Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Infidel is an enlightening read. In this biography, Ali discusses her life, views, and Islam. She is very much in favor of human rights and is bold enough to challenge Islam, a religion she grew up in but turned away from. She writes, “The message of this book, if it must have a message, is that we in the West would be wrong to prolong the pain of that transition ['to a modern word' p.347] unnecessarily, by elevating cultures full of bigotry and hatred toward women to the stature of respectable alternative ways of life” (p.348).
Takeaways for me would include exposure to culture and Islam. Also, it is refreshing to see that someone (with knowledge and experience of Islam) is bold enough to challenge it to the extent that she does, even if those views wouldn’t be openly accepted among educated, open-minded thinkers in Western societies. It’s easy to be passive living with Islamic presence, but maybe I’ll be more aware that alarming oppression might be present and extreme doctrines might be being espoused even in the Muslim communities where I live. And if not, maybe the Muslims I see around have experienced hardships related to their religion in the past or know people suffering now.
I think it would be interesting to become friends with a somewhat conservative but open Muslim. While I do not believe that all faiths are pathways to the one true God, I wonder if interfaith discussion could spring from similarities between beliefs with regard to submission to one’s husband and the will of God/will of Allah. While those similarities may differ, and while Allah and the Christian God are not the same, they might serve as an interesting starting point for an in-depth discussion.
