Irshad Manji's spark burns bright. I met her years ago at a couple of Couchiching Conferences. She would not remember me but I surely remember her. As my old buddy Sister Ginny remarked at the time, "When Irshad matures a bit and gets focused, watch her go." Well, she went. And continues to go. Her latest enema for a world in need of a good purge is in the form of a book,
ALLAH, LIBERTY AND LOVE
the Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom
Random House Canada 2011
Is Irshad a leader? How many devout Muslims have you heard from who distinguish between Islamic faith and the corrupt, backward culture surrounding it? How many are prepared to say in public, death threats be damned that the destructive, bloody-handed culture must be flogged into the 21st century? How many are willing to challenge ossified old Imams on their own turf - interpretation of the Koran? And how many speak with power and conviction to the fact that no woman of any faith or none is "lesser than" because she has indoor plumbing? Irshad does these things with sometime ferocious passion and is heard. She is a leader.
Since I am expiating some crankiness here, let me offend my Christian friends by inquiring not gently when Irshad's counterpart will emerge among them to shred the equally corrupt and backward Christian culture that is increasingly anti-science, anti gay, Islam-phobic, angry, insular, fearful, bellicose and intellectually barren? When will we be done of abominations like the Vatican, The American Family Association, braying fundamentalist preachers on TV replete with bad hair and worse attitudes, the incoherent clattering of thousands of warring protestant sects speaking their crabbed versions of truth and the anti-social navel-gazing of ultra-orthodox Jews? When will the humanistic sensibility so evident and so ignored in the texts and histories of the great religions regain its footing in this philosophically knackered world? To their credit, at least the Buddhists manage not to add to the confusion.
As you might guess, I am a-religious and a bit anti-religious. I am not a proponent of atheism. That is one more "ism". I am done with "isms"for they slam and bolt the door on the thinking, wonder and hope that sustain us. If you want a label for me, try Pain in the Ass.
Once you all have given me a ritual beating for my rhetorical excess I will return to this subject. For now, think about leadership in a world in need of it. I have little talent for it but know it when I see it. I wrote a book about it - MORAL LEADERSHIP: Facing Canada's Leadership Crisis (McGraw-Hill Ryerson). It is out of print but is still around in university and public libraries if you are curious. The essence of the book is a simple aphorism,
Leadership, stripped of all its rhetorical trappings is simply the exercise of moral courage.
The Epilogue read as follows,
"A down-at-the-heels fifty-something man in a dirty raincoat with a lunch bag protruding from his pocket stops at a newspaper box. The door is not latched. He opens the box and looks at the stack of papers. A moment later, he closes the box firmly, rummages in his pocket, finds a toonie and shoves it in the slot and again closes the door firmly. Having presented his morality play to an audience of one - himself - he proceeded down the street to the subway entrance.
This one very ordinary man performed a solitary act of faith and citizenship that speaks to the heart and soul of leadership. He works for a company somewhere in the city. He will vote in the next election. He asks no more of his boss and of his chosen political leader than that they be as worthy of leading him as he is worthy of being led.
He asks for the exercise of moral courage and by his little act of faith, exemplifies it. He is, after all, a leader."
I suspect that all of us can perform little acts of faith in defense of humanity and damn the personal consequences. Better to speak out and risk being catastrophically wrong than to stand silent for you can always apologize, clean up the mess and step aside if need be. May our failings be in commission rather than omission.
Here, the rant ends. My next post will engage with something fun like proctology or castrating camels.
Note the Comments section. Have a go - I would love to get some feedback here or on Facebook.
Read Irshad's book.
