Irshad Manji is a noted Islamic reformer who happens also to be a lesbian.  In her book, The Trouble with Islam, she argued that literalist interpretations of religion are bad in general — but that only in Islam are they the mainstream method of interpretation.  “If we’re sincere about fighting the asphyxiating despotism,” symbolized by al Qaeda and others, she wrote, “we can’t be afraid to ask: What if the Koran isn’t perfect? What if it’s not a completely God-authored book? What if it’s riddled with human biases?”

In the wake of the Pulse shooting, her status as both a Muslim and a member of the LGBT community caused her to become a person of interest to the press.  Her remarks stand on their own, and are provided below without comment.

So moderate Muslims use the Mantra ‘this has nothing to do with Islam’ because they are not willing to face the fact that there are regressive verses in the Koran.  And by the way, I speak as a faithful Muslim, as somebody who chooses to remain within my faith because I love it enough to point out that there are ways to reform how we practice Islam so that it really is a religion of peace.

But when moderate Muslims say this has nothing to do with Islam, that is rubbish. After all, here was this gunman who shouted ‘Allahu akbar!’—God is greater.  Now, that doesn’t mean that he was motivated only by religion but clearly there was some religious symbolism that helped incite this incident.

And so, frankly, moderate Muslims—who are not so moderate today—have to own up to the fact that we have got a problem in our community. And until we solve it with honesty, we will only see more damage done.

So, um, what does the Koran say about it all?  We can only know that we don’t know.  That is why we need humility when it comes to interpretation.  I have my interpretation.  Somebody else can have their interpretation.  Maybe we’ll both see each other in Hell, I don’t know.  But the point is that we have to have the humility to leave the judgment up to God.