The Challenge of an Islamic Reformation

In the June Quadrant, Daryl McCann provided a thoughtful reflection on Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s newly published manifesto, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (Fourth Estate, 2015). He drew attention to the divergent reviews it has been getting, from ironical praise to angry condemnation. While generally supportive of her stance, he noted in passing that “in her heart of hearts Ayaan Hirsi Ali remains an apostate and her true sympathies are for those who, like herself, are daring and fortunate enough to escape”. No one reading her book, I believe, could avoid reaching the same conclusion.

Hirsi Ali seeks to appeal to as many Muslims as possible to embrace modernity and tolerance, but what she seeks is not the Reformation. It is the Enlightenment. She evokes Locke and Voltaire, not Luther and Calvin, when she speaks most forthrightly about the principles and values that should prevail.

The crucial issue here, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali points out, is that we are engaged in a war of…