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Infidel

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Richard Miniter (Editor)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 29,616 ratings · 3,922 reviews

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 con...more 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.(less)

Hardcover, 353 pages

Published February 6th 2007 by Free Press (first published January 1st 2006)

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Apr 25, 2011 Sefanit rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although it is an autobiography her outlook on Islam is extremely biased. I don't know the Q'uran inside out to argue her points but despite all that I think every religion has the fanatics and extremists and the more liberal followers. It's a generalization to base it on her experiences in Saudi Arabia and denounce it all together. There are millions of Muslims practicing Islam throughout the world and they're not all going home to beat their wives and kill Infidels to gain entry into Heaven. I...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, religion-or-lack-thereof, war-history, 2012, africa

I first saw Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Real Time with Bill Maher a year or two ago and quickly placed her book on my to-read list. It was weird because I tried several times to order the book and it kept getting cancelled from several different vendors. Eerie. Especially when you consider that Hirsi Ali is such a controversial figure who lives her life with bodyguards under the threat of death to this day.

It’s a fascinating story. A young girl from a fundamentalist Muslim family in war-torn Somalia, Sau...more

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Oct 06, 2007 andreas rated it 5 of 5 stars 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 resulted in Theo's gettin...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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Aug 28, 2007 Telly McGaha rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: thos who enjoy autobiographies.

This 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 is somewhat o...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Mikey B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, commentary

A Remarkable Transition

What a transition this individual has gone through! This autobiography describes the Somalian author's early life in Mogadishu, Saudi Arabia, and Nairobi, Kenya. Most of it is repressive. She was beaten routinely by her grandmother and mother. She had to do household chores while her older brother went out with his friends. She was also genitally excised (clitoris and labia removed) - the sole purpose being to inhibit sexual enjoyment. It is another way to inhibit a woman...more A Remarkable Transition

What a transition this individual has gone through! This autobiography describes the Somalian author's early life in Mogadishu, Saudi Arabia, and Nairobi, Kenya. Most of it is repressive. She was beaten routinely by her grandmother and mother. She had to do household chores while her older brother went out with his friends. She was also genitally excised (clitoris and labia removed) - the sole purpose being to inhibit sexual enjoyment. It is another way to inhibit a woman's self-development and enjoyment.

While a teenager the author participated in Islamic discussion groups about the proper nature of the head-scarf - how much or how little to reveal. It would seem that the more of the self that was removed or hidden the happier were the religious extremists. At one point she was beaten by an imman and needed hospitalization. The only pretense to self-fulfillment would be in the afterlife - or perhaps the only gratification allowed was in devotion to God. Her father was absent much of her life; he was unsuccessful in trying to topple the corrupt regime in Somalia.

Fortunately the author learned to read and in that she found another world. Even in "trashy" novels she observed that a Western woman had a role of her own, could be independent and make decisions. She was shocked and titillated that they were assertive in sexual relations.

She decided to act on that growing assertiveness and rebelled when her father made an arranged marriage to a Somali man who loved in Canada. When taking the plane to join this man, she disembarked in Germany and sought refugee status in Holland. It was there that she entered a new world. Women were free; police behaved civilly and even offered protection.

A door to an entirely new mode of behavior was opened. Some refugees chose to retreat into their ethnic bubble - not Ayaan. She embraced the freedoms of her new country. Her goal then became to wake up the Muslim-Islamic community to its own inner repression - and to alert the Dutch and greater Western community to the "backwardness" found within Islam (it was only after 9/11 that people started listening).

Within Europe there are pockets of Muslim communities where wife-beatings and honour killings are acceptable. Children are sent to Quoranic schools where they are NOT taught positive Western/European values - like the equality of women. Instead they are forced to memorize portions of scripture from the Quoran. Women are taught at a young age to be submissive and to dress conservatively. Young girls may be excised genitally. At a young age they may be coerced into an arranged marriage. If they refuse or pursue their own choices (dating) they may be murdered. If they marry and do not obey their husband, they may be beaten. The number of honour killings in Holland proves this.

Ayaan made a short film with Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh. It exposed the rigidness of fundamentalist Islam. For this Theo was violently killed by a Muslim religious fanatic. After this, Ayaan had to go in hiding.

Her goal is still to expose the evil and repressiveness of this fundamentalist cult and to get refugees and immigrants to adjust to democracy and the freedoms of Western & European society.

(less)

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Jun 18, 2007 Amanda R rated it 5 of 5 stars 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 compr...more

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Apr 23, 2009 Milan/zzz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: africa, nonfiction

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 was really a huge...more

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Charlotte I just wanted to say that the Quran teaches respect for christians and jews and like early christianity it is Patriachal society which leads the true...more
updated Sep 23, 2008 07:29pm

Matt Balara Charlotte: have you actually read the Quran? You're right that female genital mutilation isn't proscribed, but the basic view that women are lesser th...more
May 13, 2011 10:40pm

Nov 21, 2007 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 reading B...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Amari rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Last week, I heard a colleague ranting about Islam and women's rights. He was reading this book and espousing Hirsi Ali's views. The next day, I lent him my copy of the Quran so that he'd have some background on the basic text of the religion he was trashing. I tend to find that all of the major religious tomes are ridiculous, hopelessly outdated, and that it's not a flaw in religion but a fault of those interpreting fundamental texts in fundamentalist ways when religion becomes less a spiritual...more

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Oct 27, 2010 Kinga rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, middle-east, holland, non-fiction, feminist-or-something, church-and-religion

Ayaan Hirsi Ali said that Islam as a religion is backward. And for that some Muslims want to kill her, apparently Qur'an says they should. Am I the only one that thinks this is proving her point??

Anyway, lots of reviewers here say she is biased, and doesn't paint the TRUE picture of Islam. Well, of course, she is biased. It's her autobiography. She will say what she thinks. She was born Muslim, lived in two countries where Islam was official religion including Saudi Arabia (it doesn't get more...more

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Nov 28, 2010 LuLu rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: islam, memoir-biographies, womens-issues, own

I found that her view of Islam was extremely negative and she sounded more bitter then she exclaimed. The situations that she faced in a closed society where women's rights are pretty much non-existent I felt somewhat tainted Her opinions and descriptions about Islam..... They were quite biased and one sided and at most times I felt more resentment then honesty which is quite sad, she brought though some very good points about mutilation and the rights of women in such societies. But got distrac...more

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LuLu Misha wrote: ""...But got distracted with blaming the religion and not the people and their backword tribalistic traditions which are the cause for mo...more
Nov 18, 2012 06:43am

LuLu Steve wrote: "رناتا wrote: "I havent read the book, but it is true that what she had to go through in her country marked her and her views on religion...more
Nov 18, 2012 06:44am

Sep 01, 2012 Zachariah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm torn between giving this 2 or 3 stars. I went ahead and gave it three because it is a remarkable story and I do very much respect what she has lived through. But man do I disagree with much of her opinions. I have no problem with her using her autobiography as a platform for her own political views because, after all, it is her book but I do think she is very wrong in those views. You basically have a person that was brought up to be a religious fanatic and by the end of the book she has rid...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Ðɑηηɑ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Strong minded people and/or simply most of the Women

Shelves: non-fiction, cultural, 4-stars, female-author, netherlands, somalia, feminist_themes, hebrew, paperback, bestseller, shortly-reviewed, own, pub-2000s, female-protagonist, award-winning, my-rating-matches-avgr, biography-autobiography-memoir

4.5/5

Quite interesting and gripping from the very first chapter.
Ayaan describes well her life, she doesn't try to beautify her past, nor her expectations about the future. She is so humble, honest and her writing pleasantly reveal a woman who knows who she is and what she wants. She is not afraid to doubt what she was told, from the very moment of her birth, was true and correct. She has to find out the truth for herself and by herself, and this courage, this brilliance in a time and in a place...more

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Sep 02, 2008 Hilary rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Hilary by: Book Club Girls!

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best book ever, 1 being i hated it... I would give it a 2, meaning it was so-so. I didn't hate the book, because I have total utter respect for what this woman went through, and then having the courage to write about it and as a result live a life of constant threats is very admirable. Initially I felt like the book was pretty interesting, hearing about her childhood and life in Mogadishu, Saudi Arabia, etc. I really liked her father at first - he seemed t...more Overall, on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best book ever, 1 being i hated it... I would give it a 2, meaning it was so-so. I didn't hate the book, because I have total utter respect for what this woman went through, and then having the courage to write about it and as a result live a life of constant threats is very admirable. Initially I felt like the book was pretty interesting, hearing about her childhood and life in Mogadishu, Saudi Arabia, etc. I really liked her father at first - he seemed to have some western ideals - I think I had a love-hate relationship with him in the end. At first the way she described him seemed as though he was pretty practical ("my girls will not be excised"), but then he still had his beliefs and still did things like the arranged marriage, etc. I was mortified at the excisions - I still cannot get over that stuff like that goes on! Those poor, oppressed people!! That was a very hard section to read, as I'm sure most of you agreed. Shortly after that story, then I started to have to force myself to read it... it did get somewhat more interesting after the pictures. I really thought her perspective on 9/11 was surprising. I was in shock, yet felt a sense of gladness, at her reaction to "Please Allah don't let it be a muslim". How she was able to sense that one of her people would go to this measure - I think most Americans (or most that I knew) would not know enough about the culture to make that judgment back when it happened. Either way, I liked what she said about immigration, and how it is not racist to almost force another group to adapt to rules and laws, and not just look the other way for fear of being called racist, or violating people's rights. I know she said it much better than I just did, but I liked that observation. Still, I try to put myself in their (dutch muslim's) shoes and think "How would I feel if they tried to tell me that I could not celebrate Christmas or pick my husband" or stuff like that, well of course I would be pissed. But even so, we as Christians, Jews, Atheists, (and possibly Hindus and Buddhists - altho I don't know enough about those religions to make the call), do not treat our own women like Muslims do. Who am I as a Christian to judge their way of life? I really should not, because that is what my God does not want me to do. The Muslim God sounds like his follower's should lead a life of peace and harmony just as Christians, etc do, yet those are the countries battling wars left and right because of their religious beliefs. Doesn't make sense.

Either way, she made some good solid arguments about the Muslim faith. Again, overall I didn't love the book, but I didn't hate it either.
(less)

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Lys The muslim god and the christian god are the same: Allah is just God in Arabic.
I personally donèt believe the violence is due to religion but to cult...more
Feb 04, 2009 03:01pm

Deena Now, I’m no fan of religion – of any kind. But Hirsi Ali’s simultaneous condemnation of Islam and obvious admiration of Christianity was disturbing. A...more Now, I’m no fan of religion – of any kind. But Hirsi Ali’s simultaneous condemnation of Islam and obvious admiration of Christianity was disturbing. As with any religion or ideology, it’s how it’s practised that impacts on people’s lives and on society.

Many of Hirsi Ali’s criticisms of Islam could be applied to fundamentalist Christianity: unwavering adherence to the Bible and the control of women’s sexuality. Even FGM has a western parallel in the state-sanctioned, legal, non-consensual mutilation of intersex children’s genitals to force them to conform to a male/female sex binary – something that rarely warrants an outcry in mainstream media or from feminist activists. If Christian fundamentalists such as Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church had their way, our society would look very different in terms of women’s and queer rights, to name just two.

Of course in no way am I saying that we should not pay attention to and speak out against the abuses endured by so many women and girls in the Muslim world. Nor am I saying we should not be critical of radical, fundamentalist Islam – as Mona Siddiqui points out in her review of Nomad in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, there are many Muslims who fear radical Islam. But vilifying an entire religion or people who follow that religion is not the way to create a harmonious society – as history as shown time and again.

The irony is that while Hirsi Ali is (rightly) applauded for her courage in fighting for and finding personal freedom, she now denies others such rights. In unleashing her wrath on Islamic fundamentalism, she has (perhaps unwittingly) become a fundamentalist herself.

It doesn’t help that she has achieved celebrity status, because once a person reaches a certain level of fame for their ideas, they are then invested in sticking with them for their own economic survival. It’s a rare academic, writer or thinker who is willing to take the risk of losing their career and/or income by doing an about-turn.

So, perhaps it’s down to publishers to champion other writers with as much vigour as they do Hirsi Ali; to publish and promote the hell out of the work of Muslim feminists working on the ground in their local communities to educate and effect change; to bring the female activists such as those featured in Coleman’s book to international writers’ festivals and posh venues like the Sydney Opera House.

I’d certainly buy a ticket. What about you?

from http://www.thescavenger.net/feminism-...(less)
updated Aug 03, 2010 08:35am

Mar 07, 2008 Nicole marked it as to-read

Growing up in The Netherlands, I always admired Muslim women who chose to wear headscarves.
The mainstream Dutch attitude towards anything not 'safe, known and familiar' is to condemn and ridicule it, and to stand up to that pressure shows real strength, faith and individuality. To stand up for what you believe in takes courage in The Netherlands, and instead of being praised and applauded, it is belittled, condemned and ridiculed.

Not all Muslim women in The Netherlands are oppressed. Not all M...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Peggy rated it 5 of 5 stars 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 constant visitor....more

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Jan 23, 2008 Peggy Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 invest...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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Jun 27, 2007 Evan rated it 3 of 5 stars

If anything, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography suffers most from a case of misleading advertising. This work has been heavily marketed (and attacked) as heavy-hitting political and social commentary, an anti-Islamic polemic, and a wake-up call to European society along the lines of Oriana Fallaci's The Rage and the Pride and The Force of Reason. Unfortunately -- and this is no detriment to its other merits -- it just isn't. It is a deeply personal autobiography by the middle daughter of a promi...more

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Mar 13, 2007 Jody rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is the spiritual and intellectual odyssey of a very remarkable and courageous woman. Ali was born in Somali and raised in a Muslim family. She also lived in Ethopia and Kenya before fleeing to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage. While there she became an interpreter for the government and an advocate for the rights of Muslim immigrant women. She eventually became a citizen of that country and a representative to the Dutch parliament.

After she produced a film called "Submis...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Lida rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

When I start reading Infidel, I knew that this is a autobiography by a brave politician Muslim woman who changed her fate by her courtesy, intelligence and the courage to question her religion and culture.
But as I got involved with the story of her life, many doubts came to my mind too. Her way of comparing Western and Muslim countries and questioning the principles in Islam made me wonder the whole thing too.
I will always remember Ayaan because she brings a possibility for me to doubt and reth...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Betsy by: GR Atheist Book Club Group

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir

This is an excellent book. Hirsi Ali writes well, direct, and painfully honest. She does not complain excessively about the horrendous treatment she received as a child; she just describes it matter-of-factly. But it clearly influences the rest of her life. Nor does she treat herself as unusual, which she is. Very intelligent, brave, loyal, caring ... an incredible woman, but with some very human flaws which she doesn't hide.

Her story is very compelling, a fairly easy read. Not only is the stor...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: 2012-around-the-world, biography, memoir, non-fiction, political, religion, spirituality

Reading this I was frequently reminded of Frederick Douglass' middle biography, My Bondage and My Freedom, which I read a few months ago. That's not to say I would equate Ayaan Hirsi Ali in stature or as a writer. This doesn't have quite the eloquence, the striking lines or piercing psychological and sociological insights of Douglass. Given Hirsi was born in Somalia, grew up there and in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya and received her higher education in the Netherlands, it's doubtful she had...more Reading this I was frequently reminded of Frederick Douglass' middle biography, My Bondage and My Freedom, which I read a few months ago. That's not to say I would equate Ayaan Hirsi Ali in stature or as a writer. This doesn't have quite the eloquence, the striking lines or piercing psychological and sociological insights of Douglass. Given Hirsi was born in Somalia, grew up there and in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya and received her higher education in the Netherlands, it's doubtful she had read that 19th century American intellectual and anti-slavery activist. But I can't help but think they would have understood each other. Both Douglass and Hirsi are utterly courageous and both in their times controversial--and their memoirs passionate polemics seeking to spark profound political change--and, above all, both memoirs are about a journey to freedom. Hirsi said of her decision to seek asylum in the Netherlands rather than accept her arranged marriage that: "I would not have put it this way in those days, but because I was born a woman, I could never be an adult [in Muslim society]. I would always be a minor, my decisions made for me... I would be dependent--always--on someone treating me well."

So she choose freedom. Then, working as a translator to put herself through school she'd work with and at police stations, hospitals, clinics, women's shelters, prisons, schools--and discover the disturbing reality that in the name of "Dutch Values" and "multiculturalism" Muslim women immigrants were being battered, even murdered in honor killings and "little children were [being] excised on kitchen tables" and it was being ignored and tolerated. By "excised" Hirsi means genital mutilation--which she had undergone herself as a young child. I'm tempted to explain exactly what that means--but Hirsi's description of what was done to her and others isn't for the faint of heart. I had a professor in college who called what was done to her "female circumcision" and a "rite of passage." (Village, please pick up your idiot at Fordham University). I'd love to send my old professor a copy of this book--with bookmarks and highlighted text. What Hirsi saw pushed her into speaking out, led to her becoming a member of the Dutch Parliament--and to threats on her life.

In her introduction, and in more detail later in the book, Hirsi described how in 2004 her friend Theo van Gogh was assassinated because of a short film he made with her, Submission, critical of Islam. A note was pinned to his chest saying Hirsi was next. A bit more than two months ago, another video critical of Islam, Innocence of Muslims, uploaded to YouTube was blamed for the assassination of America's ambassador to Libya and dozens of deaths. The director of the video, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, given he was on probation, was able to be arrested in America and charged with using a pseudonym to upload the video and "accessing the internet without authorization." A couple of weeks ago he was sentenced to prison--where he is now incarcerated. One might claim rules are rules, and he violated his probation. (Just as Hirsi in the wake of the van Gogh murder would find herself almost stripped of her Dutch citizenship using technicalities involving her application for refugee status.) Regardless of the dubious qualities of Nakoula's video, the parallels and chilling effects on speech of appeasing violence sure seem clear to me. Nor is that the only parallel out of current headlines I can find in Hirsi's story.

I should also warn Hirsi will prickle sensibilities on the left and right. She is upfront about her spiritual journey that has led her to become an atheist and many of her criticisms of Islam can be applied to Christianity--or any other faith. And though I find Hirsi's tone respectful to those of other views... Well, some on the religious right might be offended before they ever get to the body of the text given Christopher Hitchens' Foreword openly scornful of religion. And there's plenty in the main text to raise the hackles of the politically correct left in Hirsi's criticisms of multiculturalism. But Hirsi not only should be supported in her right to speak out, but deserves to be listened to. This book might not be "amazing" in the sense of depth of the ideas or undying prose (though it is fluid and lucid), but this is an amazing life story that often moved and outraged me, is eye-opening about Muslim society and the plight of women there, and deals with issues urgent and timely.(less)

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Sep 29, 2012 Linda Hali rated it 3 of 5 stars

Next up for book group....have been wanting to read!IF YOU ARE IN MY GROUP- you might skip my 40% read notes till we meet!
Struggling. I think this may be a remarkable person but not a remarkable book. Parts are fascinating , some are tedious and oppressive to get thru. And as an autobiography the pov and 'bias" are fine, it's her story to tell. It reminds me of reading,hmmm Color of Water, Glass Castles, Angela's Ashes - oh, that really devastating southern abused childhood autobiography by....a...more

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Oct 20, 2012 maha rated it 4 of 5 stars

جذبني اسلوب الكتابة وتفاصيل طفولتهابالصومال،السعودية وانتهائا بكينيا.. التفاصيل التي تخللت طفولتها ورؤيتها للعالم آنذاك، النقلة الاجتماعية من كونهم بدو مترحلون بصحارى افريقيا الى بيوت الخرسانة، اساطير جدتها التي تفسر العالم، نظام القبائل الصومالية، قسوة الكبار في تعليمهم بالضرب، ختان الاناث، وانقيادها نحو الاسلام ومعاني الشرف والعفة التي أعتنقتها في مراهقتها..
توقفت حاليا عند مرحلة التساؤلات التي اولعها احتكاكها بأصدقاء من ديانات اخرى. كثير من القراء يصفون الجزء الباقي من الكتاب بأنه مؤجج بالاجند...more جذبني اسلوب الكتابة وتفاصيل طفولتهابالصومال،السعودية وانتهائا بكينيا.. التفاصيل التي تخللت طفولتها ورؤيتها للعالم آنذاك، النقلة الاجتماعية من كونهم بدو مترحلون بصحارى افريقيا الى بيوت الخرسانة، اساطير جدتها التي تفسر العالم، نظام القبائل الصومالية، قسوة الكبار في تعليمهم بالضرب، ختان الاناث، وانقيادها نحو الاسلام ومعاني الشرف والعفة التي أعتنقتها في مراهقتها..
توقفت حاليا عند مرحلة التساؤلات التي اولعها احتكاكها بأصدقاء من ديانات اخرى. كثير من القراء يصفون الجزء الباقي من الكتاب بأنه مؤجج بالاجندة السياسية الغاضبة ضد الاسلام.. لكنني لم أصل بعد لهذه الجزئية.. الى الان يجذبني أسلوب الكتاب
يتبع<
انهيت الكتاب، وكانت الجزئية المتعلقة بهولندا واندماجها في المجتمع الغربي والسياسي لا بأس بها، ولكنها كانت أقل تشويقا من الجزئية الأولى التي خاضت في عالم غريب ومألوف في آن (عالم القبائل الأفريقية، والذي في كثير من الأحيان تحركه دوافع تشبه القبائل العربية؟)
ربما لأنني شبعت من القصص والكتابات عن العالم الغربي ولأنه لم يعد غامضا بالنسبة لي
.
شجاعتها في تخطي الصعاب ودخولها للبرلمان جيدة، ولكن أفكر:
هل كان هجومها على الاسلام نوع من الغضب على تجاربها الشخصية المؤلمة في العالم الاسلامي؟
واضح انبهارها الشديد بالغرب، احيانا في محله وأحيانا كأنها تريد الانسلاخ من جلدتها، حتى أنها ذكرت أن بعض اصدقائها الهولنديين وجدوا تحمسها على العالم الغربي غير مريح
مثال:
انتقادها لعدم اندماج المسلمين في الغرب اجتماعيا أو علميا في محله، لكنه انتقادها لأكلهم على الأرض أو باليد بالملعقة سطحي..
.
(القراءة الكاملة لكتابها في مدونتي http://machineinthedesert.wordpress.c... )

Still reading it. I'll note here my impression of the first part: on growing up and coming of age.

seemed sincere and nicely written. Loved her imaginative childhood, the fairy tales and myths of the grandmother, her analysis of her mother's transformation from an independant provider for herself and family into a desperate single mother of three, who wouldn't work outside the home becuase she was influenced by the Arab's value system, the depiction of the clan system as essential to survival, and the details of living in Somalia and Saudi Arabia, the adoption of islamic understanding of the world.

I have identified with some of that, having grown up in Saudi too and have undergone similar understandings of the world. Haven't reached the part where she gets political and critical of Islam yet. I'd like to see how that turns out.

this review will be edited as i progress through the book.
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Jan 25, 2010 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Buffs of autobiography, history, comparative religion, skeptics, feminism, & everybody else

Infidel is an amazing book, on many levels. It’s an amazing story, work of historical analysis, political philosophy, and dissection of Islam as viewed through the autobiography of a remarkable woman (Ayaan Hirsi Ali/Magan) who will not fail to point out that among Muslim women, she is singularly fortunate. Just look at what she has done through the power of logos: mastered languages (she is fluent in Somali, Arabic, Swahili, English, and Dutch), logistics (she has negotiated her way from the po...more Infidel is an amazing book, on many levels. It’s an amazing story, work of historical analysis, political philosophy, and dissection of Islam as viewed through the autobiography of a remarkable woman (Ayaan Hirsi Ali/Magan) who will not fail to point out that among Muslim women, she is singularly fortunate. Just look at what she has done through the power of logos: mastered languages (she is fluent in Somali, Arabic, Swahili, English, and Dutch), logistics (she has negotiated her way from the post-colonial violence of East Africa into asylum, citizenship, and ultimately a seat in Parliament in the Netherlands), and logic (she has questioned traditional clan, government, and religious authority). Furthermore, atop the impressive weight of her own argument and experience, she carries the ultimate stamp of authority – those in power whom she opposes fear her and publicly call for her murder.

Somewhat paradoxically, Ali’s public voice arose not only out of Dutch tolerance, but in reaction to it. Her central thesis is that the peaceable diversity promoted by multiculturalism cannot be successful without shared experiences and values, and that tolerance of alternative folkways and practices must neither impose segregation nor permit acceptance of self-imposed isolation. As chronicled here, Ali has sacrificed much to attain her present position of intellectual and physical freedom. She has endured ostracism from family, clan, countrymen (emphasis on men), and (former) coreligionists along with the crippling self-doubt that comes with such shunning. Fortunately, the world is wide, and she appreciates her acceptance among a free-speech loving people and those sympathetic to human rights.

Ali develops her insights through relating her poignant life story. Hers was not a warm, cuddly childhood, but one in which an insect-infested bit of food in the rural dirt gives rise to her grandmother’s diktat (page 9), “A woman alone is like a piece of sheep fat in the sun…. Everything will come and feed on that fat. Before you know it, the ants and insects are crawling all over it, until there is nothing left but a smear of grease.” This statement comes neither as a warning nor a lament, but a statement of simple fact, one accepted by men and women alike. It is through such experiences that the heart of Ali’s “infidelity” to her Islamic faith pulses not in her stance against the extremist thought and cruel practices of Islamic fundamentalism but in her claim that Islam is inherently fundamentalist in nature and incapable of reformation. She quotes a variety of Quran passages that render women mere chattel to men’s designs and which make possible a culture of violence, ignorance, and poverty in which women and children are fair game for anyone with the Quran-lauded strength and desire to take and do with them what they will. Ali rebels against what she describes as an unreasoning submission of body, mind, and spirit in the face of the dual threats of eternal damnation and temporal vengeance.

Her memoir is in many ways, a chronicle of an emergent crisis of faith. At pp. 272-273, she concludes:

I could no longer avoid seeing the totalitarianism, the pure moral framework that is Islam. It regulates every detail of life and subjugates free will. True Islam, as a rigid belief system and a moral framework, leads to cruelty. {Terrorism is…} the logical outcome of this detailed system for regulating human behavior. Their world is divided between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ – if you don’t accept Islam you should perish.

It {doesn’t} have to be this way…. We Muslims could shed our attachment to those dogmas that clearly lead to ignorance and oppression…. We could hold our dogmas up to the light, scrutinize them, and then infuse traditions that are rigid and inhumane with the values of progress and modernity….

For me to think this way, of course, I had to make the leap to believing that the Quran was relative – not the literal syllables pronounced by God, but just another book.

However, this desire to soften the Quran into a more egalitarian stance, to be a “Muslim Voltaire” and push for compassion and empathy based on common humanity rather than inward-facing misogynist xenophobia arises from observing that the tendency for asocial exclusion is not limited to any particular culture or group. At page 68 she lightly mocks the self-segregation that took place at her secondary school in Kenya, where in “the politics of lunchboxes” Kenyan Kikuyu, Kamba, and Luo each despised one another and collectively reviled the Somali Darod, who likewise looked down on the Somali Hawiye, who together disdained the Yemenis, all of whom were in their turn at odds with the “backward” Saudis – to say nothing of the Indians and Pakistanis who themselves maintained a caste of Untouchables. (All together now in singing Peter Gabriel’s “Not One of Us?”) Nor did she find the situation much changed as a young adult in junior college in Holland, where pillars of Protestants, Catholics, and secular liberals could exist in relative isolation so long as they remained willing to come together to repair the dikes (at p. 239). Or for that matter, in college (at p. 241), where clans and nationalities gave way to class distinctions of preppy clones, trashy girls who failed to dye their roots, and sleazy girls who did drugs, each of whom perpetuate their respective in-groups by self-selecting fraternity and sorority housing. After growing up with Ali in an environment of genital mutilation and regular, ritualized beatings strong enough to leave her with a broken skull, you have to appreciate her rejection of collegiate hazing opportunities in her early 20s as much as her break with the Parliamentary power-mongering exercised by Dutch political parties she encounters in her late 30s.

If this comes across as so much moralizing in my synopsis, that’s a grave injustice to Ali and those of her friends and acquaintances who have been threatened, maimed, and killed by those who cannot tolerate a little cognitive dissonance or who fear Ali’s truth to power. Infidel is a riveting narrative, free of histrionics and hysteria, full of wit and wisdom. Arriving in a German airport and speaking to a taxicab driver her first time out of the Muslim world, her reactions are classic fish-out-of-water comedy. But if her painful experiences should be leavened with humor, in no way should this detract from the seriousness of her conclusions about the root causes perpetuating Islamic cruelty. If anything, her juxtapositions render the subject matter all the more provocative to “enlightened” readers. You can laugh, cry, and get angry in the face of ongoing human atrocity, but you cannot ignore it.
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Sparrow Nice review, Bruce! I, too, really loved this book.

Trevor wrote: "But tonight she suggested the way forward was to encourage Christian Evangelists in...more
updated Jul 29, 2010 11:40am

Trevor Sorry Bruce, I didn't even say how good your review was. Over here there was a World Cup prelim football match a few years ago between Australia and G...more
Jul 29, 2010 02:00pm

Nov 12, 2008 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone should read it

This book is not unlike Into Thin Air as it is a story of incredible courage and perseverance in the face of extreme danger. On the other hand it is nothing like Into Thin Air as there are no physical mountains climbed in this book. It is an autobiography of a Muslim child/girl/woman from the shacks of Somalia that ultimately rose to be the first African to serve in the Dutch parliament. Her escape from Islam has not been just physical but equally spiritual and emotional. The liberation of her m...more

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Aug 30, 2008 Lorna rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'd have given this one 3 stars except that it seemed to drag a bit. It's an autobiographical look at one woman's take on her upbringing in an Islamic culture and her subsequest disillusionment and rejection of the religion.

Born in Somalia in 1969, she lived in Kenya and Saudi Arabia before fleeing to Holland to escape an arranged mariage. Her description of female excision is grim, of course, as is the description of treatment of women. Her struggle to come to terms with Islam both as as a rel...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Worthless Bum rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: atheism-scepticism, religion

This book is the incredible autobiographical account of a remarkable and beautiful Somali rationalist. Born to humble origins in Somalia, she eventually rises to become a member of Dutch Parliament. It was interesting learning about the cultural differences between the various places Ayaan lived during her childhood, of the clan based Islam in Somalia, the more layed back system in Kenya, and the Sharia in Saudi Arabia. She experiences culture shock when she moves to Europe, and eventually aband...more

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May 11, 2008 Kerri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This was an incredibly powerful, eye-opening book. I have been aware of most of the atrocities that Ali has endured, or has seen other endure, but it was always from some abstract, peripheral viewpoint. Ali, by writing this autobiography, put these realities right in front of my face to deal with. I think I am much like the residents of Holland she describes in her book, who want to deny the negative attributes of a race or religion in the name of equality or not being "racist".

...on the other h...more

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Mar 07, 2008 Rita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rita by: Zoe

A very personal and yet rational look at the problem with Western acceptance of cultural relativism; both a feminist tract and an indictment of Islam; a memoir.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her story of growing up in an increasingly prohibitive and extremist Muslim Africa, escaping to Holland and becoming enraptured with a functional and peaceful liberal welfare state, entering politics and aiming to reform the European walking-on-eggshells approach to addressing female excision, honor killings, forced...more

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About Ayaan Hirsi Ali

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia) is a Dutch feminist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged daughter of the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death threats. Since van Gogh'...more

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Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations

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Quotes from Infidel

“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.” — 438 people liked it

“As a woman you are better off in life earning your own money. You couldn't prevent your husband from leaving you or taking another wife, but you could have some of your dignity if you didn't have to beg him for financial support.” — 98 people liked it

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