Infidel

published	February 6th 2007 by Free Press
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0743289684 (isbn13: 9780743289689)
pages	368
description	In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life st...more [close] In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West. One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission. Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced. Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant. [close]
date added	02-08-07 edit book

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Milan/zzz rated it:

(review of isbn 074329503X)

06/06/08

If I ever decide to make a list of the most important books I’ve read “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali would surely find its place on it.

First time I’ve heard about Miss Hirsi Ali it was after murder of Theo Van Gogh because of his film “Submission-part one” which he made in collaboration with Hirsi Ali. Theo has been shoot and slaughtered in the middle of the day and the letter for Hirsi Ali (in which assassin is promising the same to her) was staked with knife in Theo’s chest. It w...more

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Peggy rated it:

03/20/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: biography, Africa, Saudia Arabia, Islam. War, religious freedom, Womens rights

oh gosh.. only 30 pages into this book and I'm not sure I can read it..
Female castration/ mutilation - this isn't in the dark ages.. this happens in mid 1970 and still happens today!!

This is an incredible biography of a girl who was born in a country torn apart by war, in a continent mostly known for what goes wrong rather than right. Measured by the standards of Somalia and Africa she states she is privileged to be alive and thriving.
She states; "Where I grew up, death is a const...more

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andreas rated it:

10/06/07

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: everyone, really

"Infidel" is the personal story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali woman who, after a loveless childhood (to put it very mildly), came to Holland at the age of 20 claiming refugee status to escape an arranged and forced marriage, and to assert her independence. She was accepted, found her way around, studied political science, became a citizen, fell away from Islam, and became a member of Parliament. In 2004 she and Theo van Gogh made the short film "Submission Part 1", which resul...more "Infidel" is the personal story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali woman who, after a loveless childhood (to put it very mildly), came to Holland at the age of 20 claiming refugee status to escape an arranged and forced marriage, and to assert her independence. She was accepted, found her way around, studied political science, became a citizen, fell away from Islam, and became a member of Parliament. In 2004 she and Theo van Gogh made the short film "Submission Part 1", which resulted in Theo's getting killed and Holland's being thrown into near chaos. For her security, she was hidden for two months and a half. A bit more than a year later, when the book was almost finished, her citizenship was revoked but later reinstalled, she resigned from Parliament, and left for the US to work at the American Enterprise Institute. Surely stuff for a book, but that's not even the main story.

The main story is the oppression of Muslim women, back where Hirsi Ali grew up but also in Holland, where African Muslim immigrants often seem to live the way they used to – outside Western society and in disregard of Western values. The descriptions are stark. Husbands who are almost universally evil, mean, and violent. They are completely unaware of the fact that their wife is a person, an individual, a partner. A man would be a good husband if he doesn't beat his wife, this is what the author's girlfriends hoped for growing up. A sad world where a decent man is a precious commodity.

Where Hirsi Ali grew up, violence was everywhere, in the streets but also in the home. The unifying theme of her childhood was brainless brutality, one group against another, and men against women. People are organized in clans, and diversions and differences between them are the defining principles of identity. Violence, utterly pointless and to no one's benefit, is always present.

In the smaller scheme of things, I was born on the wrong side of the fence. But I have not suffered much hardship from it, and the fence came down when I was only 14, opening a world of opportunity. In the larger scheme of things, thankfully, I was born safely on the right side of the fence. The fence that separates Africa from the rest of the world, and madness from reason, poverty from wealth, life from death. This is what the book doesn't tire of pointing out. Sadly, the fence isn't coming down and opportunity will continue to elude most Africans.

For all the horrors of Hirsi Ali's childhood, of civil war, of fleeing violence and the most wretched conditions, the most shocking paragraphs of the book describe the author's and her sister's genital mutilation, a process whose enormity the more neutral terms excision and infibulation are utterly inadequate to describe. The author has suffered a violation so atrocious, brutal, and painful, painful even to read, that it is almost beyond my imagination. I am strangely thankful for the graphic description because up to now I no clear idea what the procedure entailed. But more so I am speechless that anyone would consider this wise or necessary. It surely takes a sick, brain-washed mind empty of independent thought and a heart empty of compassion and tenderness to advocate or perform such an operation.

The first two thirds of the book are all personal account and analysis, but the last third calls for action. It is a long, angry rant against the excesses of literally read Islam. It is about liberating women, encouraging them not to submit, imploring them to stand up against inequities and for their freedom. Hirsi Ali is passionately outraged, and it is a pleasure to read. She has a reason for her anger and fights for a cause. She wants to abolish sharia and set Muslims women free....less

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Kellie rated it:

07/23/08

bookshelves: 2008-reads

This book is about the life of Ayaan. It begins in Somalia where Ayaan is born. She is brought up in a Muslim family. Her mother wants to lead a very strict Muslim life, her father is a bit more relaxed but still obeys the Muslim rule.

Her father is a member of a political movement that is working against the president of Somalia, Siad Barre. As a result, the family had to move around a lot to be safe. First Saudi Arabia, where they were exposed to the very strict rules of Islam. Woman were ...more This book is about the life of Ayaan. It begins in Somalia where Ayaan is born. She is brought up in a Muslim family. Her mother wants to lead a very strict Muslim life, her father is a bit more relaxed but still obeys the Muslim rule.

Her father is a member of a political movement that is working against the president of Somalia, Siad Barre. As a result, the family had to move around a lot to be safe. First Saudi Arabia, where they were exposed to the very strict rules of Islam. Woman were totally covered and could not leave the house without a male family member. After Saudi, they moved to Ethiopia and then on to Kenya. Ayaan tried to live as a devote Muslim but she was disillusioned with the violence, the intolerance and the treatment of women.

When she was in her early 20's, her father arranged a marriage for her with a Muslim who was living in Canada. Ayaan was sent to Germany to await her VISA. While she was there and was exposed to Western culture, she made the quick decision to go to Holland and apply for refugee status and hide from her family. Eventually the family found her but she refused to leave Holland and divorced her husband.

Ayaan went to school in Holland and earned her degree in political science. She becomes politically active in Holland and is elected as a member of Parliament. She becomes an atheist and is very open about Islam and begins to speak and write about it's deception. The overall theme of this book is, there is no line drawn between moderate and extreme Islam. It is all the same. As a result of her openness, she has received many death threats and must live her life hidden from those that have sentenced her to death.

Some interesting and very eye opening quotes in this book about Islam. "Every society that is still in the rigid grip of Islam oppresses women and also lags behind in development. Most of these societies are poor; many are full of conflict and war. Societies that respect the rights of women and their freedom are wealthy and peaceful." ....the Quran is an act of man, not of God. We should be free to interpret it; we should be permitted to apply it to the modern era in a different way, instead of performing painful contortions to try to recreate the circumstances of a horrible distant past." In Saudi Arabia, every breath, every step we took, was infused with concepts of purity or sinning, and with fear. Wishful thinking about the peaceful tolerance of Islam cannot interpret away this reality: hands are still cut off, women still toned and enslaved, just as the Prophet Muhammad decided centuries ago." " Life is better in Europe than it is in the Muslim world because human relations are better, and one reason human relations are better is that in the West, life on earth is valued in the here and now, and individuals enjoy rights and freedoms that are recognized and protected by the state. To accept subordination and abuse because Allah willed it----that, for me, would be self hatred." As a member of Parliament, Ayaan proposed dramatically reducing unemployment benefits and abolishing the minimum wage. "From my experience as a translator with welfare cases, I knew that easy access to generous unemployment benefits leads to a poverty trap: people in Holland often make more money from welfare than they would in actual jobs."

Ayaan is my new hero. Her bravery and openness in her speech about Islam is truly amazing and sets an example. Our society needs to listen carefully to Ayaan and stop being afraid of being viewed as racist as they dare to scrutinize this backward culture.
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Meika rated it:

05/03/08

recommended to Meika by: Ellie

The first half of this book is a littany of horrors. It's muddy and difficult prose, detailing the thousand daily struggles of a girl in Third World Africa. She begs you not to hate the people who inflicted hurt on her and on others, but there's no way for someone not from that world to even comprehend. At one point she talks about living in Kenya, and recalls seeing a youth running from a crowd of people who are calling him a thief, and how they catch him and stone him and beat him, probably...more The first half of this book is a littany of horrors. It's muddy and difficult prose, detailing the thousand daily struggles of a girl in Third World Africa. She begs you not to hate the people who inflicted hurt on her and on others, but there's no way for someone not from that world to even comprehend. At one point she talks about living in Kenya, and recalls seeing a youth running from a crowd of people who are calling him a thief, and how they catch him and stone him and beat him, probably to death. It isn't an antiseptic narrative, and it's hard to read it. I had to put it down at one point, to pull myself from the quicksand.

At the halfway point she makes her break for Holland and thus begins her careful and gradual rejection of Islam as she embraces feminism and a human rights centered worldview. Though she details the numerous crises where people required her skills as a translator (many times she spoke to rape victims or people who had contracted HIV/AIDS) it's with a new sense of optimism that she approaches her own life. She embraces her sense of self as she embraces her mission as a political activist.

At the end of her memoir it strikes me as ironic that she now lives with 27/7 security detail. She cannot go out alone, without protection. I kept thinking it was sad that she spent so much time talking about how stifling it was to require the protection of male relatives as she was growing up, and felt this tangible sense of freedom when she described being able to ride her bike around where she wanted to. It was almost like watching her trade in one cage for another, and it was frustrating to see that unfold.

One thing that bothered me was the forward by Christopher Hitchens. It struck me as patronizing and I don't think it was a help to Ali's writing. If anything, his statement "We no longer allow Jews to run separate Orthodox courts in their communities, or permit Mormons to practice polygamy or racial discrimination or child marriage. That is the price of "inclusion" and a very reasonable one," was simplistic and stupid. And it bears mentioning that Mormonism has it's historical roots in North America; it's an entirely different set of arguments to make. *I* felt alienated by this statement, and I haven't been to church in over a decade. Where Ali addresses the issues as multi-faceted and complex with socio-economic, geographical and historical influences... Hitchens reinforces the divide between "us" and "them" that I think Ali is trying to argue shouldn't be there in the first place. What she is saying is these insularized migrant groups, if they choose to seek refuge, should accept the constraints of the society they ask to protect them. Ultimately, her message is compassionate. I think Hitchens misses the point. His foreward is dismissive and worth dismissing. ...less

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Peggy Sue rated it:

01/23/08

Read in June, 2007

This book is a must read for all people trying to understand the Muslim attitude and outlook. Hirsi Asaan Ali is a courageous woman who has given us a peek into her mind on what a Muslim thinks. I quote so you can see how powerful she is.

"We Muslims had been taught to define life on earth as a passage, a test that precedes real life in the Hereafter. In that test, everyone should ideally live in a manner resembling, as closely as possible, the followers of the Prophet. Didn’t this...more This book is a must read for all people trying to understand the Muslim attitude and outlook. Hirsi Asaan Ali is a courageous woman who has given us a peek into her mind on what a Muslim thinks. I quote so you can see how powerful she is.

"We Muslims had been taught to define life on earth as a passage, a test that precedes real life in the Hereafter. In that test, everyone should ideally live in a manner resembling, as closely as possible, the followers of the Prophet. Didn’t this inhibit investment in improving daily life? Was innovation therefore forbidden to Muslims? Were human rights, progress, women’s rights all foreign to Islam?

By declaring our Prophet infallible and not permitting ourselves to question him, we Muslims had set up a static tyranny. The Prophet Muhammad attempted to legislate every aspect of life. By adhering to his rules of what is permitted and what is forbidden, we Muslims suppressed the freedom to think for ourselves and to act as we choose. We froze the moral outlook of billions of people into the mind-set of the Arab desert in the seventh century. We were not just servants of Allah, we were slaves.

“Saudi Arabia is the source of Islam and its quintessence. It is the place where the Muslim religion is practiced in its purest form, and it is the origin of much of the fundamentalist vision that has, in my lifetime, spread far beyond its borders. In Saudi Arabia, every breath, every step we took was infused with concepts of purity or sinning and with fear. Wishful thinking about the peaceful tolerance of Islam cannot interpret away this reality: hands are still cut off, women still stoned and enslaved, just as the Prophet Muhammad decided centuries ago.

The kind of thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia, and among the Muslim Brotherhood in Kenya and Somalia, is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves the feudal mind-set based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hypocrisy, and double standards. It relies on the technological advances of the West while pretending to ignore their origin in Western thinking. This mind-set makes the transition to modernity very painful for all who practice Islam.

We need to educate ourselves about the Muslim faith which is the faith of over half of the world's religious. This book woke me up. I highly recommend it....less

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Anna rated it:

06/24/08

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Anna by: John

I couldn't put this book down. Quite literally. My big brother John recommended it to me late last week. I bought it Saturday. It was done by midnight on Monday. Mind you, I'm teaching summer school this summer, and also finishing my Masters degree. What's more: I even got a little bit of sleep while devouring this book.

There's something tremendously alluring about Ali's voice. She is a strong, determined, tenacious narrator. You feel a sense of intimacy with her from the earliest pa...more I couldn't put this book down. Quite literally. My big brother John recommended it to me late last week. I bought it Saturday. It was done by midnight on Monday. Mind you, I'm teaching summer school this summer, and also finishing my Masters degree. What's more: I even got a little bit of sleep while devouring this book.

There's something tremendously alluring about Ali's voice. She is a strong, determined, tenacious narrator. You feel a sense of intimacy with her from the earliest pages of the text. She recounts life experiences, for sure, but even more intimate are the passages where she reflects on her Muslim faith. She analyzes why she wore what she did, when she did. She explains the thought processes - though not always flattering for her - that were going on behind key decisions in her life.

As a young woman born and raised in the West, I really did need to have my perspective shifted in the way this book accomplished. I know why Muslim women choose modest dress. I understand why women cover themselves to different extents, depending on time, social context, and place. I'd never understood the thought processes that the women went through, though, as they were consciously deciding to put on such articles of clothing. I don't know that I explained that well. Fundamentally, though, I felt like I was actually inside the head of a young woman, living in a complicated and tremendously diverse Muslim world in the 20th century.

Reading this book was truly an experience that took me outside of myself. Though I can never really know anything of what it is like to be a young Muslim woman growing up in the Middle East and Africa, I feel like I've definitely been pushed to at least try to grasp the experiences so key to Ms. Ali's life.

John - the brother who recommended this book to me - recently had the honor of seeing Ms. Ali give a speech at Harvard. Security was incredibly tight. Attendees had to be invited and screened thoroughly. I can't imagine what her life is like today, on yet another continent, now with avowed enemies who wish her harm. I hope she has some sense for the extent to which her strength and experiences have served to inspire so many - myself included....less

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Leonora of rated it:

08/05/07

Read in August, 2007

I, probably like most Americans, had never heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali before ordering this book because I had heard great things about it. She has been compared to Salman Rushdie, only because of the price on her head.

The book begins, perfectly in this regard, with the death of Theo van Gogh. Some people might remember the book "Murder in Amsterdam" which was about his 'assassination'. He was killed because of a movie he and Ayaan Hirsi Ali made together called "Submission&quo...more
I, probably like most Americans, had never heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali before ordering this book because I had heard great things about it. She has been compared to Salman Rushdie, only because of the price on her head.

The book begins, perfectly in this regard, with the death of Theo van Gogh. Some people might remember the book "Murder in Amsterdam" which was about his 'assassination'. He was killed because of a movie he and Ayaan Hirsi Ali made together called "Submission" which was meant to illustrate how trapped women are in Islam.

Besides the incredibly interesting juxtaposition of a devout Muslim woman in a secular country, I got a very good idea of who Ayaan is as a person. She has been selective but very honest about her life. I feel like I know her intimitely. She picked anecdotes and story-lines that perfectly define her as a Somali woman in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Holland.

The story is basically this (don't worry, I won't give too much away): Ayaan was born in Somalia to a revolutionary father and independent mother. They lived afterward in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. They were religious Muslims and Ayaan became very devout.

The most fascinating part for me was when she describes the process of becoming more devout until she was basically a fundamentalist. She describes there being a "New Islam", sort of a world charismatic movement. It sounds similar to the movement of American Evangalism (except Americans don't preach that Jews are the enemy). This is an important book to understand a little bit better the reason people flew planes into our buildings.

The transformation she undergoes when coming to Holland is incredible to watch. In the end, I was as addicted to this book as to the last Harry Potter. I read the last 150 pages in one night, not being able to put it down.

She is in Holland when the 9/11 attacks happen. It profoundly changes the way she believes and behaves. Her view of Western relativism is fascinating. I will think about the questions she raises, including those that first started her departure from Islam.
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Amanda R rated it:

06/18/07

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: everyone

I feel like my imagination isn't big enough to even begin to comprehend what life is like growing up in Somalia, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia - as a female Muslim with an absent father and an abusive mother. Even though Ayaan does a good job covering her youth and describing her life to those who have no frame of reference for that kind of life, it still is hard to imagine. It goes without saying that those of us born and raised in the United States have been so amply blessed; its almost beyond com...more

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Laura rated it:

04/28/08

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: feminists, atheists, mothers, people interested in international politics, Africa, Islamic criticism

I learned so much from reading this book. Aayan Hirsi Ali has led an astonishing life characterized by cruelty and oppression, and yet throughout her life has somehow preserved a sense of hope, love of mankind, and a deep perception of real justice. I found her premise about the reason for the rise of terrorist groups very compelling. Hirsi Ali argues that because governments based on Islamic Law (Sharia) cannot be criticized (because if Allah requires it, it cannot be questioned), when gover...more I learned so much from reading this book. Aayan Hirsi Ali has led an astonishing life characterized by cruelty and oppression, and yet throughout her life has somehow preserved a sense of hope, love of mankind, and a deep perception of real justice. I found her premise about the reason for the rise of terrorist groups very compelling. Hirsi Ali argues that because governments based on Islamic Law (Sharia) cannot be criticized (because if Allah requires it, it cannot be questioned), when government fails the people, the people must turn outward rather than questioning their own decisions and systems. In this situation, the natural instinct is to criticize Islam's perceived enemies, i.e., Jews and Western civilizations.

Hirsi Ali has been a champion against the maltreatment of women in Islamic societies, and compels us to look at our own role in not condemning practices such as female genital mutilation, honor killings, and physical and emotional abuse of girls and women. Hirsi Ali believes that Western guilt and political correctness requires that we look the other way in the guise of tolerance. While I find her argument very compelling, I also think that she paints with a very broad brush, blaming human problems on religious beliefs. I tend to agree with her that Islam is fundamentally flawed for many reasons, not the least of which is that it cannot grow and change as the world evolves.

This book is so brave, and I know it puts the author at grave risk to have published it. She takes us from her childhood growing up in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her escape from an arranged marriage and asylum in Holland. She eventually becomes a Dutch citizen and a member of parliament. The story is told in a level of intimacy and detail and skill that must be drawn from her history of the oral tradition of her family, as she describes her grandmother passing on the family legends. I found it somehow a personal connection to know that Aayan (that is how I think of her after reading her memoir) is just my age, born just 5 months before me. ...less

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Telly rated it:

08/28/07

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: thos who enjoy autobiographies.

This book is masquerades as pure autobiography of the daughter of an iconic Somali revolutionary, who was absent for most of her life and left her, her brother, and her sister to be cared for by a heavy handed grandmother and an abusive mother. If I were rating the review as an autobiography, I would give it an additional star. As an autobiography, it does not let you down, although it does drag a little slower towards the end.

When reading this book, however, you quickly realize that there...more

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Kevin rated it:

08/23/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: Everyone should read this book!

Ayaan grew up in a strict Muslim Somalian family, but the world she thought of as being so normal, to me, seemed like some surreal nightmare alternate reality, or a circle of hell that women are condemned to. Growing up, she secretly reads old English novels, and Nancy Drew mysteries, all the while living an otherwise strict Islamic life, occasionally slipping up and enduring the horrors of female genital excision, near-death beatings from family members and teachers, and eventually the early ...more

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Chris rated it:

11/21/07

Read in November, 2007

Some of the reviews on GoodReads for Infidel have accused Ayaan Hirsi Ali of using the platform of autobiography to expound her political views and have suggested that any American reading this book may not pick up on a perceived subtlety of doing so (whereas, one suspects, in Holland this is quite obvious). My response to this is: of course she has. Any autobiography worth reading has to be more than a simple cataloging of life’s events; otherwise it would simply be a journal. Imagine read...more

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Amy rated it:

06/18/08

Read in June, 2008

I finished "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali tonight. Wow, what an amazing book! This is nonfiction, the true story of the author. She is a Somali woman who escaped an arranged marriage and fled to Holland where she eventually became a member of Parliament. This memoir felt much like "Escape From Slavery" by Francis Bok (which I loved and highly recommend), although his story was not nearly as political. I came out of this book with many ideas and questions. She was Muslim until s...more

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GeekChick rated it:

11/17/07

bookshelves: biography

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: anyone interested in the truth about modern Islam and women

I could no longer wait for this book to come out in paperback. It was EXCELLENT. Hirsi Ali tells her amazing story of strength and courage, in an "I-can't-put-it-down" manner. I read this book in about two days -- I read it every moment I had! Thankfully, it is written in an easy enough style that you can read bits and snatches here and there -- although you won't want to. Definitely a book to curl up with when you have hours to devote to it.

Hirsi Ali escaped from her Somali I...more

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Sefanit rated it: