Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4537561.stm

On May 12, 2005 BBC News reported, "The author of a controversial book about Islam is calling for an international Muslim think tank.

Irshad Manji, [a Canadian] who has received death threats since her book was published, said she hoped it would attract 'reform-minded' Muslims.

The author wants changes in Islam's stance on issues such as human rights.

A spokesman for The Muslim Council of Britain said it did not regard Ms Manji as a 'serious partner in the debate about theology.'

'Change has to be driven by people who are experts in the field, who know where the need for change is and how to implement that change while remaining true to core principles,' Ibrahim Mogra of the MCB told the BBC News website...

Ms Manji, who describes herself as a 'Muslim refusenik' said she hoped her proposed think tank 'Ijtihad' - the Arabic for 'independent thinking' - would bring like-minded Muslims together."