Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Mar 2015 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

Continuing her journey from a deeply religious Islamic upbringing to a post at Harvard, the brilliant, charismatic and controversial New York Times and Globe and Mail #1 bestselling author of Infidel and Nomad makes a powerful plea for a Muslim Reformation as the only way to end the horrors of terrorism, sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities.

Today, she argues, the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam and, as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings—not least the duty to wage holy war—are incompatible with the values of a free society. 

For centuries it has seemed as if Islam is immune to change. But Hirsi Ali has come to believe that a Muslim Reformation—a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity—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 readiness—not least by Muslim women—to think freely and to speak out.

Courageously challenging the jihadists, she identifies five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims have to make to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. And she calls on the Western world to end its appeasement of the Islamists. “Islam is not a religion of peace,” she writes. It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, not the opponents of free speech.

Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures, Heretic is not a call to arms, but a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global toleration. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders, with jihadists killing thousands from Nigeria to Syria to Pakistan, this book offers an answer to what is fast becoming the world’s number one problem.

Ratings and reviews

But , somehow i believe every religion has two people orthodox and free - minded . If you work against religious value of any religion the outcome will be similar , and i have witness that . It shouldn't happen , we should let god punish them . Islamophobia should be replace with religiophobia :))

She spews rubbish, she doesn't know anything about Islam. She uses cultural experience as Islamic. She has zero Islamic knowledge. She fails to realise Islam was reformist religion from its inception. Anyone that does basic research from non-islamaphobic books will see.

Brilliantly written, exceptionally explained, incredibly informative.  I can't heap enough praise on this book, the bravery of the author and the importance of her message.  Please stop being ignorant and naive about Islam and do your own research on the need to reform the religion.  Start with this book.  It has a lot to teach you

About the author

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born women’s rights activist, free speech advocate, and the New York Times bestselling author of Infidel, The Caged Virgin, Nomad, Heretic, and The Challenge of Dawa. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, she grew up in Africa and the Middle East, before seeking asylum in the Netherlands, where she went on to become a member of parliament. Today she lives in the United States with her husband and two sons.