Infidel: My Life

A story of trauma, hope and personal enlightenment.
As I approached the end of the book, with its political insights and the events of the 1990s and noughties, it was hard to believe that this was the same woman, who, earlier in the book, had given such an enthralling glimpse of the different world that was Somali childhood.
Whatever your views on multiculturalism and Islam, this is a book to read.

Striking and resonant (1/1 people found this helpful)

Terrific cover: Ayaan Hirsi Ali resolutely looks straight at the camera, defiant. Refusing to avert her eyes or show the necessary submission. She is an apostate; a very brave woman.

And a great writer: there are many remarkable things about Infidel but none more so than that it's written by a self-declared thick kid (methinks she doth protest too much) in a third (or even fourth) language. Yet is still as gripping and beautifully executed as many ghost-written memoirs. I picked this up on holiday when my wife finished it and was curiously flipping through the first few pages - it's not my kind of book, really - but was immediately drawn in, and raced through the rest of the book in less than a week. Along the way I learned a lot of recent African history and some good information on how Islamic societies are set up - perhaps based on a jaundiced view, given her conclusions, but still, I thought, a fairly and clearly represented one.

I have two remarks - not intended as criticisms, but rather as observations: First, to state the obvious, Ali has re-constructed her life story through the prism of, and with the benefit of, a subsequently gained appreciation of the Western enlightenment tradition. This perspective, when she navigated her childhood in Mogadishu, Mecca, and Nairobi was simply not available to her, on her own account. But it surely casts a different shadow; by dint of the hindsight it affords, Ali inevitably renders images and draws conclusions which differ from those she must have held at the time. I couldn't help feeling that the early history - perhaps while cataloguing dates and events accurately, must contain a large element of revision in its complexion. Only this can explain the apparent disconnect between her political thesis (that the principal victims of the Muslim socialisation are, principally, women) and her observation that the dominant female characters of her youth were the most unyielding enforcers of oppressive disciplines (including genital mutilation) and themselves remained sincerely and unresentfully devoted to principles Ali (subsequently) deemed beyond the pale. Ali doesn't seriously explore this anomaly, but I think it is in need of discussion for her case to be made out.

Secondly, and like most of the combatants in the jousts over religion that play in literary circles these days, she renounces Islam but not the religious disposition, which she takes up just as assiduously (as proselytes tend to) for the cause of atheism. So Islam isn't true; instead, she argues, libertarianism is. But this strikes me as a leap from the frying pan into the fire. Ali's faith in the enlightenment and dismissal of cultural relativism (which frequent readers may know I happen to quite like) - and its evil spawn, multiculturalism - strike me as glib, thinly argued and somewhat dogmatic in their bearing. Neither relativism not multiculturalism demands submission to foreign cultures for the sake of it, and if the social exclusion of muslim refugee communities that Ali describes in Holland is a result of truly multicultural policies, then they've been pretty poorly implemented. There may have been some rather feeble liberal hand-wringing going on, but I don't think that can be laid at Multiculturalism's door.

New York, where I gather she now lives, is a multicultural centre with the sort of robust disposition she clearly approves of. So is London. Perhaps it was her misfortune to land in Holland first.

These quibbles aside, this is a thoughtful and stimulating read.

Olly Buxton

Light in The Darkness (6/6 people found this helpful)

This is a very good, very readable and fascinating book ; the fascination is the description of the clan-system of Somali society and its mores and customs, all within the context of Islam and different only in degree and detail from related cultures. The interest is in how this talented woman overcame all the difficulties inherent in her origins to achieve a degree of personal enlightenment and a desire to help others to do the same.
Going from obscurity as a weakling, abused, loveless child in a mediaeval, war-torn part of Africa to prominence in the government of a modern and well-run western country is an extraordinary achievement. There is one aspect of the Somali clan-system which seems attractive : the way all members of a wider family are supported by the clan, financially and in other ways and on a world-wide basis - However this only for as long as they don't step out of line. As with some extreme sects in the West an individual who becomes "excluded" is very much out in the cold, but in a much more forbidding and cruel environment. The pressures to conform are thus very strong indeed.

In my view, "Infidel: My Life" should be required reading for anyone concerned with the serious social problems arising from the so-called clash of civilisations. The book is very well and clearly written and the frank and detailed account of growing up within the Somali clan system - including graphic and chilling descriptions of what female circumcision in childhood actually involves - casts a great deal of light on what divides West and much of the not-West. Whether or not this and other "cultural" practices represent true Islam is beside the point, they are closely associated and as few people seem to have truly read, studied and understood the Koran as have Christians the Bible.
With seriousness and logic she shows why standard attitudes of tolerance and particularly the various approaches to multi-culturalism need serious reconsideration (notably in Europe).
The lack of anyone to negotiate with is not the only complication in dealing with the fanatics.

Coming from the desert boondocks of the intensely family-tribal and sad land of Somalia, via a very difficult "childhood" in Saudi Arabia and the environs of Nairobi, to being a refugee in Holland, Miss Hirsi Ali's natural intelligence eventually overcame the unpromising obscurantism and irrationality of her society of origin. Learning yet another, very difficult, language she worked and studied - and changed her whole outlook on the world. And also her nationality so that, and at a still young age, she was able to become a member of the Dutch parliament ; there achieving a measure of world notice as she set to work following-up on her rational and rigorous re-assessment of the culture and faith of her birth.

This was at the time of Pim Fortuin ; she enlightened the public debate about immigration
policy and the effects of multiculturalism to the point where important, uncomfortable, matters long not discussed were brought firmly into the light. In the subsequent uproar the Dutch government had to accord her round the clock protection against the declared determination of fundamentalists to assassinate her. As they managed to do to one of her collaborators
A subsequent attempt by that administration to expel her from the country - seemingly because of the block-headedness of an individual minister (Or possibly for more sinister reasons? She does not suggest this herself) failed amid confusion and led to the break-up of the governing coalition ....

The story stops at the point where Miss Hirsi Ali moves to the United States. It is to be hoped that one day she can write a successor volume describing further achievements in the difficult task she has chosen.

Spellbinding autobiography and history (29/32 people found this helpful)

It is rare to find autobiography as absorbing as this. Not only because of the author's unusual path from the desert of Somalia to the USA via the Netherlands, but also on account of the engaging writing style. Clear and descriptive, the narrative of her eventful life had a profound impact on this reader. Born and raised in Somalia, she spent part of her youth in neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, describing through the eyes of a child what it was like to live there.

She makes the history of Somalia come alive under the dictatorship of Siad Barre, explaining the clan system and comparing the relaxed Muslim practice in that country with the strictness of Saudi Arabia and the hypocrisy and racism that go along with it. The short experience of Ethiopia and later the long stay in Kenya, both predominantly Christian countries, were different again and she really captivates one's attention with the places and the people. One of the most salient memories she recalls is the obsessive anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia. Where her family lived in the city of Riyadh, Jews were blamed for everything.

A sub-theme of the book is the increased radicalization of Muslims, partly because of the failures and the suffering brought about by Barre and the chaos of the civil war that unseated him. She noted this radicalization taking place amongst Somalis and others in Kenya where she spent most of her adolescence. This radical strain was brought to Africa by Arabs and Iranians, both Sunni and Shia, also reflecting the failure of secular ideologies and bad government in the dictatorships of the Muslim world.

There are sympathetic but honest portrayals of her family and friends: her mother who showed healthy signs of independence early in life but eventually lost hope and became embittered, her loving and tolerant but mostly absent father, her brother who stayed in Kenya and her sister who, when she couldn't cope in Holland, died tragically after returning to Kenya.

Instead of stirring up feelings against Islam, this book makes one contemplate the location of each individual's birth, how little free choice there really is in a closed society, the powerful hold of your community's history and culture, the difficulty of resisting brainwashing and how grateful people in free societies ought to be for the blessings that a lot of us take for granted.

The book is also about a second journey - the one from a stifling experience of oppressive religion to enlightenment and an embrace of Western values like individual freedom, freedom of speech and the rule of law. The fact that the individual mattered and had a right to life, to choice and freedom, was a joyful discovery.

This theme interweaves with the history she so deftly chronicles: the collapse of Somalia, the slow decline in Kenya, Dutch politics in the face of dysfunctional multiculturalism that however well intended, harms individuals in the immigrant communities and society as a whole. More information of what is going down in The Netherlands and Europe as a whole is available in While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer and Menace In Europe by Claire Berlinski.

It is humbling to read of the author's wonderment at Holland where even the police were friendly and helpful, and everything worked. She clearly loves The Netherlands; her words radiate with gratitude and appreciation of Dutch culture and society. I especially enjoyed the account of her studies at the University of Leiden where she discovered the great Western philosophers.

Infidel is the story of a life that has experienced mutilation, war, deprivation, tragedy, adventure, drastic adaptation and inspiring achievements, by an unusually courageous, empathic and resourceful individual. There are 11 black & white plates of family and other people who played a part in her life. As far as leaving Islam is concerned, I recommend the following informative books by two equally courageous women: Because They Hate by Brigitte Gabriel and Now They Call Me Infidel by Nonie Darwish.

Brilliant and gripping (42/45 people found this helpful)

It's not often that one reads a work of non-fiction that is both intellectually brilliant and as gripping as a thriller. This is Hirsi Ali's autobiography, and it succinctly covers a spectacularly broad sweep of topics as it follows her life path from her birth in Somalia to her emigration to the US as a celebrity hunted by Islamic fundamentalists: the oral traditions and clan structure of Somalis; the relationship between Somali culture and Islam; female genital mutilation; the hierarchies of inter-African racism; the Muslim Brotherhood; the Somali civil war; the political culture of the Netherlands; the murder of Theo van Gogh; and much more. Hirsi Ali has been accused by various wishy-washy liberals of being an `enlightenment fundamentalist', but there is nothing judgemental or hectoring about her writing; she explains even horrific events matter-of-factly, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusion from facts that speak for themselves. She writes with great human sympathy about friends and relatives whose flaws might seem to make them unworthy of it, from the traditionalist grandmother who had her genitally mutilated and the mother who beat her mercilessly to the Dutch minister who tried to revoke her citizenship. The characters in her life story are all too human.

Hirsi Ali's self-declared mission is to fight the oppression of women in Islamic societies. She has often been accused of attributing to Islam abuses, such as genital mutilation, that are local cultural practices not sanctioned by the Koran. But this criticism is unfounded; as she makes clear early on, her point is that the authority of Islam, as it is interpreted in traditional societies, is used to sanction such abuses. And as she points out, the Koran really does appear to sanction other abuses against women, such as wife-beating (The Koran 4:34). Hirsi Ali is perhaps a bit sweeping in her condemnation of Islam; I'd question her suggestion that Osama bin Laden's interpretation of the Koran is necessarily the accurate one (holy texts are open to multiple interpretations, after all). Or her implication that Islam is inherently more problematic than Christianity or Judaism (there are some pretty politically incorrect passages in the Old Testament as well). But she makes a refreshing change from the dissembling of guilt-ridden liberals terrified of sounding `racist'. Democratic Muslims should welcome the debate, while fundamentalist Muslims deserve to be offended as much as possible.

Whether you agree with everything she says or not, it's difficult not to feel a sense of utter exaltation as this woman from a traditional background drags herself up, shakes off her own prejudices, takes on the brutes of primitivism and fundamentalism - and triumphs. It's an inspiring read with a truly nail-biting finish.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Reader Reviews:

A heroine (1/1 people found this helpful)

Striking and resonant (1/1 people found this helpful)

Light in The Darkness (6/6 people found this helpful)

Spellbinding autobiography and history (29/32 people found this helpful)

Brilliant and gripping (42/45 people found this helpful)

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