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By Krupa Makim, 12/26/2020 3:00:34 AM
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A superb inspirational story especially for women from Hindu and Muslim communities.
What a beautiful journey of Miss Ayaan.
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Reviews posted for
Infidel
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Infidel: A remarkable story of Journeys!
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By Shweta Shah, 10/14/2013 9:51:48 AM
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel lingers long after you have read the last word. It’s nothing short of a miracle that she survived her childhood - the patriarchal grandmother, castigating mother, absent father, bullying brother, childhood in exile… the perfect recipe for a one way ticket to a mental asylum. Hirsi Ali doesn’t lose her sanity but someone very close to her does. Sometimes, life is about how strong you are on the inside. I have to emphasize that nowhere in the book does Hirsi Ali portray herself as a victim or sounds bitter, but to me she is a survivor extraordinaire. The scary part is the circumstances that she writes about in her autobiography might be an ordinary thing for people who practice it – the female circumcision: the cutting up of inner labia and sowing up of outer labia because the ‘thing between your legs’ is shameful (and don’t forget, women are supposed to be pure); the subjugation of women by covering them up so they won’t provoke men; forced marriages which license rape; the blind faith which misquotes and misinterprets in turn condoning terrible crimes; existing as a non-human under a dictatorship, a tyrannical government; censorship.
The narrative gushes by though English is her third language. I think, she’s quite honest but she was a politician once. Her attack on hypocritical secularism hit home. It’s easy to oppose the system you are a part of – be it religion, or politics. To me, it would be outright bigotry if a non-muslim had written what Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote in the chapter “Leaving God”.
The book is peppered with shocking anecdotes – a man is shot to death in the refugee camp over a can of water; immigrant women in the Dutch camp laugh when they see a man crying on TV because apparently men don’t cry; a baby is burnt alive by the soldiers, once they rape the mother. The harrowing images never leave.
This is a story of journeys.
From Somalia to Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia to Kenya to the Netherlands to the US.
From the Oppression of Femininity to Feminism.
From Docility to Taking a Stand.
From Devout Muslim to Infidel.
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Reviews posted for
Infidel
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