A Review of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Autobiography, Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s autobiography Infidel, is as an amazing and provocative read. admittedly. To some extent, my views converge with hers, but this is probably because she is a persuasive and passionate writer. However, first and foremost, beyond the fiery polemic, I found her book an inspiring read. Ayaan’s life has been one of survival against odds. She has overcome childhood trauma, abuse, displacement, apostasy, family abandonment and finally death threats and murder attempts. All of these are linked to the Islamic culture she grew up within, and which has now permeated the West.
Her tale of suffering is personal of course, but it’s entwined with an ideology that perpetuated it. As such her argument is both experiential and analytical in it’s judgements. The writer has also had the unusual opportunity to live in several countries spanning three continents. Her childhood was spent in the Islamic states of Somalia, and Saudi Arabia. She was then relocated to the Christian countries of Ethiopia and Kenya. Finally she claimed asylum in the secular societies of the Netherlands and the United States. As a result she has developed a nuanced understanding and knowledge of a cultural, political and religious aspects of the world states.
The first part of the book deals with Ayaan’s early years in Somalia, and Saudi Arabia and she is able to tell us much about the limiting beliefs and rituals that prevail in the area. As a writer, she has a remarkable ability to convey such scenes through the eyes of a child. Insight comes later, at present all we have is the core suffering. Thus we hear:
‘Somalia children must memorize their lineage: This is more important than anything else.’
‘If a girls virginity is despoiled, she not only obliterates her own honour, she also damages the honour of her father, uncles, brothers and male cousins.’
She is told by her grandmother: ‘A woman alone is like a piece of sheep fat in the sun [...] Everything will come to feed on that fat. Before you know it, the ants and the insects are crawling all over it, until its nothing left but a smear of grease.’
A woman is meant to be ‘a devoted, welcoming, well-trained work animal. This is baari’
‘In Somalia [...] little girls are made “pure” by having their genitals cut out [...] The practice is always justified in the name of Islam [...] the entire procedure was torture for us.’
‘Everything about Saudi Arabia was sin.’
‘If you married outside the rules [...]You sank into a hideous destiny of impurity, godlessness, and disease.’
‘Everything that went wrong was the fault of the Jews [...] the Jews controlled the world [...] Islam was under attack and we should step forward and fight the Jews.’
‘Our goal was a global Islamic government for everyone.’
Now at this point it would be quite easy to conceptualize the above quotes, as pithy maxims or soundbites that reveal little truth. However, this is the point entirely, for we must remember this is how the author herself came to such “knowledge.” It is not to the detriment of her writing skills that she recalls it as such, but to the detriment of a state which ingrained such 'maxims'. Luckily, as time goes on, Ayaan is able to grow and develop as a person, and eventually analyze and challenge such religious beliefs.
After an arranged marriage is ordered, Ayaan flees to Holland. Here her new life begins, and period of personal development occur. First she registers as a refugee, then she becomes an asylum seeker, finally she is given Dutch citizenship. She goes from being a Somali translator, to a university graduate in political sciences, and finally a member of the Dutch parliament.
The criticism of Islam now becomes more apparent. For genital excision she claims: ‘What was between my legs was not mine to give. I was branded.’ Of holland she states: ‘This was infidel country, whose ways of life we Muslims were supposed to oppose and reject. Why was it then so much better run, better led, and made for such better lives than the places we came from [...] Of all the countries were war had broken out, so many seemed to be Muslim.’ Later she adds, ‘this man-made system of government was so much more stable, peaceful, prosperous and happy than the supposedly God devised systems I had been taught to respect.’ It is only when America is attacked on September 11th do her real views suddenly emerge fully formed and ferocious.
Of the attacks she states: ‘It is about Islam. This is based in belief. This is Islam [....] It was not a lunatic fringe who felt this way about America and West. I knew that a vast mass of Muslims would see the attacks as justified retaliation against the infidel enemies of Islam. War had been declared in the name of Islam [....] This was the core of Islam,’ for ‘jihad was a historical constant’ of the religion.
She is equally baffled by some appeasing commentators who seek to excuse perpetrators of such acts from moral responsibility. She states: ‘People theorized beautifully about poverty pushing people to terrorism; about colonialism and consumerism, pop culture, and western decadence [...] None of this pseudo intellectualizing had anything to do with reality.’ It is in fact, akin to, ‘analyzing Lenin and Stalin without looking at the works of Marx [...] By declaring our prophet infallible we had set up a static tyranny.’
After sharing her views both on a journalistic and political platform, inevitably the death threats came in. We hear how Ayaan is driven around in armored cars, sleeps in aircraft hangars, is shadowed by bodyguards, moved from place to place like a nomad. All while this is occurring her family have broken off all ties with her as she has now declared that she is an atheist. Finally after collaborating with Theo van Gogh for a movie on the plight of Muslim woman entitled Submission, things become ugly. Theo is murdered, stabbed in the chest with a note attached to the blade of the knife; another death threat to the writer in the name of religion. The Dutch political party suddenly becomes very and her citizenship is revoked. Nevertheless, she moves to the USA to continue a career in a think-tank capacity. At this point the story ends, and we can assume that Ayaan continues her role as an advocate for Muslim women, as well as a opponent of the religion itself.
Two possible criticisms could be leveled at the book. The first is that some will say Ayaan has an axe to grind against Islam because of her own upbringing. To me, this putting the cart before the horse. Her upbringing, did not occur in a vacuum, religion permeated every part of her life. For this reason, it makes her a better candidate than any to discuss it. Her own suffering is bound to the ideology of the religion and so she has quite reasonable grounds to criticize it. The second, is that some will argue Ayaan has betrayed her roots and succumbed to Western Imperialism or Western Culture, but this only begs the question. There must be something about such culture to make her take such a strong stance on each. Shouldn’t we rather ask, isn’t there such a thing as Arab imperialism and culture, that could equally limit or colour a person.
The fact that Somalia now has a terrorist cell in Al Shabab, and which has recently merged with Al Qaeda, show that Ayaan was presciently aware of the troubles laying dormant in the war-ravaged country, but it also suggests how intrinsically religion is bound to the state.
All of this she is able to link back to the Koran, and indeed this seems a good a place to start as any, for we sometimes underestimate the power of texts in shaping ideologies and culture. To draw an analogy, we can say Nazism arose due to the political and social circumstances of the time, or the psychological profile of Hitler. However, we can equally explain it via Mein Kampf, and Nietzschean doctrines which preceded it. It is such an ideology that offered as motivation and justification of war. The only difference with Islam and the Koran is its scope.
The Netherlands is not much different from Britain. It struggles with the same issues of migration, integration, extremism, and polarised politics. The real change for the better will come from such women as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is an inspiring and courageous woman. After undergoing such hardship, she has not only forged a new happy life, but continually has the bravery to speak out on one of the most divisive topics of our time.
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