Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (copyright 2007) Infidel is a vividly written autobiography by a Somali woman who was born into a strict Muslim family of a highly structured and important African tribe. For the author, the truth is of utmost importance and she has struggled diligently all her life to determine it. She recalls her difficult and often horrifying life with such openness and integrity that I found this book hard to put down even though some parts of it were quite disturbing. Born in Somalia in 1969, Ayaan spent her early life there and in three other strife filled African countries – Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya. She endured constant brutal treatment at the hands of family members as well as bloody civil wars and the deprivations of refugee status. As a teenager, in a fervent attempt to understand and accept the customs of her faith, she dedicated herself to becoming a devout Muslim during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in North Africa. Finally, in 1989, to avoid a forced marriage, she sought asylum in Holland. She immediately applied herself to learning the language, obtained her Dutch citizenship and began working for the government as an interpreter. Her previous education had been minimal but remarkably, she gained admittance into Leiden University where she studied political science. In 2003, slightly less than ten years after she first entered the country, she was elected to the Dutch Parliament and began advocating for the humane treatment of Muslim women living in Holland. In 2004 Hirsi Ali became known throughout Europe upon the vicious murder of Theo Van Gogh, a well-known Dutch filmmaker with whom she had collaborated in the making of a short film concerning the abuses of Muslim women. Convinced that her life was also in imminent danger, the Dutch government provided her with around the clock protection for a period of nearly four months, moving her from place to place almost nightly (even evacuating her to the United States for several weeks). Despite the threats, Ayaan would not be silenced. As a final result, she was forced to leave Holland and in 2005 immigrated to America where she is currently working at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Described as elegant and soft-spoken but passionate about the truth and determined to reform Islam’s treatment of women, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gained notoriety in the United States as well as in Europe. She has appeared on several TV shows including C-Span book review and The Glen Beck show and she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2005 and Readers’ Digest’s European of the Year. Although she is still receiving constant death threats, she does not waiver in her efforts to tell the truth – as she has witnessed it – and to inform the West of the dangers of allowing Muslim immigrants to continue oppressing their women, defiantly violating the laws of the countries in which they are now living. Pat Earle
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