From a young age, Irshad Manji questioned the Islamic faith in a frank matter that drew emotions ranging from uncomfortable to incensed. But she kept asking.
Her 20-year journey to answer those questions made her an international name and author of the best seller The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith.
Manji - who the New York Times describes as "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare" -- will present "Faith Without Fear: A Muslim Woman's Journey From Oppression to Hope" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18 in Doane's Heckman Auditorium.
As refugees from Idi Amin's Uganda, Manji's family settled near Vancouver in 1972. She grew up attending both a secular public school and an Islamic religious school, struggling to reconcile the tolerant world of one with the "rigid and bigoted world" of the other.
She calls her book an open letter and a Muslim voice of reform.
"What this book hammers home is that only in Islam is literalism mainstream," she says on her Web site. "Which means that when abuse happens under the banner of Islam, most Muslims have no clue how to dissent, debate, revise or reform."
The book is now published in 26 countries, including Pakistan, India and Lebanon. In countries where the book is banned, she reaches readers with free translations on her Web site.
The book has led to both death threats and accolades. Her honors include the "Young Global Leader" designation by the World Economic Forum and Oprah Winfrey's Chutzpah Award for "audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction."
Manji also is a columnist and television personality. She is the creator of the acclaimed PBS documentary, Faith Without Fear, which chronicles a young woman's journey to reconcile Islam with human rights and freedom. It is now being broadcast across Europe and parts of the Muslim world.
Manji lectures internationally and has been a Visiting Fellow at Yale University and Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto.
She challenges Muslims to re-discover what she calls "Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking" and challenges audiences to confront the tests they face -- whether as students, as people of faith, or as global citizens.
Her visit is presented through the Annadora Gregory Lectureship, a Doane College event established in the early 1980s to sponsor nationally known and successful leaders and speakers, who are active in the fields of art, music, science, social science, philosophy, religion or agriculture.