Saturday, March 17, 2007

AYAAN HIRST ALI--A GIFT

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Ayaan Hirst Ali on the Bill Maher show. What is this I thought. Already a bigtime fan as I had been following her remarkable career as a member of Parliament in Holland. In fact, I elevated her to hero status by putting her picture beside my computer screen along with another female hero, Joya of Afghanistan. On Maher's show, she held her own: no, she was much better than the other two guests, a California Congressman who loved to talk and an actor. On the show, she "got" America better than the vast majority of Americans. A terrific point she made which I am inadequate to convey but it was something like: "what the Western world must say to Islam. We want to be tolerant but simply say, 'there are some aspects to Islam that are incompatible to Western society and we cannot and do not accept it.' "

I had seen her on Sixty Minutes months before and was truly impressed. Her bravery was evident in so many ways. And, now she had written her memoir, Infidel. I immediately rushed out and bought it.

I see it as one of the most influential books I've read. Having just published a memoir of my Vietnam days, I grasped what a memoir was suppose to be. First of all, it is the writer's recollections of what happened years ago, a life's story. And, often it is painful and difficult to write about as the author is always questioning the veracity of what's written. At least I did.

Once I started reading Hirsi Ali's book, I could not put it down and read it completely in three settings. I marked significant passages and have by word of mouth promoted it bigtime. It it powerful reading. The basic thesis of the book is a cry for women's equality in Islam. Finally, she simply determines it can't happen in Islam if one follows the teachings of the Koran, i. e., woman should obey their husbands. Women are worth half a man. Infidels should be killed. This doesn't come out of some islamaphobe. It's there in the Koran.

Infidel details Ali's move to various countries as a child and the description of her life growing up. To an American, it is horrendous. To her, it is the way it is suppose to be. I love to read to learn: this book does it for you. First of all, I learned about tribes in Somali. About the only thing I knew was "Black Hawk Down." She describes life for her as refugee in Ethiopia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia. Always, it is with clan, a full cast of family and extended family and family drama.

This book is also one of attempted reconciliation with a father and other family members; decisions made in the moment, ill advised marriage, the process of "becoming" who she is. Always questioning, thinking, attempting to figure it out. And, always the sense of inferiority in a male dominated culture. Ali has the "spark" amidst the chaos.

I think the description of female circumcism drove home how utterly perverse is such thinking in a culture. And, so impossible to understand. A 5 year old mutilated: all little girls mutilated for a misguided religious belief that to Western minds is simply inconceivable.

She details her thinking in finally leaving this culture and fleeing to Holland. Here we are educated on the process of gaining refugee status and then citizenship. All is not without pain. And, what Ali presents is the dilemma of the Western world as they deal with a Muslim culture mired in the Middle Ages. Here we have Holland with its elevated concept of multiculturalism--tolerance and yet hypocrisy.

The denial in her adopted country of what needs to happen in dealing with Muslim communities is all to pervasive. Her book simply spells it out: we let them live in their enclaves, go to their own schools and literally accepts their blind adherance to Islam which is simply incompatible to the Western world. What it reminds me of is "the old Southern idea, of separate but equal." In the south it was racism, in Holland and Western countries, it appears more denial. Ali forced her new country to confront it. They didn't like it.

For many Americans, Holland has seemed to be the epitome of a liberal and open democracy but when the chips were down, they didn't measure up. It wasn't Ali's assertions. To this reader, it was just obvious. Circumstances appeared to simply converge where Holland didn't step up to the plate. It all culminated in a sense with the murder of Theo Van Gogh. I remember it well from news reports and now to hear Ali tell about it is mesmerizing. It is fanaticism revealed. I would like to have known Theo. From her description, he was off the charts, living life large. I think he would have been more at home in San Francisco than in Holland. Ali's description of him, the making of the movie, Submission, made me desperately want to see the movie. Her treatment by the Dutch during this time under the guise of protection leaves me cold. Isolating her surely looked like giving a nod to terrorists and fanatics to me. Once you do that, they've won.

Ali tells it like it is; she talked about the utter ignorance of Islamists in talking about a religion of peace and tolerance, not the slightest bit violent. "These were fairy tales , nothing to do with the real world I knew," she said.

I don't want this review to be a book and so I must end it. Read this book. It is not one that preaches intolerance, rather just fact. I came away with a couple of thoughts that have stayed with me. What is it about this remarkable woman that produced the "spark." Surrounded by family, clan, tribe, still somehow or another she "got it." I find this awe inspiring. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a gift to America. We must honor and cherish her. And, above all, we must protect her and make sure she can go about her business while at the same time, not being cowed by our enemies. I don't know her thinking in coming to America but it makes me proud that we're a country where she can. Every caring American needs to read this book. God bless her and God bless America.

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