New book asks is it time for a reformation in Islam 

In her new book, Ayaan Hirsi Ali breaks with centuries of political orthodoxy and says Islam must adapt and divorce itself from acts of terrorism. TP O’Mahony reports

SHORTLY after a US jury sentenced Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his part in the 2013 attack that killed three people and injured 264, prosecutors described him as an adherent of al Qaeda’s militant Islamic views, but stressed that this was not representative of mainstream Islam.

This is now a familiar disclaimer — a repudiation of the view that Islam is an inherently violent religion. In a speech in London in April 2014, the former British prime minister Tony Blair warned that Islamic extremism represented the biggest threat to global security. He was quick to add that this extremist ideology “distorts and warps Islam’s true message”.