I’d like Muslims to look at their religion as a set of beliefs that they can appraise critically and pick and choose from.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII’d like Muslims to look at their religion as a set of beliefs that they can appraise critically and pick and choose from.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIAfter the horrific massacre Wednesday at the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, perhaps the West will finally put away its legion of useless tropes trying to deny the relationship between violence and radical Islam.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIBear true witness, even if it be against yourselves, your parents or your family.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIAll my life I have been a nomad.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIIn 1985 as a teenager in Kenya, I was an adamant member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIThe demand that Islam makes of women is to not attract attention to yourself, and if you are in a secular society, that attire does exactly that, and it is a political symbol, no longer religious.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII want people to emphasize life before death as opposed to life after death.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII think of Canada, first and foremost, in terms of space. The amount of space available is breathtaking.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII see no difference between Islam and Islamism. Islam is defined as submission to the will of Allah, as it is described in the Koran. Islamism is just Islam in its most pure form.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIWomen covering their heads is traditional, but now we’re seeing more and more women covering themselves from head to toe. This is said to be for religious reasons but it’s actually the conflation of religion and politics – every political movement has its slogans, flags and dress.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIWe have to start with the little babies who are born now, socialize them in freedom and critical thinking. We don’t have to throw away their faith. People confuse the two, thinking if you are enlightened that means apostasy. It doesn’t.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIWhere there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIDrinking wine and wearing trousers were nothing compared to reading the history of ideas.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIIn April 2006, a Dutch court ordered that I leave my safe-home that I was renting from the State. The judge concluded that my neighbors had a right to argue that they felt unsafe because of my presence in the building.
AYAAN HIRSI ALIIt takes a long time to dissolve the bars of a mental cage.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII call myself a liberal – a classical liberal as in John Stuart Mill.
AYAAN HIRSI ALI