186-571: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lady Ferguson (born 13 November 1969) is a Somali -born Dutch-American writer, activist, conservative thinker and former politician. She is a critic of Islam and advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women , opposing forced marriage , honour killing , child marriage , and female genital mutilation . At the age of five, following local traditions in Somalia, Ali underwent female genital mutilation organized by her grandmother. Her father —a scholar, intellectual, and
372-406: A popular referendum , was ratified popularly by the people of Somalia under Italian trusteeship, Most of the people from the former Somaliland Protectorate did not participate in the referendum, although only a small number of Somalilanders who participated the referendum voted against the new constitution , which was first drafted in 1960. In 1967, Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister,
558-588: A British protectorate was declared over part of Somalia, on the African coast opposite South Yemen. Initially, this region was under the control of the Indian Office, and so administered as part of the Indian Empire; in 1898 it was transferred to control by London. In 1889, the protectorate and later colony of Italian Somalia was officially established by Italy through various treaties signed with
744-601: A Somali who had campaigned for a 'yes' vote in the referendum of 1976, eventually became Djibouti's first president (1977–1999). On 1 July 1960, five days after the former British Somaliland protectorate obtained independence as the State of Somaliland, the territory united with the Trust Territory of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic , albeit within boundaries drawn up by Italy and Britain. A government
930-461: 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. Further, these witnesses allege that her brother attended a Christian school, that she lied to the Dutch immigration service about coming from Somalia in order not to be sent back to Kenya, and that she met her husband
1116-526: A definition of Islamophobia which rejected the idea of Islamophobia as being the product of closed and open views of Islam and focused on Islamophobia as performative which problematized Muslim agency and identity. The symposium was an early attempt to bring insights from critical race theory , postcolonial and decolonial thought to bear on the question of Islamophobia. At a 2009 symposium on "Islamophobia and Religious Discrimination", Robin Richardson,
1302-789: A devout Muslim—was against the procedure but could not stop it from happening because he was imprisoned by the Communist government of Somalia at the time. Her family moved across various countries in Africa and the Middle East, and at 23, she received political asylum in the Netherlands, gaining Dutch citizenship five years later. In her early 30s, Hirsi Ali renounced the Islamic faith of her childhood, began identifying as an atheist, and became involved in Dutch centre-right politics, joining
1488-601: A documentary called "The Holy Ayaan". 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
1674-420: A fear or dislike/hatred of Muslims by non-Muslims. On the other hand, Fernando Bravo López argues that Dinet and ibn Sliman's use of the term was as a criticism of overly hostile attitudes to Islam by a Belgian orientalist, Henri Lammens, whose project they saw as a "'pseudo-scientific crusade in the hope of bringing Islam down once and for all. ' " He also notes that an early definition of Islamophobia appears in
1860-483: A few days before her wedding. After several meetings with him, they allege she agreed to the marriage, even though her mother said Ayaan should finish her education so she could afford to leave him if the marriage should prove unsuccessful. They also allege that Hirsi Ali was present at the wedding, something her brother later denied, and according to several witnesses appeared to be enjoying herself. Hirsi Ali denies all of this. On her way to Canada, she says she travelled to
2046-494: A form of xenophobia or racism . A 2007 article in Journal of Sociology defines Islamophobia as anti-Muslim racism and a continuation of anti- Asian , anti-Turkic and anti-Arab racism. In their books, Deepa Kumar and Junaid Rana have argued that formation of Islamophobic discourses has paralleled the development of other forms of racial bigotry. Similarly, John Denham has drawn parallels between modern Islamophobia and
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#17328020844272232-627: A former Euro-commissioner and ideological leader of the party. Somalia Somalia , officially the Federal Republic of Somalia , is the easternmost country in continental Africa . The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to
2418-466: A former director of the Runnymede Trust and the editor of Islamophobia: a challenge for us all , said that "the disadvantages of the term Islamophobia are significant" on seven different grounds, including that it implies it is merely a "severe mental illness" affecting "only a tiny minority of people"; that use of the term makes those to whom it is applied "defensive and defiant" and absolves
2604-574: 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. 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 agreed to switch to their party of
2790-453: A group is not denied". Working with writer and director Theo van Gogh , Hirsi Ali wrote the script and provided the voice-over for Submission (2004), a short film that criticised the treatment of women in Islamic society . 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
2976-425: 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. The Dutch secret service immediately raised the level of security they provided to Hirsi Ali. Bouyeri
3162-705: A hostile force threatening Europe with "terrorism" in Serbian propaganda was closely linked to the rise of Islamophobic narratives in Western media and European political discourse. The Runnymede report contrasted "open" and "closed" views of Islam, and stated that the following "closed" views are equated with Islamophobia: These "closed" views are contrasted, in the report, with "open" views on Islam which, while founded on respect for Islam, permit legitimate disagreement, dialogue and critique. According to Benn and Jawad, The Runnymede Trust notes that anti-Muslim discourse
3348-582: A look that is associated with Muslims. According to Alan Johnson , Islamophobia sometimes can be nothing more than xenophobia or racism "wrapped in religious terms". Sociologists Yasmin Hussain and Paul Bagguley stated that racism and Islamophobia are "analytically distinct", but "empirically inter-related". The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) defines Islamophobia as "the fear of or prejudiced viewpoint towards Islam, Muslims and matters pertaining to them", adding that whether "it takes
3534-768: A loss to the VVD and not be a loss to the House of Representatives ". 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". 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
3720-468: A lucrative foreign commerce with ships sailing to and from Arabia, India, Venetia , Persia, Egypt, Portugal, and as far away as China. Vasco da Gama , who passed by Mogadishu in the 15th century, noted that it was a large city with houses several storeys high and large palaces in its centre, in addition to many mosques with cylindrical minarets. The Harla , an early Hamitic group of tall stature who inhabited parts of Somalia, Tchertcher and other areas in
3906-562: A number of chiefs and sultans; Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid first sent a request to Italy in late December 1888 to make his Sultanate of Hobyo an Italian protectorate before later signing a treaty in 1889. The Dervish movement successfully repulsed the British Empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. The Darawiish defeated the Italian, British, Abyssinian colonial powers on numerous occasions, most notably,
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#17328020844274092-558: A people as a whole, bigotry against both are on the rise. Gideon Rachman wrote in 2019 of a " clash of civilizations " between Muslim and non-Muslim nations, linking anti-Islam radicalisation outside the Muslim world to the rise of intolerant Islamism in some Muslim countries that used to be relatively free from that ideology. Blasphemy of Islam has been described as Islamophobia, while some countries consider blasphemy legal as freedom of speech . According to Gabrielle Maranci,
4278-452: A perceived or real Muslim threat through the maintenance and extension of existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations, while rationalizing the necessity to deploy violence as a tool to achieve 'civilizational rehab' of the target communities (Muslim or otherwise). Islamophobia reintroduces and reaffirms a global racial structure through which resource distribution disparities are maintained and extended." In 1996,
4464-593: A political crisis related to the validity of her Dutch citizenship , she left Parliament and ultimately the Netherlands. Moving to the United States, Ali established herself as a writer, activist, and public intellectual. Her books Infidel: My Life (2007), Nomad: From Islam to America (2010) and Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015) became bestsellers. In Heretic , Ali called for reformation of Islam by countering Islamism and supporting reformist Muslims , though previously she had said Islam
4650-485: A position to which he was appointed by Shermarke. Egal would later become the President of the autonomous Somaliland region in northwestern Somalia. On the 15th of October, while president Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was touring drought-stricken Las Anood, his personal bodyguard shot and killed him. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger concluded that the bodyguard was acting of his own accord. Six days later, on
4836-601: A protectorate of Britain until 1960. To the extent that Italy held the territory by UN mandate, the trusteeship provisions gave the Somalis the opportunity to gain experience in Western political education and self-government. These were advantages that British Somaliland, which was to be incorporated into the new Somali state, did not have. Although in the 1950s British colonial officials attempted, through various administrative development efforts, to make up for past neglect,
5022-671: A public letter to the SPLC asking them to retract the listings. In April 2018, the SPLC retracted the "Anti-Muslim Extremist" list in its entirety after Nawaz threatened legal action over his inclusion on the list. 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. Ali responded that
5208-508: A racialization of religion. According to a 2012 report by a UK anti-racism group, counter-jihadist outfits in Europe and North America are becoming more cohesive by forging alliances, with 190 groups now identified as promoting an Islamophobic agenda. In Islamophobia and its consequences on young people (p. 6) Ingrid Ramberg writes "Whether it takes the shape of daily forms of racism and discrimination or more violent forms, Islamophobia
5394-542: A review of her statements that was carried out 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
5580-528: 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. 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
5766-435: A state" are used in relation to both Jews and Muslims. In addition, both discourses make use of, among other rhetorical instruments, "religious imperatives" supposedly "proven" by religious sources, and conspiracy theories. The differences between Islamophobia and antisemitism consist of the nature of the perceived threats to the " Christian West ". Muslims are perceived as "inferior" and as a visible "external threat", while on
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5952-455: A suspended prison sentence. 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
6138-546: A thesis published by Alain Quellien in 1910 to describe "a prejudice against Islam that is widespread among the peoples of Western and Christian civilization ". The expression did not immediately turn into the vocabulary of the English-speaking world though, which preferred the expression "feelings inimical to Islam", until its re-appearance in an article by Georges Chahati Anawati in 1976. The term did not exist in
6324-644: A work in 1906, which to a great extent mirrors John Esposito 's The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? . The first recorded use of the term in English, according to the Oxford English Dictionary , was in 1923 in an article in The Journal of Theological Studies . The term entered into common usage with the publication of the Runnymede Trust's report in 1997. "Kofi Annan asserted at a 2004 conference entitled "Confronting Islamophobia" that
6510-474: Is a neologism formed from Islam and -phobia , a Greek suffix used in English to form "nouns with the sense 'fear of – – ' , 'aversion to – – '." According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the word means "Intense dislike or fear of Islam, esp. as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims". It is attested in English as early as 1923 to quote the French word islamophobie , found in
6696-783: Is a member of the United Nations , the Arab League , African Union , Non-Aligned Movement , East African Community , and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation . Somalia was likely one of the first lands to be settled by early humans due to its location. Hunter-gatherers who would later migrate out of Africa likely settled here before their migrations. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here. The oldest evidence of burial customs in
6882-497: Is a military or individual/small group that is doling out the violence, 2) greater acquiescence to limiting both press freedoms and institutional checks following a hypothetical terror attack, and 3) greater support for the so-called "Muslim ban" and the surveillance of American mosques (or their outright building prohibition)." Mohamed Nimer compares Islamophobia with anti-Americanism. He argues that while both Islam and America can be subject to legitimate criticisms without detesting
7068-554: Is a very courageous and impressive woman and she is welcome in the US." On 23 May 2006, Ayaan Hirsi made available to The New York Times some letters she believed would provide insight into her 1992 asylum application. 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
7254-540: Is a violation of human rights and a threat to social cohesion." Professor John Esposito of Georgetown University calls Islamophobia "the new anti-Semitism". In their 2018 American Muslim Poll, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found that when it came to their Islamophobia index (see Public Opinion), they found that those who scored higher on the index, (i.e. more islamophobic) were, "associated with 1) greater acceptance of targeting civilians, whether it
7440-461: Is as much a form of racism as anti-semitism , a term more commonly encountered in Europe as a sibling of racism, xenophobia and intolerance." Edward Said considers Islamophobia as it is evinced in Orientalism to be a trend in a more general antisemitic Western tradition. Others note that there has been a transition from anti-Asian and anti-Arab racism to anti-Muslim racism, while some note
7626-614: Is believed to have been domesticated in the Horn region sometime between the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE. From there, it spread to Egypt and the Maghreb . During the classical period, the Barbara city-states of Mosylon , Opone , Mundus , Isis , Malao , Avalites , Essina , Nikon and Sarapion developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from Ptolemaic Egypt , Ancient Greece , Phoenicia , Parthian Persia , Saba ,
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7812-560: Is beyond the pale of legitimate inquiry ... that such a decision is particularly appalling for a university president, for a campus is precisely the place to encourage free discussion even on controversial matters." In October 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center accused Ayaan, and the Muslim activist Maajid Nawaz , of being "anti-Muslim extremists", which caused protests in several prominent newspapers. The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice wrote
7998-784: 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. After a long and emotional debate in the Dutch Parliament, all major parties supported a motion requesting the Minister to explore the possibility of special circumstances in Hirsi Ali's case. Although Verdonk remained convinced that
8184-545: Is ecumenical and strongly pro-religious". 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. A Brandeis spokesperson said that Ali had not been invited to speak at commencement but simply to be among honorary awardees. She claimed to have been invited to speak and expressed shock at Brandeis's action. Hirsi Ali said CAIR's letter misrepresented her and her work, but that it has long been available on
8370-445: Is increasingly seen as respectable, providing examples on how hostility towards Islam and Muslims is accepted as normal, even among those who may actively challenge other prevalent forms of discrimination. It has been suggested that Islamophobia is closely related to identity politics , and gives its adherents the perceived benefit of constructing their identity in opposition to a negative, essentialized image of Muslims. This occurs in
8556-400: Is not racism. Author Doug Saunders has drawn parallels between Islamophobia in the United States and its older discrimination and hate against Roman Catholics , saying that Catholicism was seen as backwards and imperial, while Catholic immigrants had poorer education and some were responsible for crime and terrorism. Brown and Miles write that another feature of Islamophobic discourse
8742-490: Is still significant variation in the precise formulations of Islamophobia. As with parallel concepts like homophobia or xenophobia, Islamophobia connotes a broader set of negative attitudes or emotions directed at individuals of groups because of perceived membership in a defined category. Mattias Gardell defined Islamophobia as "socially reproduced prejudices and aversion to Islam and Muslims, as well as actions and practices that attack, exclude or discriminate against persons on
8928-460: Is to amalgamate nationality (e.g. Saudi), religion (Islam), and politics (terrorism, fundamentalism) – while most other religions are not associated with terrorism, or even "ethnic or national distinctiveness". They feel that "many of the stereotypes and misinformation that contribute to the articulation of Islamophobia are rooted in a particular perception of Islam", such as the notion that Islam promotes terrorism – especially prevalent after
9114-901: The Adal Sultanate was governed by local Somali dynasties and its realm encompassed the geographical area between the Bab el Mandeb and Cape Guardafui. It was thus flanked to the south by the Ajuran Empire and to the west by the Abyssinian Empire . Throughout the Middle Ages, Arab immigrants arrived in Somaliland, a historical experience which would later lead to the legendary stories about Muslim sheikhs such as Daarood and Ishaaq bin Ahmed (the purported ancestors of
9300-498: 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. On the same day a letter was disclosed in which Hirsi Ali expressed regret for misinforming Minister Verdonk. Hirsi Ali
9486-654: The Darod and Isaaq clans, respectively) travelling from Arabia to Somalia and marrying into the local Dir clan. In 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a military campaign aimed at halting Abyssinian emperor Amda Seyon I 's march toward the city. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II , was also killed by Emperor Dawit I in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen, before returning in 1415. In
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#17328020844279672-684: The Federal Government of Somalia was formed and a period of reconstruction began in Mogadishu, despite al-Shabaab frequently carrying out attacks there . Somalia is among the least developed countries in the world, as evidenced by its ranking in metrics such as GDP per capita , Human Development Index , and the Fragile States Index . It has maintained an informal economy mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad , and telecommunications. It
9858-758: The Guled dynasty , the Habr Yunis Sultanate led by the Ainanshe dynasty , the Sultanate of the Geledi (Gobroon dynasty), the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia), and the Sultanate of Hobyo (Obbia). They continued the tradition of castle-building and seaborne trade established by previous Somali empires. Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim , the third Sultan of the House of Gobroon, started
10044-845: The Nabataean Kingdom , and the Roman Empire . They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the beden to transport their cargo. After the Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval presence at Aden to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants agreed with the Romans to bar Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in
10230-538: The Nancy Drew series, with modern heroine archetypes who pushed the limits of society. 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
10416-531: The Ogaden War broke out after Barre's government used a plea for national unity to justify an aggressive incorporation of the predominantly Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia into a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia , along with the rich agricultural lands of south-eastern Ethiopia, infrastructure, and strategically important areas as far north as Djibouti. In the first week of the conflict, Somali armed forces took southern and central Ogaden and for most of
10602-604: The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU). In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion by adapting Marxist precepts to local circumstances. Emphasis
10788-530: The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In 2003, Ali was elected to the lower house of the States General of the Netherlands . While serving in parliament, she collaborated on a short film with Theo van Gogh , titled Submission , which depicted the oppression of women under fundamentalist Islamic law and was critical of the Muslim canon itself. The film led to death threats, and Van Gogh
10974-416: The Portuguese India blockade ( and later the Omani interference), used the Somali ports of Merca and Barawa (which were out of the two powers' direct jurisdiction) to conduct their trade in safety and without interference. In the early modern period, successor states to the Adal Sultanate and Ajuran Sultanate began to flourish in Somalia. These included the Hiraab Imamate , the Isaaq Sultanate led by
11160-409: The Potsdam Conference , the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland as the Trust Territory of Somaliland , on the condition first proposed by the Somali Youth League (SYL) and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL)—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. British Somaliland remained
11346-521: The Runnymede Trust established the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia (CBMI), chaired by Gordon Conway , the vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex . The Commission's report, Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All , was published in November 1997 by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw . In the Runnymede report, Islamophobia was defined as "an outlook or world-view involving an unfounded dread and dislike of Muslims, which results in practices of exclusion and discrimination." The introduction of
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#173280208442711532-591: The September 11, 2001 attacks . The two-way stereotyping resulting from Islamophobia has in some instances resulted in mainstreaming of earlier controversial discourses, such as liberal attitudes towards gender equality and homosexuals. Christina Ho has warned against framing of such mainstreaming of gender equality in a colonial , paternal discourse, arguing that this may undermine minority women's ability to speak out about their concerns. Steven Salaita contends that, since 9/11, Arab Americans have evolved from what Nadine Naber described as an invisible group in
11718-462: The Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG). As the moral authority of Barre's government was gradually eroded, many Somalis became disillusioned with life under military rule. By the mid-1980s, resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration had sprung up across
11904-438: The Somali Revolution . Shortly after she was born, her father was imprisoned due to his opposition to Siad Barre ’s Communist government. 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
12090-436: The VARA gids (2002). Hirsi Ali asserted in her 2006 autobiography (2007 in English) 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. 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
12276-459: The Wargaade Wall , are evidence of an old civilization that once thrived in the Somali peninsula. This civilization enjoyed a trading relationship with ancient Egypt and Mycenaean Greece since the second millennium BCE, supporting the hypothesis that Somalia or adjacent regions were the location of the ancient Land of Punt . The Puntites native to the region traded myrrh , spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and frankincense with
12462-415: The antisemitism of the 1930s, as have Maud Olofsson and Jan Hjärpe , among others. Others have questioned the relationship between Islamophobia and racism. Jocelyne Cesari writes that "academics are still debating the legitimacy of the term and questioning how it differs from other terms such as racism, anti-Islamism, anti-Muslimness, and anti-Semitism." Erdenir finds that "there is no consensus on
12648-433: The religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereotype Muslims as a geopolitical threat or a source of terrorism . Muslims, with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, are often inaccurately portrayed by Islamophobes as a single homogenous racial group. The causes of increase in Islamophobia across
12834-437: The "tallest and handsomest of all men". The Macrobians were warrior herders and seafarers. According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II , upon his conquest of Egypt in 525 BC, sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based on his stature and beauty, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in
13020-441: The 1903 victory at Cagaarweyne commanded by Suleiman Aden Galaydh , forcing the British Empire to retreat to the coastal region in the early 1900s. The Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 by British airpower. The dawn of fascism in the early 1920s heralded a change of strategy for Italy, as the north-eastern sultanates were soon to be forced within the boundaries of La Grande Somalia (" Greater Somalia ") according to
13206-437: The 1910 Ph.D. thesis of Alain Quellien, a French colonial bureaucrat: For some, the Muslim is the natural and irreconcilable enemy of the Christian and the European; Islam is the negation of civilization, and barbarism, bad faith and cruelty are the best one can expect from the Mohammedans. Furthermore, he notes that Quellien's work draws heavily on the work of the French colonial department's 1902–06 administrator, who published
13392-584: The 21st of October, General Siad led a military coup and successfully overthrew the parliamentary government. Modern political analysts assert that the coup was motivated by corruption in the parliamentary government. The bodyguard was tried, tortured and executed by the Supreme Revolutionary Council . He came from the same clan background as the President who he killed. Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination
13578-744: The Abyssinian empire. This 16th-century campaign is historically known as the Conquest of Abyssinia ( Futuh al-Habash ). During the war, Imam Ahmad pioneered the use of cannons supplied by the Ottoman Empire, which he imported through Zeila and deployed against Abyssinian forces and their Portuguese allies led by Cristóvão da Gama . During the Ajuran Sultanate period, the city-states and republics of Merca , Mogadishu , Barawa , Hobyo and their respective ports flourished and had
13764-585: The American Enterprise Institute. 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
13950-608: The Arab world", saying she promotes the notion of a Western " civilizing mission ". 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. Ayaan was born in Mogadishu , Somalia, in 1969. Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse , was a prominent member of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front and a leading figure in
14136-566: The British. A British force, including troops from several African countries, launched the campaign in January 1941 from Kenya to liberate British Somaliland and Italian-occupied Ethiopia and conquer Italian Somaliland. By February most of Italian Somaliland was captured and, in March, British Somaliland was retaken from the sea. The forces of the British Empire operating in Somaliland comprised
14322-588: 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. Hirsi Ali speaks six languages: English, Somali , Arabic , Swahili , Amharic , and Dutch . After gaining her degree, Hirsi Ali became a Fellow at the Wiardi Beckman Stichting (WBS), a think tank of the center-left Labour Party (PvdA). Leiden University Professor Ruud Koole
14508-458: 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
14694-698: The East African coast. In Somaliland , the Isaaq Sultanate was established in 1750. The Isaaq Sultanate was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries. It spanned the territories of the Isaaq clan, descendants of the Banu Hashim clan, in modern-day Somaliland and Ethiopia . The sultanate was governed by the Rer Guled branch established by
14880-706: The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded on the temple reliefs at Deir el-Bahari , during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati. In the classical era , the Macrobians , who may have been ancestral to Somalis, established a powerful kingdom that ruled large parts of modern Somalia. They were reputed for their longevity and wealth, and were said to be
15066-430: The English version of the book the word was not translated as "Islamophobia" but rather as "feelings inimical to Islam". Dahou Ezzerhouni has cited several other uses in French as early as 1910, and from 1912 to 1918. These early uses of the term did not, according to Christopher Allen , have the same meaning as in contemporary usage, as they described a fear of Islam by liberal Muslims and Muslim feminists , rather than
15252-541: 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 teenaged Ayaan, as well as some fellow students, to adopt the more rigorous Saudi Arabian interpretations of Islam, as opposed to
15438-521: 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." 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
15624-617: The Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artifacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic -speaking populations arrived in the region during
15810-457: The Horn, also erected various tumuli . These masons are believed to have been ancestral to ethnic Somalis. In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in modern-day India sailed to Mogadishu with cloth and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Barbosa also highlighted the abundance of meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on
15996-541: The ICU fragment into various rebel factions, including the hardline group al-Shabaab , which waged a protracted conflict against Ethiopian forces. al-Shabaab soon began asserting territorial control for the first time, and by late 2008 the insurgency had driven the Ethiopian army out of much of Somalia. In 2009, a new TFG government was established. By mid-2012, al-Shabaab lost most of its territories during fighting against
16182-641: The Internet. She said that the "spirit of free expression" has been betrayed and stifled. 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. Lawrence J. Haas, the former communications director and press secretary for Vice President Al Gore , published an open letter saying that Brandeis's president had "succumbed to political correctness and interest group pressure in deciding that Islam
16368-614: The Isaaq Sultanate for centuries starting from the 13th century. The last Tolje'lo ruler Garad Dhuh Barar ( Somali : Dhuux Baraar ) was overthrown by a coalition of Isaaq clans. The once strong Tolje'lo clan were scattered and took refuge amongst the Habr Awal with whom they still mostly live. In the late 19th century, after the Berlin Conference of 1884, European powers began the Scramble for Africa . In that year,
16554-462: The Muslim world, and was later translated in the 1990s as ruhāb al-islām (رُهاب الإسلام) in Arabic, literally "phobia of Islam". The University of California at Berkeley 's Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project suggested this working definition: "Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice fomented by the existing Eurocentric and Orientalist global power structure. It is directed at
16740-465: The Netherlands by train during a stopover in Germany and applied for political asylum. During her stay in the Netherlands, she regularly received letters from her father. The documentary also quoted several native Somalis as saying there is no tradition of honor killing in Somalia. Hirsi Ali had already admitted to friends and VVD party colleagues that she had lied about her full name, date of birth, and
16926-503: 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. The accounts of various witnesses varied greatly from hers. According to them, she left Somalia prior to any mass violence and led
17112-551: The Qur'an. I have become them, just in a different way." 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
17298-575: The Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed the source to have been the Somali peninsula. The collusive agreement among Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Indian and Chinese cinnamon in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants. Islam was introduced to the area early on by
17484-528: The Somali coast in exchange for grain and wood. Trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century, with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities of the trade. Giraffes, zebras and incense were exported to the Ming Empire of China, which established Somali merchants as leaders in the commerce between East Asia and the Horn. Hindu merchants from Surat and Southeast African merchants from Pate , seeking to bypass both
17670-541: The Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Somali Region to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against possible advances by the French. Britain included the conditional provision that the Somali residents would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over
17856-521: The TFG and African Union troops . That same year, al-Shabaab pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda . The insurgents still control much of central and southern Somalia, and wield influence in government-controlled areas, with the town of Jilib acting as the de facto capital for the insurgents. A new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, reforming Somalia as a federation . The same month,
18042-540: The United States and Europe, anti-Muslim rhetoric disseminated by white nationalist organizations through the internet , and the radicalization of Christian nationalist and far-right groups with growing hostility towards Muslims in the United States and the European Union . A study conducted in 2013 revealed that Muslim women, especially those wearing headscarves or face veils, are more vulnerable to suffer from Islamophobic attacks than Muslim men. Due to
18228-659: The United States enabled it to build the largest army in Africa. A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party politburo continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place. By that time, Barre's government had become increasingly unpopular. Many Somalis had become disillusioned with life under military dictatorship. The regime
18414-407: The United States into a highly visible community that directly or indirectly has an effect on the United States' culture wars, foreign policy, presidential elections and legislative tradition. The academics S. Sayyid and Abdoolkarim Vakil maintain that Islamophobia is a response to the emergence of a distinct Muslim public identity globally, the presence of Muslims in itself not being an indicator of
18600-650: The United States. On 25 April 2013, she became a citizen of the United States. 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. In 2010, Anwar al-Awlaki published a hit list in his Inspire magazine, including Ayaan 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 . The list
18786-610: The VVD and stood for election to Parliament. Between November 2002 and January 2003, she lived abroad while on the payroll as an assistant of the VVD. 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. During her tenure in Parliament, Hirsi Ali continued her criticisms of Islam and many of her statements provoked controversy. In an interview in
18972-570: The West as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She received a residence permit within three or four weeks of arriving in the Netherlands. At first, she held various short-term jobs, ranging from cleaning to sorting post. 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. 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
19158-571: The activist deserved the death sentence but should be tried and judged in an Islamic country. On 25 September 2007, Hirsi Ali received her green card . In October 2007, she returned to the Netherlands, continuing her work for AEI from a secret address. The Dutch minister of Justice 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
19344-582: The actual issue being described is hostility to Muslims, "an ethno-religious identity within European countries", rather than hostility to Islam. Nonetheless, he argued that the term is here to stay, and that it is important to define it precisely. The exact definition of Islamophobia continues to be discussed, with academics such as Chris Allen saying that it lacks a clear definition. According to Erik Bleich, in his article "Defining and Researching Islamophobia", even when definitions are more specific, there
19530-718: The aid of Ethiopia's communist Derg regime. By 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden. This shift in support by the Soviet Union motivated the Barre government to seek allies elsewhere. It eventually settled on the Soviets' Cold War arch-rival, the United States , which had been courting the Somali government for some time. Somalia's initial friendship with the Soviet Union and later partnership with
19716-595: The alternative form of Muslimophobia, Islamophobism, antimuslimness and antimuslimism. Individuals who discriminate against Muslims in general have been termed Islamophobes , Islamophobists , anti-Muslimists , antimuslimists , islamophobiacs , anti-Muhammadan , Muslimphobes or its alternative spelling of Muslimophobes , while individuals motivated by a specific anti- Muslim agenda or bigotry have been described as being anti-mosque , anti-Shiites (or Shiaphobes ), anti-Sufism (or Sufi-phobia ) and anti-Sunni (or Sunniphobes ). The word Islamophobia
19902-429: 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
20088-399: The area. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over. Britain also granted administration of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District (NFD) to Kenyan nationalists. This was despite a plebiscite in which, according to a British colonial commission, almost all of the territory's ethnic Somalis favored joining
20274-765: 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." During this time of transition, she came to regard the Qur'an as relative—it was a historical record and "just another book." Reading Atheïstisch manifest ("Atheist Manifesto") of Leiden University philosopher Herman Philipse helped to convince her to give up religion. She renounced Islam and acknowledged her disbelief in God in 2002. She began to formulate her critique of Islam and Islamic culture , published many articles on these topics, and became
20460-662: The basis that they are or perceived to be Muslim and be associated with Islam". As opposed to being a psychological or individualistic phobia, according to professors of religion Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, "Islamophobia" connotes a social anxiety about Islam and Muslims. Some social scientists have adopted this definition and developed instruments to measure Islamophobia in form of fearful attitudes towards, and avoidance of, Muslims and Islam, arguing that Islamophobia should "essentially be understood as an affective part of social stigma towards Islam and Muslims, namely fear". Several scholars consider Islamophobia to be
20646-546: The coastal markets, which generated enormous wealth for the merchants. Mogadishu, the center of a thriving textile industry known as toob benadir (specialized for the markets in Egypt, among other places ), together with Merca and Barawa, also served as a transit stop for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa . Jewish merchants from the Hormuz brought their Indian textile and fruit to
20832-463: The concerns are imagined threats of minority growth and domination, threats to traditional institutions and customs, skepticism of integration, threats to secularism , fears of sexual crimes, fears of misogyny , fears based on historical cultural inferiority, hostility to modern Western Enlightenment values, etc. Matti Bunzl [ de ] has argued that there are important differences between Islamophobia and antisemitism. While antisemitism
21018-459: The country declared its independence as the Republic of Somaliland in May 1991. Although de facto independent and relatively stable compared to the tumultuous south, it has not been recognized by any foreign government. Islamophobic Genocide: Massacres, torture, expulsion: Other incidents: Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against
21204-419: The country. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against those he perceived as locally supporting the guerrillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative centre of Hargeisa , a Somali National Movement (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988. The clampdown initiated by Barre 's government extended its reach beyond
21390-503: The degree of Islamophobia in a society. Sayyid and Vakil maintain that there are societies where virtually no Muslims live but many institutionalized forms of Islamophobia still exist in them. Cora Alexa Døving, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities , argues that there are significant similarities between Islamophobic discourse and European pre-Nazi antisemitism. Among
21576-400: The earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is dated to 1,000 to 3,000 BCE. Additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in northern Somalia lies Karinhegane , the site of numerous cave paintings, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old. Ancient pyramidical structures, mausoleums , ruined cities and stone walls, such as
21762-531: The early 15th century, Adal's capital was moved further inland to the town of Dakkar , where Sabr ad-Din II , the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new base after his return from Yemen. Adal's headquarters were again relocated the following century, this time southward to Harar . From this new capital, Adal organised an effective army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran"; both meaning "the left-handed") and his closest top general Garad Hirabu "Emir Of The Somalis that invaded
21948-475: The east. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of 18.1 million, of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu . Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis and the official languages of the country are Somali and Arabic , though the former is the primary language. Somalia has historic and religious ties to the Arab world . As such
22134-402: The economy. A thriving black market existed in the centre of the city as banks experienced shortages of local currency for exchange. Harsh exchange control regulations were introduced to prevent export of foreign currency. Although no travel restrictions were placed on foreigners, photographing many locations was banned. During daytime in Mogadishu, the appearance of any government military force
22320-526: The ensuing Neolithic period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley , or the Near East . The Laas Geel complex on the outskirts of Hargeisa in northwestern Somalia dates back approximately 5,000 years, and has rock art depicting both wild animals and decorated cows. Other cave paintings are found in the northern Dhambalin region, which feature one of
22506-645: The fall of the second Balkenende cabinet . In 2006, Hirsi Ali took a position at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.; as the Dutch government continued to provide security for her, this required an increase in their effort and costs. 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 . Pittsburgh imam Fouad El Bayly said that
22692-576: The first Muslims of Mecca fleeing prosecution during the first Hejira with Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Zeila being built before the Qiblah towards Mecca . It is one of the oldest mosques in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal Kingdom had its capital in the city. According to Leo Africanus ,
22878-568: The first sultan, Sultan Guled Abdi , of the Eidagale clan. According to oral tradition, prior to the Guled dynasty the Isaaq clan-family were ruled by a dynasty of the Tolje'lo branch starting from, descendants of Ahmed nicknamed Tol Je'lo, the eldest son of Sheikh Ishaaq 's Harari wife. There were eight Tolje'lo rulers in total, starting with Boqor Harun ( Somali : Boqor Haaruun ) who ruled
23064-520: The form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to draw it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire. The Macrobians were a regional power reputed for their advanced architecture and gold wealth, which was so plentiful that they shackled their prisoners in golden chains. The camel
23250-403: The form of self-righteousness, assignment of blame and key identity markers. Davina Bhandar writes that: [...] the term 'cultural' has become synonymous with the category of the ethnic or minority [...]. It views culture as an entity that is highly abstracted from the practices of daily life and therefore represents the illusion that there exists a spirit of the people. This formulation leads to
23436-474: 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." Hirsi Ali was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize the same month by Norwegian parliamentarian Christian Tybring-Gjedde . In March 2006, she co-signed a letter titled " MANIFESTO: Together facing
23622-725: The golden age of the Gobroon Dynasty. His army came out victorious during the Bardheere Jihad, which restored stability in the region and revitalized the East African ivory trade . He also had cordial relations and received gifts from the rulers of neighbouring and distant kingdoms such as the Omani, Witu and Yemeni Sultans. Sultan Ibrahim's son Ahmed Yusuf succeeded him as one of the most important figures in 19th-century East Africa, receiving tribute from Omani governors and creating alliances with important Muslim families on
23808-464: The homogenisation of cultural identity and the ascription of particular values and proclivities onto minority cultural groups. She views this as an ontological trap that hinders the perception of culture as something "materially situated in the living practices of the everyday, situated in time-space and not based in abstract projections of what constitutes either a particular tradition or culture." In some societies, Islamophobia has materialized due to
23994-479: The initial bombings in the north to encompass various regions across the country. This reproduction of aggressive strategies aimed at stifling descent and retaining authority over the populace was a hallmark of the government's repressive actions in the South. One of the most notable instances occurred in 1991, when Barre's regime initiated a ruthless arial assault that led to the deaths of numerous innocent individuals in
24180-472: The literacy rate. The Somali Democratic Republic achieved a literacy rate of 70%, one of the highest in Africa at the time. In addition to a nationalization program of industry and land, the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world , eventually joining the Arab League in February, 1974. That same year, Barre also served as chairman of
24366-569: The lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas. However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference. For centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon to Somalia and Arabia from Ceylon and the Spice Islands . The source of the cinnamon and other spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with
24552-399: 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 . and in an interview in
24738-538: 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. She sympathised with the views of the 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
24924-637: The new totalitarianism ". 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 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
25110-499: The newly formed Somali Republic. A referendum was held in neighbouring Djibouti (then known as French Somaliland ) in 1958, on the eve of Somalia's independence in 1960, to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, largely due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. There
25296-448: The other hand, Jews are perceived as "omnipotent" and as an invisible "internal threat". However, Schiffer and Wagner also note that there is a growing tendency to view Muslims as a privileged group that constitute an "internal threat" and that this convergence between the two discources makes "it more and more necessary to use findings from the study of anti-Semitism to analyse Islamophobia". Schiffer and Wagner conclude, The achievement in
25482-583: The people in Somalia are Muslims , the majority of them Sunni . In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial center. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate , Adal Sultanate , and the Sultanate of the Geledi . In the late 19th century, Somali sultanates were colonized by the Italian and British Empires, who merged all of these tribal territories into two colonies : Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland . In 1960,
25668-530: The plan of Fascist Italy. With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, things began to change for that part of Somaliland known as Italian Somaliland . The last piece of land acquired by Italy in Somalia was Oltre Giuba , present-day Jubaland region, in 1925. The Italians began local infrastructure projects, including the construction of hospitals, farms and schools. Fascist Italy , under Benito Mussolini , attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935, with an aim to colonize it. The invasion
25854-474: The portrayal of Islam and Muslims as the national " Other ", where exclusion and discrimination occurs on the basis of their religion and civilization which differs with national tradition and identity. Examples include Pakistani and Algerian migrants in Britain and France respectively. This sentiment, according to Malcolm Brown and Robert Miles, significantly interacts with racism , although Islamophobia itself
26040-591: The problems of the modern world. She has received several awards, including a free speech award from the centre-right Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , the Swedish conservative Liberal Party 's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. Critics have accused Ali of being Islamophobic or neo-orientalist and question her scholarly credentials "to speak authoritatively about Islam and
26226-448: The protectorate stagnated in political administrative development. The disparity between the two territories in economic development and political experience would later cause serious difficulties integrating the two parts. Meanwhile, in 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of the Somalis, the British returned the Haud (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably protected by British treaties with
26412-480: The racialized nature of Islamophobic discrimination and attacks suffered by numerous Muslims in their daily lives, several scholars have asserted that Islamophobia has explicit racist dimensions. On 15 March 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by consensus which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that proclaimed March 15 as ' International Day to Combat Islamophobia '. The exact definition of
26598-438: The scope and content of the term and its relationship with concepts such as racism ..." and Shryock, reviewing the use of the term across national boundaries, comes to the same conclusion. Some scholars view Islamophobia and racism as partially overlapping phenomena. Diane Frost defines Islamophobia as anti-Muslim feeling and violence based on "race" or religion. Islamophobia may also target people who have Muslim names, or have
26784-440: The shape of daily forms of racism and discrimination or more violent forms, Islamophobia is a violation of human rights and a threat to social cohesion". One early use cited as the term's first use is by the painter Alphonse Étienne Dinet and Algerian intellectual Sliman ben Ibrahim in their 1918 biography of Islam's prophet Muhammad . Writing in French, they used the term islamophobie . Robin Richardson writes that in
26970-413: The study of anti-Semitism of examining Jewry and anti-Semitism separately must also be transferred to other racisms, such as Islamophobia. We do not need more information about Islam, but more information about the making of racist stereotypes in general. The publication Social Work and Minorities: European Perspectives describes Islamophobia as the new form of racism in Europe, arguing that "Islamophobia
27156-484: The term "Islamophobia" has been a subject of debate amongst Western analysts. Detractors of the term have proposed alternative terms, such as "anti-Muslim", to denote prejudice or discrimination against Muslims. It has been alleged, often by right-wing commentators, that the term is sometimes used to avoid criticism of Islam , by removing the distinction between racism and criticism of religious doctrine or practice. However, academics, activists and experts who support
27342-462: The term was justified by the report's assessment that "anti-Muslim prejudice has grown so considerably and so rapidly in recent years that a new item in the vocabulary is needed". In 2008, a workshop on 'Thinking Thru Islamophobia' was held at the University of Leeds , organized by the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, the participants included S. Sayyid, Abdoolkarim Vakil, Liz Fekete , and Gabrielle Maranci among others. The symposium proposed
27528-760: The terminology have denounced such characterizations as attempts to deny the existence of Islamophobia. There are a number of other possible terms which are also used in order to refer to negative feelings and attitudes towards Islam and Muslims, such as anti-Muslimism , intolerance against Muslims , anti-Muslim prejudice , anti-Muslim bigotry , hatred of Muslims , anti-Islamism , Muslimophobia , demonisation of Islam , or demonisation of Muslims . In German, Islamophobie (fear) and Islamfeindlichkeit (hostility) are used. The Scandinavian term Muslimhat literally means "hatred of Muslims". When discrimination towards Muslims has placed an emphasis on their religious affiliation and adherence, it has been termed Muslimphobia,
27714-478: The three divisions of South African, West African, and East African troops. They were assisted by Somali forces led by Abdulahi Hassan with Somalis of the Isaaq , Dhulbahante , and Warsangali clans prominently participating. The number of Italian Somalis began to decline after World War II, with fewer than 10,000 remaining in 1960. Following World War II, Britain retained control of both British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland as protectorates. In 1945, during
27900-410: The time, she agreed with the fatwa proclaimed against British Indian writer Salman Rushdie in reaction to the portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses . After completing secondary school, Hirsi Ali attended a secretarial course at Valley Secretarial College in Nairobi for one year. As she was growing up, she also read English-language adventure stories, such as
28086-436: The town of Beledwene , situated in southern Somalia. The cruelty and magnitude of this atrocity highlighted the degree to which the government was prepared to go to quash any sort of opposition or resistance, displaying a blatant disregard for human rights and the worth of human life. Another notable instance of Barre 's repressive policies occurred in the city of Baidoa , which earned the nickname 'the city of death' due to
28272-447: The tragic events that unfolded there during the famine and civil war . Hundreds of thousands of individuals lost their lives as a consequence of governmental strategies specifically aimed at the Rahanweyn community residing in these areas. During 1990, in the capital city of Mogadishu, the residents were prohibited from gathering publicly in groups greater than three or four. Fuel shortages, inflation, and currency devaluation impacted
28458-449: The two territories united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. Siad Barre of the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic , brutally attempting to squash the Somaliland War of Independence in the north of the country. The SRC collapsed in 1991 with the onset of the Somali Civil War . The Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG)
28644-506: The university's "core values" because they were " Islamophobic ". Others expressed opinions both for and against this decision. The university said she was welcome to come to the campus for a dialogue in the future. The university's withdrawal of its invitation generated controversy and condemnation among some. But, The Economist noted at the time that Hirsi Ali's "wholesale condemnations of existing religions just aren't done in American politics." It said that "the explicit consensus in America
28830-506: The use of the term Islamophobia , since, in her opinion, it attracts unwarranted attention to an underlying racist current. The head of the Media Responsibility Institute in Erlangen , Sabine Schiffer, and researcher Constantin Wagner, who also define Islamophobia as anti-Muslim racism, outline additional similarities and differences between Islamophobia and antisemitism. They point out the existence of equivalent notions such as "Judaisation/Islamisation", and metaphors such as "a state within
29016-523: The user of "the responsibility of trying to understand them" or trying to change their views; that it implies that hostility to Muslims is divorced from factors such as skin color, immigrant status, fear of fundamentalism, or political or economic conflicts; that it conflates prejudice against Muslims in one's own country with dislike of Muslims in countries with which the West is in conflict; that it fails to distinguish between people who are against all religion from people who dislike Islam specifically; and that
29202-466: The war, the Somali army scored continuous victories on the Ethiopian army and followed them as far as Sidamo . By September 1977, Somalia controlled 90% of the Ogaden and captured strategic cities such as Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire Dawa , threatening the train route from the latter city to Djibouti. After the siege of Harar, a massive unprecedented Soviet intervention consisting of 20,000 Cuban forces and several thousand Soviet experts came to
29388-455: 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. Hirsi Ali joined the 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 ,
29574-532: The word Islamophobia had to be coined in order to "take account of increasingly widespread bigotry". During the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, far-right Serbian Orthodox Christian militants who were heavily indoctrinated with Islamophobic sentiments, perpetrated a genocide against Bosniak Muslims . Since 1989, Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević publicly disseminated Islamophobic rhetoric throughout Yugoslavia , inciting Serbian far-right militants to massacre Bosniak Muslims. The stereotyping of Bosniak Muslims as
29760-399: The world since the end of the Cold War are many. These include the quasi-racialist stereotypes against Muslims that proliferated through the Western media since the 1990s, the " war on terror " campaign launched by the United States after the September 11 attacks , the rise of the Islamic State in the aftermath of the Iraq War , terrorist attacks carried out by Islamist militants in
29946-408: Was a central figure in New Atheism since its beginnings. She was strongly associated with the movement, along with Christopher Hitchens , who regarded Ali as "the most important public intellectual probably ever to come out of Africa". Writing in a column in November 2023, Ali announced her conversion to the Christian faith, claiming that in her view the Judeo-Christian tradition is the only answer to
30132-537: Was a phenomenon closely connected to European nation-building processes, he sees Islamophobia as having the concern of European civilization as its focal point. Døving, on the other hand, maintains that, at least in Norway, the Islamophobic discourse has a clear national element. In a reply to Bunzl, French scholar of Jewish history, Esther Benbassa , agrees with him in that he draws a clear connection between modern hostile and essentializing sentiments towards Muslims and historical antisemitism. However, she argues against
30318-421: 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
30504-455: Was also widespread vote rigging, with the French expelling thousands of Somalis before the referendum reached the polls. The majority of those who voted 'no' were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia, as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi , Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later. Djibouti finally gained independence from France in 1977, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon ,
30690-481: Was beyond reform. In the United States, Ali has founded an organisation for the defense of women's rights, the AHA Foundation . She has taken roles at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University , the American Enterprise Institute , and at Harvard Kennedy School as a senior fellow at the Future of Democracy Project. Since 2021, she has served as a columnist for UnHerd , a British online magazine; since 2022, she has also hosted The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast . Ali
30876-541: Was close to 90). 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. 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
31062-410: Was condemned by the League of Nations , but little was done to stop it or to liberate occupied Ethiopia. In 1936, Italian Somalia was integrated into Italian East Africa , alongside Eritrea and Ethiopia, as the Somalia Governorate . On 3 August 1940, Italian troops, including Somali colonial units, crossed from Ethiopia to invade British Somaliland , and by 14 August, succeeded in taking Berbera from
31248-441: 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. 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
31434-411: Was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) in 2004, which reestablished the Somali Armed Forces . At the end of 2006, a US-backed Ethiopian invasion overthrew the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), leading to the installation of the TFG in Mogadishu under an Ethiopian military occupation . The subsequent insurgency which emerged saw
31620-422: Was extremely rare. Alleged late-night operations by government authorities, however, included "disappearances" of individuals from their homes. In 1991, the Barre administration was ousted by a coalition of clan-based opposition groups, backed by Ethiopia's then-ruling Derg regime and Libya . Following a meeting of the Somali National Movement and northern clans' elders, the northern former British portion of
31806-403: Was formed by Abdullahi Issa and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal with other members of the trusteeship and protectorate governments, with Abdulcadir Muhammed Aden as President of the Somali National Assembly , Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President of the Somali Republic, and Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as Prime Minister (later to become president from 1967 to 1969). On 20 July 1961 and through
31992-409: Was fortunate that her grandmother could not find a woman to do the procedure, as the mutilation was "much milder" when performed by men. After her father escaped from prison, he and the family left Somalia in 1977, going to Saudi Arabia and then to Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , before settling in Nairobi , Kenya , by 1980. There he established a comfortable upper-class life for them. Hirsi Ali attended
32178-421: Was later expanded to include Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier , who was 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. In early 2014, Brandeis University in Massachusetts announced that Ali would be given an honorary degree at the graduation ceremony. In early April, the university rescinded its offer following
32364-589: Was led by Brigadier General Mohamed Ainanshe Guled , Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel . Kediye officially held the title "Father of the Revolution", and Barre shortly afterwards became the head of the SRC. The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution. The revolutionary government established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase
32550-399: Was murdered shortly after the film's release by Mohammed Bouyeri , a Moroccan-Dutch Islamic terrorist , driving Hirsi Ali into hiding. At this time, she became more outspoken as a critic of the Muslim faith. In 2005, Time magazine named Ali as one of the 100 most influential people in the world . Her outspoken criticism of Islam made her a controversial figure in Dutch politics. Following
32736-590: Was not based on religion. During this time she took courses in Dutch and a one-year introductory course in social work at the Hogeschool De Horst in Driebergen . She has said that she was impressed with how well Dutch society seemed to function. To better understand its development, she studied at the Leiden University , where she obtained an Master's degree in political science . 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
32922-494: Was of minor concern. 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. 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
33108-434: Was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its own accent on self-sufficiency, public participation and popular control, as well as direct ownership of the means of production. While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was essentially communist . In July 1977,
33294-400: Was proud of their work together. A private trust, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression , was established in 2007 in the Netherlands to help fund protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and other Muslim dissidents. In May 2006, the TV programme 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
33480-441: 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 weapons . 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
33666-455: Was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole . 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
33852-436: 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 Dutch Moroccan Islamist and member of the Muslim terrorist organisation Hofstad Group , assassinated Van Gogh in an Amsterdam street on 2 November 2004. Bouyeri shot Van Gogh with
34038-405: Was steward of the party. Hirsi Ali's writing at the WBS was inspired by the work of the neoconservative Orientalist Bernard Lewis . She became disenchanted with Islam and was shocked by the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, for which al-Qaeda eventually claimed responsibility . After listening to videotapes of Osama bin Laden citing "words of justification" in the Qur'an for
34224-462: Was taken. Verdonk was strongly criticised for her actions in such a sensitive case. 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
34410-416: Was to escape detection and retaliation by her clan for the foiled marriage. 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
34596-443: Was weakened further in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close and Somalia's strategic importance was diminished. The government became increasingly authoritarian , and resistance movements , encouraged by Ethiopia, sprang up across the country, eventually leading to the Somali Civil War . Among the militia groups were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and
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