“Raised in a strict Muslim family, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries ruled largely by despots. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Under constant threat, demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from family and clan, she refuses to be silenced.”
Let's discuss what you knew about Islam before reading "Infidel".
Are you familiar with the Qur'an? Did this book pique your curiosity about the religion while reading it?
Do you find her views on Islam to be extremely negative? Are her opinions and descriptions about Islam tainted due to the situations that she faced in a closed society where women's rights are pretty much non-existent?
Family and genealogy apparently play a huge role in Hirsi Ali's life.
How important is it to Ayaan's family to learn the names of forefathers? Discuss how having and knowing members of your clan can be beneficial.
Describe Ayaan's mother. Is her mother loving towards Ayaan and her siblings. How does she treat Ayaan differently than the others?
Sister Aziza's ways of teaching is all about the positive and focusing on the inner intention. Ayaan later admits that although she looked up to Sister Aziza. She tried to be the best Muslim she should be, but she never felt the presence of Allah. For her, there was no inner light. Let's discuss.
"It was shocking, unslamic, unsomali to fall in love." (Page 126) Let's talk about how love and intimacy are described in the book.
Ayaan Hirsi Magan is the daughter of a highly respected Somali nationalist and revolutionary and later she serves on the Dutch Parliament. Do you believe that this book has a political agenda?
Hirsi Ali begins "Infidel" with an account of a murder which took place in 2004. A Muslim fanatic shot Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh on an Amsterdam street and used a butcher knife to stab into his chest a five-page letter to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Hirsi Ali had worked with Van Gogh on a film of about female oppression under Islam, entitled Submission, that included shots of a naked, battered woman covered with writings from the Qur'an.
Watch the short film below and discuss any emotions that were provoked while watching the film.