Sunday, January 18, 2009

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.


I have just bought a copy of the book, Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and can't wait to dig through it. Since I've been doing a lot of blogging on Islam (almost the last 9 posts consecutively), I've been wanting to take a peak into the Islamic world and what better way than to hear an account of it first hand.

I've done some preliminary research on the book, Infidel and found it on the recommendation list of Noodlefood (if you are not subscribing to NoodleFood already, you sure are missing out on a great deal) and wanted to give it a try. I also found a video of Ayaan Harsi Ali and a review by Gina on the book.

I can't wait to get my hands on it!


Update -- I've just watched the video I've linked above and I just had to state the obvious. The woman is so ready for Objectivism. Although she said the usual stuff about human rights and democracy like Robert Spencer, they sure do lean on the side of justice and the free-market in each of their arguments. In the video, when one of the audience member started off with the usual "what's so great about democracy and people are poor here too"(democracy implying a floating abstraction as the best social system ever discovered), she replied something to the effect of "I would rather be poor and free than be a slave" and also "If you ask any person in a third world country, where would you go given a plane, most people would opt for America". Lets hope she finds Ayn Rand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, I found an interesting reponse to her book from a Muslim. I did notice a few of the points including the lack of citation and the mixing of culture with religion (blaming religion for all things bad).

You can have a look if you like: http://loga-abdullah.blogspot.com/2008/11/defending-our-diin-ayaan-hirsi-ali.html

khartoum said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
khartoum said...

Hi,

I have also heard arguments that Islam is in fact compatible with Western values and thoroughly disagree with such a claim. Even if one were arguing that I am interpreting the Quran incorrectly, the person would be helpless in explaining why Islam's history is filled with so much of violence.

Here is a documentary I've recommended before to people and still do. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-871902797772997781&ei=nhMXSaqmNoq6wgOGxeibDQ&q=islam+west+needs+to+know

Here is another interview I found of her:
http://media.www.claremontindependent.com/media/storage/paper1031/news/2009/02/15/CampusFeatures/there.Is.No.Moderate.Islam-3630592.shtml?refsource=collegeheadlines

Thanks for stopping by!