Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Ayaan Xirsi Cali)

Who is she?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch and American writer, activist and former politician (Wikipedia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali). She is known for her criticism of Islam, which has made her a debated figure (same source). This page records her public life without taking sides.

Early life

She was born Ayaan Hirsi Magan in Mogadishu on 13 November 1969 (Wikipedia). Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a member of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front and was jailed for opposing Siad Barre (same source). At the age of five she underwent female genital cutting, arranged by her grandmother (same source). After her father left prison, the family lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and then Kenya for about ten years (same source). See female genital cutting.

The Netherlands

In 1992 she went to the Netherlands and asked for asylum, saying she was fleeing a forced marriage (same source). She worked as a cleaner, a post sorter and a Somali-Dutch interpreter (same source). She took a master's degree in political science at Leiden University (same source). In 2002 she said she had given up religion (same source). See Somalis in the Netherlands.

She was elected to the Dutch lower house for the VVD party in 2003 (same source). In 2004 she wrote and narrated the short film Submission, directed by Theo van Gogh, about the treatment of women under Islamic law (same source). Mohammed Bouyeri killed van Gogh soon after the film came out, and she went into hiding (same source). In 2005 Time magazine named her among the 100 most influential people in the world (same source).

The 2006 asylum dispute

In May 2006 a Dutch television programme reported that she had given a false name, age and account of her journey in her 1992 asylum claim (Wikipedia). She said these facts had been public since 2002 and that the forced marriage was true (same source). The immigration minister moved to cancel her citizenship (same source). She resigned from parliament on 16 May 2006 (Al Jazeera, 16 May 2006). On 27 June 2006 the government said she would keep her Dutch citizenship (Al Jazeera, 27 June 2006). The row led to the fall of the Dutch cabinet days later (Wikipedia).

The United States

In 2006 she joined the American Enterprise Institute in Washington (Wikipedia). Her books Infidel (2007), Nomad (2010) and Heretic (2015) became bestsellers (same source). She founded the AHA Foundation, which campaigns against forced marriage, female genital cutting and honour violence in the United States (same source). She was a fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center from 2016 to 2019 (same source). She became a US citizen on 25 April 2013 (same source). She is married to the historian Niall Ferguson (same source).

Views and debate

She has argued for closing religious schools that teach political Islam and has called "Islamophobia" a "manufactured term" (Wikipedia). In November 2023 she announced she had become a Christian (same source). Critics have accused her of Islamophobia and questioned her standing "to speak authoritatively about Islam and the Arab world" (same source). Supporters, among them United States officials in 2006, have praised her as courageous (same source).

In short

A Mogadishu-born writer and former Dutch member of parliament, now living in the United States, whose criticism of Islam has drawn both strong support and strong criticism.