Infidel
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
A book like this is difficult to review, especially for someone who has lived a life that is charmed, especially when compared 
with Ali’s. It feels churlish to disagree with her opinions. For it is well nigh impossible to establish any sense of authority in your disagreement, without having so much as encountered a fraction of the difficulties this woman’s survived. On the other hand, agreeing with her also doesn’t feel completely right – it feels in fact, like just the sort of thing a liberal westerner would do, fueled by equal parts of condescension and bewilderment at this alien world she hails from.
I shan’t go into the details – she has been in the news enough for most folks to have a general idea of her story. As for the book itself, Ali’s language is nothing to write home about, and there is at least one glaring typo (Enid Blyton becomes ‘Enid Blighton’, a mistake unnoticed by the book’s American publishers, but one that will be hard to miss for millions of ex-colonials like myself). It is her story that is so compelling, making the 350 pages go almost as fast as the latest Potter for what is essentially a biography-cum-political commentary. The first part, while horrific in parts, is the easiest to read. Apart from feeding your curiosity about a culture most of us haven’t been exposed to, this is the part that’s in black and white, and therefore easy to pick a side. In contrast, the second half of the book, where Ali talks of her escape to Holland and the persecution she later faced, is more difficult to deal with.
Ali has a keen mind that can strip away most situations to their basics. While much of her childhood memories is about the condition of women in Islamic countries, she also explains why Islam holds such appeal to African masses. Systemic rot of the political infrastructure has forced people to seek out order any place they can get it, and Islam, with its conservative approach could very well be the one thing that saves your life, literally – be it from AIDS or from something simpler (it is the Brotherhood that offers free healthcare, not the government). Of course, there is a price to pay. And this price, as is often the case, is paid the most by the weakest members of the club – the women.
The second half of her story is set in Holland and the United States, where she escapes to from war-torn Somalia. There are many admirable aspects to her story – for an immigrant who doesn’t so much as speak the language to rise to the position of a Member of the Dutch Parliament is a rollicking tale of the victorious underdog that should please anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Rajinikanth movie. Ali is enterprising, hard-working and courageous, and it’s immensely satisfying to see a live example of how playing by the book can lead to success, even in this cynical world. But whether she did play by the book is the crucial question. Yes, according to Infidel, but I’m not sure if there wouldn’t be a different version of the story were it Rita Verdonk (then Minister of Immigration) or Jan Balkenende (then Prime Minister) or the family of Theo van Gogh (the slain director), all of whom directly suffered as a result of their association with Ms. Ali, doing the telling. The case can definitely be made that if they suffered, it was because of their own actions, or because they became targets of terrorists, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for these people, who’ve ended up as little more than collateral damage in Ali’s holy cause. The last few pages of Infidel feel too much like a justification for her actions and opinions, as opposed to a straight forward narration of facts that the first half of the book is.
And Ali’s cause is definitely holy. While she starts out questioning the status of women under Islam, ultimately, it expands to the problem of integration. Ali advocates tighter integration, a ceasing of government funding for faith-based education, a reduction in government dole-outs for unemployed immigrants, etc. As laudable as her ultimate goal is – to give disenfranchised women a shot at empowerment – it is difficult to imagine how much of this will be viable. Her stance explains the reason the European right wing finds her so appealing. And her being such a shining example of amnesty gone right also endears her to liberals. While I applaud her nimbleness in navigating these apparently opposing sets of supporters, I can’t help wondering if she also isn’t as shrewd as she is brave, and that she thrives at least a little bit on the controversies she creates.
Over the last year, she has quit Dutch politics, opting to take up a position with a conservative DC think tank. This decision was partly fueled by threats to her life from Islamic fundamentalists who objected to her outspoken opinions about Islam, and also by controversies over the status of her Dutch citizenship. It is a pity that someone who was apparently starting to get some long overdue traction on issues relating to female immigrants is now reduced to the position of being a darling of American late night talk shows. In this country, immigration is an entirely different ball game from what it is across the pond, and we equate Islam too easily with terrorism that I wonder how much importance the powers that be place on the plights of Muslim women. With two of her core competencies being more or less irrelevant in this new country, I wonder what Ali will do next. She certainly can’t run for President… Legal hurdles apart, it’s hard enough for a White non-atheist ex-first lady to so much as get a shot at being elected, can you imagine the election campaigns against a Black ex-Muslim woman who is an avowed atheist?
Comments (4 comments)
[...] reviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel. A book like this is difficult to review, especially for someone who has lived a life that is [...]
DesiPundit » Archives » Infidel / July 30th, 2007, 10:38 am / #
“But whether she did play by the book is the crucial question…”
Well no one is perfect and what book are we talking about? Her unique circumstances might have made her do things that would to us on the outside of her circumstances seem inappropriate but was indeed necessary for her to do.
Regarding her running for election in America, you really can’t put the legal issues aside regarding her citizenship. People vote for people they feel who would represent THEM and their interests, not people who might want to get elected to promote causes outside of those that are not the issues of the constituents who elected them. Sure there might be places where she could get elected but I doubt it since people would look at the short length of time she has been a citizen (this is where you can’t put legal issues aside as the truth is that she isn’t a citizen and won’t be able to be a citizen for quite some time) and the fact that she served in a foreign government and wonder if she even would understand the issues that effect them.
Alex / July 30th, 2007, 3:01 pm / #
I read the book last month and I agree with most of your feelings.
Ali spent narrating the past and on-going events in her life, for a good part of the book. The part where she moved to Netherlands, and the way she acquired Dutch citizenship is a little fuzzy. It missed the candid narrative found in the rest of the book. Although she is not accountable to her readers about what she told the immigration officers etc, I think a more detailed description would have made her position clear to her critics.
Like you said, I wonder if Rita Verdonk, Theo’s family and of course Ali’s family would have a different version of the story. I remember reading an interview with Ali’s brother and he said his family was progressive enough to understand that FGM was brutal and they never practice such brutality in their family.
Speaking of FGM, I felt a little sorry that people like Ali who have had the courage to come out and speak about it in public, have done so little to abolish the practice. She has an immense power in that, she speaks the language and understands the culture enough to be able to put up a convincing argument against the practice. Without those, all we can say is, BRUTAL. In that aspect, I found more respect and appreciation for Waris Dirie.
I guess the book was originally written in Dutch and translated into English. The translator’s identity has been kept secret to protect him/her from possible attacks. So the typo may have been a case of translation error.
Lastly adding to your review, if such is the life of a person who was brave enough to break the stereotype, what happens to all those who still live and die in the stereotype? The millions who live life by those meaningless rules and inhuman rituals and just perish. I feel so petty complaining about my day-to-day miseries after reading such powerful book. And definitely recommend to anyone who is ready to break out of the mindless potter-mania and take a peak at the real life. (Sorry in advance to all the Potter-Wallahs)
Yapsee / July 30th, 2007, 5:18 pm / #
Excellent review - and admittedly, not an easy book to review without bias…
Surya / July 31st, 2007, 4:36 pm / #
Post a comment