What You'll Learn:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a lecturer, scholar, and advocate for the rights of women and the reform of Islam. Infidel details her journey from one of the poorest countries in Africa with little power over how her life would unfold, to her escape from an arranged marriage, to her rise in politics in Europe and scholarship in North America, to the reasons why she now has full-time bodyguards.
Key Insights:
- Ayaan grew up memorizing her lineage, learning about nomadic life from her grandmother, and observing rules to preserve family honor.
- Ayaan’s grandmother went to extreme lengths to guard her granddaughter’s purity.
- Saudi Arabia boasts a purer expression of Islam, which proved an adjustment for Ayaan’s family.
- Unlike many Somali girls, Ayaan had a chance to flee her arranged marriage—and she took it.
- Despite her attempts to stay hidden from family and clan, the husband she fled found her in Holland.
- 9/11 forced a crisis of faith that led to Ayaan’s rejection of Islam and disbelief in God.
- Ayaan’s creation of a provocative film put a country in an uproar, her life in jeopardy, and broke her ties to her home and citizenship.
Similar Titles
