Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Her first name Ayaan means lucky person or simply luck in Somali.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali ( pronunciation ; ; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan ; 13 November 1969) Dutch intellectual , feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged daughter of the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse . She is a prominent critic of Islam , and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh 's movie Submission led to death threats. When she was eight, Hirsi Ali's family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia , then Ethiopia , and eventually settled in Kenya . She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later became the center of a political controversy. In 2003 she was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parliament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet . Hirsi Ali is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative think tank , and has been living in the United States. In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world . She has also received several awards including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten , the Swedish Liberal Party 's Democracy Prize , and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. In 2006 she published her memoir, which appeared in English translation in 2007 titled Infidel . "Dutch government falls in row over MPs passport" "Dutch U-turn over passport for Somali-born MP" "Ayaan Hirsi Ali terug in Nederland" .

She is known for her views critical of female genital mutilation , Islam and Muslims and supportive of women's rights and atheism . She declared that the religion of Islam had to be "defeated", and regards its followers as "enemies" that need to be "crushed" before "peace" can be achieved. She collaborated on a short movie with Theo van Gogh , entitled Submission (2004). Critical of Islam, it provoked controversy, and death threats were made against each of the two. Van Gogh was assassinated later that year by a Dutch Muslim. Hirsi Ali is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse . She and her family left Somalia in 1977 for Saudi Arabia , then Ethiopia , and later settled in Kenya . In 1992, Ali sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands . Following graduate work, she published articles on her political views and spoke in support of Muslim women , becoming an atheist . In 2003 Hirsi Ali was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament ), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A political crisis related to the validity of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from parliament, and indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet in 2006. In 2005 Hirsi Ali was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world . She has also received several awards, including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , the Swedish Liberal Party 's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. Hirsi Ali has published two autobiographies: in 2006 and 2010. Hirsi Ali emigrated to the United States, where she was a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute . She founded the women’s rights organisation the AHA Foundation . She became a naturalised U.S. citizen in 2013 and that year was made a fellow at the Kennedy Government School at Harvard University and a member of The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center . She is married to British historian and public commentator Niall Ferguson . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). "Varför Vill Hon Fortfarande Vara Muslim?" . den liberala scenen i svensk debatt .

Activist, politician, and author For the Pakistani actress and model, see Ayyan (model) . Ayaan Hirsi Ali ( / aɪ ˈ j ɑː n ˈ h ɪər s i ˈ ɑː l i / ; ; Somali : Ayaan Xirsi Cali : Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan , 13 November 1969) is a Somali -born Dutch-American activist and former politician. She is a critic of Islam and advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women , opposing forced marriage , honour killing , child marriage , and female genital mutilation . Hirsi Ali has founded an organisation for the defense of women's rights, the AHA Foundation . She works for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University , the American Enterprise Institute , and was a senior fellow at the Future of Democracy Project at Harvard Kennedy School . She currently hosts The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast and is a columnist for UnHerd , a British online magazine. In 2003, Hirsi Ali was elected a member of the House of Representatives , the lower house of the States General of the Netherlands , representing the centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A political crisis related to the validity of her Dutch citizenship , namely the accusation that she had lied on her application for political asylum, led to her resignation from parliament, and indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet in 2006. Hirsi Ali is a former Muslim who became an atheist . In 2004, she collaborated on a short film with Theo van Gogh , titled Submission , which depicted the oppression of women under fundamentalist Islamic law, and was critical of the Muslim canon itself. The film led to death threats, and Van Gogh was murdered several days after the film's release by Mohammed Bouyeri , a Moroccan-Dutch Islamic terrorist . Hirsi Ali maintains that "Islam is part religion, and part a political-military doctrine, the part that is a political doctrine contains a world view, a system of laws and a moral code that is totally incompatible with our constitution, our laws, and our way of life." In her 2015 book Heretic , Hirsi Ali called for a reformation of Islam by countering Islamism and supporting reformist Muslims . In 2005, Hirsi Ali was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world . She has also received several awards, including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , the Swedish Liberal Party 's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. Christopher Hitchens regarded her as "the most important public intellectual probably ever to come out of Africa." Critics accuse Ali of being Islamophobic and question her scholarly credentials "to speak authoritatively about Islam and the Arab world". Her works have been accused of using neo-orientalist portrayals and of perpetuating a " civilizing mission " discourse. Hirsi Ali married Scottish-American historian Niall Ferguson in 2011, migrated to the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 2013. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). The Guardian . 16 May 2016 . The New York Times . 1 April 2015 . "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "You can't change these practices if you don't talk about them" " . The New York Times . 24 February 2017 . Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs . "Varför Vill Hon Fortfarande Vara Muslim?" . den liberala scenen i svensk debatt .

In this Somali name , Hirsi Ali is a patronymic . Activist, politician, and author (born 1969) Ayaan Hirsi Ali ( Somali : Ayaan Xirsi Cali ; born 13 November 1969) is a Dutch and American writer, activist, conservative thinker and former politician. She is a critic of Islam , and an advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women , opposing forced marriage , honour killing , child marriage , and female genital mutilation . At the age of five, following local traditions in Somalia, Ali underwent female genital mutilation organized by her grandmother. Her father Hirsi Ali Magan —a scholar, intellectual, and a devout Muslim—was against the procedure but could not stop it from happening because he was imprisoned by the Communist government of Somalia at the time. Her family moved across various countries in Africa and the Middle East, and at 23, she received political asylum in the Netherlands, gaining Dutch citizenship five years later. In her early 30s, Hirsi Ali renounced the Islamic faith of her childhood, began identifying as an atheist, and became involved in Dutch centre-right politics, joining the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In 2023 she announced that she had become a Christian. In 2003, Ayaan was elected to the lower house of the States General of the Netherlands . While serving in parliament, she collaborated on a short film with Theo van Gogh , titled Submission , which depicted the oppression of women under fundamentalist Islamic law and was critical of the Muslim canon itself. The film led to death threats, and Van Gogh was murdered shortly after the film's release by Mohammed Bouyeri , a Moroccan-Dutch Islamic terrorist , driving Hirsi Ali into hiding. At this time, she became more outspoken as a critic of Islam. In 2005, Time magazine named Ali as one of the 100 most influential people in the world . Her outspoken criticism of Islam made her a controversial figure in Dutch politics. After an investigation by Zembla it was uncovered that Ayaan lied about her past and real name, prompting her to resign from parliament in 2006 and announcing plans to move to the United States. Moving to the United States, Ayaan joined conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute , where she established herself as a writer, activist, and public intellectual. In Heretic , Ali called for reformation of Islam by countering Islamism and supporting reformist Muslims , though previously she had said Islam was beyond reform. In the United States, Ali has founded an organisation for the defense of women's rights, the AHA Foundation . She has taken roles at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University , the American Enterprise Institute , and at Harvard Kennedy School as a senior fellow at the Future of Democracy Project. Since 2021, she has served as a columnist for UnHerd , a British online magazine; since 2022, she has also hosted The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast . Ali was a central figure in New Atheism since its beginnings. She was strongly associated with the movement, along with Christopher Hitchens , who regarded Ali as "the most important public intellectual probably ever to come out of Africa". Writing in a column in November 2023, Ali announced her conversion to Christianity, claiming that in her view the Judeo-Christian tradition is the only answer to the problems of the modern world. She has received several awards, including a free speech award from the centre-right Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , the Swedish conservative Liberal Party 's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. Critics have accused Ali of being Islamophobic or neo-orientalist and question her scholarly credentials "to speak authoritatively about Islam and the Arab world", saying she promotes the notion of a Western " civilizing mission ". Ali is married to Scottish-American historian Niall Ferguson . The couple are raising their sons in the United States, where she became a citizen in 2013. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). The Guardian . 16 May 2016 . The New York Times . 1 April 2015 . "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "You can't change these practices if you don't talk about them" " . The New York Times . 24 February 2017 . Los Angeles Times . 17 October 2009 . "Varför Vill Hon Fortfarande Vara Muslim?" . den liberala scenen i svensk debatt .