Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Trouw)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the courageous ex-Muslim Dutch MP whom I profile in Onward Muslim Soldiers, has run afoul of the dhimmis in her own party. “The Dutch Liberal VVD party has moved to stop its outspoken MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali from waging a solo campaign against Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The Somali-born politician had to hide out in the US temporarily in 2002 when her life was threatened due to her criticisms of Islam.” This is from Expatica, with thanks to nicolei.
“VVD leader and Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm has indicated that he wants to see a halt to the creation of additional Islamic schools in the Netherlands, but Hirsi Ali has been accused of pushing the issue publicly without clearance from the party.
“Hirsi Ali was brought up as a Muslim in Somalia, but has attacked Islam for repressing women. In an interview with Trouw in January this year, Hirsi Ali described Islam as ‘backward’ and the Prophet Mohammed as a ‘perverse tyrant’.
“‘Mohammed is, judged by Western standards, a perverse man. A tyrant. If you don’t do what he says, things won’t go well for you. That makes me think of megalomaniac dictators in the Middle East, Osama Bin Laden, Ayatollah Khomeini and [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein.’ She also said by modern standards the Prophet Mohammed had been perverse to marry a 12-year-old girl.
“More recently, Hirsi Ali has added her voice to growing criticism of Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The schools have been accused of fostering intolerance and preaching anti-Western doctrines.
“But a report by the government’s schools inspectorate found, in contrast, that Islamic schools often contribute to integration into Dutch society. . . . Banning Islamic schools is a particularly thorny in a country where the freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. The VVD’s main partner in the centre-right government coalition is the Christian Democrat CDA party.
“The CDA is worried trying to block Islamic schools could lead to a restriction on all religious education, including Christian schools.
“In 2002, populist politician Pim Fortuyn made it politically acceptable to question the country’s multicultural policies and he was the first to say publicly that Islam was backward.”
I don’t approve of calling Islam “backward” myself. That implies a progressivist view of human development that I don’t buy. The problem with Islam, as Fortuyn knew and Hirsi Ali knows, is not that it is backward or forward or sideways. It is that it contains elements that are exploited by radicals to wage war against secular societies, commit violence against innocents, and systematically mistreat non-Muslims and others. This is why Hirsi Ali is struggling against these schools. This is what moderate Muslims must decisively repudiate. (Thanks to nicolei.)