About
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and raised in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. She earned a master's degree in political science from Leiden University in the Netherlands and served as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives from 2003 to 2006. She is known for her activism for women's rights and her criticism of Islam, notably through the film 'Submission' (2004) with Theo van Gogh. She founded the AHA Foundation in 2007 to combat honor violence. After leaving the Netherlands, she moved to the United States, where she became a citizen in 2013. She is a fellow at the Hoover Institution and has written several bestselling books, including 'Infidel' (2007). In 2023, she announced her conversion to Christianity.
* 1969-11-13
Major works
- Infidel (2007)memoir
- Nomad: From Islam to America (2010)memoir
- Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015)essay
- The Challenge of Dawa (2017)essay
- Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights (2021)essay
Key milestones
- 2004Co-wrote the short film 'Submission' with Theo van Gogh, who was murdered shortly after its broadcast.
- 2005Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People.
- 2013Became a U.S. citizen.
Themes
Women's rightsCriticism of IslamImmigrationSecularismHonor violence
Sources: hoover.org · harpercollins.ca · ushmm.org