Irshad is Director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University. It aims to develop leaders who will challenge political correctness, intellectual conformity and self-censorship. In the best spirit of liberal education, the Moral Courage Project teaches that rights come with responsibilities, that we are citizens rather than members of mere tribes, and that meaningful diversity embraces different ideas and not just identities.
Through her commitment to Muslim reform, Irshad is putting these principles into practice. She is the internationally best-selling author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. Her book has been published in almost 30 countries, including Pakistan, India and Lebanon. It will soon be released in Indonesia.
In those countries that have censored The Trouble with Islam Today, Irshad is reaching readers by posting free translations on this website. The Arabic translation alone has been downloaded 300,000 times and circulated by youth throughout the Middle East.
Irshad is also creator of the acclaimed PBS documentary, "Faith Without Fear," which chronicles a young woman’s journey to reconcile Islam with human rights and freedom. "Faith Without Fear" is now being screened across Europe and shown in the Muslim underground via digital technologies.
As a journalist, Irshad’s columns appear frequently in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Al-Arabiya.net and other major news sources. She writes a regular feature for Canada’s Globe and Mail.
As a social entrepreneur, Irshad has founded Project Ijtihad, an initiative to renew Islam’s own tradition of critical thinking, debate and dissent. Project Ijtihad is helping to build the world’s most inclusive network of reform-minded Muslims and non-Muslim allies.
As a scholar beyond NYU, Irshad is Senior Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy. She has served as a Visiting Fellow at Yale University and Journalist-in -Residence at the University of Toronto, where she wrote The Trouble with Islam Today.