My first experience in the Netherlands was very pleasant, extremely pleasant. I mean, I got my residence permit, refugee status, within four weeks of arrival. People treated me extremely well.
AYAAN HIRSI ALII would rather clean than beg.
More Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes
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I assume the closest members of my family don’t actually want to kill me, but the truth is that I have shamed and hurt them; they have to deal with the outrage that my public statements cause, and undoubtedly some members of my clan do want to kill me for that.
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I have had to pay a price for leaving Islam and for speaking out. I have to pay for round-the-clock security because of the death threats against me.
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My friend, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered in 2004 for having been insufficiently reverent toward Islam.
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There are some mosques with facilities for women; it’s usually a back room with a back-door entrance.
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Avoiding offense means that we don’t accept each other as equals.
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Every time you take a train, step into your car, walk into the shopping mall, go to the airport – every single time, something could happen. That’s how terrorism works.
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I would rather clean than beg.
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There is a huge difference between being tolerant and tolerating intolerance.
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I would like to be judged on the validity of my arguments, not as a victim.
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It takes a long time to dissolve the bars of a mental cage.
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Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.
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Bear true witness, even if it be against yourselves, your parents or your family.
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The liberal psyche wants to protect minorities, to apologize for imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and the appalling treatment of black people during the civil rights movement. At the same time, they want to continue to defend the rights of individuals.
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I come from a world where the word ‘trauma’ doesn’t exist, because we are too poor. I didn’t have an easy life compared to the average European. But compared to the average African, it wasn’t all that bad.
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We had a world dominated by the Soviet Union on the one hand, and the Americans on the other hand. They called it the Cold War. But it wasn’t cold. I am someone who comes from the third world. In the third world, the cold war wasn’t cold. Millions had been killed. It was a proxy war.
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If we don’t take effective measures now, the Netherlands could be torn between two extreme rights.
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I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘moderate Islam.’ I think it’s better to talk about degrees of belief and degrees of practice.
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I love life more than I love death.
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I’d like Muslims to look at their religion as a set of beliefs that they can appraise critically and pick and choose from.
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I am grateful to my father for sending me to school, and that we moved from Somalia to Kenya, where I learned English.
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I don’t have much in me left for Somalia, because the country is so broken, it’s not realistic to daydream about it.
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I want people to emphasize life before death as opposed to life after death.
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In Holland I have seen well-meaning, principled people blinded by multiculturalism, overwhelmed by the imperative to be sensitive and respectful of immigrant culture, while ignoring criminal abuse of women and girls.
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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.
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But without doubts, without a standpoint reached through questionings, human beings can’t acquire knowledge.
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Women 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 ALI