Infidel: My Life: The Story of My Enlightenment
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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| published
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2007
by Free Press
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| binding
| Paperback |
| isbn
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074329503X
(isbn13: 9780743295031)
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| ebook |
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| pages
| 368 |
| date added
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05-09-07
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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
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 shock with big impact across the Europe.
Later “Submission-part one” was in the program of the Free Zone Film Festival here in Belgrade and among the guests was Belgrade’s Imam and the conversation after projection was very interesting. Sadly I would have much more and much better question now after reading this book.
Anyhow Infidel was one of the most wanted books on my wish list and you can’t imagine my thrill-ness when I saw in Belgrade’s bookstores that it has been translated in Serbian. I’ve read book in one swallow and then reread it slowly but it raised the same emotional reaction.
It starts with the life of her grandmother and later mother in Somalia with such a vivid description of very strict life in Muslim community. Her grandmother was an incredibly strong woman capable to accept the destiny and justify it as an Allah’s wish. You might think that her actions might be quite brutal with her granddaughters (and also comparing with the treatment with her grandson) but she was following tradition and was believe that she’s doing right.
There in first part we are introduced how important is to know who your ancestors are. It is actually fundamental to be familiar with entire family tree hundreds of years ago because in Somalia first question when you meet someone will be “Who are you?” and then they are starting to recite all ancestors until they find a mutual one. That can save your life (it saved Ayaan’s) because the whole population of Somalia is divided in several clans and everything there is based precisely on that. Any kind of help: health care, shelter, financial helps … etc. It’s horribly tight bond between them (and horribly huge risk if you disgrace your clan).
Later we see first “rebellion” in the actions of Ayaan’s mother but still she was women who followed the rule and also was able to accept her destiny because that was Allah’s will. Ayaan’s family was a kind of nomadic ones because due to her father’s political activism they had to hide and run away from one place to another. Therefore she lived during her childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
While reading those pages it was as if I’m reading some fictional story from another dimension. Of course accent was on the women in Islam. Obligation to be covered, obligation to not leave the house without a man, obligation to accept (everything), obligation to not argue, obligation to bear, obligation to be sexually available to her husband whenever he wants to “plough his field”, obligation to be obedient, obligation to submit. Because word “Islam” means “submission”. Moreover she was unfortunate enough to belong to the Muslim community where girls must be circumcised. So indeed that part was like something from another world.
We can see how she was growing up physically and religiously. How she wanted so badly to be a good Muslim woman who follows all the rules but in the same time she has had many questions in spite the fact that questions are forbidden. It is one breathtaking image of immense mental struggle between her believes, what she has been taught it’s the only truth and the life facts which were quite opposite. It was literally painful to read, emotion was quite similar to claustrophobia.
Eventually she started to talk with criticism about her own religion, she was loud in her statement against position of women (that especially refers in Muslim communities in European countries i.e. Holland) and naturally pile up the anger of Muslim world on herself.
It is a breathtaking story of a woman who (in her own words) was lucky. Once she was a child from the desert with extremely limited possibilities but who became elected member of a Dutch Parliament.
But what has the biggest impact on me is that I “found” myself in the book. Namely I realized that I belong to the huge majority of European Christians who are trying to avoid speaking with criticism about other religions because that might be connected very easily with racism (nationalism, fascism, etc). Since I lived in the country that has fallen apart in undoubtedly religious war (it was civilian war of course but in first place it was religious one) I’m trying to be very tolerant and to understand the point of views of the “opposite” side.
I realized that I do have very Christian look on Islam and religions in general. I honestly believed that all religions (therefore Islam as well) are good, are love, peace, tolerance etc. Right? Wrong!
Ayaan Hirsi Ali in this book is telling us that Islam is love and tolerance (in very limited sense) but ONLY inside the Muslim world. For all others who aren’t belonging to that world it is a threat because it gives a strict order to all believers to convert or kill the rest of us who are considered as nonbelievers. Another amazing thing is that many inside the Muslim population are not aware of that because the Holly Koran is written in Arabic, language they don’t understand. What a paradox!
What is written in Koran is not only religious message but an absolute constant that is defying every singe aspect in believer’s life. It is quite unbelievable that it is expected from nowadays believers to strictly follow the rule (and apply sanctions) of desert tribes of Saudi Arabia in the 7th century! But still if they’re not following those rules (or even if they think of theirs reasons) they’re not good believers and deserve to be punished. And those things about unbelievers are written in Koran.
Now I really don’t know what to think? That’s why I’d love if I could have another opportunity to speak again with Belgrade’s Imam who is a very dear man, but I’m wondering if he’s not aggressive toward Christians and doesn’t call his believers to be aggressive; if he doesn’t think that he lives in the country of nonbelievers; if he preaches love, peace and tolerance he must be considered as a bad Muslim from the point of view of the followers of traditional Islam about whom Hirsi Ali is writing because that is not what Koran demands.
This book, her entire life is a monument of freedom of speech. Her criticism has arguments. Europe is also criticized with every right. Remember Danish cartoon scandal? A cancellation of theater plays which has the theme Prophet or even include Prophet together with representatives from other religions etc? That culture of self-censorship will completely ruin European values. That is not our heritage; that is not heritage of modern world! Allowing speech of hatred which is targeting people who are not Muslims (that can be heard in the mosques across the Europe) we here are accepting and justifying it with freedom of speech; When Muslim communities in the Europe are practicing traditional Islam that violates numerous human rights, we here are justifying that with religious freedom! Is female genital mutilation performed on young girls on the kitchen table in the middle of Europe religious freedom?
As I said I’m quite confused (this book is so enormously thought provoking); I’m not paranoid person, on the contrary. Moreover my contact with Islam is not nearly like this. I studied Farsi for several years and have many Iranian friends and I adore their cultural heritage; I know members of Muslim communities here and they aren’t nearly fanatics, they are my friends and I can unquestionably rely on them. I guess we [Serbia:] are not rich enough to be interesting for refugees from much more rigid and traditional environments.
Hirsi Ali speaks with arguments and with statistic data of (mainly) women victims of Islamic fanatics inside their own families here in Europe. Many are victims of self combustion with gasoline (because they had sex before marriage) in a front of their fathers and brothers. If she refuse to kill herself they [father or brother:] would kill her. That’s not, that can’t be religious freedom!
It’s high time for us to realize that tolerance of intolerance is cowardice....less
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
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. A virus, bacteria, a parasite; droughts and famine; soldiers, and torturers; could bring it to anyone, any time. Death comes riding on raindrops that turned to floods. It catches the imagination of men in positions of authority who order their subordinates to hunt, torture and kill people they imagine to be enemies. Death lures many others to take their own lives in order to escape a dismal reality. For many women, because of perceptions of lost honor, death comes at the hands of a father, brother, or husband.
Death comes to young woman giving birth to new life, leaving the newborn orphaned in the hands of strangers
For those who live in anarchy and civil war, as in the country of Somalia, death is everywhere".
When she was born, her mother initially thought she had died. When she later got malaria and pneumonia she recovered.
When her genitals were cut, the wound healed. When a bandit held a knife to her throat, he decided not to slit it.. when her Quran teacher fractured her skull, the doctor who treated her kept death at bay.
In the second half of the book she flees to Amsterdam when she is married to a man her father has chosen who she does not want to marry
She takes the chance at freedom, a life in which she would be free from bondage to someone she had not chosen, and in which her mind, too, could be free.
She states she first encountered the full strength of Islam as a young child in Saudi Arabia. It was very different from the diluted religion of her grandmother, which was mixed with magical practices and pre-Islamic beliefs. 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 its is the origin of much of the fundamentalist vision that has, in our 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 she saw in Saudi Arabia, and among the Muslim Brotherhood in Kenya and Somalia, is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves a 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.
It is always difficult to make the transition to a modern world. It was difficult for her and all her relatives from the miye. It was difficult when she moved from the world of faith to the world of reason - from the world of excision and forced marriage to the world of sexual emancipation. Having made that journey, she knows that one of those worlds is simply better than the other. Not because of its flashy gadgets, but fundamentally, because of its values.
The message of this book, is that we in the West would be wrong to prolong the pain of that transition unnecessarily, by elevating cultures full of bigotry and hatred toward women to the stature of respectable alternative ways of life.
People accuse her of having internalized a feeling of racial inferiority, so that she attacks her own culture out of self-hatred because she wants to be white.. This is a tiresome argument. She asks, "Is freedom then only for white people? Is it self-love to adhere to my ancestors' tradition and mutilate my daughters? to agree to be humiliated and powerless? To watch passively as my countrymen abuse women and slaughter each other in pointless disputes?"
When she comes to a new culture, where she saw for the first time that human relations could be different, would it have been self-love to see that as a foreign cult, which Muslims are forbidden to practice?
Her decision to write the book, exposing so many private memories, was made to allow the world to know... how many girls are still excised and married off in the modern Muslim world. The fact is that hundreds of millions of women around the world live in forced marriages, and six thousand small girls are excised every day!!!
Her excision in no way damaged her mental capacities. As was proven when she got her degree in political science in Holland and was elected to Parliament. Where once again, she is threatened with death, by speaking out for freedom and change. She lives under guard as much a prisoner as she was before.. For a short chaotic time ~
Ayaan Hirse Ali gives a strong voice to when all her dissonant thoughts snapped open and she found herself thinking that the Quran is not a holy document, it is a historical record, written by humans. It is one version of events, as perceived by the man who wrote it 150 years after the Prophet Muhammad died.
It is a tribal and Arab version of events. It spreads a culture that is brutal, bigoted, fixated on controlling women, and harsh in war.
For her to think this way of course she had to make the leap to believing the Quran was relative - not absolute, not literal syllables pronounced by God, but just another book.
She made the 10 minute art movie, 'Submission' to give a message - that men, and even women, may look up and speak to Allah; It is possible for believers to have a dialogue with God and look closely at him ..
The rigid interpretation of the Quran in Islam today causes intolerable misery for women... and finally, that she may no longer submit.. It is possible to free oneself - to adapt one's faith , to examine it critically, and to think about the degree to which that faith is itself at the foot of oppression.
A powerful, thought provoking biography. A book I will probably never forget!
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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
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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bookshelves:
biography
Read in August, 2008
Ayann Hirsi Ali appears to value truth and individual liberty above all else. A belief in these values led her out of a childhood of shocking brutality made possible by tribal and religious authority. It gave her the courage to take the chance given her to flee from an arranged marriage and to make a new life for herself in the Netherlands. Many people, it seems, would be much happier if her story stopped there.
An insistence on the value of truth and liberty kept Ali questioning in her new h...more
Ayann Hirsi Ali appears to value truth and individual liberty above all else. A belief in these values led her out of a childhood of shocking brutality made possible by tribal and religious authority. It gave her the courage to take the chance given her to flee from an arranged marriage and to make a new life for herself in the Netherlands. Many people, it seems, would be much happier if her story stopped there.
An insistence on the value of truth and liberty kept Ali questioning in her new home. Specifically, she wanted to know why European governments created multicultural policies for a kind of Islam so different from that she had experienced first hand? How could the Netherlands, a liberal country that supports the equality of women in law and culture, turn a blind eye to practices like female genital mutilation or honor killings among its immigrant citizens and refugee communities? She tries to share her experience as a Muslim woman and an immigrant by getting involved in politics and by making a film about what the Koran says about the treatment of women. Soon, her collaborator on the film is dead, and she too is under constant threat of death.
Ali couldn't ask the kinds of questions she needed to ask in the liberal political party with which she first identified and she became a one-issue candidate for parliament through, what in the Netherlands, at least, is a more right-wing party. Because she is a critic of the role of violence and authority in Islam, she has been praised by neo-conservatives who have egged on the so-called war on terror. This has made her an ambiguous and perhaps untrustworthy figure to many liberals.
I loved this book, but I am looking forward even more eagerly to the next one, that describes what happens after she leaves the Netherlands and is adopted as a cause celeb by neo-conservatives. Will truth-telling continue to be her central value? If so, I expect she will once again find her life in upheaval. Critical examination is rarely welcome when it is directed at a host, so Ali has a kind of tragedy built-in to her character.
The tragedy is evident in some of the unanswered questions in this book. For example, Ali may believe that Western mores on sexual ethics and the role of women are superior to those of Islam and the tribal community in which she was raised, but her story also reveals that some of the things about which Muslim leaders criticize the West--the breakdown of supportive family structures, the isolation and anomie that results from an emphasis on individual freedom rather than communal responsibility, and moral confusion that results from moral relativism--have had an negative impact on her own life. She recounts the break-down of her long-term relationship and the loss of friends as she pursues what is most important to her. When her sister is ill and needs her help, Ali chooses to work for her education rather than go to her sister, who soon dies. I don't know if Ali could have done things differently or would choose to do them differently in hindsight. She is certainly not to blame for her sister's death. I imagine that she would say that the tragedies of life in the West are indeed sad, but not as bad as the kind of life from which she escaped--I'd just like to read her explanation rather than having to imagine it. And that's why I'm looking forward to her next memoir......less
bookshelves:
biography,
commentary
Read in June, 2007
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 inh...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.
Copyright ©Mikey B.
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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
Read in September, 2008
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...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.
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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
Read in March, 2008
Synopsis
The author tells her account of how she became an Infidel in the eyes of Islam. She was raised Muslim and after an abusive childhood and adolescence she began to question her faith. She ran away from an arranged marriage and was granted refugee status in Holland. While there further questioning and more education eventually caused her to turn away from Islam and God.
Review
Although this book was quite intriguing I can only give it 2 ½ stars (at best 3). A book must be much more t...more
Synopsis
The author tells her account of how she became an Infidel in the eyes of Islam. She was raised Muslim and after an abusive childhood and adolescence she began to question her faith. She ran away from an arranged marriage and was granted refugee status in Holland. While there further questioning and more education eventually caused her to turn away from Islam and God.
Review
Although this book was quite intriguing I can only give it 2 ½ stars (at best 3). A book must be much more than intriguing to get 5-stars. I wish it left me with more than a knot in my stomach. I wanted there to be a solution, a guide for what the world can do to help those who are held captive by dominating tradition or family honor. It just wasn’t there. Instead I was left feeling like, it may be okay to uphold stereotypes that all Muslims are violent and potential terrorists…and I’m just not ok with that.
Another item I took issue with was seeing Ayaan slowly question her faith and turn away from God. No matter how backward you may think Islam, or any religion, it is unsettling to me to see someone turn away from God.
In my reading I also found many parallels between Islam and Mormonism. I really wasn’t exciting about possibly being labeled by others as one of the “radical” religions of the world so I then began searching for differences. My favorite difference is that Latter-Day Saint (LDS) doctrine teaches its members to seek truth and find confirmation. We are not encouraged to keep questions bottled up. This then is in stark contrast to Ms. Ali’s account of Islam that any question to the Koran or it’s teaching is unholy and punishable. As a Latter-Day Saint, we believe in continual, constant revelation for our entire church down to each individual member. When we have questions, we are encouraged to ask God. How thankful I am for that and for my own personal witness of many truths.
To a Muslim, this book would probably be classified as what Mormons call “Anti” literature. And as many of us know, we are encouraged to stay away from such things. In order to find out about a religion we should go to the source not to the deviant account. Although I believe the authors account to be true, I hope it is the deviant account. We may never really know. While the majority remains silent, the loud minority will always be the managing voice of the group....less
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
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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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
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 comprehension. So, the most interesting part of the book, in addition to getting an insider's view and perspective on Islam, is when Ayaan makes a run for it and becomes a refugee in Holland. This happens about two-thirds through the book, so by the time she makes her escape, I was almost numb to the brutality of her existenance as a female Muslim. Watching her discover democracy and a country where people don't routinly kill one another is most amazing. It gave me a fresh perspective on our way of life, and how great it truly is, despite its faults. Ayaan, after realizing that this non-Muslim country was a great place, even though her up-bringing told her that all non-Muslim places would be awful, she begins some serious soul-searching about her faith. Again, very interesting to watch her question and reason with her faith and the Western lifestyle. I won't give away the ending, but she concludes with a controversial thought: why is abuse and intolerance allowed to be masked in the name of religion?
If you don't know who Ayaan is, she made a short film with Theo Van Gough about the submission of women in Islam. Theo was shot and stabbed to death in broad daylight, in front of 50 witnesses. His throat was slit, and a letter was stabbed to his chest. The letter was addressed to Ayaan. The murderer was Muslim and says he killed Theo because he spoke out negatively about Islam. ...less
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
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
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 is somewhat of a political agenda. I am not sure if most Americans would understand this since most would know very little, if they know anything at all, about Ali. The fact is that she is, again, the daughter of a highly respected Somali nationalist and revolutionary. She also served in the Dutch parliament, which later became scandelous when it was disclosed that she had lied to obtain refugee status. When you look at her whole life, however, it's easy to justify her lying. Anyone who says they wouldn't lie to escape some of the circumstances she endured in Somali, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopa and Kenya IS lying. She also became famous for her speeches and holding up the art mirror to Muslim society, in particular its treatment of women and others who are, mildly putting it, pushed off to the sidelines.
In the end, however, the book does become political and I eventually find that she becomes a bit too heavy handed, one sided and judgmental towards Islamd. For this reason, I had to deduct some of my stars. Unlike some of the other reviewers, however, I do not think Ali wrote an autobiography purely as an autobiography. She has always been in the political spotlight; if anything, I think she's now riding the wave on this book while she can....less
