Irshad Manji poses the question. Of course, when she says “we Muslims” she’s not talking about herself, just her co-religionists. She blames them for the outbreak of the sometimes violent protests provoked by the Newsweek report about desecration of the Qur’an at Guantánamo.
Ramzy Baroud points out that the Times “made a clever choice when it selected a Muslim, Irshad Manji, to address the fierce response to the scandal”. By pinning blame on her fellow Muslims rather than on those responsible for the oppression that gave rise to the protests, Manji provided a useful alibi for imperialism.
For the Muslim Council of Britain’s response – “It is hard not to conclude that Manji’s main interest is actually in provoking Muslims in order to promote herself and fatten her bank account” – see here.
Melanie Phillips can hardly restrain her enthusiasm for “Muslim refusenik” Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam, who recently visited Britain to much media acclaim.
“The case of Babar Ahmad, jailed UK-US political prisoner, took one step closer to seeing Babar being extradited to the US, despite insufficient evidence to convict him under UK law and no evidence having been presented for his extradition. Once in the US, Babar faces the very real threat of transfer from civil to military courts under Military Order One and even torture at Guantánamo or by other governments, through a process the US authorities euphemistically call ‘extraordinary rendition’. Further, if convicted, under what would probably be a highly questionable legal process, he faces the risk of execution.”