View source for Ayaan Hirsi Ali

{{Hatnote|In this [[Somali name]], Hirsi Ali is a [[patronymic]].}}
{{Short description|Activist, politician, and author (born 1969)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name         = Ayaan Hirsi Magan
| name               = Ayaan Hirsi Ali
| native_name        = Ayaan Xirsi Cali
| image              = Ayaan Hirsi Ali in 2023.jpg
| caption            = Hirsi Ali in 2023
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1969|11|13|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Mogadishu]], then part of the [[Somali Democratic Republic]]
| citizenship        = {{Plainlist|
* Netherlands
* United States}}
| alma_mater         = [[Leiden University]] ([[Master of Science|MSc]])
| occupation         = {{hlist|Politician|author}}
| notable_works      = {{Plainlist|
* ''[[The Caged Virgin]]''
* ''[[Infidel: My Life]]''
* ''[[Nomad: From Islam to America]]''}}
| known_for          = {{hlist|[[Women's rights]] advocacy|criticism of [[female genital mutilation]]|[[criticism of religion]]|[[criticism of Islam]]|[[criticism of Islamism]]}}
| employer           = [[American Enterprise Institute]]<br />[[Harvard University]]<br />[[Hoover Institution]], [[Stanford University]]
| organization       = [[AHA Foundation]]
| party              = {{ubl|[[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (2001–2002)|[[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (2002–2006)}}
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Niall Ferguson]]|10 September 2011}}
| children           = 2
| website            = {{URL|https://www.ayaanhirsiali.com|ayaanhirsiali.com}}
| module             = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes
| office              = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]]
| term_start          = 2003
| term_end            = 2006 
| predecessor         = 
| successor           =  
}}
}}
'''Ayaan Hirsi Ali'''{{efn|English: {{IPAc-en|ɑː|ˈ|j|ɑː|n|_|ˈ|h|ɪər|s|i|_|ˈ|ɑː|l|i}} {{respell|ah|YAHN|_|HEER|see|_|AH|lee}}, {{IPA|nl|aːˈjaːn ˈɦiːrsi ˈaːli|lang|Nl-Ayaan Hirsi Ali.ogg|small=no}}; {{langx|so|Ayaan Xirsi Cali}} {{IPA|so|ajaːn ħirsi ʕaliː|}}; {{langx|ar|أيان حرسي علي}}, {{ALA-LC|ar|Ayān Ḥirsī ʻAlī}}.}} ({{Langx|so|Ayaan Xirsi Cali}}; born '''Ayaan Hirsi Magan''', 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch and American writer, activist, conservative thinker and former politician.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Anne |last=Applebaum |authorlink=Anne Applebaum |date=4 February 2007 |title=The Fight for Muslim Women A feisty memoir from a controversial champion of female rights. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2007/02/04/the-fight-for-muslim-women-span-classbankheada-feisty-memoir-from-a-controversial-champion-of-female-rightsspan/064381da-6fb0-4e29-8552-1e6f8b117bb4/ |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Q&A: the west must stop seeing Muslims only as victims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/17/ayaan-hirsi-ali-qanda-west-muslims-only-as-victims |access-date=1 December 2016 |work=The Guardian |date=16 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali's 'Heretic' |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-alis-heretic.html |access-date=1 December 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=1 April 2015}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "You can't change these practices if you don't talk about them" |url=http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/04/10/women-in-islam-you-cant-change-these-practices-if-you-dont-talk-about-them/ |access-date=24 February 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=24 February 2017}}</ref> At the age of five, Hirsi Ali underwent female genital mutilation organized by her grandmother. Her family moved across various countries in Africa and the Middle East, and at 23, she received [[Right of asylum|political asylum]] in the Netherlands, gaining Dutch citizenship five years later.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Somalia-born critic of Islam admits lying to gain asylum |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/somalia-born-critic-of-islam-admits-lying-to-gain-asylum-1.1003537 |access-date=7 December 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> In her early 30s, Hirsi Ali renounced the religious beliefs 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 2003, Hirsi Ali was elected to the [[lower house]] of the [[States General of the Netherlands]].<ref name="Anderson 2006">{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=John Ward |title=Discredited Somali Quits Dutch Politics |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/05/17/discredited-somali-quits-dutch-politics-span-classbankheadadvocate-for-women-is-critic-of-islamspan/c91f33ce-816a-44c4-9b98-ee414374cce3/ |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=The Washington Post |date=17 May 2006 |issn=0190-8286 |language=en |url-access=limited}}</ref> While serving in parliament, she collaborated on a short film with [[Theo van Gogh (film director)|Theo van Gogh]], titled ''[[Submission (2004 film)|Submission]]'', which depicted the oppression of women under [[fundamentalist Islamic]] law and was critical of the Muslim canon itself.<ref name="Leung 2005">{{cite news |last1=Leung |first1=Rebecca |title=Slaughter And 'Submission' |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/slaughter-and-submission-11-03-2005/ |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=CBS News |date=11 March 2005}}</ref> The film led to death threats, and Van Gogh was murdered shortly after the film's release by [[Mohammed Bouyeri]], driving Hirsi Ali into hiding.<ref name="Leung 2005" /> At this time, she became more outspoken as a critic of Islam. In 2005, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine named Hirsi Ali as one of the [[Time 100|100 most influential people in the world]].<ref name="Manji 2005" /> Her outspoken criticism of Islam made her a controversial figure in Dutch politics. An investigation by [[Zembla (TV series)|Zembla]] uncovered that Hirsi Ali lied about her past and real name, prompting her to resign from parliament in 2006.{{r|Anderson 2006}}

Moving to the United States, Hirsi Ali joined conservative think tank the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI),{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} where she established herself as a writer, activist, and public intellectual.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hayward |first=Freddie |date=9 September 2021 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'If you disagree with the left, you're punished' |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/encounter/2021/09/ayaan-hirsi-ali-if-you-disagree-with-the-left-youre-punished |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=New Statesman}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Garner |first=Dwight |date=15 January 2012 |title=Warriors on 2 Sides of Militant Islam |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/books/wanted-women-faith-lies-the-war-on-terror-review.html}}</ref> Her books ''[[Infidel: My Life]]'' (2007),
''[[Nomad: From Islam to America]]'' (2010) and ''[[Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now]]'' (2015) became bestsellers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dominus |first=Susan |date=1 April 2015 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali's 'Heretic' |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-alis-heretic.html}}</ref>

Ali was a central figure in [[New Atheism]] since its beginnings.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gregory |first=Elizabeth |date=17 August 2023 |title=Richard Dawkins: everything you need to know about the world's most famous atheist |work=[[London Evening Standard]] |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/richard-dawkins-professor-atheist-free-speech-b1100953.html}}</ref> She announced her conversion to Christianity in 2023.<ref name="Jones 2023">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Sarah |date=29 November 2023 |title=The Infidel Turned Christian |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/ayaan-hirsi-alis-political-conversion.html |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=Intelligencer}}</ref> Critics have accused Hirsi 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]]".<ref name="Mahmood" /><ref name="Yaghi">{{cite journal |last1=Yaghi |first1=Adam |date=18 December 2015 |title=Popular Testimonial Literature by American Cultural Conservatives of Arab or Muslim Descent: Narrating the Self, Translating (an)Other |journal=Middle East Critique |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=83–98 |doi=10.1080/19436149.2015.1107996 |s2cid=146227696}}</ref><ref name="Grewal" /> Hirsi 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.<ref name="Kroet 2017">{{Cite web |last=Kroet |first=Cynthia |date=6 June 2017 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Tackle Islam or face civil war |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/ayaan-hirsi-ali-tackle-islam-or-face-civil-war/ |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=Politico}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 May 2021 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Immigration Reform and Assimilation in Europe |url=https://lithub.com/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-immigration-reform-and-assimilation-in-europe/ |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=Literary Hub}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Hirsi Ali was born Ayaan Hirsi Magan in [[Mogadishu]], Somalia on 13 November 1969.<ref name="Contemporary Black Biography 2014">{{cite journal |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali |journal=Contemporary Black Biography |series=Gale Academic OneFile |date=22 December 2014 |issn=1058-1316 |id={{gale|K1606005372}} }} {{Retrieved|access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Benowitz 2017">{{cite book |last1=Benowitz |first1=June Melby |title=Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion [2 volumes] |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-1-4408-3987-0 |edition=2nd |language=en |chapter=Hirsi Ali, Ayaan (1969–) |page=263 |quote=Known in her adult years as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the writer, politician, and Muslim-turned-atheist activist was born Ayaan Hirsi Magan in Mogadishu, Somalia, on November 13, 1969.}}</ref><ref name="Gorlinski 2025">{{cite web |last1=Gorlinski |first1=Virginia |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ayaan-Hirsi-Ali |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=6 November 2025 |language=en |date=3 October 2025}}</ref> Her father, [[Hirsi Magan Isse]], was a Sunni Muslim of Somalia's [[Darod]] clan who had attended Columbia University in New York.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} A prominent member of the [[Somali Salvation Democratic Front]] and a leading figure in the [[Somali Revolution]], her father was imprisoned due to his opposition to [[Siad Barre]]'s Communist government the year Ayaan was born.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}}<ref name="dangerwoman">{{cite news |last=Linklater |first=Alexander |title=Danger woman |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1485350,00.html |work=The Guardian |date=17 May 2005 |access-date=15 June 2008 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2007/02/08/dark-secrets |title=A critic of Islam: Dark secrets |magazine=The Economist |volume=382 |issue=8515 |date=10–16 February 2007 |page=87 |url-access=limited |quote=The family's troubles began in 1969, the year Ms Hirsi Ali was born. That was also the year that Mohammed Siad Barre, a Somali army commander, seized power in a military coup. Hirsi Magan was descended from the traditional rulers of the Darod, Somalia's second biggest clan. Siad Barre, who hailed from a lesser Darod family, feared and resented Ms Hirsi Ali's father's family, she says. In 1972, Siad Barre had Hirsi Magan put in prison from which he escaped three years later and fled the country.}}</ref> Hirsi Ali's father was an intellectual, a dissident and a devout Muslim who had studied abroad and he was opposed to [[female genital mutilation]]; while he was imprisoned, Hirsi Ali's grandmother had a man perform the procedure on her, when Hirsi Ali was five years old. According to Hirsi Ali, she was fortunate that her grandmother could not find a woman to do the procedure, as the mutilation was "much milder" when performed by men.<ref name="dangerwoman"/>

After her father escaped from prison, he and the family left Somalia, going to [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Ethiopia]], and finally [[Kenya]], where they lived for ten years.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} There he established a comfortable upper-class life for them. Hirsi Ali attended the English-language Muslim Girls' Secondary School. By the time she reached her teens, Saudi Arabia was funding religious education in numerous countries and its religious views were becoming influential among many Muslims. A charismatic religious teacher, trained under this aegis, joined Hirsi Ali's school. She inspired the teenage Ayaan, as well as some fellow students, to adopt the more rigorous Saudi Arabian interpretations of Islam, as opposed to the more relaxed versions then current in Somalia and Kenya. Hirsi Ali said later that she had long been impressed by the [[Qur'an]] and had lived "by the Book, for the Book" throughout her childhood.<ref name="smh.com.au">{{cite news |last=Hirsi Ali |first=Ayaan |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/to-submit-to-the-book-is-to-exist-in-their-hell/2007/06/03/1180809336515.html |title=To submit to the book is to exist in their hell |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=4 June 2007a |url-access=limited}}</ref>

She sympathised with the views of the [[Islamism|Islamist]] [[Muslim Brotherhood]], and wore a ''[[hijab]]'' with her school uniform. This was unusual at the time but has become more common among some young Muslim women. At the time, she agreed with the ''[[fatwa]]'' proclaimed against [[British Indians|British Indian]] writer [[Salman Rushdie]] in reaction to the portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''.<ref name="lawcf.org">Interviewed by David Cohen, published 2 February 2007 [http://www.lawcf.org/index.asp?page=Evening+Standard+article+on+Islam+in+Britain LAWCF.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928140712/http://www.lawcf.org/index.asp?page=Evening+Standard+article+on+Islam+in+Britain |date=28 September 2007 }} and identically here {{cite web |url=http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2007/2/7/violence-is-inherent-in-islam-it-is-a-cult-of-death.html |title=Islamophobia Watch – Home – 'Violence is inherent in Islam – it is a cult of death' |access-date=24 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716234644/http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2007/2/7/violence-is-inherent-in-islam-it-is-a-cult-of-death.html |archive-date=16 July 2007}} Retrieved 24 March 2007.</ref> After completing secondary school, Hirsi Ali attended a secretarial course at Valley Secretarial College in Nairobi for one year.<ref name="asiantribune.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/175 |title=Controversial Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Muslim turned atheist, to resign from Dutch Parliament |work=Asian Tribune |access-date=21 February 2022 |archive-date=6 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906091124/http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node%2F175 |url-status=dead}}</ref> As she was growing up, she also read [[English language|English-language]] adventure stories, such as the ''[[Nancy Drew]]'' series and [[Enid Blyton]] novels, with modern heroine archetypes who pushed the limits of society.<ref>{{cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/books/14grim.html |work=The New York Times |title=No Rest for a Feminist Fighting Radical Islam |first=William |last=Grimes |date=14 February 2007 |access-date=28 August 2020}}</ref> "[[The Secret Seven|''Secret Seven'']], [[The Famous Five|''Famous Five'']] and some of the other Enid Blytons – what they do is, they encourage you as an individual to imagine that you're a part of the Secret Seven. You're solving mysteries, you're a part of the Famous Five. So that's very different from the world I grew up in, where you are told, 'Stay inside the house. Do not mingle with boys," she recalled."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jennifer Byrne Presents: Ayaan Hirsi Ali – The Books – The Book Club – ABC TV |url=https://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s2958720.htm |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=www.abc.net.au}}</ref> Also, remembering her grandmother refusing soldiers entry into her house, Hirsi Ali associated with Somalia "the picture of strong women: the one who smuggles in the food, and the one who stands there with a knife against the army and says, 'You cannot come into the house.' And I became like that. And my parents and my grandmother don't appreciate that now—because of what I've said about the Qur'an. I have become them, just in a different way."<ref name="dangerwoman"/>

== Life in the Netherlands ==
=== Arrival and education ===

Hirsi Ali arrived in the Netherlands in 1992. That year she had travelled from Kenya to visit her family in [[Düsseldorf]] and [[Bonn]], [[Germany]], and gone to the Netherlands to escape an alleged forced marriage. Once there, she requested [[political asylum]] and obtained a residence permit. She used her paternal grandfather's early surname on her application and has since been known in the West as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She received a residence permit within three or four weeks of arriving in the Netherlands.<ref name="NPO 2006">[http://www.npo.nl/zembla/24-10-2010/VARA_101247450 De heilige Ayaan], Zembla, 11 May 2006 (Includes streaming video; re-broadcast with introduction by the editor, 24 October 2010). {{dead link|date=April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/weekinreview/04goodstein.html |title=Q.& A. Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Laurie Goodstein |first=Interview By Laurie be |last=Good Stein |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 February 2007}}</ref>

At first, she held various short-term jobs, ranging from cleaning to sorting post.<ref name="asiantribune.com"/> She worked as a translator at a Rotterdam refugee center which, according to a friend interviewed in 2006 by ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper, marked her deeply.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/21/jasonburke.theobserver |first=Jason |last=Burke |date=21 May 2006 |title=Secrets and lies that doomed a radical liberal |work=The Observer |access-date=6 May 2010 |location=London}}</ref>

As an avid reader, in the Netherlands she found new books and ways of thought that both stretched her imagination and frightened her. [[Sigmund Freud]]'s work introduced her to an alternative moral system that was not based on religion.<ref name="smh.com.au"/> During this time she took courses in [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and a one-year introductory course in [[social work]] at the [[HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht|Hogeschool De Horst]] in [[Driebergen]]. She has said that she was impressed with how well Dutch society seemed to function.<ref name="smh.com.au"/> To better understand its development, she studied at the [[Leiden University]], where she obtained a [[Master's degree]] in [[political science]].<ref>[https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3212575 Interview met Ayaan Hirsi Ali] – website [[Leiden University Library|Leiden University Scholarly Publications]]</ref>

Between 1995 and 2001, Hirsi Ali also worked as an independent Somali-Dutch interpreter and translator, frequently working with Somali women in asylum centers, hostels for abused women, and at the Dutch immigration and naturalization service (IND, ''Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst''). While working for the IND, she became critical of the way it handled asylum seekers.<ref name="asiantribune.com"/> Hirsi Ali speaks six languages: English, [[Somali language|Somali]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Amharic language|Amharic]], and [[Dutch language|Dutch]].<ref name="dangerwoman"/>

=== Political career ===

After gaining her degree, Hirsi Ali became a Fellow at the [[Wiardi Beckman Stichting]] (WBS), a think tank of the center-left [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (PvdA). Leiden University Professor Ruud Koole was steward of the party. Hirsi Ali's writing at the WBS was inspired by the work of the neoconservative Orientalist [[Bernard Lewis]].<ref name="Oudenampsen">{{cite journal |last1=Oudenampsen |first1=Merijn |date=19 September 2016 |title=Deconstructing Ayaan Hirsi Ali: On Islamism, Neoconservatism, and the Clash of Civilizations |journal=Politics, Religion & Ideology |volume=17 |issue=2–3 |pages=227–248 |doi=10.1080/21567689.2016.1232195 |s2cid=152226799 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/890513}}</ref>

She became disenchanted with Islam and was shocked by the [[September 11 attacks]] in the United States in 2001, for which [[al-Qaeda]] eventually [[Responsibility for the September 11 attacks#Osama bin Laden statements after attacks|claimed responsibility]]. After listening to videotapes of [[Osama bin Laden]] citing "words of justification" in the Qur'an for the attacks, she wrote, "I picked up the Qur'an and the [[hadith]] and started looking through them, to check. I hated to do it, because I knew that I would find Bin Laden's quotations in there."{{sfnp|Hirsi Ali|2007b|page=271}} During this time of transition, she came to regard the Qur'an as relative—it was a historical record and "just another book."<ref name="smh.com.au"/>

Reading ''[[Atheïstisch manifest]]'' ("Atheist Manifesto") of [[Leiden University]] philosopher [[Herman Philipse]] helped to convince her to give up religion. She [[Apostasy in Islam|renounced Islam]] and acknowledged her [[atheism|disbelief in God]] in 2002.<ref name=h071222>{{cite web |url=http://thehumanist.com/magazine/january-february-2008/features/absolute-infidel-the-evolution-of-ayaan-hirsi-ali |work=[[The Humanist]] |date=22 December 2007 |access-date=3 November 2015 |first1=David |last1=Schaefer |first2=Michelle |last2=Koth |title=Absolute Infidel: The Evolution of Ayaan Hirsi Ali}}</ref> She began to formulate her critique of Islam and [[Islamic culture]], published many articles on these topics, and became a frequent speaker on television news programs and in public debate forums. She discussed her ideas at length in a book titled ''[[De zoontjesfabriek]]'' (''The Son Factory'') (2002). In this period, she first began to receive death threats.<ref name=h071222/>

[[Cisca Dresselhuys]], editor of the feminist magazine ''[[Opzij]]'', introduced Hirsi Ali to [[Gerrit Zalm]], the parliamentary leader of the centre-right [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD), and party member [[Neelie Kroes]], then European Commissioner for Competition. At their urging, Hirsi Ali decided to switch her party membership and joined the VVD, on whose list she also stood for election to the [[States General of the Netherlands]]. Between November 2002 and January 2003, she lived abroad while on the payroll as an assistant of the VVD.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

In 2003, aged 33, Hirsi Ali successfully fought a parliamentary election. She said that the Dutch welfare state had overlooked abuse of Muslim women and girls in the Netherlands and their social needs, contributing to their isolation and oppression.<ref>{{cite web |last=Simons |first=Marlise |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/22/international/europe/22HOLL.html |title=Muslim Woman Favoured in a Dutch Election |location=Netherlands |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 2003 |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>

During her tenure in Parliament, Hirsi Ali continued her criticisms of Islam and many of her statements provoked controversy. In an [[#Muhammad|interview in the Dutch newspaper ''Trouw'']], she said that by Western standards, Muhammad as represented in the Qu'ran would be considered a [[pedophile]]. A religious discrimination complaint was filed against her on 24 April 2003 by Muslims who objected to her statements. The Prosecutor's office decided not to initiate a case, because her critique did "not put forth any conclusions in respect to Muslims and their worth as a group is not denied".<ref>Ayaan Hirsi Ali niet vervolgd, ''Volkskrant'', 24 April 2003</ref>

=== Film with Theo van Gogh ===

[[File:TheoVanGogh.jpg|thumb|[[Theo van Gogh (film director)|Theo van Gogh]]]]
Working with writer and director [[Theo van Gogh (film director)|Theo van Gogh]], Hirsi Ali wrote the script and provided the voice-over for ''[[Submission (2004 film)|Submission]]'' (2004),<ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=846339861805446088&q=submission+Van+Gogh Submission], on [[Google Video]] 29 April 2005</ref> a short film that criticised the treatment of [[women and Islam|women in Islamic society]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/index.php?content=20070104 |title=Voices on Antisemitism: Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |date=4 January 2007}}</ref> Juxtaposed with passages from the [[Qur'an]] were scenes of actresses portraying Muslim women suffering abuse. An apparently nude actress dressed in a semi-transparent ''[[burqa]]'' was shown with texts from the [[Qur'an]] written on her skin. These texts are among those often interpreted as justifying the subjugation of Muslim women. The film's release sparked outrage among many Dutch Muslims.

[[Mohammed Bouyeri]], a 26-year-old [[Moroccans in the Netherlands|Dutch Moroccan]] [[Islamist]] and member of the Muslim terrorist organisation [[Hofstad Group]], assassinated Van Gogh in an [[Amsterdam]] street on 2 November 2004.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cluskey |first1=Peter |title=Dutch await what they feel will be inevitable terrorist attack |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/dutch-await-what-they-feel-will-be-inevitable-terrorist-attack-1.2763519 |access-date=29 March 2017 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=22 August 2016}}</ref> Bouyeri shot Van Gogh with a handgun eight times, first from a distance and then at short range as the director lay wounded on the ground. He was already dead when Bouyeri cut his throat with a large knife and tried to decapitate him. Bouyeri left a letter pinned to Van Gogh's body with a small knife; it was primarily a death threat to Hirsi Ali.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/controversial-filmmaker-shot-dead-531777.html |title=Controversial filmmaker shot dead |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-date=24 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624091729/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/controversial-filmmaker-shot-dead-531777.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/ayaan-hirsi-ali-my-life-under-a-fatwa-760666.html |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: My life under a fatwa |work=The Independent |date=27 November 2007 |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> The [[AIVD|Dutch secret service]] immediately raised the level of security they provided to Hirsi Ali.<ref>[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=29964&name=Battling+the+racists Klausen, J. "Battling the racists"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416045549/http://www.expatica.com/be/life_in/int_life/battling-the-racists-29964.html |date=16 April 2008 }}, ''[[Expatica]]'', 12 May 2006, Retrieved 24 March 2007.</ref> Bouyeri was sentenced to [[Life imprisonment in the Netherlands|life imprisonment]] without [[parole]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/life-in-jail-for-brutal-killer-of-dutch-filmmaker-van-gogh-500346.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212232820/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/life-in-jail-for-brutal-killer-of-dutch-filmmaker-van-gogh-500346.html |title=Life in jail for brutal killer of Dutch film-maker Van Gogh |author=INM |website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |archive-date=12 February 2010 |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref>

In 2004, a rap song about Hirsi Ali titled "Hirsi Ali Dis" was produced and distributed on the internet by a group called "The Hague Connection". The lyrics included violent threats against her life. The rappers were prosecuted under Article 121 of the Dutch criminal code because they hindered Hirsi Ali's execution of her work as a politician. In 2005 they were sentenced to community service and a suspended prison sentence.<ref>[http://www.nu.nl/news.jsp?n=474058&c=15 Werkstraf voor 'Hirsi Ali-rappers'], nu.nl, 27 January 2005</ref>

Hirsi Ali went into hiding, aided by government security services, who moved her among several locations in the Netherlands. They moved her to the United States for several months. On 18 January 2005, she returned to parliament. On 18 February 2005, she revealed where she and her colleague [[Geert Wilders]] were living. She demanded a normal, secured house, which she was granted one week later.

In January 2006, Hirsi Ali was recognised as "European of the Year" by ''[[Reader's Digest]]'', an American magazine. In her speech, she urged action to prevent Iran from developing [[nuclear weapon]]s. She also said that [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] should be taken at his word in wanting to organise a conference to investigate objective evidence of the [[Holocaust]], noting that the subject is not taught in the Middle East. She said, "Before I came to Europe, I'd never heard of the Holocaust. That is the case with millions of people in the Middle East. Such a conference should be able to convince many people away from their denial of the genocide against the Jews."<ref>[http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelid=G4SN8CRU Geen Iraanse atoombom toelaten], ''De Standaard'' (Dutch)</ref> She also said that what some have described as "Western values" of freedom and justice were universal. But she thought that Europe has done far better than most areas of the world in providing justice, as it has guaranteed the freedom of thought and debate required for critical self-examination. She said communities cannot reform unless "scrupulous investigation of every former and current doctrine is possible."<ref>[http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=G4SN8CNR Ayaan Hirsi Ali betreurt zelfcensuur Europa], ''De Standaard''. (Dutch)</ref> Hirsi Ali was nominated as a candidate for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] the same month by Norwegian parliamentarian [[Christian Tybring-Gjedde]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.siste.no/utenriks/drapstruet-filmskaper-foreslatt-til-nobelprisen/s/1-103-1906381 |title=Drapstruet filmskaper foreslått til Nobelprisen [Death-threatened filmmaker suggested for Nobel Prize] |language=no |work=Siste.no |date=15 January 2006 |access-date=18 July 2015 |archive-date=21 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721164134/http://www.siste.no/utenriks/drapstruet-filmskaper-foreslatt-til-nobelprisen/s/1-103-1906381 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In March 2006, she co-signed a letter titled "[[MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=MANIFESTO Together facing the 'new totalitarianism |work=Toronto Star |date=2 March 2006}}</ref> Among the eleven other signatories was Salman Rushdie; as a teenager, Hirsi Ali had supported the fatwa against him. The letter was published in response to protests in the [[Islamic world]] surrounding the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy]] in [[Denmark]], and it supported freedom of press and freedom of expression.

On 27 April 2006, a Dutch judge ruled that Hirsi Ali had to abandon her current secure house at a secret address in the Netherlands. Her neighbors had complained that she created an unacceptable security risk, but the police had testified that this neighborhood was one of the safest places in the country, as they had many personnel assigned to it for Hirsi Ali's protection.<ref>[[Christopher Hitchens]]: [http://www.slate.com/id/2141276/ "The Caged Virgin – Holland's shameful treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali"], ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', 8 May 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2007.</ref> In an interview in early 2007, Hirsi Ali noted that the Dutch state had spent about €3.5 million on her protection; threats against her produced fear, but she believed it important to speak her mind. While regretting Van Gogh's death, she said she was proud of their work together.<ref name="ReferenceC">Interviewed by David Cohen, published 2 February 2007 [http://www.lawcf.org/index.asp?page=Evening+Standard+article+on+Islam+in+Britain LAWCF.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928140712/http://www.lawcf.org/index.asp?page=Evening+Standard+article+on+Islam+in+Britain |date=28 September 2007 }} and identically here {{cite web |url=http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2007/2/7/violence-is-inherent-in-islam-it-is-a-cult-of-death.html |title=Islamophobia Watch – Home – 'Violence is inherent in Islam – it is a cult of death' |access-date=24 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716234644/http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2007/2/7/violence-is-inherent-in-islam-it-is-a-cult-of-death.html |archive-date=16 July 2007}}</ref>

A private trust, the [[Foundation for Freedom of Expression]], was established in 2007 in the Netherlands to help fund protection of Hirsi Ali and other Muslim dissidents.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.pzc.nl/algemeen/binnenland/article2262815.ece |title=Hirsi Ali zamelt bewakingsgeld in |date=4 December 2007 |access-date=8 May 2010 |work=PZC |first=Lianne |last=Sleutjes}}</ref>

=== Dutch citizenship controversy ===

In May 2006, the TV programme ''[[Zembla (TV series)|Zembla]]'' reported that Hirsi Ali had given false information about her name, her age, and her country of residence when originally applying for asylum, in a documentary called "The Holy Ayaan".<ref name="a308">{{cite web |last=Broder |first=Henryk M. |title=The Hirsi Ali Case: 'Voltaire and Erasmus Are Spinning in their Graves' |website=Der Spiegel |date=17 May 2006 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/the-hirsi-ali-case-voltaire-and-erasmus-are-spinning-in-their-graves-a-416587.html |access-date=15 September 2024}}</ref> In her asylum application, she had claimed to be fleeing a forced marriage, but the ''Zembla'' coverage featured interviews with her family, who denied that claim. The program alleged that, contrary to Hirsi Ali's claims of having fled a Somali war zone, the MP had been living comfortably in upper middle-class conditions safely in Kenya with her family for at least 12 years before she sought refugee status in the Netherlands in 1992. In her version of events, she had fled civil war in Somalia, was forced into an arranged marriage with a man whom she had never met and was not present at her own wedding. Upon escaping she was forced into hiding in the Netherlands, for her ex-husband and father's brothers would have been by Somali custom, required to perform an honor killing. According to witnesses on the programme, she left Somalia prior to any mass violence and led a comfortable, upper-middle class life in neighboring Kenya, where she attended a Muslim girls' school and received a full western-style education with a focus on the humanities and science.<ref>{{cite news |last=Conway |first=Isabel |title=MP may be deported over claims she lied to win asylum |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mp-may-be-deported-over-claims-she-lied-to-win-asylum-478265.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=15 May 2006}}</ref>

Hirsi Ali had already admitted to friends and VVD party colleagues that she had lied about her full name, date of birth, and the manner in which she had come to the Netherlands in her asylum application, but persisted in saying it was true that she was trying to flee a forced marriage. In her first book, ''The Son Factory'' (2002), she had already provided her real name and date of birth, and she had also stated these in a September 2002 interview published in the political magazine ''[[HP/De Tijd]]''.<ref>[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=29954&name=Liberals+don't+care+Hirsi+Ali+lied+to+get+asylum+in+1992 Liberals don't care Hirsi Ali lied to get asylum in 1992] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602035049/http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19 |date=2 June 2006 }}, ''Expatica'', 12 May 2006 Retrieved 24 March 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,druck-416242,00.html Hirsi Ali verlässt die Niederlande], ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', 15 May 2006</ref><ref>[https://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID5527658_REF1,00.html Hirsi Ali will die Niederlande verlassen]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [[Tagesschau (Germany)|Tagesschau]], 15 May 2006</ref> and in an interview in the ''VARA gids'' (2002).<ref>[http://www.zemblabla.nl/VARA%20TV%20MAGAZINE.pdf Astrid ontmoet Ayaan (PDF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622003811/http://www.zemblabla.nl/VARA%20TV%20MAGAZINE.pdf |date=22 June 2007 }}, ''VARA TV Magazine'', 7 December 2002</ref> Hirsi Ali asserted in her 2006 autobiography ''Infidel'' that she had already made full disclosure of the discrepancy to VVD officials back when she was invited to run for parliament in 2002.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirsi Ali |first=Ayaan |title=Infidel: My Life |url=https://archive.org/details/infidelhirs00hirs/page/298/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |date=2007b |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7432-8968-9 |pages=298, 338 |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref> On the issue of her name, she applied under her grandfather's surname in her asylum application ('Ali' instead of what had till then been 'Magan'), to which she was entitled nonetheless; she later said it was to escape detection and retaliation by her clan for the foiled marriage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/islam-critic-fed-up-with-holland-hirsi-ali-plans-to-move-to-america-a-416299.html |title=Islam Critic: Fed Up with the Netherlands, Hirsi Ali Plans to Move to America |date=15 May 2006 |work=[[Spiegel Online]] |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref> In the later parliamentary investigation of Hirsi Ali's immigration, the Dutch law governing names was reviewed. An applicant may legally use a surname derived from any generation as far back as the grandparent. Therefore, Hirsi Ali's application, though against her clan custom of names, was legal under Dutch law. The question of her age was of minor concern.<ref name="FT">[https://www.ft.com/content/c0d30b34-07d4-11db-9067-0000779e2340 "Ali dispute brings down Dutch government"], ''[[Financial Times]]'', 30 June 2006.</ref> Media speculation arose in 2006 that she could lose her Dutch citizenship because of these issues, rendering her ineligible for parliament. At first, Minister [[Rita Verdonk]] said she would not look into the matter.<ref>[http://www.nos.nl/nos/artikelen/2006/05/art000001C6765328EBF3B3.html Onderzoek bepleit naar Hirsi Ali], NOS, 13 May</ref> She later decided to investigate Hirsi Ali's naturalisation process. The investigation found that Hirsi Ali had not legitimately received Dutch citizenship, because she had lied about her name and date of birth. However, later inquiries established that she was entitled to use the name Ali because it was her grandfather's name. Verdonk moved to annul Hirsi Ali's citizenship, an action later overridden at the urging of Parliament.{{efn|The controversy over Hirsi Ali's citizenship followed a debate over the deportation of a Bosnian teenager [[Taida Pasić]], who had lied on her visa application in order to return to the Netherlands to complete high school. According to her memoir, Hirsi Ali claims to have spoken up for Pasic in a private conversation with Verdonk and to have told the minister at the time that she had also lied in her own application. Verdonk denies this version of the conversation.{{sfnp|Hirsi Ali|2007b|page=343}} }}

{{Wikinews|Ayaan Hirsi Ali leaves Dutch Parliament}}

On 15 May 2006, after the broadcast of the ''Zembla'' documentary, news stories appeared saying that Hirsi Ali was likely to move to the United States that September. She was reported to be planning to write a book titled ''Shortcut to Enlightenment'' and to work for the American Enterprise Institute.<ref>[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=30003&name=Hirsi+Ali+to+leave+Netherlands+for+job+with+US+think+tank+ "Hirsi Ali to leave Netherlands for job with US think tank"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903114928/http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=30003&name=Hirsi+Ali+to+leave+Netherlands+for+job+with+US+think+tank+ |date=3 September 2006 }}, ''Expatica'', 15 May 2006</ref> On 16 May Hirsi Ali resigned from Parliament after admitting that she had lied on her asylum application. In a press conference she said that the facts had been publicly known since 2002, when they had been reported in the media and in one of her publications. She also restated her claim of seeking asylum to prevent a forced marriage, stating: "How often do people who are seeking refuge provide different names? The penalty of stripping me of my Dutch citizenship is disproportional." Her stated reason for resigning immediately was the increasing media attention. Since a Dutch court had ruled in April 2006, that she had to leave her house by August 2006, she decided to relocate to the United States in September 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nu.nl/algemeen/733549/hirsi-ali-licht-vertrek-toe-video.html |title=Hirsi Ali licht vertrek toe (video) – NU – Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl |website=nu.nl |date=16 May 2006}}</ref>

After a long and emotional debate in the Dutch Parliament, all major parties supported a [[motion (democracy)|motion]] requesting the Minister to explore the possibility of special circumstances in Hirsi Ali's case. Although Verdonk remained convinced that the applicable law did not leave her room to consider such circumstances, she decided to accept the motion. During the debate, she said that Hirsi Ali still had Dutch citizenship during the period of reexamination. Apparently the "decision" she had announced had represented the current position of the Dutch government. Hirsi Ali at that point had six weeks to react to the report before any final decision about her citizenship was taken. Verdonk was strongly criticised for her actions in such a sensitive case.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051800202.html |title=Rita Verdonk Dented by Hirsi Ali Affair |first=Toby |last=Sterling |date=18 May 2006 |access-date=6 May 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post |agency=Associated Press |url-access=limited}}</ref> In addition to her Dutch passport, Hirsi Ali retained a Dutch [[residency permit]] based on being a political refugee. According to the minister, this permit could not be taken away from her since it had been granted more than 12 years before.

Reacting to news of Hirsi Ali's planned relocation to the US, former VVD leader [[Hans Wiegel]] stated that her departure "would not be a loss to the VVD and not be a loss to the [[House of Representatives of the Netherlands|House of Representatives]]".<ref>[http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/nieuwsbericht/asp/artnr/98711/index.html Moslims blij met vertrek Ayaan Hirsi Ali], Elsevier, 15 May</ref> He said that Hirsi Ali was a brave woman, but that her opinions were polarizing. Former parliamentary leader of the VVD, [[Jozias van Aartsen]], said that it is "painful for Dutch society and politics that she is leaving the House of Representatives".<ref>[http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/42398021/Van_Aartsen:_Vertrek_pijnlijk_voor_Nederland.html Van Aartsen: Vertrek pijnlijk voor Nederland], ''Telegraaf''</ref> Another VVD MP, [[Bibi de Vries]], said that if something were to happen to Hirsi Ali, some people in her party would have "blood on their hands". [[United States Deputy Secretary of State]] [[Robert Zoellick]] said in May 2006, "we recognise that she is a very courageous and impressive woman and she is welcome in the US."<ref>[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=30119&name=America+to+welcome+Hirsi+Ali+with+open+arms America to welcome Hirsi Ali with open arms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060713042239/http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=30119&name=America+to+welcome+Hirsi+Ali+with+open+arms |date=13 July 2006 }}, ''Expatica'', 18 May 2006</ref>

In 2006, Hirsi Ali made available to ''[[The New York Times]]'' some letters she believed would provide insight into her 1992 asylum application.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B16F63B5A0C778EDDAC0894DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fR%2fReligion%20and%20Belief Somali in The Hague Faces a More Personal Attack], ''The New York Times'', 23 May 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.nu.nl/news/740969/11/rss/Brieven_bevestigen_risico%27s_Hirsi_Ali.html Brieven bevestigen risico's Hirsi Ali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408112257/http://www.nu.nl/news/740969/11/rss/Brieven_bevestigen_risico%27s_Hirsi_Ali.html |date=8 April 2008 }}, nu.nl, 30 May</ref> In one letter her sister Haweya warned her that the entire extended family was searching for her (after she had fled to the Netherlands), and in another letter her father denounced her. [[Christopher DeMuth]], president of the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI), said that the asylum controversy would not affect the appointment. He stated that he was still looking forward to "welcoming her to AEI, and to America."

On 27 June 2006, the Dutch government announced that Hirsi Ali would keep her Dutch citizenship.<ref>[http://www.justitie.nl/actueel/nieuwsberichten/archief-2006/60627Brief-Hirsi-Ali.aspx?cp=34&cs=2017 Brief minister Verdonk over naturalisatie mevrouw Ayaan Hirsi Ali], [[Rita Verdonk]], 27 June 2006</ref> On the same day a letter was disclosed in which Hirsi Ali expressed regret for misinforming Minister Verdonk. Hirsi Ali was allowed to retain her name. Dutch immigration rules allowed asylum seekers to use grandparents' names. Her grandfather had used the last name Ali until his thirties and then switched to Magan, which was her father's and family's surname. This grandfather's birth year of 1845 had complicated the investigation. (Hirsi Ali's father [[Hirsi Magan Isse]] was the youngest of his many children and born when her grandfather was close to 90).{{sfnp|Hirsi Ali|2007b|pages=15}} Later the same day Hirsi Ali, through her lawyer and in television interviews, stated that she had signed the resignation letter, drafted by the Justice Department, under duress.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=nl_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nos.nl%2Fnosjournaal%2Fartikelen%2F2006%2F6%2F28%2F280606_hirsi_ali_verklaring.html |title=a translation of the letter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828204544/http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2006/6/28/280606_hirsi_ali_verklaring.html |archive-date=28 August 2006}}</ref> She felt it was forced in order for her to keep her passport, but she had not wanted to complicate her pending visa application for the US. {{As of|2006}} she still carried her Dutch passport.

In a special parliamentary session on 28 June 2006, questions were raised about these issues. The ensuing political upheaval on 29 June ultimately led to the fall of the [[second Balkenende cabinet]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/06/29/netherlands/index.html |work=CNN |access-date=6 May 2010 |title=Dutch prime minister to step down |date=30 June 2006}}</ref>

== Life in the United States ==
[[File:Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2006 cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Hirsi Ali in 2006]]

In 2006, Hirsi Ali took a position at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] in Washington, D.C.;{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 2007 |title=Muslim women glad Hirsi Ali quit Netherlands |url=https://jp.reuters.com/article/muslim-women-glad-hirsi-ali-quit-netherlands-idUSZWE360274/ |access-date=27 June 2025 |publisher=Reuters}}</ref> as the Dutch government continued to provide security for her, this required an increase in their effort and costs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=38109 |title=Hirsi Ali under threat in US |work=Expatica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012184454/http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=38109 |archive-date=12 October 2007 |access-date=27 February 2019}}</ref>

On 17 April 2007, the local Muslim community in [[Johnstown, Pennsylvania]], protested Hirsi Ali's planned lecture at the local campus of the [[University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown|University of Pittsburgh]]. Pittsburgh [[imam]] Fouad El Bayly said that the activist deserved the [[capital punishment|death sentence]] but should be tried and judged in an Islamic country.<ref name="print_50397">{{Cite news |work=[[Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]] |url=https://archive.triblive.com/news/furor-over-author-ayaan-hirsi-alis-visit-stirs-debate-on-religious-freedom/ |title=Furor over author Ayaan Hirsi Ali's visit stirs debate on religious freedom |date=22 April 2007 |last=Acton |first=Robin}}</ref>

{{Wikinews|Hirsi Ali returns to the Netherlands}}

Hirsi Ali was granted [[permanent residency in the United States]] in 2007.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/HirsiAliRlease25Sep07.pdf |title=Noted Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali Receives Her Green Card |access-date=2 October 2007 |publisher=[[United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]]}}</ref> In October 2007, she returned to the Netherlands, continuing her work for AEI from a secret address. The [[Ministry of Justice and Security|Dutch minister of Justice]] [[Ernst Hirsch Ballin|Hirsch Ballin]] had informed her of his ruling that, as of 1 October 2007, the Dutch government would no longer pay for her security abroad. That year she declined an offer to live in Denmark, saying she intended to return to the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/16/africa/dutch.php |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali declines Denmark offer |access-date=31 January 2008 |work=International Herald Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208073023/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/16/africa/dutch.php |archive-date=8 February 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>
She became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 2013.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}}

She was a Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at The Harvard Kennedy School from 2016 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=https://www.belfercenter.org/person/ayaan-hirsi-ali |access-date=13 August 2020 |website=Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs |date=14 January 2020}}</ref>

=== Al-Qaeda hit list ===

In 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100721_fanning_flames_jihad |title=Fanning the Flames of Jihad |date=22 July 2010 |work=Security Weekly |publisher=Stratfor |author=Scott Stewart |quote=Inspire also features a "hit list" that includes the names of people like Westergaard who were involved in the cartoon controversy as well as other targets such as Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who produced the controversial film Fitna in 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706135755/http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100721_fanning_flames_jihad |archive-date=6 July 2013}}</ref> [[Anwar al-Awlaki]] published a hit list in his ''[[Inspire (magazine)|Inspire]]'' magazine, including Hirsi Ali, [[Geert Wilders]], and [[Salman Rushdie]] along with cartoonists [[Lars Vilks]] and three ''Jyllands-Posten'' staff members: [[Kurt Westergaard]], [[Carsten Juste]], and [[Flemming Rose]].<ref name="thewire2013">{{cite web |url=http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/03/al-qaeda-most-wanted-list/62673/ |title=Look Who's on Al Qaeda's Most-Wanted List |author=Dashiell Bennet |date=1 March 2013 |work=The Wire |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108025940/http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/03/al-qaeda-most-wanted-list/62673/ |archive-date=8 January 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://time.com/3657246/paris-charlie-hebdo-shooting/ |title=Paris Police Say 12 Dead After Shooting at Charlie Hebdo |author=Conal Urquhart |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107234226/http://time.com/3657246/paris-charlie-hebdo-shooting/ |archive-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11330505/Murdered-Charlie-Hebdo-cartoonist-was-on-al-Qaeda-wanted-list.html |title=Murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonist was on al Qaeda wanted list |author=Victoria Ward |work=The Telegraph |date=7 January 2015 |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107235743/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11330505/Murdered-Charlie-Hebdo-cartoonist-was-on-al-Qaeda-wanted-list.html |archive-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref> The list was later expanded to include [[Charb|Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier]], who was [[Charlie Hebdo shooting|murdered in 2015 in a terror attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'']] in Paris, along with 11 other people. After the attack, Al-Qaeda called for more killings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theage.com.au/world/charlie-hebdo-editor-stephane-charbonnier-crossed-off-chilling-alqaeda-hitlist-20150108-12k97z.html |title=Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier crossed off chilling al-Qaeda hitlist |author=Lucy Cormack |date=8 January 2015 |work=The Age |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111014923/http://www.theage.com.au/world/charlie-hebdo-editor-stephane-charbonnier-crossed-off-chilling-alqaeda-hitlist-20150108-12k97z.html |archive-date=11 January 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Brandeis University ===
In early 2014, [[Brandeis University]], a private liberal-arts university in Massachusetts, announced that Hirsi Ali would receive an [[honorary degree]]. In April, the university rescinded the honor, expressing concern over Hirsi Ali's views on Islam.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} This occurred in response to protests by the [[Council on American–Islamic Relations]] (CAIR) and lobbying by [[Joseph E. B. Lumbard]], Head of the Islamic Studies Department, other faculty members and several student groups that accused Hirsi Ali of [[hate speech]]. University president [[Frederick M. Lawrence]] said that "certain of her past statements" were inconsistent with the university's "core values" because they were "[[Islamophobia|Islamophobic]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement from Brandeis University |url=http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2014/april/commencementupdate.html |publisher=Brandeis University |access-date=9 April 2014}}</ref> The university said she was welcome to come to the campus for a dialogue in the future.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

The university's withdrawal of its invitation generated controversy and condemnation among some.{{Who|date=November 2025}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/islam-critic-brandeis-turned-honor-shaming-221820311.html |title=Islam critic: Brandeis turned honor into a shaming |agency=Associated Press |via=Yahoo News |date=9 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/opinion/stanley-brandeis-invite-islam/ |title=Opinion: Brandeis' mistake on critic of Islam |first=Timothy |last=Stanley |date=11 April 2014 |work=CNN |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref> According to ''The Economist'', Hirsi Ali's "wholesale condemnations of existing religions just aren't done in American politics." It said that "the explicit consensus in America is ecumenical and strongly pro-religious".<ref name="intol">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/04/ayaan-hirsi-ali |title=Enlightened intolerance |newspaper=The Economist |date=16 April 2014 |url-access=limited}}</ref> The university was distinguishing between an open intellectual exchange, which could occur if Hirsi Ali came to campus for a dialogue and appearing to celebrate her with an honorary degree.<ref name="intol"/>

A Brandeis spokesperson said that Hirsi Ali had not been invited to speak at commencement but simply to be among honorary awardees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thebrandeishoot.com/articles/14184 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414025237/http://thebrandeishoot.com/articles/14184 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2014 |work=The Brandeis Hoot |title=Students' outcry prompts Brandeis to reconsider award |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref> Hirsi Ali said CAIR's letter misrepresented her and her work, but that it has long been available on the Internet.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140411145507/http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ayaan-hirsi-ali-speaks_786719.html Ayaan Hirsi Ali Speaks, blog], ''Weekly Standard''</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/cair-to-brandeisuniv-idUSnPn5nmHrl+84+PRN20140408 |title=CAIR Asks Brandeis University Not to Honor Islamophobe Ayaan Hirsi Ali |access-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714192852/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/cair-to-brandeisuniv-idUSnPn5nmHrl+84+PRN20140408 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |work=[[Reuters]] |date=8 April 2014}}</ref> She said that the "spirit of free expression" has been betrayed and stifled.<ref name="Hirsi Ali 2014">{{cite news |last1=Hirsi Ali |first1=Ayaan |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'They Simply Wanted Me to be Silenced' |url=https://time.com/56111/ayaan-hirsi-ali-they-simply-wanted-me-to-be-silenced/ |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=Time |date=9 April 2014 |language=en |url-access=limited}}</ref>

[[David Bernstein (law professor)|David Bernstein]], a law professor at George Mason University, criticised the Brandeis decision as an attack on academic values of freedom of inquiry and intellectual independence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=David |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/10/more-on-the-brandeis-hirsi-ali-controversy/ |title=More on the Brandeis-Hirsi Ali controversy |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=The Volokh Conspiracy |date=10 April 2014 |access-date=16 April 2014 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== Designation by Southern Poverty Law Center ===

In 2016, the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (SPLC) accused Hirsi Ali and Muslim activist [[Maajid Nawaz]] of being "anti-Muslim extremists".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=David A. |title=How Did Maajid Nawaz End Up on a List of 'Anti-Muslim Extremists'? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/maajid-nawaz-splc-anti-muslim-extremist/505685/ |access-date=31 October 2016 |work=The Atlantic |date=29 October 2016 |url-access=limited}}</ref> The [[Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice]] wrote a public letter to the SPLC asking them to retract the listings.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lantos Foundation Calls Out Southern Poverty Law Center |url=http://www.lantosfoundation.org/news/2016/11/8/lantos-foundation-calls-out-southern-poverty-law-center |access-date=10 November 2016 |work=Lantos Foundation |date=8 November 2016}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=November 2025}}
In 2018, the SPLC retracted the "Anti-Muslim Extremist" list in its entirety after Nawaz threatened legal action over his inclusion on the list.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/news/southern-poverty-law-center-removes-extremist-list-after-legal-threat/ |title=Southern Poverty Law Center Quietly Deleted List of 'Anti-Muslim' Extremists After Legal Threat. |last=Crowe |first=Jack |date=19 April 2018 |work=National Review |access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/southern-poverty-law-center-must-3-3-million-payout-after-falsely-naming-anti-muslim-extremists/ |title=Southern Poverty Law Center Must Pay $3.3 Million After Falsely Naming Anti-Muslim Extremists |work=Law & Crime |first=Matt |last=Naham |date=18 June 2018}}</ref>

=== Australia tour ===
In April 2017, she cancelled a planned tour of Australia. This followed the [[Facebook]] release of a video by six Australian Muslim women who accused her of being a "star of the global Islamophobia industry" and of profiting from "an industry that exists to dehumanize Muslim women" but did not call for her to cancel her trip. Hirsi Ali responded that the women in question were "carrying water" for the causes of radical Islamists and stated that "Islamophobia" is a manufactured word. She said that the cancellation was due to organisational problems.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-03/ayaan-hirsi-ali-cancels-speaking-tour-amid-security-concerns/8411408 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali cancels speaking tour of Australia and New Zealand amid security concerns |date=4 April 2017 |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/hirsi-ali-hits-back-at-australian-critics/csxvv8q5q |title=Hirsi Ali hits back at Australian critics |date=4 April 2017 |website=SBS TV}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Kay S. |last=Hymowitz |url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/upside-down-down-under-15115.html |title=Upside-down down under |newspaper=[[City Journal]] |date=12 April 2017}}</ref>

== Social and political views ==
[[File:Panel discussion focus on Ayaan Hirsi Ali at Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, London, 2023.jpg|thumb|Hirsi Ali in a panel discussion with Jordan Peterson, John Anderson and Os Guinness at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Forum, London, 2023]]
Hirsi Ali joined the [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy|VVD]] political party in 2002; it combines "classically liberal" views on the economy, foreign policy, crime and immigration with a liberal social stance on abortion and homosexuality. She says that she admires [[Frits Bolkestein]], a former [[European Commission|Euro-commissioner]] and ideological leader of the party.<ref name=nyt050403>{{cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/daughter-of-the-enlightenment.html |title=Daughter of the Enlightenment |work=The New York Times Magazine |date=3 April 2005 |first=Christopher |last=Caldwell |access-date=3 November 2015}}</ref>

Hirsi Ali is the founder and president of the [[AHA Foundation]], a non-profit humanitarian organisation to protect women and girls in the U.S. against political Islam and harmful tribal customs that violate U.S. law and international conventions. Through the AHA Foundation, Hirsi Ali campaigns against the denial of education for girls, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, honour violence and killings, and suppression of information about the crimes through the misuse and misinterpretation of rights to freedom of religion and free speech in the U.S. and the West.<ref>[http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/20/the-aha-foundation/ ''AHA Foundation.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127222738/http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/20/the-aha-foundation/ |date=27 January 2013 }} [[CNN]]. Retrieved 25 November 2011.</ref>

Hirsi Ali has praised [[western liberalism]].<ref name="Filipovic 2021">{{Cite news |last=Filipovic |first=Jill |date=9 February 2021 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim Men and Western Women |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-ali-prey.html |access-date=5 August 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She was a participant in the first conference of the [[Alliance for Responsible Citizenship]], speaking on the personal choice to support a narrative for western civilisation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2023 |title=The power of stories: insights from the ARC conference |url=https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/11/the-power-of-stories-insights-from-the-arc-conference/ |access-date=21 November 2023 |website=The Spectator Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=3 November 2023 |title=Calling Western Civilization to Its Senses {{!}} John Duggan |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/11/calling-western-civilization-to-its-senses |access-date=21 November 2023 |website=First Things}}</ref>

Hirsi Ali is an opponent of "[[Woke]]ism" and the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement, comparing them to [[Islamic State|ISIS]], saying both reflected the "intolerant doctrines of a religious cult".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hirsi Ali |first1=Ayaan |title=Islamists and 'Wokeists' have much in common |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/islamists-and-wokeists-have-much-in-common/news-story/84b30c23dc9babe89a05bb642370c255 |website=The Australian |access-date=5 January 2021 |date=12 September 2020}}</ref> In an interview with [[Douglas Murray (author)|Douglas Murray]] on ''[[Piers Morgan Uncensored]]'', she called [[Ibram X. Kendi]] a racist, adding, "A very loud minority wants to get ahead and is claiming they speak for all blacks and all women, all gender-identity minorities. They don't speak for any of these minorities. They do this so that ''they'' can [[Race card|get ahead]]. Ibram X. Kendi speaks for himself. [[Claudine Gay]] speaks for herself. She doesn't speak for me."<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Murray Roasts Disgraced Harvard President Claudine Gay |date=4 January 2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqjIES6b1ZI |publisher=Piers Morgan Uncensored |access-date=5 January 2024 |via=YouTube |type=video}}</ref>

=== Islam and Muslims ===

Hirsi Ali is [[Criticism of Islam|critical of Islam]],<ref name="Khalil p95">{{cite book |last=Khalil |first=Mohammad Hassan |date=2017 |title=Jihad, Radicalism, and the New Atheism |page=95 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108377263.009 |isbn=978-1-108-38512-1 |chapter=Part III - The New Atheism |quote=Among the most prominent New Atheist critics of Islam{{emdash}}and the writers featured in the next three chapters{{emdash}}are [Sam] Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.}}</ref> including the treatment of [[Women in Islam|women in Islamic societies]] and the punishments demanded by conservative [[Islamic scholar]]s for homosexuality, blasphemy and [[adultery]]. She publicly identified as Muslim until 28 May 2002, when she acknowledged in her diary that she knew she was not.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/dossier/asp/portal/0/sctr/0/dossier/290/hoofdstuk/2/sortering/False/artikel/12785/bt//index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619062015/http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/dossier/asp/portal/0/sctr/0/dossier/290/hoofdstuk/2/sortering/False/artikel/12785/bt//index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 June 2006 |title=Dutch article link: 'Ik geloof niet meer' |publisher=Elsevier.nl |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>

She also explained in an interview that she began a serious reassessment of her religious beliefs after the 9/11 attacks and when she was drinking wine in an Italian restaurant, stating "I asked myself: Why should I burn in hell just because I'm drinking this? But what prompted me even more was the fact that the killers of 9/11 all believed in the same God I believed in."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seering |first=Lauryn |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Freedom From Religion Foundation |url=https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14650-ayaan-hirsi-ali |access-date=19 February 2021 |website=ffrf.org |date=30 October 2010}}</ref>

In a 2007 interview in the London ''[[Evening Standard]]'',<ref name="lawcf.org"/> Hirsi Ali characterised Islam as "the new fascism":

<blockquote>Just like [[Nazism]] started with [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s vision, the Islamic vision is a [[caliphate]]—a society ruled by [[Sharia law]]—in which women who have sex before marriage are stoned to death, homosexuals are beaten, and apostates like me are killed. Sharia law is as inimical to [[liberal democracy]] as Nazism&nbsp;... Violence is inherent in Islam—it's a destructive, nihilistic cult of death. It legitimates murder.</blockquote>

In a 2007 article in ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'', Hirsi Ali said that Islam, the religion, must be defeated and that "we are at war with Islam. And there's no middle ground in wars."<ref name="reason"/> She said, "Islam, period. Once it's defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It's very difficult to even talk about peace now. They're not interested in peace&nbsp;... There comes a moment when you crush your enemy.&nbsp;... and if you don't do that, then you have to live with the consequence of being crushed." Adding: "the Christian powers have accepted the separation of the worldly and the divine. We don't interfere with their religion, and they don't interfere with the state. That hasn't happened in Islam."<ref name="reason">{{cite web |first=Rogier |last=van Bakel |url=http://reason.com/archives/2007/10/10/the-trouble-is-the-west/2 |title='The Trouble Is the West' |work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |date=November 2007 |access-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013010121/https://reason.com/archives/2007/10/10/the-trouble-is-the-west/2/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 October 2012}}</ref>

[[Max Rodenbeck]], writing in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', argued that Ali is really criticising what she has, at points, called "[[Medina]] Muslims", meaning a minority of Islamic fundamentalists who envision a regime based on sharia,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hirsi Ali |first=Ayaan |date=9 November 2015 |title=Islam Is a Religion of Violence |website=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/09/islam-is-a-religion-of-violence-ayaan-hirsi-ali-debate-islamic-state/ |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and who ignore the more inclusive passages of Muhammad's [[Mecca]]n period.<ref name="NYRB151205">{{cite news |last=Rodenbeck |first=Max |date=5 December 2015 |title=How She Wants to Modify Muslims |work=The New York Review of Books |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/12/03/ayaan-hirsi-ali-wants-modify-muslims/ |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In a Congressional hearing, Ali has argued this is because politics is built into the faith of Muslim people, saying:<blockquote>"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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Hearings – Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee |url=https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/ideology-and-terror-understanding-the-tools-tactics-and-techniques-of-violent-extremism |website=hsgac.senate.gov}}</ref> </blockquote>Although Hirsi Ali has previously described Islam as beyond reform, she has stated that the [[Arab Spring]] and growing visibility of women's rights activists within Muslim societies has demonstrated to her that a liberal reformation of Islam is possible, and outlines how this could be achieved in her book ''Heretic'' by supporting reformist Muslims.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dominus |first=Susan |date=1 April 2015 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali's 'Heretic' (Published 2015) |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-alis-heretic.html |access-date=19 February 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

She described Islamic societies as lagging "in enlightened thinking, tolerance and knowledge of other cultures" and that their history cannot cite a single person who "made a discovery in science or technology, or changed the world through artistic achievement".<ref name="Mahmood">{{cite book |last1=Mahmood |first1=Saba |editor1-last=Herzog |editor1-first=H. |editor2-last=Braude |editor2-first=A. |title=Gendering Religion and Politics: Untangling Modernities |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-230-62337-8 |page=197 |chapter=Feminism, Democracy, and Empire: Islam and the War on Terror}}</ref>

In a 2010 interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'', she compared the responses of Christians and Muslims to criticism of their respective religions. While Christians would often simply ignore criticism, Muslims would instead take offence, display a [[victim mentality]] and take criticism as insults.<ref name="Brockes 2010">{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/08/ayaan-hirsi-ali-interview |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Why are Muslims so hypersensitive?' |last=Brockes |first=Emma |date=7 May 2010 |website=The Guardian |access-date=29 November 2018}}</ref>

She insists that many contemporary Muslims have not yet transitioned to modernity,<ref name="Yaghi"/> and that many Muslim immigrants are culturally unsuited to life in the West and are therefore a burden.<ref name="Grewal"/> Hirsi Ali calls upon atheists, Christians, Europeans, and Americans to unite against Muslim extremism in the West. She urges the former to educate Muslims and the latter, especially Western Churches, to convert "as many Muslims as possible to Christianity, introducing them to a God who rejects Holy War and who has sent his son to die for all sinners out of love for mankind".<ref name="Yaghi"/>

Speaking in April 2015 on an [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] radio program, Hirsi Ali said:

<blockquote>It's wrong for Western leaders like [former Prime Minister of Australia] [[Tony Abbott]] to say the actions of the Islamic State aren't about religion. I want to say to him 'please don't say such things in public because it's just not true.' You're letting down all the individuals who are reformers within Islam who are asking the right questions that will ultimately bring about change.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s4225435.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150430095332/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s4225435.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 April 2015 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Stop saying IS isn't about religion |author=Lauder, Jo |date=28 April 2015 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], [[Triple J]] |access-date=23 May 2015}}</ref></blockquote>

When discussing Muslims who become radicalized by [[Islamic State]] on the internet, Hirsi Ali argued that many of these people already adhered to fundamentalist Islamic ideas or came from families and communities that followed a literal practice of Islam before ISIS declared a caliphate, and that ISIS now gave them a focus to execute their beliefs. She commented that what the media has come to refer to as ''radical Islam'' or ''extremist'' individuals are in fact Muslims who become more pious in their beliefs and take both the [[Quran]] and examples set by the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] literally. She concluded that "people who have that mentality and that mindset are not a minority and they are not a fringe minority. Because of the large number of people who believe in this within Muslim communities and families who believe in this, definitely not all, but it is so large that these individuals who want to take action, who want to take it beyond believing and beyond practicing but actually want to kill people, they have a large enough group to hide in."<ref name="cnn.com">{{Citation |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali on radicalization and Donald Trump – CNN Video |date=10 December 2015 |url=https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/12/10/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-donald-trump.cnn |access-date=19 February 2021}}</ref>

In a 2016 presentation for the American conservative platform ''[[PragerU]]'', Hirsi Ali asserted that a reform of Islam was vital. She elaborated that while the majority of Muslims are peaceful, Islam as a belief-system in its current form cannot be considered a [[religion of peace]] as justification for violence against homosexuals, apostates and those deemed guilty of blasphemy are still clearly stated within Islamic scripture and that Western leaders need to stop downplaying the link between Islam and Islamic terrorism. She also added that Western progressives have often dismissed reformist and dissident Muslims as "not representative" and accused any criticism of Islam of being racist. She argued that instead, Western liberals should assist and ally themselves with Muslim reformists who put themselves at risk to push for change by drawing a parallel to when Russian dissidents who internally challenged the ideology of the Soviet Union during the [[Cold War]] were celebrated and assisted by people in the West.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AkAGc5nOXw |title=Is Islam a Religion of Peace? |publisher=PragerU |via=YouTube |type=video |date=10 October 2016}}</ref>

In 2017, Hirsi Ali spoke of how ''[[Dawah]]'' is often a precursor to Islamism. In an article for ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' she stated "in theory, ''dawa'' is a simple call to Islam. As Islamists practice the concept, however, it is a subversive, indoctrinating precursor to jihad. A process of methodical brainwashing that rejects assimilation and places Muslims in opposition to Western civic ideals. It is facilitated by funding from the Middle East, local charities and is carried out in mosques, Islamic centres, Muslim schools and even in people's living rooms. Its goal is to erode and ultimately destroy the political institutions of a free society and replace them with Sharia law."<ref name="Press">{{Cite web |agency=Australian Associated Press |date=4 April 2017 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali says Australian opponents 'carrying water' for radical Islamists |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/04/ayaan-hirsi-ali-says-australian-opponents-carrying-water-for-radical-islamists |access-date=19 February 2021 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>

==== Muhammad ====
{{See also|Criticism of Muhammad}}
Hirsi Ali criticises the central [[Prophets of Islam|Islamic prophet]] on morality and personality traits (criticisms based on [[Sīrah|biographical details]] or depictions by Islamic texts and early followers of Muhammad).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/Nieuws/article/detail/1731675/2005/03/16/Rechter-waarschuwt-tevreden-Hirsi-Ali.dhtml |title=Rechter waarschuwt tevreden Hirsi Ali |newspaper=Trouw}}</ref> Muslims filed a religious discrimination suit against her that year.<!-- As covered earlier in this article in the life section --> The civil court in the Hague acquitted Hirsi Ali of any charges, but said that she "could have made a better choice of words".<ref>Rechtbank 's-Gravenhage, 15 March 2005, KG 05/123, {{ECLI|ECLI:NL:RBSGR:2005:AT0303}}: {{Text and translation|Daarmee is zij in het kader van de haar toegestane overdrijving binnen de grenzen van het toelaatbare gebleven. Het is echter de vraag of een veelvuldig gebruik van deze of soortgelijke woorden nog wel zal vallen binnen de grenzen van de proportionaliteit en subsidiariteit. Hoewel gedaagde heeft aangevoerd dat het gebruik van deze termen precies illustreert dat de Koran géén praktische handleiding is voor het dagelijkse leven, wordt geoordeeld dat zij deze zienswijze ook op andere (doeltreffender) wijze en met betere bewoordingen kan illustreren.|In doing so, within the framework of the exaggeration permitted to it, she stayed within the limits of what is permissible. However, the question is whether the frequent use of these or similar words will still fall within the limits of proportionality and subsidiarity. Although the defendant has argued that the use of these terms illustrates exactly that the Koran is nót a practical manual for daily life, it is held that she can also illustrate this view in a different (more effective) way and in better wordings.}}</ref>

=== Female genital mutilation ===

Hirsi Ali is an opponent of [[female genital mutilation]] (FGM), which she has criticized in many of her writings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 March 2013 |title=#FGM: An end to Female Genital Mutilation for good |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/fgm-an-end-to-female-genital-mutilation-for-good-8522250.html |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=The Independent}}</ref> When in the Dutch parliament, she proposed obligatory annual medical checks for all girls living in the Netherlands who came from countries where it is practised.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Female genital mutilation in the European Union and Croatia |url=https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/eige-report-fgm-in-the-eu-and-croatia.pdf |journal=European Institute for Gender Equality |pages=53}}</ref> She proposed that if a physician found that such a girl had been mutilated, a report to the police would be required—with protection of the child prevailing over privacy.<ref>{{in lang|nl}}"VVD: extra inspectie tegen besnijdenis", ''de Volkskrant'' newspaper, 22 January 2004, frontpage</ref>{{efn|A similar [[mandated reporter|mandatory reporting]] obligation was introduced in the UK in 2015 by amendments to the [[Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003]].}}

=== Atheism and conversion to Christianity ===
After formally renouncing Islam, Hirsi Ali identified as an atheist, saying she agreed with arguments put forward by [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Christopher Hitchens]] and [[Richard Dawkins]] on organized religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 November 2023 |title=The Unlikely Conversion of Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-unlikely-conversion-of-ayaan-hirsi-ali |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=Crisis Magazine}}</ref><ref name="Jones 2023" /> Alongside Dawkins, Hitchens, [[Daniel Dennett]], and [[Sam Harris]], collectively nicknamed the "Four Horsemen", Hirsi Ali is sometimes referred to as the fifth "Horseman"<ref name="Restivo 2024">{{cite book |last1=Restivo |first1=Sal P. |title=Beyond New Atheism and Theism: A Sociology of Science, Secularism, and Religiosity |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1-032-50094-2 |page=xii |doi=10.4324/9781003396857 |edition=1st |chapter=Prologue: New Atheists and Theists on Stage |quote=Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969–), sometimes referred to as the fifth 'Horseman,' is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, and former politician.}}</ref> or "Horsewoman" of [[New Atheism]].<ref name="Klug 2022">{{cite book |last1=Klug |first1=Petra |title=Anti-Atheist Nation: Religion and Secularism in the United States |date=2022 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=London |isbn=978-1-000-80442-3 |page=106 |doi=10.4324/9781003307594 |chapter= |quote=According to Dawkins, however, they had also invited a 'horsewoman' to the table: The Somali-born writer, filmmaker, and well-known critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali [...]}}</ref><ref name="Finger 2017">{{cite book |last1=Finger |first1=Anja |editor1-last=Cotter |editor1-first=C. |editor2-last=Quadrio |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Tuckett |editor3-first=J. |title=New Atheism: Critical Perspectives and Contemporary Debates |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-319-54964-4 |page=159 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54964-4_9 |chapter=Four Horsemen (and a Horsewoman): What Gender Is New Atheism? |series=Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures |volume=21 |quote=Present were the three remaining 'horsemen'{{emdash}}and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-Dutch now American author, one-time politician and researcher, whose autobiographical debut, published in English as ''Infidel'' [...] tells her journey through different parts of the world and away from Islam.}}</ref>

In November 2023, Hirsi Ali [[Conversion to Christianity|converted to Christianity]] stating that "atheism can't equip us for [[Culture war|civilisational war]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Anugrah |date=12 November 2023 |title=Muslim-turned-atheist rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali says she is now a Christian |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/ayaan-hirsi-ali-says-shes-now-a-christian.html |access-date= |website=[[The Christian Post]]}}</ref><ref name="Hirsi Ali 2023">{{Cite web |last=Hirsi Ali |first=Ayaan |date=13 November 2023 |title=Why I am now a Christian |url=https://unherd.com/2023/11/why-i-am-now-a-christian/ |access-date=13 November 2023 |website=UnHerd}}</ref> Explaining her decision in an essay for [[UnHerd]], Hirsi Ali argued that the West was under threat from "the resurgence of great-power [[authoritarianism]] and [[expansionism]] in the forms of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and [[Vladimir Putin]]'s Russia; the rise of global Islamism, which threatens to mobilise a vast population against the West; and the viral spread of [[woke ideology]], which is eating into the [[morality|moral fibre]] of the next generation."<ref name="Hirsi Ali 2023" /> Against such threats, secular approaches, whether they be arguments, technologies, or military force, are, in her view, inadequate.<ref name="Hirsi Ali 2023" /> She concluded that upholding [[Judeo-Christian]] traditions was the most credible answer for the Western society to survive.<ref name="Hirsi Ali 2023" /> The essay generated criticism both from Christians, who interpreted her conversion to Christianity as merely a cultural response and not a spiritual one, as well as from atheists who were "baffled" that she had not addressed what they considered materialist rebuttals of Christianity.<ref name="Douthat 2023" />  In a discussion with Richard Dawkins, she mentioned that she believed in the [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]], with Dawkins acknowledging that she was not just a political Christian.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard Dawkins vs Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The God Debate |publisher=UnHerd |via=YouTube |type=video |date=3 June 2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBsHdHMvucs&t=472s}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How former atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali found peace in Christ |date=15 October 2024 |url=https://www.christianpost.com/voices/how-former-atheist-ayaan-hirsi-ali-found-peace-in-christ.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The God Debate |url=https://unherd.com/watch-listen/the-god-debate/?us=1}}</ref>

Some commentators, such as Sarah Jones writing for ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine, suggested that for Hirsi Ali, "atheism only ever propped up her career as a culture warrior". Abandoning a New Atheist movement "in terminal decline" for a new vehicle, "she remains on the same crusade, inveighing against Islam and having simply exchanged one banner for another".<ref name="Jones 2023" /> On the other hand, columnist [[Ross Douthat]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' assessed Hirsi Ali's decision to be the result of "a twofold realization":<ref name="Douthat 2023">{{Cite news |last=Douthat |first=Ross |date=15 November 2023 |title=Where Does Religion Come From? |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/opinion/religion-christianity-belief.html}}</ref> first, that atheistic [[materialism]] is too weak a base to build Western liberalism upon; and second, that while atheism had briefly provided "a sense of liberation from punitive religion", she found the long-term sense of life without spiritual [[solace]] to be "unendurable".<ref name="Douthat 2023" />

=== Feminism ===

Hirsi Ali has criticized Western feminists for avoiding the issue of the subjugation of women in the Muslim world and singled out [[Germaine Greer]] for arguing that [[Female genital mutilation|FGM]] needs to be considered a "cultural identity" that Western women do not understand.<ref name="Brockes 2010"/>

During the [[#Brandeis University|Brandeis University controversy]], Hirsi Ali noted that "an authority on '[[Queer Theory|Queer]]/Feminist Narrative Theory'&nbsp;... [sided] with the openly [[homophobia|homophobic]] Islamists" in speaking against her.<ref name=loath/>

[[Rich Lowry]] wrote in ''[[Politico]]'' that while Hirsi Ali had many traits that should have made her a "feminist hero", such as being a refugee from an abusive patriarchy and an African immigrant who made her way to a Western country and became an advocate for women's rights, this did not happen because she was "a dissident of the wrong religion". Some feminists instead criticise Hirsi Ali for "strengthening racism" instead of "weakening sexism".<ref>{{Cite news |first=Rich |last=Lowry |authorlink=Rich Lowry |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/ayaan-hirsi-ali-a-hero-for-our-time-116404#.VRsJllz4tFI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907215159/http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/ayaan-hirsi-ali-a-hero-for-our-time-116404#.VRsJllz4tFI |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 September 2015 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Hero for Our Time |work=[[Politico Magazine]] |date=25 March 2015 |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref>

=== Freedom of speech ===

In a 2006 lecture in Berlin, she defended the right to offend, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy]] in Denmark. She condemned the journalists of those papers and TV channels that did not show their readers the cartoons as being "mediocre of mind". She also praised publishers all over Europe for showing the cartoons and not being afraid of what she called the "hard-line [[Islamist]] movement".<ref name="lecture">{{cite web |url=http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article215732.ece |title=The Right to Offend |access-date=1 February 2008 |work=NRC Handelsblad |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117212431/http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article215732.ece |archive-date=17 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2017, Hirsi Ali described the word [[Islamophobia]] as a "manufactured term" and argued "we can't stop the injustices if we say everything is ''Islamophobic'' and hide behind a politically correct screen."<ref name="Press"/>

=== Opposition to denominational or faith schools ===

In the Netherlands about half of all education has historically been provided by [[special school (Netherlands)|sponsored religious schools]], most of them Christian, both [[Catholic]] and [[Protestant]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=ears |date=21 June 2021 |title=Dutch Religious Education: A fine line? |url=https://europeanacademyofreligionandsociety.com/news/dutch-religious-education-a-fine-line/ |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=European Academy on Religion and Society}}</ref> As Muslims began to ask for support for schools, the state provided it and by 2005, there were 41 Islamic schools in the nation. This was based on the idea in the 1960s that Muslims could become one of the "pillars" of Dutch society, as were Protestants, Catholics and secular residents.<ref name="link">Linklater, Alexander (17 May 2005). [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/may/17/religion.immigration "Danger woman"], ''The Guardian'', accessed 1 July 2014.</ref> Hirsi Ali has opposed state funding of any religious schools, including Islamic ones. In a 2007 interview with London-based ''[[Evening Standard]]'', Hirsi Ali urged the British government to close all Muslim faith schools in the country and instead integrate Muslim pupils into mainstream society, arguing "Britain is sleepwalking into a society that could be ruled by Sharia law within decades unless Islamic schools are shut down and young Muslims are instead made to integrate and accept Western liberal values." In 2017, Hirsi Ali reasserted her belief that Islamic faith schools should be closed if they are found to be indoctrinating their students into political Islam and that such faith schools often exist in migrant dominated communities where students will have a lesser chance of integrating into mainstream society and that such cultural and educational "cocooning" breeds a lack of understanding or hostility towards the host culture.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/its-time-to-shut-all-islamic-schools-says-antiradical-islam-campaigner-ayaan-hirsi-ali/news-story/02aae873a62c03a48c6eae4552a4540b |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'It's time to shut all Islamic schools' |date=29 March 2017 |newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph (Australia)]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 2020, Hirsi Ali stated that children in predominantly Muslim schools are less likely to be taught about the [[Holocaust]] and argued that schools should not cave into demands from Muslim parents that children should not be taught to remember the Holocaust in history lessons.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWi15SSBlN8 |title=Lessons Learned: European Values Vs Islamism |publisher=Hoover Institution |via=YouTube |date=20 November 2020 |type=video}}</ref>

=== Development aid ===

The Netherlands has always been one of the most prominent countries that support [[development aid|aiding]] [[developing country|developing countries]]. As the spokesperson of the VVD in the parliament on this matter, Hirsi Ali said that the current aid policy had not achieved an increase in prosperity, peace and stability in developing countries: "The VVD believes that Dutch international aid has failed until now, as measured by [the Dutch aid effects on] poverty reduction, famine reduction, life expectancy and the promotion of peace."<ref>[http://www.wereldomroep.nl/achtergronden/nederland/hulp031119.html Snijden in bilaterale ontwikkelingshulp], Wereldomroep, 19 November 2003: ''"De VVD is van mening dat het Nederlands ontwikkelingsbeleid tot op heden is mislukt, gemeten aan armoedebestrijding, bestrijding van honger, aan levensverwachting en het bevorderen van vrede."''</ref>

=== Immigration ===
In 2003, Hirsi Ali worked together with fellow VVD MP [[Geert Wilders]] for several months. They questioned the government about immigration policy. In reaction to the [[UN Development Programme]] 2003 Arab Human Development Report, Hirsi Ali requested [[Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Jaap de Hoop Scheffer]] and the [[Minister without Portfolio (Netherlands)|Minister without Portfolio]] for Development Cooperation [[Agnes van Ardenne]] to clarify government policy regarding the Arab world. Hirsi Ali and Wilders asked the government whether the report prompted changes in Dutch cooperation policy with the Arab world and in Dutch policy to reduce immigration from the Arab world to Europe, and in particular the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staten-Generaal |first=Tweede Kamer der |date=21 November 2003 |title=Vragen van de leden Wilders en Hirsi Ali (beiden VVD) aan de ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken en voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking over het Arab Human Development Report 2003 van de Verenigde Naties. (Ingezonden 22 oktober 2003) |url=https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/ah-tk-20032004-325.html |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl |language=nl}}</ref>

Although she publicly supported the policy of VVD minister [[Rita Verdonk]] to limit immigration, privately she was not supportive, as she explained in a June 2006 interview for ''Opzij.''<ref name="opzij">Het Nieuwe Leven van Ayaan, [http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show/id=18755 Opzij] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701113955/http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show/id=18755 |date=1 July 2007 }}, June 2006</ref> This interview was given after she resigned from Parliament, and shortly after she had moved to the United States.<!-- What did she think of Verdonk's policy? This seems incomplete. -->

In parliament, Hirsi Ali had supported the way Verdonk handled the [[Taida Pasić|Pasić case]], although privately she felt that Pasić should have been allowed to stay.<ref name="taida">[http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/nieuwsbericht/asp/artnr/89153/index.html Hirsi Ali stoort zich aan ophef Taïda], Elsevier, 3 March 2006</ref> On the night before the debate, she phoned Verdonk to tell her that she had lied when she applied for asylum in the Netherlands, just as Pasić had. She said that Verdonk responded that if she had been minister at that time, she would have had Hirsi Ali deported.<ref name="taida"/>

In 2015, when [[Donald Trump]] suggested a complete ban on all Muslims entering the United States as part of his [[Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016|presidential campaign]], Hirsi Ali responded by saying that such a pledge gave "false hope" to voters by questioning the reality of how such policy would be implemented and in practice it would offer a short-term solution to a long term ideological issue.<ref name="cnn.com"/> However, she also praised Trump's campaign messages for highlighting the problems posed by Islamic fundamentalism and said the outgoing Obama administration had "conspicuously avoided any discussion of Islamic theology, even avoiding use of the term radical Islam altogether."<ref name="huffpost.com">{{Cite web |last1=Hirsi Ali |first1=Ayaan |date=2 February 2017 |title=Trump's Immigration Ban Was Clumsy But He's Right About Radical Islam |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-immigration-ban_b_58933c0de4b070cf8b80d970 |access-date=19 February 2021 |website=HuffPost}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2015 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Obama Must Confront the Threat of Radical Islam |url=https://www.theahafoundation.org/ayaan-hirsi-ali-obama-must-confront-the-threat-of-radical-islam-2/ |access-date=19 February 2021 |website=The AHA Foundation}}</ref>

In response to the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]]'s [[Executive Order 13769]] which imposed a travel ban on and temporarily restricted immigration and visa applications from several Muslim majority countries, Hirsi Ali described the ban as both "clumsy" but also "too narrow" for excluding nations such as Pakistan and [[Saudi Arabia]] who have been implicated in terrorism. However, she also stated agreement with Trump's assertion that some immigrants from Muslim nations are less likely to adapt to a Westernized lifestyle or are harder to screen as potential security risks, citing [[Ahmad Khan Rahami]] and [[Tashfeen Malik]] as examples of Muslims who entered the U.S. on immigration visas before committing acts of terrorism. She also maintained that as an immigrant herself, she was not opposed to Muslim immigrants coming to America seeking a better life but expressed concern over the attitudes that younger generations of Muslim-Americans bring with them and that society had a limited capacity to change those values.<ref name="huffpost.com"/> She has also defended the right for Western nations to screen all prospective Muslim immigrants to assess their beliefs and deport or deny residency to those who display sympathetic views to fundamentalism and violence.<ref name="huffpost.com"/><ref name="Press"/>

In 2020, Hirsi Ali echoed statements made by French President [[Emmanuel Macron]] that Muslim immigrant communities, composed of both newly arrived migrants and second generation immigrants, had formed "separatist societies" in some European nations, and that there are "pockets of Europe" where Muslims have limited access to education or jobs and extremist Muslims "come in and take advantage of them." She also argued that many of the problems Europe faces in the twenty-first century with terrorism and parallel societies was born out of "racism of low expectations" in the past, in which European governments did not expect immigrants from Middle Eastern or African backgrounds to become Europeanized or have the capability to contribute positively, but instead out of misguided compassion, multicultural sentiments and political correctness, encouraged immigrants to keep their native cultures or caved into demands from religiously conservative immigrant communities who rejected European culture.<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

Hirsi Ali discussed her view on [[Immigration to Europe|immigration in Europe]],<ref>She puts its population at 450 million, which makes it clear she uses ''Europe'' as shorthand for ''[[European Union]]''</ref> in an [[op-ed]] article published in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' in 2006.<ref>"Europe's Immigration Quagmire", [[Los Angeles Times]], 22 October 2006, M.1, also [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1149331111.html?dids=1149331111:1149331111&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+22%2C+2006&author=Ayaan+Hirsi+Ali&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=M.1&desc=The+ostrich+and+the+owl%3A+a+bird%27s-eye+view+of+Europe "The ostrich and the owl"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602134721/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1149331111.html?dids=1149331111:1149331111&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+22%2C+2006&author=Ayaan+Hirsi+Ali&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=M.1&desc=The+ostrich+and+the+owl%3A+a+bird%27s-eye+view+of+Europe |date=2 June 2013 }}. There is a revised version available online at [http://www.europeanfreedomalliance.eu/articles/The_Owl_and_the_Ostrich.htm "The Owl and the Ostrich"]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. The original was also published in the Canadian "Toronto Star" on 15 October 2006.</ref>

Regarding unemployment, social marginalization and poverty among certain immigrant communities, Hirsi Ali places the burden of responsibility squarely on Islam and migrant culture.<ref name="Grewal">{{cite journal |last1=Grewal |first1=Kiran |title=Reclaiming the Voice of the 'Third World Woman' |journal=Interventions |date=December 2012 |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=569–590 |doi=10.1080/1369801X.2012.730861 |s2cid=142764138}}</ref>

In 2010, she opposed the idea of preventing immigrants from traditional Muslim societies from immigrating, claiming that allowing them to immigrate made the U.S. a "highly moral country".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126909914 |title='Nomad' Ayaan Hirsi Ali On Reclaiming Islam |date=18 May 2010 |work=[[NPR]] |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Assimilation ===

"When I speak of assimilation", Hirsi Ali says, "I mean assimilation into civilization. Aboriginals, Afghanis, Somalis, Arabs, Native Americans—all these non-Western groups have to make that transition to modernity".<ref name="Yaghi"/> Sadiya Abubakar Isa criticized these comments in an article for the ''Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies'', accusing her of [[Orientalism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.18326/ijims.v9i2.241-265 |title=Rethinking Orientalism of Muslims in Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel |year=2019 |last1=Abubakar Isa |first1=Sadiya |last2=Yaapar |first2=Md Salleh |last3=Haji Muhammad |first3=Suzana |journal=Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=241–265 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Israel and the Palestinians ===
On the way Israel is perceived in the Netherlands, she has said:

<blockquote>The crisis of Dutch socialism can be sized up in its attitudes toward both Islam and Israel. It holds Israel to exceptionally high moral standards. The Israelis, however, will always do well, because they themselves set high standards for their actions. The standards for judging the Palestinians, however, are very low. Most outsiders remain silent on all the problems in their territories. That helps the Palestinians become even more corrupt than they already are. Those who live in the territories are not allowed to say anything about this because they risk being murdered by their own people.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Books/Ayaan-Hirsi-Ali-on-Israel |first=Manfred |last=Gerstenfeld |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Israel |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=3 August 2006}}</ref></blockquote>

== Personal life ==

Hirsi Ali married British–American historian [[Niall Ferguson]] on 10 September 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last=Allen-Mills |first=Tony |date=9 May 2010 |title=In love&nbsp;... and on an Islamist death list |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7120478.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624091538/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7120478.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 June 2011 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Douglas |author-link= |date=October 2011 |title=Right Wedding |newspaper=[[Standpoint (magazine)|Standpoint]] |url=http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/4135/full |url-status=dead |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507221743/http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/4135/full |archive-date=7 May 2018}}</ref> They have two sons.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Valk |first1=Guus |last2=Theirlynck |first2=Tristan |date=18 February 2021 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Europese landen spelen spelletjes met hun eigen bevolking' |newspaper=[[NRC Handelsblad]] |url=https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2021/02/18/ayaan-hirsi-ali-europese-landen-spelen-spelletjes-met-hun-eigen-bevolking-a4032358}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Van Noorloos |first=Jorieke |date=17 February 2021 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali over haar leven in Amerika én haar nieuwe boek |url=https://www.linda.nl/persoonlijk/ayaan-hirsi-ali-amerika-nieuwe-boek-moederschap/ |access-date= |website=Linda |language=nl}}</ref>

In 2023, Hirsi Ali announced that she had become a Christian.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbjHyz_7fCg |title='Theological Bullsh*t!' Richard Dawkins Challenges Ayaan Hirsi Ali's New-Found Christianity |publisher=Dissident Dialogues |date=1 June 2024 |via=YouTube |access-date=3 June 2024 |type=video}}</ref><ref name="Hirsi Ali 2023"/>

== Reception ==

[[Patt Morrison]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called Hirsi Ali a [[freedom fighter]] for feminism who has "put her life on the line to defend women against radical Islam."<ref>{{cite news |title=Feminism's Freedom Fighter |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-oct-17-oe-morrison17-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=2 March 2010 |first=Patt |last=Morrison |date=17 October 2009 |url-access=limited}}</ref> [[Jill Filipovic]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' writes that "There are few women in the world who generate as much animosity, and as many accusations of hypocrisy, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali."<ref name="Filipovic 2021" />

[[Tunku Varadarajan]] wrote in 2017 that, with "multiple [[fatwa]]s on her head, Hirsi Ali has a greater chance of meeting a violent end than anyone I've met, [[Salman Rushdie]] included."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ayaan-hirsi-ali-islams-most-eloquent-apostate-1491590469 |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Islam's Most Eloquent Apostate |last=Varadarajan |first=Tunku |date=7 April 2017 |work=The Wall Street Journal |url-access=subscription}}</ref> According to [[Andrew Anthony]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'', Hirsi Ali is admired by many [[Secularism|secularists]] and "loathed not just by Islamic fundamentalists but by many western liberals, who find her rejection of Islam almost as objectionable as her embrace of western liberalism."<ref name=loath>{{cite news |author=Staff writers |title=Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/27/heretic-islam-reformation-ayaan-hirsi-ali-highlights-scale-of-the-task |access-date=8 November 2015 |work=The Guardian |date=27 April 2015}}</ref>

=== Criticism ===

Ali's public commentary and stances, particularly her criticisms of Islam, have elicited denunciations from a number of commentators and academics.

According to [[Rula Jebreal]], a Palestinian journalist and foreign policy analyst, Hirsi Ali's criticism applies mostly to "[[Wahhabism]]", the strain of Islam most familiar to Hirsi Ali, and not to Islam as a whole. Jebreal added that Hirsi Ali's "outbursts" originated from her own pain, "physical scars inflicted on her body during childhood", which were justified by a radical version of the religion into which she was born. Jebreal wrote: "To endorse Hirsi Ali so unabashedly is to insult and mock a billion Muslims. It's time to listen to what is being said by the Muslim voices of peace and tolerance. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not one of them."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2015/05/04/ayaan_hirsi_ali_is_dangerous_why_we_must_reject_her_hateful_worldview/ |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali is dangerous: Why we must reject her hateful worldview |last1=Jebereal |first1=Rula |website=Salon |date=4 May 2015 |access-date=8 November 2015}}</ref>t

== Publications ==

[[File:Ayaan Hirsi Ali book signing.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Hirsi Ali at a book signing in 2008]]

Hirsi Ali has authored two [[memoir]]s. In her first work, she said that in 1992 her father [[arranged marriage|arranged to marry]] her [[cousin marriage|to a distant cousin]]. She says that she objected to this both on general grounds (she has said she dreaded being forced to submit to a stranger, sexually and socially),<ref name="smh.com.au"/> and specifically to this man, whom she described as a "bigot" and an "idiot" in her book.{{sfnp|Hirsi Ali|2007b|page=173}}

She told her family that she planned to join her husband, who was living in Canada, after obtaining a visa while in Germany. However, in her autobiography, she said she spent her time in Germany trying to devise an escape from her unwanted marriage. Hirsi Ali decided to visit a relative in the Netherlands, and to seek help after arrival and claim asylum.{{sfnp|Hirsi Ali|2007b|page=188}}

Her first memoir, published in the Netherlands as ''Mijn Vrijheid'' ('My Freedom') in 2006, was published in English as ''[[Infidel: My Life]]'', becoming a [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' best seller]] in 2007.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} In a review, American Enterprise Institute fellow [[Joshua Muravchik]] described the book as "simply a great work of literature", comparing Hirsi Ali to novelist [[Joseph Conrad]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/2009/07/summer-reading-2009/ |title=Summer reading 2009 |website=Middle East Strategy at Harvard |publisher=John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies; Harvard University |date=18 July 2009 |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>

In her second memoir, ''[[Nomad: From Islam to America]]'' (2010), Hirsi Ali further explored her life since renouncing Islam and being excluded from Dutch politics.{{r|Contemporary Black Biography 2014}} In the book, she wrote that in early 2006, [[Rita Verdonk]] had personally approached her to ask for her public support in Verdonk's campaign to run for party leader of the VVD. Hirsi Ali wrote that she had personally supported Verdonk's opponent, [[Mark Rutte]], as the better choice. She says that after telling Verdonk of her position, the minister became vindictive. Hirsi Ali wrote that, after the 2006 report of the ''[[Zembla (TV series)|Zembla]]'' TV program, Verdonk campaigned against Hirsi Ali in retaliation for her earlier lack of support.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirsi Ali |first=Ayaan |title=Nomad: From Islam to America |url=https://archive.org/details/nomadfromislamto00hirs/page/100/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |year=2010 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-5731-2 |pages=100–103, 277}}</ref>{{Independent source inline|date=November 2025}}

Her latest book was released in February 2021 and is titled ''Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights''.<ref name="Robinson 2021">{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Peter |date=23 February 2021 |title=Prey: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Relationship between Immigration and Sexual Assaults in Europe |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/prey-ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-the-relationship-between-immigration-and-sexual-assaults-in-europe/ |access-date=30 March 2021 |website=National Review}}</ref>

=== ''The Caged Virgin'' ===
{{main|The Caged Virgin{{!}}''The Caged Virgin''}}
In his 2006 review of this collection of seventeen essays and articles on Islam by Hirsi Ali, journalist [[Christopher Hitchens]] noted her three themes: "first, her own gradual emancipation from tribalism and superstition; second, her work as a parliamentarian to call attention to the crimes being committed every day by Islamist thugs in mainland Europe; and third, the dismal silence, or worse, from many feminists and multiculturalists about this state of affairs."<ref name="hitchens"/>

He described the activist as a "charismatic figure in Dutch politics" and criticised the Dutch government for how it protected her from Islamic threats after her collaboration with [[Theo van Gogh (film director)|Theo van Gogh]] on the short film ''Submission'' and the assassination of the director.<ref name="hitchens">{{cite magazine |title=The Caged Virgin: Holland's Shameful treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2141276/2006/May/8/Christopher%20Hitchens |magazine=Slate |access-date=2 March 2010}}</ref>

Mahmood noted that the title of the work is "highly reminiscent of the nineteenth-century literary genre centered on [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] fantasies of the [[harem]]".<ref name="Mahmood"/>

=== ''Infidel: My Life'' (2007 in English) ===
{{main|Infidel: My Life{{!}}''Infidel: My Life''}}
''The Guardian'' summarised ''Infidel'' thus: "[Hirsi Ali]'s is a story of exile from her clan through war, famine, arranged marriage, religious apostasy and the shocking murder on the streets of Amsterdam of her collaborator, Theo van Gogh. Told with lyricism, wit, huge sorrow and a great heart, this is one of the most amazing adventure narratives of the age of mass migration."<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/13/hirsi-ali-nomad-personal-journey |title=Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali – review |first=Alexander |last=Linklater |work=The Guardian |date=13 March 2011 |access-date=22 October 2015}}</ref>

William Grimes wrote in ''The New York Times'': "The circuitous, violence-filled path that led Ms. Hirsi Ali from Somalia to the Netherlands is the subject of 'Infidel,' her brave, inspiring and beautifully written memoir. Narrated in clear, vigorous prose, it traces the author's geographical journey from Mogadishu to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and her desperate flight to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage."<ref name="Grimes 2007">{{cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/books/14grim.html |title=Infidel – Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Books – Review |first=William |last=Grimes |newspaper=The New York Times |date=14 February 2007}}</ref>

In his critique of the book, [[Christopher Hitchens]] noted that two leading leftist intellectual commentators, [[Timothy Garton Ash]] and [[Ian Buruma]], described Hirsi Ali as an "Enlightenment fundamentalist[s]". Hitchens noted further that, far from being a "fundamentalist", Hirsi escaped from a "society where women are subordinate, censorship is pervasive, and violence is officially preached against unbelievers."<ref name="Hitchens 2007">{{cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2007/03/shes_no_fundamentalist.html |title=She's No Fundamentalist |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |date=5 March 2007 |journal=Slate}}</ref>

=== ''Nomad: From Islam to America'' ===
{{main|Nomad: From Islam to America{{!}}''Nomad: From Islam to America''}}
''The Guardian'' observed that ''Nomad'' describes "a clan system shattering on the shores of modernity". The books expands Hirsi Ali's previous early life descriptions focusing on "the remarkable figure of her grandmother, who gave birth to daughters alone in the desert and cut her own umbilical cord, raged at herself for producing too many girls, rebelled against her husband, arranged for the circumcision of her granddaughters and instilled in them an unforgiving, woman-hating religion." According to the newspaper's review, "Hirsi Ali observes that her own nomadic journey has been taken across borders that have been mental as much as geographical. In ''Nomad'' she calls her ancestral voices into direct confrontation with her demands for reform of Islamic theology. The result is electrifying."<ref name="theguardian.com"/>

Hirsi Ali called ''Nomad'' her most provocative book for urging moderate Muslims to become Christians. She later backed off from this view. After witnessing the [[Arab Spring]], Hirsi Ali also took back her argument in ''Nomad'' that Islam is beyond reform.<ref name="Varadarajan 2015">{{cite web |last=Varadarajan |first=Tunku |title=A fiery dissenter rethinks her views |url=http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/03/25/a-fiery-dissenter-rethinks-her-views/ |website=The New York Times |department=Women in the World |date=25 March 2015 |access-date=25 March 2015 |archive-date=26 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326061205/http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/03/25/a-fiery-dissenter-rethinks-her-views/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== ''Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now'' ===
{{main|Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now{{!}}''Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now''}}
{{Quote box|width=30em|align=right|
quote=We delude ourselves that our deadliest foes are somehow not actuated by the ideology they openly affirm.|salign=right|source=—Ayaan Hirsi Ali<ref name="loath"/>}}

In the book Hirsi Ali quoted statistics such that 75% of Pakistanis favour the death penalty for apostasy and argue that Sharia law is gaining ground in many Muslim-majority nations. Hirsi Ali quotes verses in the Qur'an encouraging followers to use violence and make the argument that as long as the Qur'an is perceived to be the literal divine words, violent extremists have a justification for their acts.<ref name=loath/>

[[Andrew Anthony]] for ''The Guardian'' in 2015 wrote that even her fiercest critics would have problems denying what Hirsi Ali writes about current issues in Islam, and since those issues are unpalatable, an added difficulty is a cultural practice to "not offend anyone." Anthony concluded that regardless of what critics may think of her solution, Hirsi Ali should be commended for her "unblinking determination to address the problem."<ref name="loath"/>

Susan Dominus of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "In ''Heretic,'' Hirsi Ali forgoes autobiography for the most part in favor of an extended argument. But she has trouble making anyone else's religious history—even that of Muhammad himself, whose life story she recounts—as dramatic as she has made her own. And she loses the reader's trust with overblown rhetoric.&nbsp;... She tries to warn Americans about their naïveté in the face of encroaching Islamic influences, maintaining that officials and journalists, out of cultural sensitivity, sometimes play down the honor killings that occur in the West."<ref name="Dominus 2015">{{cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-alis-heretic.html |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali's 'Heretic' |first=Susan |last=Dominus |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1 April 2015}}</ref>

According to ''[[The Economist]]'': "Unfortunately, very few Muslims will accept Ms Hirsi Ali's full-blown argument, which insists that Islam must change in at least five important ways. A moderate Muslim might be open to discussion of four of her suggestions if the question were framed sensitively. Muslims, she says, must stop prioritizing the afterlife over this life; they must 'shackle sharia' and respect secular law; they must abandon the idea of telling others, including non-Muslims, how to behave, dress or drink; and they must abandon holy war. However, her biggest proposal is a show-stopper: she wants her old co-religionists to 'ensure that Muhammad and the Koran are open to interpretation and criticism.'"<ref name="Economist 2015">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21648627-controversial-new-book-says-islam-must-change-five-important-areas-thoughts-its |title=Thoughts on its future |newspaper=The Economist |date=18 April 2015 |access-date=22 October 2015 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== Books ===
* ''[[De zoontjesfabriek]]. Over vrouwen, islam en integratie'', translated as ''The Son Factory: About Women, Islam and Integration''. A collection of essays and lectures from before 2002. It also contains an extended interview originally published in ''Opzij'', a feminist magazine. The book focuses on the position of Muslims in the Netherlands.
* ''De Maagdenkooi'' (2004), translated in 2006 as ''[[The Caged Virgin]]: A Muslim Woman's Cry for Reason'' a.k.a. ''The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam''. A collection of essays and lectures from 2003 to 2004, combined with her personal experiences as a translator working for the NMS. The book focuses on the position of women in Islam.
* ''[[Infidel: My Life]]''. An autobiography originally published in Dutch as ''Mijn Vrijheid'' in September 2006 by Augustus, Amsterdam and Antwerp, 447 pages, {{ISBN|978-90-457-0112-7}}; and in English in February 2007. It was edited by [[Richard Miniter]].
* ''[[Nomad: From Islam to America]]: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations''. Her second autobiography, published by [[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] in 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-4391-5731-2}}
* ''[[Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now]]'', published by [[Harper (publisher)|Harper]] in March 2015; Hirsi Ali makes a case that a religious reformation is the only way to end the terrorism, sectarian warfare, and repression of women and minorities that each year claim thousands of lives throughout the Muslim world. {{ISBN|978-0-06-233393-3}}
* ''Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights'', published by Harper (July 2021). Hirsi Ali discusses the migration from [[Muslim-majority countries]] to Europe which peaked during the [[European migrant crisis]] and argues that this coincided with rising levels of sexual violence towards women in the receiving countries. She also argues that governments, law enforcement and feminists appear eager to suppress attention towards illegal immigration. {{ISBN|978-0-06-285787-3}}<ref name="Robinson 2021" />

== Awards ==
* 2004, she was awarded the [[Prize of Liberty]] by the [[Flanders|Flemish]] [[classical liberalism|classical liberal]] think tank [[Nova Civitas]].
* 2004, she was awarded the Freedom Prize of Denmark's [[Venstre (Denmark)|Liberal Party]],<ref name="Berlingske - Venstre gav frihedspris til van Goghs inspirator">{{cite news |url=http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=507640 |first=Jesper |last=Larsen |title=Venstre gav frihedspris til van Goghs inspirator |language=da |newspaper=[[Berlingske Tidende]] |date=21 November 2004 |access-date=16 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405061124/http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=507640/ |archive-date=5 April 2005}}</ref> the country's largest party, "for her work to further freedom of speech and the rights of women".<ref name="TV2">{{cite news |url=http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-8910662.html |title=Hirsi Ali i Odense er urealistisk |language=da |publisher=[[TV 2 (Denmark)|TV 2]] |date=9 October 2007 |access-date=16 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011130611/http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-8910662.html |archive-date=11 October 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the year following the assassination of her collaborator, Theo van Gogh, Hirsi Ali received five awards related to her activism.
* 2005, she was awarded the Harriet Freezerring Emancipation Prize by [[Cisca Dresselhuys]], editor of the feminist magazine ''[[Opzij]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vrouwen zouden nu eindelijk eens écht aan het werk moeten gaan |url=http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article1649205.ece/Vrouwen_zouden_nu_eindelijk_eens_echt_aan_het_werk_moeten_gaan |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222193236/http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article1649205.ece/Vrouwen_zouden_nu_eindelijk_eens_echt_aan_het_werk_moeten_gaan |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2013 |date=21 January 2006 |first=Heleen |last=Mees |access-date=6 May 2010 |publisher=nrc.nl}}</ref>
* 2005, she was awarded the annual European [[Bellwether]] Prize by the Norwegian think tank [[Human Rights Service]]. According to HRS, Hirsi Ali is "beyond a doubt, the leading European politician in the field of integration. (She is) a master at the art of mediating the most difficult issues with insurmountable courage, wisdom, reflectiveness, and clarity".<ref>Diplom fra HRS til Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Human Rights Service [http://www.rights.no/islam_gen/sent_deb/ayaan_hirsi_ali/hrs_25.84_050706_102.htm Diplom fra HRS til Ayaan Hirsi Ali], Human Rights Service, 23 June 2005</ref>
* 2005, she was awarded the annual Democracy Prize of the Swedish [[Liberal People's Party (Sweden)|Liberal People's Party]] "for her courageous work for democracy, human rights and women's rights."<ref>{{in lang|sv}} [http://www.folkpartiet.se/FPTemplates/ListPage____22555.aspx Demokratipriset till Ayaan Hirsi Ali], [[Liberal People's Party (Sweden)|Liberal People's Party]]</ref>
* 2005, she was ranked by American ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine amongst the [[Time 100|100 Most Influential Persons of the World]], in the category of "Leaders & Revolutionaries".<ref name="Manji 2005">{{cite news |last1=Manji |first1=Irshad |title=The 2005 Time 100 {{!}} Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1972656_1972691_1973029,00.html |access-date=6 November 2025 |work=Time |date=18 April 2005 |url-access=limited}}</ref>
* 2005, she was awarded the Tolerance Prize of [[Madrid]].<ref>[http://www.madrid.org/lapresidencia/contenidos/mejor_imagen/200503/galeria_02.htm madrid.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114060809/http://www.madrid.org/lapresidencia/contenidos/mejor_imagen/200503/galeria_02.htm |date=14 November 2006 }} Photo showing the moment at which the president of the Region of Madrid gives the award to Hirsi Ali.</ref>
* She was voted European of the Year for 2006 by the European editors of ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=RD European of the Year 2006 |url=http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/rd-european-of-the-year-2006-i-52.html |magazine=[[Reader's Digest]] |access-date=27 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323011817/http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/rd-european-of-the-year-2006-i-52.html |archive-date=23 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2006, she was given the civilian prize ''Glas der Vernunft'' in [[Kassel]], Germany. The organisation rewarded her with this prize for her courage in criticising Islam (1 October 2006).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.zeit.de/news/artikel/2006/10/01/75756.xml |title=Literatur: Auszeichnung für Islamkritikerin Ali |date=1 October 2006 |access-date=6 May 2010 |work=Die Zeit |first=Gabriele |last=Sümer}}</ref> Other laureates have included [[Leah Rabin]], the wife of former Israeli prime-minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]], and [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]], former [[Foreign Minister]] of the Federal Republic of Germany.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Islamkritikerin Ayaan Hirsi Ali wird geehrt |work=Tagesspiegel |date=29 September 2006}}</ref>
* 2006, she received the Moral Courage Award from the [[American Jewish Committee]].<ref>[http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=1591361&ct=2387665 Moral Courage Award to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Shoaib Choudhury] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521035127/http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=1591361&ct=2387665 |date=21 May 2006 }} [[American Jewish Committee]], 4 May 2006</ref>
* 2007, she was given the annual Goldwater Award for 2007 from the [[Goldwater Institute]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2007 Goldwater Award Dinner Honoring Ayaan Hirsi Ali |url=http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/events/eventdetails.aspx?id=103 |publisher=Goldwater Institute |access-date=27 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220141020/http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/events/eventdetails.aspx?id=103 |archive-date=20 February 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2008, she was awarded the [[Simone de Beauvoir Prize]], an international human rights prize for women's freedom, which she shared with [[Taslima Nasreen]].
* 2008, she was given the [[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]] for nonfiction for her autobiography ''Infidel'' (2007 in English).<ref>"An Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali", Karen R. Long, '' Cleveland Plain Dealer''; 11 September 2008 [http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2008/09/an_interview_with_ayaan_hirsi.html web version] accessed Thursday 11 September 2008</ref> The Anisfield-Wolf awards recognise "recent books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture."
* 2010, she was awarded the [[Emperor Has No Clothes Award]] by the [[Freedom From Religion Foundation]].
* 2016, she was awarded the [[Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Niall Ferguson to Receive Award at Annual Higher Education Conference |url=https://www.goacta.org/news/ayaan_hirsi_ali_and_niall_ferguson_to_receive_award_at_annual_higher_educat |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=American Council of Trustees and Alumni |date=19 October 2016}}</ref>
* 2017, she was awarded the [[Oxi Day]] Courage Award by the Washington Oxi Day Foundation<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thenationalherald.com/179756/washington-oxi-day-foundation-7th-annual-celebration-oxi/ |title=The Washington Oxi Day Foundation 7th Annual Celebration of Oxi |date=28 October 2017 |access-date=23 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040359/https://www.thenationalherald.com/179756/washington-oxi-day-foundation-7th-annual-celebration-oxi/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Yasmine Mohammed]]
* [[Maryam Namazie]]
* [[Mona Walter]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Deborah Scroggins|Scroggins, Deborah]]. ''Wanted Women. Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui'', [[HarperCollins]], 2012

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote|Ayaan Hirsi Ali}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.theahafoundation.org |title=The AHA Foundation}}
* {{C-SPAN|1023263}}

{{Ayaan Hirsi Ali}}
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