Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

Continuing her very personal journey from a deeply religious Islamic upbringing to a post at Harvard, the brilliant, charismatic and controversialamp;#160;New York Timesamp;#160;andamp;#160;Globe and Mailamp;#160;#1 bestselling author ofamp;#160;Infidelamp;#160;andamp;#160;Nomadamp;#160;makes a powerful plea for an Islamic Reformation as the only way to end the horrors of terrorism and sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities.

Today, the worldamp;#8217;s 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of fundamentalists, a majority of observant amp;#8220;dailyamp;#8221; Muslims and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam and, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues, there is no denying that some of its key teachingsamp;#8212;like the subordination of women and the duty to wage holy waramp;#8212;are incompatible with the values of a free society.amp;#160;

For centuries it has seemed as if Islam is immune to change. But Hirsi Ali has come to believe that a amp;#8220;Reformationamp;#8221;amp;#8212;a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernityamp;#8212;is now at hand, and may even have begun. The Arab Spring may now seem like a political failure. But its challenge to traditional authority revealed a new readinessamp;#8212;not least by Muslim womenamp;#8212;to think freely and to speak out.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that ordinary Muslims throughout the world want change. Courageously challenging the fundamentalists, she identifies five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that must be made in order to set Muslims free from their 7th-century chains. Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies and powerful examples from contemporary Islamic societies and cultures,amp;#160;Hereticamp;#160;is not a call to arms, but a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of toleration.