Ayaan Hirsi Ali Update
Dean
I owe Mary a (minor I hope) apology. She wrote an excellent article last week about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and my immediate response was rather dismissive. What I said was, "Argh. Another atheist."
This was based on the fact that I'm not particularly religious myself, but, I am always looking for voices in the Muslim world who are progressive but not dismissive of the faith.
But I was wrong to be so callous. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an amazing person. In many ways she's more of a man than I am. I doubt I have half her courage. I think we need voices in the Muslim world who are still faithful who reject terrorism and tyranny, but that does not mean that someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali should be ignored. Indeed, faithful Muslims ought to look at her and ask themselves why she abandoned her faith, and ask whether it was something they did wrong to make her feel that way. She's a gentle, beautiful, courageous soul, with a spine made of titanium and balls of steel.
Rumor has it that she will soon be an American. If so, all I can say is "welcome my sister." If America is anything at all, it is a refuge for souls like yourself.
Bill Ardolino has an update on her case.
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I applaud her. And on issues of liberty she is my ally against the extremists. But not on matters of faith - her pronouncements on what Islam is are as irrelevant to me as bin Laden's. I won't be shamed from my beliefs.
Basically: Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an ally, not an alim.
Aziz - does all of Africa have "the single highest locus of barabric misogyny on the planet, irrespective of religion"? From what I've read, the nations and tribes of Africa have a very wide variety of views, ranging from the extreme (Libya, where women are rarely seen on the street) to the relatively liberal (Morocco, South Africa)
Mary: I don't know if I agree with Aziz 100% but I can't disagree with him either. Female circumcision has its roots in Africa. And if you look at Freedom House's ratings, you'll find that Africa overall is plagued with the highest number of least-free nations of any continent--and note that I did not say they're all unfree (they aren't) or that there are no unfree nations outside of Africa (there certaintly are) but the continenet is clearly in very bad shape in that regard. Just look at Rudy Rummel's recent list of the world's current mortocracies and about half are from that single continent. Some of that is the legacy of colonialism, but I would argue that much of it is what might be called "reverse colonialism," i.e. the tendency in the rest of the world to say "well a dictator in someplace like Uganda or Zimbabwe is okay as long as he's an AFRICAN dictator," which is a subtle form of racism in and of itself.
I was just wondering about the phrase 'tribal' african heritage. The entire continent of Africa is a pretty big place, with tribal heritage in most nations, from Egypt, Morocco and Libya to South Africa. I know that the majority of these nations are less than free, but it's not clear if the entire continent has, on average, the worst history of misogyny worldwide.
"It's not easy being an Atheist and a Somali - in fact, it is impossible to consolidate the two. Anyone who dares to question any of the tenants is threatened with death, as is the case with Ayaan. For this reason I have found it easier to hide my convictions rather than risk an attack by some lunatic Islamist"
BTW I highly recommend Jonathan Edelstein of the Head Heeb blog for Africa-centric analysis. He's about teh only blogger with any decent readership who focuses on Africa. He's essential reading.