When Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic extremist in November 2004, the murderer pinned a letter to the body by means of a knife stabbed into the chest. That letter was addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a woman from an Islamic background who had collaborated with van Gogh in making a short film called Submission Part 1, about the role of women in Islam. Hirsi Ali has written a book about her life entitled Infidel.
The book tells the story of how the author began life as a child in Somalia, how she was subjected to female circumcision, and how the family spent time in exile in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and then Kenya as a result of her father’s political activities. Eventually Hirsi Ali’s father arranged a marriage for her against her will to an older Muslim man who was a Canadian — an event which she did not even attend — and while she was in Germany en route to Canada she took the opportunity to escape to the Netherlands and seek asylum.
Through an interesting chain of circumstances, the author was successful in obtaining permanent residency in the Netherlands, gaining employment as a translator, studying at a university there, and ultimately achieving election to the Dutch parliament. Her political views alienated her from conservative Muslims so that her life was under constant threat. It is an exciting book which provides a unique perspective on life for women within a Somali-type Muslim culture.