Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, on 13 November 1969) is a Dutch-American activist, author, and former politician of Somali origin. She is a leading opponent of female genital mutilation, and calls for a reformation of Islam. She is supportive of women's rights and is an atheist. Her latest book was released in 2015 and is called: Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth13 November 1969
thinking space canada
I think of Canada, first and foremost, in terms of space. The amount of space available is breathtaking.
two rights netherlands
If we don't take effective measures now, the Netherlands could be torn between two extreme rights.
teenager brotherhood kenya
In 1985 as a teenager in Kenya, I was an adamant member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
wish reason categorical-imperative
My conscience is informed by reason. It's like Kant's categorical imperative: behave to others as you would wish they behaved to you.
thinking west belief
No one in the American Enterprise imposes their beliefs. We clash, and I think that's what the West is all about.
country chance decided
They decided to let immigrants in and I am an immigrant. They gave us a chance to participate in this country's life and I took it.
christian feminist community
We who don't want radical Islam to spread must compete with the agents of radical Islam. I want to see what would happen if Christians, feminists and Enlightenment thinkers were to start proselytizing in the Muslim community.
cities catholic mosques
I'd love to go and visit the Mosque in Mecca again, just for the sheer beauty of it, not for God - much the way a non-Catholic might go to Vatican City because of the beauty of the buildings and the artifacts.
religious men leader
Muslim leaders should ask themselves what exactly their relationship is to a political movement that encourages young men to kill and maim on religious grounds.
feminism idiotic fellows
We must reclaim and retake feminism from our fellow idiotic women.
men bullshit victory
What we are now doing with the victory, and I agree with you if you condemn that and I condemn whole-heartedly the trivial bullshit it is to go after a man who makes a scientific breakthrough and all that we as women — organized women — do is to fret about his shirt?
rest-of-life church spirituality
I talk about a Christianity that is enlightened enough to separate spirituality from the rest of life. Not just church and state, but knowledge and church.
thinking looks juvenile
In 2010, I suggested that if you are a good Muslim with a good conscience, go and look for a better God, and I think that was juvenile of me.
girl friday running
It was Friday, July 24, 1992, when I stepped on the train. Every year I think of it. I see it as my real birthday: the birth of me as a person, making decisions about my life on my own. I was not running away from Islam, or to democracy. I didn't have any big ideas then. I was just a young girl and wanted some way to be me; so I bolted into the unknown.