Heretic ─ Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

What happened to Islamic reform? Why have al Qaeda and Boko Haram become the faces of contemporary Islam? Why has the Arab Spring devolved into a battle over sharia law? Continuing her personal journey from a deeply religious Islamic upbringing to a post at Harvard and American citizenship, the New York Times bestselling author of Infidel and Nomad crafts a powerful call for an Islamic Reformation as the only way to end the current wave of global violence and repression of women.

Today, millions of Muslims are wrapped in a rigid orthodoxy whereby women are denied education, girls as young as nine can be forced into legal marriages, and men are told that their futures lie not in building better, more just societies but in jihad against the infidel. Hopes for a wave of liberalization after the Arab Spring have been replaced by new authoritarianism and efforts to impose sharia law. Twitter, YouTube, and other social media have become aggressive platforms to promote a harsh brand of Islamic fundamentalism, making the clash between secular and Islamic society one of the most important challenges of our time.

And yet, contrary to conventional wisdom in the West, Ayaan Hirsi Ali believes that ordinary Muslims throughout the world want wholesale change. Courageously engaging fundamentalists on their own turf—religion itself—she boldly calls for a Muslim Reformation, identifying five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that must be made in order to break from seventh-century traditions and fully engage with the twenty-first century. Interweaving her personal journey, historical parallels, and powerful examples from contemporary Islamic societies and cultures, Heretic will forever change the debate over Islam and its future.