Heretic: Why Islam Needs A Reformation Now by Ayaan Harish Ali, 2015, New York City, US: Harper, pp-288.
The above book is written by Ayaan Harish Ali, who is the New York Times bestselling author of Infidel, Nomad, and the Caged Virgin. The journey of the author started as Muslim African (Somalia) girl, who spent her adolescent in Mecca and then came to Netherland, where she started from cleaning work in factories to winning a seat in Dutch Parliament. Her religious ideology also got reformed from a believer and performer of Islamic faith to hopeful atheist advocating for reformation of the Islam.
Heresy is any provocative belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. A heretic is a proponent of such claims or beliefs. In this book, there are eight chapters excluding introduction and conclusion. The whole book is written in a single thought i.e. Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is not misinterpreted rather it provokes concept of war, discrimination and exploitation. The sub-themes of the book include concept of ‘ Jihad’, the ideology behind ‘love death’, how the Islamic faiths focus on afterlife and related holy books like Quran, Hadith and Shariya (law) and how those are influencing the life of the believers and non-believers of the faith.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali as a human right activist has described how women in the Islamic states face maltreatment and discrimination in all spheres of life. She adds her personal experiences like her forced genital mutilation, arranged marriage, use of ‘Burqa’ and so on. She highlights how extremist leaders are engaging young crowd in Jihad or Holy War with a glorified death. These youth fantasize by propagating that life in earth is temporary; use it to prepare a glorifying death, which will ensure an eternal life after deaths. There are also various seductive stories attached with life after death which attracts youth to get an express ticket for the heaven.
The author initially has divided the believers into three sub-groups on the basis of ideology and interpretation of the faith. The Medina Muslims (Jihadist wing), are the dangerous, extremist, fundamentalist, most talked about in the news and follower of Prophet Mohammad’s political tactics. This group (only 3 percent of the total Muslim population) is very small in numbers who are orthodox, conservative and use religion as a revolutionary political movement. The second category of believers is exactly opposite– the modifying Muslims, the reformist who actively challenge religious dogmas. The third group is the Mecca Muslims, the larger majority who represent more * Ph.D Scholar, Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan – 731236.
tolerant side of the religion. The author targets this population to sensitize on the need of reformation of the faith.
The book contains lot of data to support her statements. The first chapter of the book is all about personal experiences and struggles of the author from a Somalian Muslim girl to the becoming of an atheist. The next chapter gives a detailed account of ‘why there has been no Muslim reformation’. She has enlisted examples of the cruel consequences that raised questions against Islam. She points out five focal areas of Islam which need to change, such as, ensure that Muhammad and Quran are open to interpretation and criticism; give priority to this life, not the afterlife; shackle Shariya and end its supremacy over secular law; ending the practice of ‘commanding right, forbidding wrong and abandon the call to Jihad.
The third chapter is about the emergence of Islamic faith that occurred during the then socio-economic and political scenario of middle-east. She gives details about Muhammad’s life history and the process he followed to expand his faith. The origin and development of the holy books of Islam, like- Quran and Hadith, are discussed from a critical angle. According to Islamic religion, those are written in Quran are expressions of God exactly as it had been revealed to the Prophet, neither a word nor a dot has been changed. Hadith is the record of Muhammad’s saying, the customs he followed, his teachings, and the personal examples he left for the Muslims to follow. She has also discussed how the terrorist groups and their leaders justify various activities by citing examples from those holy books. They consider those justifications as the words of god that cannot or should not be questioned.
The fourth chapter portrays the believers of faith who love death. There are believers who see their primary purpose of life as preparing for death. Death as described in the religion has been tremendously glorified and death in holy war, Jihad or martyrdom continues to be the most hallowed pathway to paradise. There are various seductive stories attached with life in heaven or jannat after death. So, choosing death in a holy war gives them an instant fame as well as express ticket to the heaven. This thought is attracting a good number of youth to choose the path without knowing much. It has been discussed with many examples how mothers are willing to engage their children to the holy war to achieve a glorified death which she might have thought as the best for him.
The fifth chapter is on the Islamic Law i.e. ‘Shariya’ and how this harsh religious code keeps Muslims stuck in the seventh century. Shariya formally codifies Islam’s many rules which are part of the Quran. It gives not just how to worship, but the organization of one’s daily life, personal behavior, economic and legal transactions, life at home and in many cases the governance of the nation. The unchanged Shariya law of the seventh century has a great conflict with today’s fundamental human rights as it is a reflection of patriarchal tribal
culture. In Shariya, there are provisions of punishments such as death by stoning for adultery, homosexuality, cutting hands of robbers, beheading of murderers, etc which are really very cruel in nature. By giving statistical information, the chapter has discussed how Shariya law is universally acceptable across Muslim world, e.g. 99% of the Afghani Muslims supported making Shariya the official Law of their country. In Islamic world, no group is more harmed by Shariya than Muslim women. It has also been thoroughly discussed how women are projected as ‘half of a man’ and how women are deprived, oppressed as well as discriminated under the law of Shariya.
The sixth chapter is on social control that begins at home. It states how the injunction to command right and forbid wrong keeps Muslims in line. A core part of western tradition is that individuals should, within certain limits, decide what to believe and how to live. Islam believes the exact opposite, it has very clear and restrictive rules about how one should live and it expects all Muslims to enforce those rules. Universal human rights also play no role in the conception of commanding right and forbidding wrong. The chapter has discussed how honour based violence and honour killing is prevailing in the Islamic culture.
The seventh chapter on Jihad explains why the call for holy war is a charter for terror. It has discussed thoroughly the root cause of holy war, given the interpretation and misinterpretation of the glory of the concept, who are facilitating this war and who are being targeted for irrationalizing the concept. The author’s argument against the movement is that the jihadists are winning because we are letting them to win. She has addressed a large group of Muslims who are fundamentally against the extremists and raise their voices to stop jihad completely.
In the last chapter the author discusses about the brave Muslims who are risking their lives in the Muslim world. Her struggles on promoting human rights in general and woman rights in particular are mentioned. The unique role which the western world should play against this extremism and terrorism are also put forward. The book concludes with the hopes that Muslim reformation is coming with the continuous effort of Muslim reformers who are working in every corner of the world. The public profile of those reformers may not be similar but they are engaged in similar work of bringing about a change. There is an optimistic ending that Muslim reformation has already begun.
This book is truly useful for those who want to understand contemporary Muslim society, its culture and existing gaps between the Muslim thoughts of seventh century and twenty-first century. The author puts forward few challenges and recommendations for the Muslim masses to reform Islamic faith. Though in some parts of the writing there was room for the author to be more balanced and neutral in her expressions, this book forms an interesting reading for an insight into contemporary Islamist thought.