A moderate Muslim longs for a more spiritual faith

RENÉ JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Those who push an Islamic State are practising politics, not the Prophet's true goals

May 04, 2008 04:30 AM

John Goddard

Muslims are self-secure enough to face hard truths about Islam, asserts Toronto's Tarek Fatah.

He had better hope so. Many other authors inviting Muslims to critically examine their religion have had to fear for their lives.

Irshad Manji, formerly of Toronto, now of New York, and author of The Trouble with Islam, travels with a bodyguard. Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch author of Infidel, travels with two.

Robert Spencer, American author of such works as The Truth about Muhammad, writes that he "lives in a secure, undisclosed location."

Fatah, too, has received death threats over the years, to the point where he resigned two years ago as communications director for the Muslim Canadian Congress in an effort to lower his profile.

This book will raise it again and he would be wise to look out for himself. Yet throughout Chasing a Mirage, Fatah comes across as somebody who genuinely believes that ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, Muslims truly are mature enough to face even the harshest truths he is prepared to tell. dig more ..http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Books/article/420875