Ayann Hirsi Ali is on a crusade against her former religion, claiming that Islam is inherently violent and is particularly destructive of the lives of women.
As a teenager living in exile in Kenya, Hirsi Ali came under the influence of Wahabi Islam, which is officially promoted by Saudi Arabia and which is embraced by jihadists around the world.
Hirsi Ali's father was a high profile Somali rebel leader. When he arranged a marriage to a prosperous Canadian Somali, Hirsi Ali reluctantly agreed. On her way to Canada in 1992, she had a lay over in Germany, and there she decided that she could go through with the marriage.
Slipping away from her relatives in Düsseldorf, Hirsi Ali boarded a train to the Netherlands. Once there she received political asylum, learned Dutch, became a Dutch citizen, received a master’s degree in political science, and, incredibly enough, was elected to the Dutch Parliament in 2003.
The suicide attacks of September 11 were the turning point in Hirsi Ali’s life. Contrary to all the evidence and reasoning, she insisted that the attacks were not the result of Muslim extremists: "This was the core of Islam . . . [this was] not frustration, poverty, colonialism, or Israel: it was about religious belief.”
All the major American Muslim civic and professional organizations rejected the idea that Islam could justify such an abomination. The governments of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iran condemned the attacks.
The King of Morocco arranged a mass for the victims in the Catholic cathedral in Casa Blanca. At a soccer match in Iran, 60,000 fans observed a moment of silence for those who lost their lives.
In 2002 Hirsi Ali denounced her Muslim faith and became an atheist. Writing with the passion of a new convert, Hirsi Ali is insistent in her belief that there are no such people as moderate Muslims. For her the only Islam is the Saudi Wahabi version, which is as absurd as saying that Pat Robertson is the essence of Christianity.
As a militant atheist Hirsi Ali has not left behind one of the basic principles of her former fundamentalism. She insists on reading the Qur’an literally and completely ignores a history of scriptural interpretation older than and just as sophisticated as the Christian tradition.
Hirsi Ali was shocked to find that Osama bin Laden was reading the Qur'an "correctly," but I was equally shocked to hear the pastor of the second largest church in Moscow quote the Bible in support of slavery and to deny the right of women to vote.
Hirsi Ali’s most provocative act was to team up with Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh to make a 10-minute film entitled "Submission." The film features an actress on whose half naked body verses from the Qur’an are projected. The woman tells of being beaten by her husband, and then raped and impregnated by her uncle. She told her father about the uncle’s first advances, but he told her to keep quiet so as to preserve his brother’s honor.
Reaction to the film among European Muslims was understandably very negative. Two months after the film was shown on TV, Van Gogh was stabbed to death by a Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent. Using the murder weapon, the man pinned a note on Van Gough’s chest calling for the death of Hirsi Ali. Since then she has been on the run and in hiding, constantly being watched by the Royal Dutch Protection Services.
Hirsi Ali’s views do resonate with a growing number of Europeans who believe, sometimes with very good reasons, that many Muslims have not integrated very well into their culture. These serious problems, however, will not be solved by the extreme and misleading rhetoric of provocateurs such as Hirsi Ali.
Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Read his other columns on Islam at . Read about secular fundamentalism at .
No comments:
Post a Comment