![]() Whether they are persuasive is another matter." Īndrew Anthony of The Guardian wrote, "Even her fiercest detractors would struggle to deny much of what Hirsi Ali states about the current predicament within Islam. There is no denying that her words are brave. Reception ĭespite noting that " loses the reader's trust with overblown rhetoric," Susan Dominus of The New York Times remarked, "Unquestionably, Hirsi Ali poses challenging questions about whether American liberals should be fighting harder for the rights of Muslim women in countries where they are oppressed, and she is fearless in using shock tactics to jump-start a conversation. The book further elaborates on the claim that, and the question how this conversation needs to be had, and that fundamentalists often try to shut dialogue down because of their notions of Islam's perfection and unchangeability, thus preventing the reforms that Hirsi Ali deems crucial from taking place. End the practice of "commanding right, forbidding wrong".Shackle sharia and end its supremacy over secular law.Give priority to this life, not the afterlife.Ensure that Muhammad and the Quran are open to interpretation and criticism.Īs a programme for the Modifying Muslims, Hirsi Ali proposes Five Theses for Islamic Reformation: The latter two groups are trying to recruit the Mecca Muslims to their cause Hirsi Ali herself takes the side of the Modifying Muslims. "Modifying Muslims" (or "Heretics", hence the title), the dissident and reformist minority, who actively challenge religious dogma and seek to make the religion truly tolerant and modern."Medina Muslims", the jihadist minority, who seek to impose an authoritarian version of Islam upon society through violence and coercion, as Muhammad did during his rise in Medina (622–629 CE)."Mecca Muslims", the majority, who are generally tolerant and passive, and reflect the times of Muhammad's early leadership in Mecca (610–622 CE).The current situation within Islam is portrayed by Hirsi Ali as a struggle between three main factions: This would require a reinvention of the Muslim identity. The only way to prevent fundamentalists from effectively pressurising other Muslims to put such exhortations into practice, is to abandon the claims that the Quran is the literal and infallible word of God. Hirsi Ali stresses the necessity of recognising that certain Islamic sacred texts can provide justifications for violence and oppression. As a result, Islamism in western institutions is spreading unchecked and has got a powerful ally for Dawa.Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, also published as Heretic: Why Islam Must Change to Join the Modern World, is a 2015 book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in which the author advocates that a Muslim reformation is the only way to end the horrors of terrorism, sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities. Since these transactions happen under the veneer of charity, spirituality and religion, the western regimes, including the government in the United States, don’t give it much of a thought. The United States is one of the many countries where these murky and opaque donations have continued unabated. Dawa is about forging networks: international, regional and local, which is what makes it even more dangerous than the menace of violent jihad.įor instance, Saudi Arabia has pumped billions of dollars into Dawa in countries where it plans to expand the influence of Islam. The threat from Dawa is unsubtle, it is not as conspicuous as militant jihad, Hirsi Ali says. ![]() ![]() She further adds that Islamists achieve far more through promoting Dawa than manifesting their jihadist proclivities, which invariably involves the use of barbarity and violence to fulfil their objectives. In this context it may be mentioned that in India, too, a slew of Islamist organisations inspired by Muslim Brotherhood such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Popular Front of India are engaged in pushing dawa activities for converting non-Muslims. Western analysts are unaware of the potential of dawa which Muslim Brotherhood has effectively used. ![]() In practice, however, Islamists rely on dawa as a comprehensive propaganda, PR and brainwashing system designed to make all Muslims embrace an Islamist programme while converting as many non-Muslims as possible.” In theory, the term simply refers to the call to Islam, a kind of invitation Westerners would recognise it as part of a proselytising mission. ![]() Dawa means call to faith.Įxplaining the modus operandi of Islamists, Ali writes: “Nearly 20 years after 9/11, Westerners still remain unfamiliar with dawa. With the dream of establishing an utopian Islamic State having failed to materialise, Islamists have found a less violent (at least for now) to expand their base in the West through dawa, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in her column in UnHerd website. ![]()
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