prayer-the cornerstone of the Islamic faith:
′′Instead, she said, she began praying on her own. After washing her feet, arms and face,
she would sit on a velvet rug and turn toward Mecca. Eventually, she stopped this as
well, because she did not want to fall ′into mindless submission and habitual
submissiveness’.′′Manji is welcome to her opinion about this practice of 1.5 billion people worldwide. She is also
welcome to abandon any and all of these practices. But Manji is not simply depicted as an
insignificant woman who decided not to pray. Her personal decision to abandon central tenants of her
faith-so long as that faith is Islam- is portrayed as a fight for freedom. A fight against tyranny. She is
′courageous′ and ′gutsy′, a model for other not-too-Islamic Muslims to follow.
Making this the model is like asking someone not to be ′too black′ or ′too Jewish′ as if these were in
essence bad or violent and anyone who struggled only to be ′moderately black′ or ′moderately Jewish′
was a freedom fighter. For example, Manji told the Washington Post: ′′The violence is going to
happen, then why not risk it happening for the sake of freedom?′′
Yes. Freedom is good. Manji may have said it better. Kerry may have said it subtler. But a business
management professor at California′s Imperial Valley College said it truer: ′′The only way to end
Islamic terrorism is to eliminate the Islamic religion.′′
But regardless of how you say it, one thing is for sure: when it comes to Islam these days-less is
definitely more.