In spite of this Irshad considers herself a devout Moslem and thinks that the vast majority of Moslems are moderates like herself and would like to see the fundamentalists out of power but are afraid to say much. Irshad has no fear, is quicker than a gun slinger and sharper than a lazer scapel. She distinquishes between spirituality and religious. She also considers it her spiritual obligations to stand up for what is written in the Islamic holy books and speak up against the fundamentalist position. She is a big inspiration to a lot of fellow Muslims who are starting to question the established authorities and thinks that the religion will survive this and emerge even stronger and more in alignment with the original text. She is a positive example of spirit and integrity.

Perhaps the best overview of her opinions can be found on the letters section of her website. The following response is but one example. The entire site is worth reading.

"Ultimately, I do believe in submitting to God's will. What I do NOT believe in is submitting to human beings who claim to know God's will. How do I reconcile these two things? With this bridge: God wills all of us to have the freedom to explore.

I take that idea from the Koran itself. As I explain in my book, the Koran contains three recurring messages. First, only God knows fully the truth of anything. Second, God alone can punish unbelievers, which makes sense given that only God knows what true belief is. Human beings must warn against corrupt practices, but that's all we can do to encourage piety - warn. The third recurring message follows from the first two: We humans must have the humility to be open to debate. Which means we're free to ponder God's intention for us without any obligation to toe a dictated line. 'Let there be no compulsion in religion,' states a voice in chapter 2 of the Koran. 'Unto your religion, unto me my religion' echoes another voice in chapter 109. And in-between, there's this: 'If God had pleased, He would have made you all one people. But He has done otherwise...' Ain't that the truth!

By my reading of the Koran, we should not only enjoy the freedom to explore; we have to ensure that this freedom exists for everyone. Anything less undermines God's jurisdiction as the supreme judge and jury. As a Muslim, I worship the majestic and enigmatic God, not the self-appointed arbiters and packagers of His will."

I'm going to adopt this next quote for my own I liked so much.

"Sects are led by people. But I don’t worship people. I worship only one entity – God. If that means I’m going to hell, then I can’t imagine a better reason to burn."

In the radio interview she talks about the problem not being religion itself but fundamentalism. Another difficulty was that since Islam was established after both Christianity and Judaism, and incorporated and considered the ideas of both of these religions it was considered by Muslims to be the more refined and accurate description of God's will.

The problem with Islam is the same problem with all religions, namely the fundamentalist war mongers that hold the majority of the population hostage. This is true if is is Islamic radicals, or Jewish zionist, or Christian neo-conservatives.

I think Irshad may be the source for positive reform of Islamic policy and for empowering the people to overcome their fear, stand up to the tyrants, and reclaim their religion. The world needs a lot more people like Irshad in all of the different religions. You go, girl.  More >

I started this article on June 1st and it has been sitting in my pending file. I also had it half written before my computer crashed and I lost everything except the excerpt from below. There is a very good article here that relates to about half a dozen different subjects that are occurring in this blog community right now. That article is going to take a few more days to go from head to keyboard and I want to move on so I'm going to restrict this to an excerpt, an exhibit A, and produce a "publishable" article later.

"You should know and be sure that debates which are designed for the purpose of overcoming and silencing an opponent as well as for displaying one’s excellence and honour, bragging before men, boasting, and being contradictory, or for the sake of winning popular favour, are the source of all traits which are blameworthy....