Irshad Manji
Director, Moral Courage Project

Irshad Manji is Director of the Moral Courage Project, housed at NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action. The Moral Courage Project equips people to become gutsy global citizens by speaking up in the face of intimidation.

As a reformist Muslim, Irshad puts moral courage into practice. Her latest book, Allah, Liberty & Love, is a guide to reconciling faith and freedom in a world raging with repressive dogmas. Fareed Zakaria of CNN and Time magazine lauds Allah, Liberty & Love as being “at the forefront of some crucially important trends” that are “changing the world of Islam.”

Irshad’s previous book is the international bestseller, The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. In-between her books, she created the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, Faith Without Fear. Through digital technologies, Faith Without Fear is now being shown in underground circles throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

In those countries that have censored Irshad’s work, she is reaching readers by posting translations on her website, irshadmanji.com So far, more than 3 million people have accessed these resources. Irshad and the Moral Courage Project are working to reach 10 million people by 2015.