This is the first book this year that I will rate 10/10. It was a page turner and I simply could not put this book down. I was compelled to read every page and was absolutely fascinated with Ayaan's upbringing and life as a young Muslim woman.
In 2004, Ayaan received numerous death threats due to the film she was making with a dutch filmmaker named Theo Van Gogh. At the time, Ali was collaborating with Van Gogh on his film, Submission, which questioned a culture and religion that oppresses Muslim .
In her compelling memoir, INFIDEL, Ali shares her extraordinary ordeal in surviving a "culture of virginity" that oppresses women, and threatens their liberty as well as their lives. From her own experiences, she reveals the brutal genital mutilation that is prolific in Somalia and unfortunately many other lands today.Her forced marriage-abuses suffered by other female Muslims. While en route to meet her new husband in Canada, Ayaan abruptly decided to seek political asylum in the Netherlands-where she became a Dutch citizen, enrolled in a university, and then met Van Gogh-a decision that ultimately transformed her into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of all Muslim women. Ali's ultimate conclusion is that Islamic practices are incompatible in many ways with modern life and democracy, and should not be tolerated in the West without radical transformation.
I found many things fascinating in this book, that Muslims are not really supposed to question their religion, as to be a Muslim means to submit, yet Ayaan continually asked and sought out answers to her many questions. Of-course today we live in a world that has become politically correct, and tries its best not to be offensive to other cultures , yet Ayaan urges us all to question.
There aren't more people speaking out because they're afraid of becoming the next Theo van Gogh; they're afraid some Islamic fundamentalist will stick a knife in their chest if they tell the truth. Look at what happened when this author spoke up. She had to go into hiding for weeks at a time in order to avoid execution. "Infidel" is a wake up call to the West just as surely as the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were. We ignore the problem at our own peril.
Ali's work interests me for so many reasons. I grew up with a lot of friends who were moderate Muslims (no covering, equality between sexes) so I never really knew about the kind of Islam that exists around the world. But I currently live in a neighbourhood that is predominantly Muslim and there are many conservatives here. It is very common to see women fully veiled with face covered walking through the neighbourhood. Reading Ali's work showed me where these women are coming from, why they are doing this and what needs to be done here to help people integrate into our culture rather than remaining separate from it (which they are able to do in my neighbourhood.)
ReplyDeleteLong story short, her latest book Nomad is as good as Infidel.
I really really want to read this book. I dont know what exactly the questions and all that happened through her life.I really feel sorry for her but as a Muslim myself, this book really intrigues me.In my opinion, maybe she was raised in a culturally different than mine. Thanks for highlighting this and I will definitely read it soon..
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