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ProfileIssue: Taurus 08

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Becomes a Champion of Free Speech and Women’s Rights

In her early years in Holland, Ayaan worked in factories and as a maid. She quickly learned Dutch and got better paying work as a translator for Somali immigrants. During this time she witnessed how difficult it was for most Muslim immigrant groups to integrate into Dutch society, especially regarding the rights of women. Somalian girls were still being subjected to genital mutilation on kitchen tables and still being murdered in “honor killings” by male family members for such infractions as having a boyfriend. In Ayaan’s three years in government, she found her voice as an advocate for women’s rights and for an “enlightened Islam.” Ayaan makes the point in “Infidel” that

Societies that respect the rights of women and their freedom are wealthy and peaceful.

In 2003 and 2004 Ayaan worked with Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on a film about the oppression of women under Islam. Shortly after the film’s release, van Gogh was murdered. The assassin, a radical Muslim, left a death threat for Ayaan pinned to Van Gogh’s chest.

In 2006, Ayaan resigned from parliament in the wake of a political scandal surrounding her application for asylum status in Holland. However, after much political and public debate, the Dutch authorities confirmed that Ayaan was indeed a Dutch citizen. Ayaan says that she had already decided to move to the United States before the decision was made.

Ayaan now lives with round-the-clock protection because her willingness to speak out and her abandonment of the Muslim faith have made her a target for violence by Islamic extremists. Disowned by her father, she has few ties left with her family. Currently a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank in Washington DC, Ayaan researches the relationship between the West and Islam, women’s rights in Islam, and violence against women propagated in the name of religious and cultural arguments.

No matter how you feel about Ayaan’s political views or her critique of Islam, “Infidel” is a powerful and inspiring story of an extremely courageous woman who will not be silenced. Ayaan was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2005, one of the Glamour Heroes of 2005 and Reader’s Digest’s European of the Year for 2005.