In Love ... and on an Islamist Death List
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Ayaan Hirsi Ali is under threat from jihadists. It has not stopped her finding romance with the married historian Niall Ferguson

‘Why did you choose this place?” asks Ayaan Hirsi Ali, eyebrows arched in feigned alarm. She then giggles endearingly. We are in New York’s Algonquin hotel, just a few hundred yards from Times Square, where a Muslim would-be bomber parked a car full of explosives a couple of days earlier.

Radical Islamists have been trying for years to kill Hirsi Ali, a softly spoken politician turned intellectual who combines the beauty of a film star with the uncompromising zeal of an Enlightenment crusader.

She has been under siege ever since the ritualised murder in 2004 of her friend, Theo van Gogh, who had helped her make the film Submission, a blistering polemic about Islam’s treatment of women. A letter pinned to Van Gogh’s chest — or, rather, stabbed into place with a butcher’s knife — warned Hirsi Ali that “you will go down”. She went into hiding, eventually exchanging a career as a Dutch MP for exile.

Six years on, she is still preceded everywhere by a burly security man. “I’m on that endless list of names they have,” she tells me — every jihadist’s death list. It’s a grim, confining way to live, yet here she is, gaily teasing me about my tactless choice of rendezvous: she doesn’t seem remotely angry or distressed — radiant, more like.

“There is a new man in my life: Niall Ferguson, a British historian and TV presenter; the situation is a bit complicated. I am deeply in love and that feels great,” she told a Dutch magazine last week.

“We are both constantly travelling so it is hard to see one another regularly. On the other hand, we do not need to explain the situation to each other. I cannot say what will happen with us. There is still a divorce procedure going on and there are children involved.” She clams up now when quizzed about her romance, which has created a certain frisson in Britain because of Ferguson’s high profile and marriage to a former newspaper executive.

Yet I sense that silence on this is difficult and she seems to be talking as much to herself as me when she adds softly: “I just think no comment is best.”

All this might be dismissed as tabloid voyeurism had Hirsi Ali herself not turned her own most intimate history into fodder for public debate, first in her acclaimed 2006 memoir Infidel and now again in its sequel, Nomad. As a five-year-old in Somalia, she has written, part of her genitals were removed in a circumcision ceremony designed to preserve girls as virgins until they can be married off; she has since hinted that thanks to a sympathetic surgeon she got off lightly compared with other Somali Muslim women. >>> Tony Allen-Mills | Sunday, May 09, 2010

Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is published by Simon & Schuster on Thursday

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Why Are Muslims So Hypersensitive?'
THE GUARDIAN: She says Islam is backward and the Qur'an is terrible. But Ayaan Hirsi Ali – whose provocative new book is extracted here – is not about to let a fatwa intimidate her. She talks to Emma Brockes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali enters an apartment in New York followed by a bodyguard. The 40-year-old, who for the last six years has been unable to turn up at a venue without it being checked by security, is a writer, polemicist and critic of Islam. She is also a Somali immigrant, an ex-Muslim, a survivor of child genital mutilation, an exile many times over, a former Dutch MP, a black woman whose language would not, in places, look amiss in a BNP pamphlet, a remarked-upon beauty and a lady-in-peril, identities that lend her as a figurehead to disparate causes and bring on confusion in the people she meets.

"I'm a serious person," she says, frowning, as the photographer suggests various fashion poses, but she is also quietly, almost coyly glamorous, moving around with fawn-like grace. It's a combination that works particularly well on male polemicists of the muscular left, who can't do enough to defend her: her gentle charm, her small wrists, her big eyes – oh, and her brave commitment to Enlightenment values – in the face of all that extremism. >>> Emma Brockes | Saturday, May 08, 2010

Debate: Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs Ed Husain - 'The West and the Future of Islam'
LISTEN TO AUDIO HERE

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Death Threats and Islamic Doctrine

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on death threats and Islamic doctrine from The Badger Herald on Vimeo

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Slaps Down Tariq ‘Taqiyya’ Ramadan

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Slapsdown Tariq 'Taqiyya' Ramadan from Tundra Tabloids on Vimeo

Hirsi Ali Criticises Western 'Appeasement' of Islam
AFP: JAIPUR, India — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born former Dutch lawmaker threatened with death for her outspoken criticism of Islam, on Sunday accused the world's liberal democracies of appeasing radical Muslims.

Hirsi Ali, who since 2004 has lived under constant guard against death threats from Islamic extremists, made her accusation during an unannounced appearance at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India.

Speaking to a packed audience, Hirsi Ali said fear of offending Muslims and the wider Islamic world meant Islam had been largely exempted in Europe and the United States from the critical scrutiny applied to other religions.

"In the West, people are frigidly stuck in an attitude of self-doubt," fearful of Muslim radicals but also worried of being seen as anti-Muslim and thus betraying their own liberal traditions, Hirsi Ali said.

"This appeasement has made the public space in these countries a lot less safe," she added. >>> AFP | Sunday, January 24, 2010

Klatsch! The History Man and the Fatwa Girl
MAIL ONLINE: The internationally celebrated historian and TV presenter Niall Ferguson has broken up with his wife of 16 years after a string of adulterous affairs.

The 45-year-old Harvard professor has left former newspaper editor Susan Douglas, with whom he has three children, for his mistress, the Somalian-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Ms Hirsi Ali, 40, is a lawyer and former Dutch MP who wrote the script for a controversial film that criticised Islam and resulted in the assassination of its director. She is currently living under police protection in America.

Professor Ferguson, whose books, television programmes and work with financial hedge funds earn an estimated £5million a year, is understood to have been in a relationship with Ms Hirsi Ali since last summer.

Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal how Ferguson’s philandering behaviour – described by one confidante as ‘more akin to a Premiership footballer’s louche ways than an esteemed professor’s’ – wrecked his marriage to Ms Douglas, one of Tory leader David Cameron’s closest friends, a leading member of the Tory ‘A-list’ of potential parliamentary candidates and a former Fleet Street editor.

Ferguson, who also has high-level links to the Tory Party, with a seat on the board of the Right-wing think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, has been seen with Ms Hirsi Ali at a number of high-profile events over recent months.

Just two weeks ago they attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in India where they were photographed kissing in the opulent surroundings of the spectacular Diggi Palace.

Ms Hirsi Ali had been flown to the event secretly. She has been the subject of threats from Muslim extremists since writing the script for the movie Submission, which was critical of Islam. The history man and fatwa girl: How will David Cameron take news that think-tank guru Niall Ferguson has deserted wife Sue Douglas for Somali feminist? >>> Katie Nicholl, Miles Goslett and Caroline Graham | Sunday, February 07, 2010

'It's Tricky to Find Men When You're Living Under a Fatwa'

THE INDEPENDENT: Right-wing circles are transfixed by the relationship between Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the neoconservative historian Niall Ferguson

The Time Magazine gala held in New York's Lincoln Centre last May was always going to be a high-octane affair. Billed as a celebration of The 100 Most Influential People in the World, it was a chance for the globe's intellectual and political glitterati to rub shoulders while making small talk about geo-politics and contemporary literature.

But amid the mingling of eminent grey matter – guests included Barack Obama's speechwriter and Oprah Winfrey – there was also a crackling of mutual physical attraction between two glamorous invitees with a shared taste for conservative politics and speaking their minds.

Yesterday, the affair sparked that night between the British historian and television presenter Niall Ferguson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born feminist whose criticism of Islam provoked a fatwa which has left her living under police protection since 2004, was revealed – along with the news that the millionaire academic is to divorce his wife of 16 years.

Friends of the 45-year-old Harvard professor, whose books, media activities and work in high finance have made him one of the world's most bankable intellectuals with an estimated income of £5m a year, confirmed that he has left the former Fleet Street editor Susan Douglas and their three children for Ms Hirsi Ali.

A close friend of the former editor of the Sunday Express said that the split was due to Professor Ferguson "conducting a private life in a manner more akin to that of a Premiership footballer than a professor". >>> Cahal Milmo and Luke Blackall | Monday, February 08, 2010

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Submission

Dutch Critic of Islam Wants Extremist Killer to Testify at His Trial
CNSNEWS.com: As the trial of Dutch anti-Islamist lawmaker Geert Wilders resumes Wednesday, the crucial question will be whether the court agrees to his request to have a Muslim extremist and convicted murderer testify.

Wilders, who faces charges of discrimination and incitement to hatred over his claims linking the Koran to violence, wants the court to hear from an extremist who cited the Islamic text to justify his crime.

Mohammed Bouyeri is serving a life sentence for murdering Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, who had stoked controversy with a documentary about the treatment of women under Islam.

Van Gogh was stabbed and shot to death on a street in Amsterdam street in 2004. In a note left pinned to his body with a knife, Bouyeri threatened to kill another person reviled by extremist Muslims in Europe – Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalia-born Dutch politician who worked with Van Gogh on his film.

The lengthy note, which also warned that America, Europe and the Netherlands would be destroyed, included numerous references to the Koran.

Bouyeri, a Dutchman of Moroccan origin, had earlier penned another open letter posted on a Dutch Web site, again quoting from the Koran, threatening Wilders this time and declaring, “May Allah destroy you.”

During his 2005 trial, Bouyeri carried a copy of the Koran, told the court he had acted purely in the name of his religion, and displayed no regret for the murder. >>> Patrick Goodenough, International Editor | Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Islam and Freedom

Speaker, Students Battle over Islam
DAILY ITEM: LEWISBURG — An advocate for women’s rights in Muslim society was called the “bin Laden of the opposing view of Islam” and accused by students of exploiting American ignorance on the religion during her lecture Tuesday at Bucknell University.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia and raised in a traditional Muslim family. In 1992, she fled an arranged marriage and sought asylum in Netherlands, where she was later elected as a member of Dutch parliament.

During her time there, she crusaded for the rights of Dutch and all Muslim women, a campaign she continues today.

Ali eventually turned her back on Islam, which she describes as an intolerant religion that subjugates women and encourages hatred and distrust for other cultures.

During her speech Tuesday night, Ali explained to a crowd of about 400 students and members of the community that the tenets of Islam — those written in the Koran — are the fundamental problem.

The Muslim belief system, she said, inspires bigotry against Western culture, suppresses women and serves as the justification for the acts of radical Islamic terrorists.

Ali’s comments riled up a few Muslim audience members, who accused her of painting an overwhelmingly negative picture of Islam. >>> By Rob Scott | Wednesday, April 1, 2009

American Jewish Committee: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Viability of Hope

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Is Europe too Tolerant of Radical Islam?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Calling Things by Their Name"

Hirsi Ali: Is Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?
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Credit: Aspen Ideas Festival (June 29 – July 5, 2009) >>>

My essay on Islam and democracy:
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom

Ayaa Hirsi Ali: War on Terror or War on Islam?

Doubts on Muslim Integration Rise in Europe
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Part 2
Part 3
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Sie wollen nur das: Im Namen Allahs Krieg führen"
WELT ONLINE: Pakistan hat mit Islamisten einen Waffenstillstand vereinbart, der die Einführung der Scharia erlaubt. Ziel ist, einen militärischen Konflikt zu verhindern. Eine trügerische Hoffnung, sagt die niederländische Islamkritikerin Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Denn Vereinbarungen mit radikalen Muslimen verschaffen ihnen nur Zeit, sich auf den nächsten Krieg vorzubereiten.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali lebt nun an einem geheimen, sicheren Ort in den Niederlanden. Foto dank der Welt
Ayaan Hirsi Ali wurde vor allem durch ihr Drehbuch für den Film „Unterwerfung“ des Regisseurs Theo van Gogh bekannt, der im Jahr 2004 von einem islamistischen Fanatiker ermordet wurde. Die gebürtige Somalierin war drei Jahre lang Abgeordnete des niederländischen Parlaments, bis sie 2006 wegen des Vorwurfs falscher Angaben bei der Einbürgerung ihr Mandat niederlegte. Im Oktober 2007 kehrte sie nach knapp einem Jahr in den USA zurück in die Niederlande. Die 39-Jährige lebt an einem geheimen, sicheren Ort. >>> Von Nathan Gardels | Montag, 23. Februar 2009

YOUTUBE: Submission / Unterwerfung – Ayaan Hirsi Ali mit Theo Van Gogh


The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>

Meet Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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The Gathering Storm Radio Show*

Listen here >>>
*This week on the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show the guests are Ilana Freedman from the Gerard Group and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (author of 'Infidel' and 'The Caged Virgin')

Time: US: 3pm (EST); UK: 8pm

Johann Hari: The Refugee Who Rocked Islam: an Exclusive Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali
THE HUFFINGTON POST: Ayaan Hirsi Ali was stabbed into the world's consciousness four years ago. One wet afternoon in November 2004, her friend Theo Van Gogh - descendant of Vincent - left his house and was about to start cycling down the streets of Amsterdam. But a young Dutch-born Muslim called Mohammed Bouyeri was waiting for him - with a handgun and two sharpened butcher knives. Wordlessly, he shot Van Gogh twice in the chest. Van Gogh howled, "Can't we talk about this?" Bouyeri ignored his pleas and fired four more times. Then he pulled out a butcher's knife and slit Van Gogh's throat with such strength his head was almost severed from his body. He used the other knife to stab a five-page letter into Van Gogh's haemorrhaging corpse. Ayaan explains, "The letter was addressed to me."

It said Van Gogh had been "executed" for making a film with her that exposed the widespread abuse of Muslim women. Now she would be "executed" too, for being an apostate. Even now, "Every time I close my eyes, I see the murder, and I hear Theo pleading for his life," she says. "'Can't we talk about this?' he asked his killer. It was so Dutch, so sweet and innocent." At the trial, Bouyeri spat at Van Gogh's mother: "I don't feel your pain. I don't have any sympathy for you. I can't feel for you because I think you're a non-believer."

This is the story of how a 25 year-old bogus asylum seeker from Africa came to Europe in search of freedom - only to be nearly murdered here by a Dutchman, on the streets of Amsterdam, for speaking out against religion. It opens in the blood-strewn streets of Somalia, and it closes in the shiny white marble of Washington D.C - yet it also ends where it began: with Ayaan's life in imminent, immediate danger. This is the story of the refugee who rocked Islam.

Her light, slight figure walks into the room so quietly that I would not have noticed her. But then the bodyguards follow: big and tall, with their eyes darting into every corner in search of the long-awaited assassin, and you realise - yes, she is here. The internet is littered with pledges to torture and slay Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Yet just a few weeks before we meet in London, the Dutch government has stripped away her security detail. She is paying for her own bodyguards now - and she could soon run out of cash. So how did this soft-voiced woman come to be so hated - and to be abandoned by the country that gave her sanctuary? >>> By Johann Hari | November 30, 2008

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