I Choose For This Report Is Call Infidel An Autobiography Of Ayann Hirsi Ali

Probably my favorite book that we read in BIFL this semester was Ali-Karamali’s “The Muslim Next Door”. Before reading this book, I had no clue what Islam was or what sort of traditions Muslims practiced (I have done an extremely poor job of being informed with the events and people of the world). Reading about a totally different religion than my own gave me the opportunity to question the religious practices that I participate in. Hajj seemed like such a silly thing when we first started reading about the 5 pillars of Islam, but once we watched the National Geographic video, something clicked for me. I began to realize how incredible it must feel to be surrounded with people from all over the globe that gather together to do the same religious-based activity. Further, I began to recognize just how beneficial the Qur’an was for women of that age. Ali-Karamali states that, “if Islam so greatly raised the status of women fourteen centuries ago, when women’s rights were inconceivable and implementation of them was a Herculean task, then the message of Islam itself must be feminist” (123). Here I am, a privileged, intelligent, white female trying to raise the bar for women all over the world like I was the first one to think of that. It’s incredible to think that religious texts were trying to do this work at a time it was unheard of!

To begin, Muhammad Ali was born in a life where his parents knew he would accomplish great things. Ali was born on January 17th, 1942, in Louisville Kentucky. According to, the book, The Importance Of Muhammad Ali, his father said that Ali, ”Came into this world with a good body and a big head, that was the image of Joe Louis. That made me real proud, I loved Joe Louis.” Ali was known as a leader, even

“The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his remarkable humanitarian campaign in the Taliban’s backyard” is the introduction given to Greg Mortenson’s readers before even opening his book, Three Cups of Tea. This phrase slapped on the back cover of the millions of books sold in America prepares readers to not only buy into Greg Mortenson’s heroic story but even support his cause. “One song we hear too often is the one in which Africa serves as a backdrop for white fantasies of conquest and heroism”(Cole). The problem with Mr. Mortenson’s “song” is that it provides a single view of the religion of Islam. At first glance of Mortenson’s book, “[Greg’s] mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time” is an

Most people when they hear the word "Muslim" they only think about the Middle East, without realizing that there are Muslims everywhere. A Muslim is someone who follows the religion of Islam, but it does not necessary need to be people from the Middle East. There are a lot of people around the world that decide to become Muslims for many reasons. These three young women Nousheen Yousuf-Sadiq, Maria M. Ebrahimji, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, but considered themselves as Muslims. In their individual short stories, they talk about the difficulties that they have being an American and a Muslim woman at the same time. It is difficult for them because having these two identities interferes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali born Dutch politician, was raised as a devote Muslim. She then fled from an arranged to Holland. She attended university, learned to speak Dutch, and converted to atheism with the same devotion she once had for her Muslim faith. Hirsi Ali eventually won a seat in the Dutch parliament.

The topic of this essay was one that seemed the most relevant at this given moment in time. Post 9/11, Western media became very critical of Islam and the portrayal of Muslims and the negative associations made with them has dramatically increased.

Mohammed Ali was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was born into a middle class family. While being born into the segregated south he showed that he was not afraid of anyone, In the ring nor out of the ring. But everything changed when someone stole his bike. He told a cop he wanted to beat up the thief. “Better Learn how to fight first” said the officer. Later on Ali Started to work with the cop who trained young boxers.

“No Good Men Among the Living” tells readers about the situation in the Middle East, specifically Afghanistan, but from an unusual perspective. Written by Anand Gopal, a journalist from the United States, it is not common to see a book entailing the other side. That is, the perspective of actual Afghan’s along with a first-hand account of what is was like to be living the “war on terror” from their side. Gopal is careful to make sure that the stories he hears are all true (to the best of his ability) and distills a sense of empathy from the audience. Gopal tells the stories of three individuals in specific: Mullah Cable, Jan Muhammad, and Heela. Each story is as powerful as the others and each story tells a side that the United States often doesn’t hear about.

Ferry terminals in New York normally have cabs that line up to transport arriving passengers to their destinations, but on a website called "snopes.com" rumor had it that in the early hours of September 11, 2001, nearly no cabs were available which suggests that Middle Eastern cab drivers had gotten an advanced notice of the attacks and that they should keep away from the area that morning ("Snopes.com: No Taxis at WTC"). This claim of there not being any taxi cabs around The World Trade Center the morning of the attacks is absolutely false and ridiculous. The individuals saying these things are not only stereotyping cab drivers being Muslims but also assuming that they all have ties to radical Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda.

How would you react to someone criticizing your religion? Would you hate them or defend them, in the name of the First Amendment? This is a question people have been pondering after listening to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s various interviews and speeches. Ayaan is a Somali-born woman who fled to the Netherlands when she was around 23, to escape the marriage her father had arranged for her to her cousin. She is known as a big criticizer of the religion of Islam, and this is largely in part because of her own experiences (which you will learn about later in this paper). Ayaan possesses many qualities that would make people follow a leader: she shows bravery and perseverance in continuing to speak out about her opinions on Islam, even though many people

The specific topic of this book is the oppression of women. Its overall purpose is to understand the women behind the veils and why the Muslim women take up the hijab. The purpose is also to show how

Instead, from its onset, Islam spread as a conquering power and remained that way for some time. Explaining it this way, the reader gets a sense of the psychology behind Islam and why, besides being a religious task, spreading Islam is such a goal. By showing the issues Islam faces today in the context of past Islamic traditions, Lewis paints a much clearer picture of the skewed view today’s radicals have and the way they use history to manipulate. He examines influential Muslim voices like Saddam Hussein and Usama Bin Laden, who have used history to give Islam victim status or to claim the continuance of a predecessor’s mission to not only justify terrorist activities, but also to recruit followers. He tells the history of Bin Laden’s statement referring to the “humiliation and disgrace” Islam supposedly has suffered. What Bin Laden was referring to was the defeat of the Ottoman sultanate in 1918 and the imperial presence of Westerners on sacred Muslim lands. Lewis explains the offense many Muslims take to the desecration of their holy lands by foreigners. He describes how the discovery and exploitation of oil in the Holy Land of the Hijaz has exacerbated the growing resentment many Muslims

Muslim culture generally reflects the traditions and customs of Muslims that they adopt for a perfect and respectable life in the society according to the lessons of Quran. Muslim culture is a giant combination of diverse cultures, That’s because Muslims live in various countries all over the world. Most of the practices are common faiths and guidance for all Muslims no matter what country or even content they reside in.. These basic faiths and belives are based on the teachings of Islam. The Muslim culture is a subject of debate for many people who lives in different parts of the world and belong to diverse communities. Muslim culture represents the unification of brotherhood where all Muslims are bound to

For my paper I decided to choose the religion of Islam. I decided to pick this religion because of its fast growing rate. It is also different from what I am used to growing up with, so I was interested in learning more. I had learned some basic facts after the 9/11 event, but the Muslim religion and culture was still a mystery to me. Picking this topic has helped me learn more about Muslims and will help me better relate to them in my future work.

Infidel relates to many of the concepts we have discussed in class. The first one is the concept of in a culture there are artifacts (technology that allows the culture to live), sociofacts (how people organize their society), and mentifacts (ideas, and beliefs of a culture) and when the culture changes the mentifacts always take the longest to change. In Infidel