Raven’s Range
Blather around a virtual range

Wednesday, 27 February 2008 15:13

Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Filed in Blog, Reviews

I was blown away by this book and by this woman.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up in Somalia, the daughter of a progressive Muslim freedom fighter and a woman who had divorced her first husband and married for love. But her grandmother was a traditionalist, uprooted from her life in the country, and from her earliest days strife was as a constant part of home life for the author, her brother and sister.

This is an amazing book, the autobiography of a young woman who grew up in a fundamentalist Islam world, was forced to move between several cultures and learn several different languages, and struggled with her faith. Always told she would amount to nothing, she still had a lively and questioning mind which asked questions that people could and would not answer.

When her father arranged her a marriage that she did not want, she found her way to Europe and, knowing that she would likely be disowned by her entire family, ran away to seek asylum. She escaped in a way that few others do.

Before I dive in here, let me just say this: I haven’t gone into Islam from the other side, and while this is not the first horror story I’ve read or seen, I have several Muslim friends who do not live in or condone the world she describes. In other words, what I am explaining here is based on what the author said, and I’d want to read more to form a more balanced opinion.

It’s not just her incredible courage that leaps out from the page, it’s her frank and honest story-telling. She portrays aspects of fundamentalist Islam life that are often covered up–the fate of young girls who are married off young and suffer genital mutilation; how in European countries not enough effort is made to integrate the new immigrants; how most of the people she knew professed Islam to be a peace-loving religion when they had never read the Koran (teaching the Koran is by rote and often in a language the native does not understand).

She observed herself that while she went off to get a job, other asylum seekers were sitting around cloaked in a sense of entitlement that it’s extremely politically incorrect to mention. While enjoying safety, they made no effort to integrate, whereas she went out and got herself a job and an education. Because integration is not forced, worlds within worlds are created, and the mistrust between different cultures is in no way eased.

Amazed at the efficiency with which a modern-day Netherlands operated, working her way up from laboring tasks to be an interpreter–she set herself a task to figure out how such a society could possibly work. The answer she came to was “politics” and, despite being told it was impossible she got herself a degree and became a member of the Dutch parliament. Her focus? To bring awareness to the plight of girls in fundamental Islamic families–she eventually persuaded researchers to compile statistics on how many girls were killed by their families for reasons of “honor.” The results were frightening.

This hardly made her popular. There were death threats, and a close friend of hers who made a damning short movie about Muslim women was murdered. She left politics, and these days lives in seclusion with a constant bodyguard. By speaking out, this woman who fought so hard for freedom is now an exile and a prisoner.

Just the story of what this woman did, following her instincts and refusing to be put down, is incredible. But the fact that she speaks ill of Islam and goes into such detail is more incredible still. Her own journey of faith and questioning which ultimately leads her to Atheism adds a whole different dimension and credibility to her words. I could not put this book down and had some very late nights as a result.

Any kind of fundamentalism is scary. The situation highlighted in “Infidel” is outright dangerous. Where immigrants are permitted to form their own cultures and not required to integrate into the host country, that is wrong. Understanding is never fostered, there is no room for growth, education or the seeding of ideas. I still think that one of the wisest courses of action is “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

The blogger who mentioned this book said that it was “important.” Yes, I think that it is. It has inspired me to read more, and to learn more. And I would highly recommend this book.