Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Every now and then a book comes along to give my personal paradigms a good shake up. "Infidel" is one such title. I have admired Ayaan Hirsi Ali for some time - ever since I saw the first reports of her in Dutch politics and the shocking images of her subsequent film on the abuse of Muslim women. I admired her in her role as activist against the wrongs of radical Islam. (After all, Christianity has had its own ideological purge.) But my admiration was even more for the woman herself. As a white, middle-class female I am neither sociologist nor political animal, so why read this book, let alone comment on it? Because I believe it has a powerful message for Western women besides a political one. Certainly, the plight of Muslim women and the implications of burgeoning Islam concern me greatly. I cannot turn a blind eye, even in the isolation of New Zealand where I live. We have seen vandalism here against the mosques and been saddened by it. We have bristled at the intractability of a visiting Imam when he was interviewed on national television on the abuse of Muslim women. (As far as he was concerned, it didn't exist, and the Qu'ran did not sanction abuse.) But this book does more than enlighten me on such issues: it shakes me out of the complacency of my own, relatively safe world. And it leaves me with questions I had never thought of asking before. Gary Zukav (The Dancing Wu Li Masters) says, "According to quantum mechanics, there is no such thing as objectivity. We cannot eliminate ourselves from the picture." So in what way do we put ourselves in this particular picture? What can Western women do? Should we clean up our own backyard,first? After all, women in Christian countries are no strangers to abuse. Maybe if women's thinking internationally gets to "critical mass" on these issues, something will change radically. (I interpret part of Ali's message as saying this.) I admit I'm still looking for answers. All I can say to other women who consider reading this book is: do! Ayaan Hirsi Ali shows that inner power is not dependent on outer circumstances. The book is worth reading for that alone.