thats true, humanity is doomed to perish without truth, but much to our dismay, she isn’t being truthful. Infact, there are many Muslims who openly condemn extremism and violence in every form, however, she goes a step further to justify US invasions in the Middle East.

It may be difficult for you to comprehend this situation, because you’re not Muslim, but when an individual supports the killing of innocent civilians whom are his/her people, it can be difficult for the rest of us to support that individual.