The Somali Version of Salman Rushdi

[Business_Man]

She makes an unlikely martyr. But Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a 32-year-old Somali-born Muslim immigrant to the Netherlands, who took cleaning jobs while she studied Dutch, has been forced to flee her adopted country under threat of death. Now she is becoming known as a latter-day Salman Rushdie.

Her crime is uncannily similar to the author of The Satanic Verses: she launched a stinging attack on Islam, a religion she herself has rejected, and in doing so earned the enduring hatred of the mullahs she targeted. The fact that the criticism came from a woman and one who had turned her back on Allah made her situation all the more precarious.

 

Nor did she mince her words. A political adviser to the Dutch Labour Party, she savaged what she said was the cruelty and abuse meted out to many Muslim women living in Western societies - and she did so on national TV.

 

Calling Islam a 'backward' religion, she claimed that orthodox Muslim men frequently indulge in domestic violence against women as well as incest and child abuse. To make matters worse, she added, such unacceptable behaviour is routinely covered up and never spoken about. And she launched a strong attack on the Netherlands' programme of multicultualism, which she said encouraged the isolation of Muslim women.

 

She can't have known what effect those words would have, but in a post-11 September world and in a country which was still mourning the loss of Pim Fortuyn - a gay maverick anti-politician who despised Islam and openly said so - her words generated a political and cultural firestorm.

 

Within days she had received several serious death threats - apparently from extremist Muslims - and was forced to go into hiding. Now she has fled the Netherlands, a refugee once again, hounded out of her adopted home by a torrent of messages of hate.

 

The messages - which were anonymous and delivered over the phone - called her a traitor to Islam and a slut. Hate mail also appeared on the internet claiming she deserved to be knifed and shot. The police advised her to change address and questions were asked in parliament about whether or not she warranted bodyguards.

 

At a time when the Netherlands' almost one-million-strong Muslim community (out of a total population of 16 million) felt itself vulnerable and subject to attack, her words seemed to some to play into the hands of those demanding a clampdown on immigration, and anti-Muslim sentiment.

 

Uproar followed the first death threat, with one prominent news magazine claiming they were a fraud, a claim which Islamic lobby groups seized upon with delight but one which turned out to be baseless. More than 100 Dutch writers took out newspaper ads offering her their support.

 

In an effort to distance themselves from the affair, 17 Muslim organisations signed a declaration condemning the death threats, but many Muslims felt betrayed by Hirsi Ali and took serious issue with her allegations. Her comments had, they said, opened up a rift in the Dutch Muslim community at a time when it needed to be more united than ever.

 

The views of Ali Eddaudi, a Moroccan writer and cleric living in the Netherlands, were typical of many. He dismissed 'all the fuss' over a Muslim woman who 'pandered to the Dutch' and wanted, he said, to be a model immigrant.

 

Fearing for her life, Hirsi Ali - by now dubbed the Dutch Salman Rushdie - remained in hiding until last month. But now she has gone one step further, decided that enough is enough and fled the country she sought sanctuary in 10 years earlier.

 

Rumoured to be in the United States or the UK, she has also spoken out for the first time about why she felt the need to blow the whistle on 'the unacceptable side of Islam' and has turned her fire and her back on the same Dutch Labour Party she used to work for.

 

'I had to speak up,' she told the New York Times yesterday from her hiding place 'because most spokesmen for Muslims... are men and they deny or belittle the enormous problems of Muslim women locked up in their Dutch homes.

 

'I've made people so angry because I'm talking from the inside, from direct knowledge. It's seen as treason. I'm considered an apostate, and that's worse than an atheist.'

 

She explained: 'Sexual abuse in the family causes the most pain because the trust is violated on all levels. The father or the uncle say nothing, nor do the mother and the sisters. It happens regularly - the incest, the beatings, the abortions. Girls commit suicide. But no one says anything. And social workers are sworn to professional secrecy.'

 

However, her scorn is not reserved for orthodox Muslims alone. She also blames the Dutch Labour Party for the apparent failure of the country's immigration and integration policy.

 

Although no longer in power, Labour has governed the country for long stretches and has, she says, pursued a damaging 'strategy of silence' when it comes to Islam and problems surrounding immigration in general.

 

Branding the Labour Party's approach to multiculturalism 'soft', she argues that its tactic of promoting the preservation of Muslim identity by subsidising special schools and associations has backfired. The result, she says, is segregation and misery for Muslim women, who are left isolated and unprotected.

 

'If the West wants to help modernise Islam, it should invest in women, because they educate the children.'

 

Ton van Lierop, a political journalist, says: 'The feeling on the street is that it is ridiculous that a woman like this can't say what she wants. There is a feeling that Muslim women are oppressed by their men and people think it's a good thing that this woman has dared to stand up and say so.'

 

Hirsi Ali's views carry all the more weight because they are perceived to come from someone who knows what she is talking about.

 

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, she underwent what she calls the 'cruel ritual' of female circumcision when she was five and for much of her youth was kept veiled and locked indoors.

 

At 22, her father tried to force her to marry a distant cousin she had never met, but she managed to escape to the Netherlands where she obtained political asylum. It was while working as an interpreter for the Dutch immigration and social services that she discovered 'suffering on a terrible scale' among Muslim women in the Netherlands.

 

The solution, she believes, is to use Dutch law to pursue more vigorously Muslim men who beat their wives and daughters, to stop teaching immigrants in their own language and to stop paying for the 700 Islamic clubs, most of which, she says, 'are run by deeply conservative men and perpetuate the segregation of women'.

 

Hirsi Ali has refused to moderate her views in the face of the death threats and does not intend to hide away forever.

 

'Either I stop my work, or I learn to live with the feeling that I'm not safe,' she said. 'I'm not stopping.'

[Zakariye]

s/alaykum

 

where is this devilish now?

 

w/salaam

[Zakariye]

s/alaykum

it is ok bro, i did find out about her this is her article which is very interesting, markaan arkay waxa aad ka sheegeyso ayaan waxaa raadiyey bal waxa la sheegaya in ay run yihiin iyo in kale, walaal waa runtaa, and here is the article

 

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s898958.htm

 

once you read this article i see why the uproar for this behavior, what is it with her anyway, don't pay any attention, she is just attention seeker, so why bother her.

 

c/salaam

[Reality Check]

Why should she be ostersized for speaking about the pains that muslim women are going through?

 

From this article, it doesn't seem as if she is putting down the religion...but of how muslim people practice the religion. Personally, I think she is telling the truth about the abuse and the incest..and why does she get for it? exile!

 

It's just proving a point that we as muslims don't want to face the truth about certain issues.

 

peace

[Conscious Manipulation]

asalaamu alaykum,

 

It's truely sad that people like her exist. A few months ago I saw a Bangladeshi woman who also left Islam talking on CBC about the so called oppression of Muslim women and the "backwardness" of Islam.

 

Undoubtly we will see more and more of these people now that we're in the "free for all" season on Islam. While these people might envoke anger in us, it's important to remember their cheap lies and slanders will not haram this ummah one bit bc Islam is theTRUTH and Muslims are the best of mankind (even the worst Muslim is better than the best kafir). If anything all this anti-Islam rhetoric will be counter productive on their part and bring Muslims closer togather and to Islam, InshaAllah.

 

salaam

[D]

Come on now Opinionated, there's a huge difference between speaking on behalf of the rights of Muslim women and completely trashing the religion. 'Satanic Verses'? Please. She's out to get attention for herself & herself alone.

 

Originally posted by Continental Batchelor:

'I've made people so angry because I'm talking from the inside, from direct knowledge.

From direct knowledge of WHAT exactly I want to know, lol. She is one woman w/ her own opinions, as blasphemous as they are. I mean why should we consider her the voice of the 1+ billion Muslims in this world...what makes her so important exactly? Fits right in w/ all the Muslim bashing as of late, she must be pleased.

 

Anyway, I hardly post but this article had me fuming :mad:

[Xafsa]

Originally posted by Continental Batchelor:

she launched a stinging attack on Islam, a religion she herself has rejected,

 

 

Calling Islam a 'backward' religion

 

 

'the unacceptable side of Islam'

 

She explained: 'Sexual abuse in the family causes the most pain because the trust is violated on all levels. The father or the uncle say nothing, nor do the mother and the sisters. It happens regularly - the incest, the beatings, the abortions. Girls commit suicide. But no one says anything. And social workers are sworn to professional secrecy.'

 

Opinionated---The woman is clearly attaching the religion itself and not the way it is practiced...Calling Islam a backwards religion?...c'mon you can't ignore that.

 

 

SExual abuse in the family?...I can't but think that that was her own personal experience in a neurotic family.

[Zakariye]

s/alaykum

Maashallah, walaal Opinionated i can't blv finally to see what shirt u r wearing, did you really read what the lady is talking about, she is not talking about the abuses, but Islam in general,

I am black and I was a Muslim and I'm a woman and I say exactly those things so it's really difficult to accuse me.

 

 

I don’t really pay much attention to these imams as long as I have protection with me now, that's the advantage of having security, then I can fight them with words because they (muslim Clerics ) have no arguments.

 

 

plz don't side quickly read the whole content before agreeing, cz if you do that you r no more than a copy cat of her.

 

c/salaam

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Didn't we discuss this topic many times?

 

Check Camel Milk Debate forum or the Islam forum for more opinions on the same subject.

[Qac Qaac]

opinianated, one of the tricks of kaffirs, and the westerners is to attack the women side of islam. it seems to me that islam the only pt they could attack is that, which means the other 99% is true and they dare not could talk about it.

 

when westerners only talk about the muslim women issue, they only mention what the muslim ppl do, they are bius and never mention what Islam the religion is saying about it. we all know muslims don't exactly fellow islam 100%.

 

anyways to go back to the topic, waxaan ku dhaaran karaa in ayaan xirsi that somali woman, in ay tahay REER BAADIYAD, oo u mooday in ay ku ilbaxday HOLAND.....

 

allah dadoo dhaagta waaniya, kana safegareeya naarta ilaahey. peace u all.

[LuCkY]

I agree with what most of you guys said but why shouLd this be of any surprise to us now? We were informed that such and worse peopLe wouLd attack IsLam any chance that they couLd get. EvidentLy they cant find any defectiveness with IsLam(they couLdnt anyway because there is none to begin with)so they attack our women because they think that we are oppressed simpLy because we dare not expose and put ourseLves on the market Like a sex obJect-what the majority if not aLL kufaars do.

 

Yes there are unjust musLims out there whether it be maLes or femaLes but thats not to say that IsLam permitts if anything IsLam forbids and condemns such acts,whether it be absuse, incest,and other forms of intoLerabLe acts.

 

She shouLd be exiLed and i beLieve she deserved what she got if not more-thats just me and how i feel.

No one gave her the right to caLL IsLam a "backwards" reLigion. :eek: :eek: :mad: :mad: I wouLd have no probLem with it if she was taLKing about her famiLy and personaL experience :rolleyes: (that doesnt open grounds for disrespecting the word of ALLah and aLL the godfearing good musLims out there)but to be taLking about IsLam (women)as if though she was the spokeswoman for aLL of the MusLim women is beyond incomprehensibLe to say the Least. :mad:

[Business_Man]

Didn't we discuss this topic many times?

 

Check Camel Milk Debate forum or the Islam forum for more opinions on the same subject.

I never came across that post but please feel free to show me where you think this topic was discussed walaal. By the way congratulations again on your wedding. You previously knew me as Mr. Mill.

 

Peace.

[wind talker]

Ayan Hersi Ali aka the self-titled Somali or modern day Salman Rushdie is a pathetic excuse for a human. If she can't see a distinction between her personal life and the lives of 1.5 billion Muslims across the globe, then she truly is beyond pathetic.

 

AND she certainly has points but Islam was, is, and WILL NEVER be a backward religion. OPINIONATED's support for this lady doesn't suprise me at all. I mean it was OPINIONATED who claimed that some of us (on SOL or perhaps the general Somali population) are "as backwards as our parents." You'll find this quote under the post "Somalis Fear Children will Falsely Claim Abuse."

 

Beauty of the Internet: everyone has a Ph.D.!

[Business_Man]

Everyone has an opinion to make Wind_Talker so highlighting opinionated's fragile statement isnt going to solve anything. Why dont you just be more cautious instead of having an all guns blazing attitude!!! :eek:

[-Serenity-]

I dont know whats the deal with Opinionated these dayz, her opinions are verging on obsurd...Oh! I get it..she is pulling 'your' legs