In 1992, Ayaan went to Amsterdam to escape an arranged marriage. Once in Holland, Ayaan pretended to be fleeing political persecution, and she applied for asylum — the Dutch authorities granted her refugee status, and later citizenship. Ayaan then learned Dutch, and, among other jobs, she initially worked as an interpreter for Somalis — mostly women in different situations, including in abortion clinics, and women's shelters — many of whom suffered as a result of Islamic religious practices. This experience, combined with her own personal life, helped to form her extreme opposition to Islam.
After graduating from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Ayaan was given a job at a think tank working for the Dutch Labour Party, where she conducted research on the integration and assimilation of Muslims into Dutch society. From the fall of 2001 to the fall of 2002, Ayaan wrote articles that were openly critical of Islam and the Islamic community, especially with regard to the plight of Muslim women. Ayaan described the main point of her work then as: "The basic principles of liberal democracies and the basic principles of Islam are incompatible, therefore immigrants have to make a choice."
Because of the publication of Ayaan's articles, as well as interviews and activism she engaged in for Muslim women in Holland, her life was threatened and continues to be threatened. In late 2002, threats to Ayaan escalated to such a degree that she traveled in secret to Los Angeles to hide. After just a few weeks in hiding in Los Angeles, Ayaan returned to the Netherlands to run for parliament at the request of the Deputy Prime Minister of Holland, under the assurance the Dutch government would provide her with security, as long as there were threats to her life. Ayaan was elected to the Dutch parliament in 2003, and served for three years.
In August 2004, Ayaan and Theo Van Gogh (great grand nephew of Vincent Van Gogh) made the short film entitled 'Submission', which shows a single actress, dressed in a transparent chador, doing monologues from the perspective of Muslim women who were abused by either their family (as Ayaan was), or Muslim men. The actresses's naked body is painted with verses from the Quran that require the submission of women.
Here is an image of Ayaan Hirsi Ali with the actress from 'Submission' —
Here is the film 'Submission' —
In regard to 'Submission', Ayaan quotes Theo Van Gogh as having said:
'It's a small gift to all Muslim women — it's the least I can do.'In response to 'Submission', Theo Van Gogh was murdered while cycling to work on a busy street in Amsterdam on November 2, 2004. The murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, shot Van Gogh eight times with a handgun — including several times at close range, after Van Gogh had fallen to the ground — before he attempted to decapitate Van Gogh with a large knife. Bouyeri then plunged the large knife deep into Van Gogh's chest, and used another knife to attach a long note to Van Gogh's body. The note was addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and contained various threats, including death threats to Ayaan.
Note that it wasn't enough for Bouyeri to murder Van Gogh — he felt compelled to mutilate Van Gogh's body.
To justify committing a murder, Bouyeri created a delusion that Muslims were being terrorized by Ayaan, from her repeated attempts to point out the horrible treatment of Muslim women, that is not only condoned, but commanded by Islam. Here is how Bouyeri put it in his letter to Ayaan, that he attached to Theo Van Gogh's body with a knife --
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Letters_(Mohammed_Bouyeri)
http://archive.is/HKlyN
Dear miss Hirshi Ali,
Since your appearence in the political arena of the Netherlands you are constantly engaging in terrorizing Muslims and Islam with your remarks. You are hereby not the first at this and will also not be the last who has joined the crusade against Islam.
With your attacks you have not only turned your back on the Truth, but you also march along the ranks of the soldiers of evil. You mince no words about your hostility against Islam, and for this your masters have rewarded you with a seat in parliament.
This is not surprising — crippled minds, motivated by hatred, will always create lies to justify perverse desires, rather than acknowledge that they are the problem.
Here is Ayaan speaking at the University of Wisconsin back in February 2010, where she describes the submission required by Islam, and the violence routinely committed in the name of the Islamic religion — as well as the threats to her own life from Muslims for her vocal opposition. Notice that she begins the talk by apologizing for the long delay that was caused by the extensive security required for her protection —
Here is the Q&A to Ayaan's speech above —
Here is verse 34, from chapter 4 of the Quran, 'The Women', which states that men are in charge of women, and that men may beat their wives into submission, for being arrogant --
http://legacy.quran.com/4/34
This explains a good deal about the plight of women in Islamic countries.
Ayaan pointed out in her talk that the Christian Bible is just as negative as the Quran in many respects, but Chrisitian countries have achieved a separation of church and state that is non-existent in Islamic countries. In short, the fanatical Christians who take the blatantly irrational passages of the Old and New Testaments from the Christian Bible seriously, are a small fringe group that are marginalized by the vast majority of Christians, whereas the same pattern does not apply to the followers of Islam and the Quran.
As a dramatic demonstration of this point, consider the case of Asia Bibi, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani judge in November 2010, for the charge of blasphemy, as the result of an accusation from some Muslim women who were angry because Bibi, who is a Christian, drank from a village well — since Muslims consider Christians to be unclean.
Here is how Asia Bibi described her situation --
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../pakistani-christian-woman-sentenced-death-blasphemy-...-muslim-neighbours-loses-appeal.html
http://archive.is/jjMnU
'I, Asia Bibi, have been sentenced to death because I was thirsty. I'm a prisoner because I used the same cup as those Muslim women, because water served by a Christian woman was regarded as unclean by my stupid fellow fruit-pickers.'
In August of 2013, Asia Bibi published a memoir of her ordeal, entitled 'Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water' —
http://www.amazon.com/Blasphemy-Memoir-Sentenced-Death-Water/dp/1613748892
Here is Asia Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, with two of his daughters, and the former Pakistani Minister of Minority Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti --
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403773/Christian-woman-Asia-Bibi-jailed-Pakistan-using-Muslim-womens-cup...html
http://archive.is/IuMSG
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../pakistani-christian-woman-sentenced-death-blasphemy-...-muslim-neighbours-loses-appeal.html
http://archive.is/jjMnU
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/author/ashiq-masih/
https://archive.is/mQRg1
The former Pakistani Minister of Minority Affairs in the photo above, Shahbaz Bhatti, was murdered on March 2, 2011, in Islamabad, for defending Christians, and for being an advocate for reform of Pakistan's insane blasphemy laws. Bhatti is reported to have received death threats beginning in 2009, for speaking in defense of Christians —
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12617562
http://archive.is/RvM9W
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/02/pakistan-minister-shot-dead-islamabad
http://archive.is/Z7XLS
And on January 4, 2011, the former governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was murdered by one of his own security team members, also as a result of his opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy laws, and for defending Asia Bibi —
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12111831
http://archive.is/lOwKi
Here is Asia Bibi with Salman Taseer in 2010, not long before he was murdered --
http://www.smh.com.au/world/as-asia-bibi-waits-on-death-row-pakistans-blasphemy-laws-in-spotlight-as-deaths-...html
http://archive.is/0nCUH
Here are Asia Bibi's daughters in 2010, with a picture of Asia --
http://nypost.com/2013/08/25/sentenced-to-death-for-a-sip-of-water/
http://archive.is/wowdm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403773/Christian-woman-Asia-Bibi-jailed-Pakistan-using-Muslim-womens-cup...html
http://archive.is/IuMSG
http://www.smh.com.au/world/as-asia-bibi-waits-on-death-row-pakistans-blasphemy-laws-in-spotlight-as-deaths-...html
http://archive.is/0nCUH
And in a previous post, I included this brief description of Rashid Rehman — Rehman was a Pakistani attorney who was murdered in cold blood in his office on May 7, 2014, for agreeing to defend a college lecturer accused of blasphemy. It is reported that Rehman had received numerous death threats from highly educated people — other lawyers.
http://archive.is/j7GUZ
You might think that with the never ending acts of violence being committed in the name of Islam, that most people would be open to criticism of this belief system — but you would be wrong.
In April of 2014, after protests by various groups, including a Muslim Student Association, Brandeis University decided to withdraw its invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree at its commencement ceremonies in May of 2014.
In what seems like it could only be intended as a tragic comic farce, the Muslim Student Association opposed the invitation from Brandeis to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the grounds that Ayaan uses hate speech against Islam —
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/15/ayaan-hirsi-ali-honordiariesbrandeisuniversity.html
http://archive.is/iTZra
http://archive.is/dyWVX
Here is a petition letter to the administration of Brandeis University, that was written by a Brandeis senior and member of the Muslim Student Association at Brandeis in 2014, Sarah Fahmy --
https://www.change.org/p/brandeis-university-administration-speak-out-against-honoring-ayaan-hirsi-ali-at-brandeis-2014...
http://archive.is/LFiSB
Speak out against the award of an Honorary Degree in Social Justice to Ayaan Hirsi Ali- a woman whose ideas of justice threaten and attempt to eliminate a religion integral to many members of Brandeis University.
Hirsi Ali was chosen to receive an Honorary Degree in Social Justice at Brandeis’ 2014 Commencement Ceremony.
To the Administration of Brandeis University:
It has come as a shock to our community due to her extreme Islamophobic beliefs, that Ayaan Hirsi Ali would be receiving an Honorary Degree in Social Justice this year. The selection of Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree is a blatant and callous disregard by the administration of not only the Muslim students, but of any student who has experienced pure hate speech. It is a direct violation of Brandeis University's own moral code as well as the rights of Brandeis students.
While we are not belittling the severity of the issues that she raises, she uses hate speech against Islam as a means to do this. A few of many examples are written below and illustrate this.
David Cohen quotes Ms. Hirsi Ali as saying: "Violence is inherent in Islam – it is a destructive, nihilistic cult of death. It legitimates murder. The police may foil plots and freeze bank accounts in the short term, but the battle against terrorism will ultimately be lost unless we realise that it is not just with extremist elements within Islam, but the ideology of Islam itself....Islam is the new fascism" (London Evening Standard, 2-7-07). Rogier van Bakel quotes her as follows: "Jews should be proselytizing about a God that you can quarrel with. Catholics should be proselytizing about a God who is love....Those are lovely concepts of God. They can’t compare to the fire-breathing Allah who inspires jihadism and totalitarianism." Van Bakel notes religions' ability to bring about change for good: "Do you think Islam could bring about similar social and political changes?" Ms. Hirsi Ali responds, "Only if Islam is defeated." Van Bakel asks, "Don’t you mean defeating radical Islam?" To that she responds, "No. Islam, period." (Reason, 11-07)
How can an Administration of a University that prides itself on social justice and acceptance of all make a decision that targets and disrespects it is own students? This is hurtful to the Muslim students and the Brandeis community who stand for social justice.
Please consider signing this petition, appealing to have the offer of this degree by the University rescinded immediately.
In Solidarity,
No one with experience with university administrations would be surprised that the Brandeis administrators quickly backed down from the controversy, and withdrew their invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Here is a mocking description of the Brandeis affair by Nick Gillespie at the reason.com blog on April 9, 2014, and the possibility that a 2007 interview Ayaan did with 'Reason' was the cause of the Brandeis invitation being withdrawn —
http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/09/did-ayaan-hirsi-alis-reason-interview-si
https://archive.is/HnAXr
https://archive.is/x4Vey
Here is the interview Ayaan did with Rogier van Bakel for 'Reason' back in 2007
http://reason.com/archives/2007/10/10/the-trouble-is-the-west/singlepage
https://archive.is/TbJID
It is a pity that the delicate cowardly sensibilities of the Brandeis administrators, and the members of the Brandeis Muslim Student Association, are not as offended by all of the murders committed in the name of Islam, as they are by someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has the audacity to point out the murders committed in the name of Islam.
Here is what Ayaan would have said, had she been invited to speak at the commencement ceremonies at Brandeis University in 2014 —
http://www.aei.org/publication/heres-what-i-would-have-said-at-brandeis/
https://archive.is/mEQxc
In her planned speech, Ayaan quoted the Brandeis motto (https://archive.is/vXtMq), which they clearly did not live up to in their dealings with her —
The motto of Brandeis University is “Truth even unto its innermost parts.” That is my motto too. For it is only through truth, unsparing truth, that your generation can hope to do better than mine in the struggle for peace, freedom and equality of the sexes.
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