Book Review - Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Infidel is the story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born in Somalia and a naturalized citizen of Holland and member of the Dutch Parliament, who after years of abuse left her family and her Islamic faith. It is the story of a woman that put her life in danger to tell the world what the Islamic faith really is. She was a close confident of Theo Van Gough, the outspoken filmmaker and advocate for Muslim women's rights, who was brutally murdered. After his death she went into hiding because she was trying to expose the reality of the Islamic faith.

Ayaan speaks about the grotesque procedure of infibulation, the mutilitation of a young girl’s genitalia under the guise of keeping the girl pure. This procedure happens to thousands of young women a year.

Infidel dispels several myths about Islam

1) Islam is a religion of peace
2) The Islamists attacked us because we support Israel
3) The fundamentalists in the Christian faith are as dangerous as the fundamentalists in the Islamic faith
4) Islamic terrorism is the result of poverty

In her book, she says, “Most articles analyzing Bin Laden and his movement were scrutinizing a symptom, a little like analyzing Lenin and Stalin without looking at the works of Karl Marx.”

Islam is a totalitarian religion…”The prophet did teach us a lot of good things. I found it spiritually appealing to believe in a Hereafter. My life was enriched by the Quranic injunctions to be compassionate and show charity to others. There were times when I, like many other Muslims, found it too complicated to deal with the whole issue of war against the unbelievers. Most Muslims never delve into theology, and we rarely read the Quran; we are taught it in Arabic, which most Muslims can’t speak. As a result most people think that Islam is about peace. It is from these people, honest and kind, that the fallacy has arisen that Islam is peaceful and tolerant.

This book reminded me of a Muslim Afghanistan family who lived down the street from us when the attack on 9/11 occurred. My daughter was tutoring the daughter in Math. It was commonplace to observe the parents pulling their daughter’s hair and striking her, and at the same time yelling, why can’t you be more like “insert my daughter’s name.” American children lie and can sometimes be manipulative, but nothing equaled the lying and manipulation of these children, but this is what they are taught. It is endemic in the Islamic culture.

This is a book every person should read, because it will open your eyes.