After listening to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's talk at Harvard JFK's School of Government this afternoon, I went up to shake her hand and let her know much I admired her. She is physically a slight woman. How can it be that such a small woman is so feared? How can it be that men would kill her for her ideas?
The event was the JFK School's "Profiles in Public Leadership," moderated by Professor Barbara Kellerman. Ayaan spoke for about an hour (I missed the first half hour, dratted day job!), and fielded questions for another half hour. You needed prior permission to attend the event and a picture ID to get in. There were four strong-looking guys in suits in the room, posted up front and at the doors to (a familiar site at local lectures by critics of Islam). About 125 people were there, mostly grad students and professors.
Ayaan spoke of her evolution in thinking about Islam and becoming a politician and activist. She was raised Muslim, but at some point decided that there was no God. Once she was free of the fear of God, hell and damnation, she was able to critically look at Islam and ask questions. After 9/11, she asked, is terrorism linked to Islam or not? Can Islam be refomed? Her answer to the second question: Yes, but it must be reformed by Muslims. And it cannot be reformed without negating (not just ignoring) certain parts of the Koran. "We must leave in the past that which belongs in the past."
From her experiences as a social worker in Holland, she saw that many immigrant woman and girls were victims of violence, including being beaten, enduring FGM and forced marriages. Holland, caught up in multiculturalism, didn't protect these women but deferred to the immigrant men. The females were at the mercy of the religious and cultural practices of their immigrant "collective." Holland, like other liberal European states, was sacrificing the individual rights of women and children for the collective rights of the religious minorities.
She also spoke about making the movie "Submission" with Theo van Gogh. She wanted to have a dialogue with Allah, instead of just submit to Allah, she was asking Allah if it was right, just and moral to inflict violence upon women as many do. There is clear justification in the Koran and hadiths for men ruling over women and even beating them, and she had the texts printed on womens bodies in the film. She spoke movingly of the murder of her friend Theo, and the guilt that she bears some responsibility for that. His death made her more radical and more committed to her work.
The Q&A afterwards demonstrated the forces that Ayaan is working against. Most questions to her were fairly hostile: How can an atheist reform Islam? What is your agenda? Why are you speaking about Islam when you are not a theologian? Isn't what you're doing extreme and dangerous and how is it serving the cause? Why should a Muslim listen to you? Aren't you setting up a straw man argument, saying that Muslims are either good Muslims or they're Osama bin Laden? Why are you only harping about Islam? What about the Hindu texts?
Ayaan was unflappable and graceful in her responses."I speak about Islamic texts because that is what I know. Religion is public, ideas are public. It is necessary and urgent to review, revise, and discuss Islam as a body of ideas. It is time to examine the links between religion and values."
One business school student (Muslim male) asked "If Islam is so oppressive to women, how can you explain that Muslim countries like Pakistan and Indonesia have had women prime ministers?" Her response to that was deadly: "In some Muslim countries such as Iran and Afghanistan, under sharia, women are forced to wear hijab, adulters are stoned (mostly women, not the men), daughters get half the inheritance that sons do, and a man can easily get a divorce, while it's very difficult for women to get divorced. In secular Muslim countries like Turkey and Indonesia, fundamentalist Islam is on the rise. Twenty years ago, Indonesian women did not go around in hijab, now it is commonplace. There is an attitude of denial in the face of a great deal of empirical evidence about the oppression of women. Anyone who denies this evidence is personally contributing to the subjugation of women." (That means YOU, Dude).
The last questioner (Bangladeshi woman) asked "Do you identify yourself as a woman? If so, why aren't you concerned with domestic abuse? Why are you only harping about Islam?" Ayaan was amused. "Yes, I identify myself as a woman, I think that's self-evident." She replied that much of her work is against violence and oppression of girls and women around the world, which is easily confimed by reading her books and lectures. At this point, given the overt hostility of the questioner, Ayaan noted that debate and criticism of Islam is not the same as attacking Islam. "I'm not attacking Islam, I want to reform Islam." Here Ayaan asked "I really wonder what you (referring to all the grad students) are doing here" It was along the lines of "What are they teaching you anyway? Do you not know how to debate or discuss an issue?"
In closing she said "We need to find a balance between faith and reason." Phenomenal and remarkable woman, I feel blessed to have seen her in person. Afterwards, I hopped over to the Coop and bought an autographed copy of her book The Caged Virgin - An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam. A very good day.