Guide Note

The Somali-born writer, author and filmmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a noted critic of Islam.

Fast Facts

1. Born: November 13, 1969
2. Birthplace: Mogadishu, Somalia
3. Daughter (estranged) of Somali politician Hirsi Magan Isse
4. Obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992
5. Member of Dutch parliament from 2003-2006
6. Included in Time Magazine's 2005 list of 'most influential people in the world'
7. Wrote the film, Submission
8. Author of books including Caged Virgin and Infidel
9. Resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute

Much about Hirsi Ali's biography is uncertain, as she has at various times given different accounts of her early life. More certain is that she earned a masters degree from Leiden University in political science in 2000, and renounced Islam in 2002, following the 9/11 attacks. She was soon in demand as a speaker and television commentator, and won a parliamentary seat as a member of the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. The anti-Islamic feminist film Submission, produced by Theo Van Gogh, led to extreme controversy, and to the murder of Van Gogh by Muslim extremists. Death threats forced Hirsi Ali to to go into hiding. She was subsequently involved in legal disputes with the Dutch government when it was revealed that she had falsified her name and background in order to emigrate to Holland. A fellowship at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute brought her to the U.S. in 2006, although further changes of residence have followed.

Hirsi Ali's acclaim has thus far been split between two irreconcilable groups of supporters: feminists, and conservatives seeking to influence public opinion against immigration or toward greater conflict with Islamic nations. Her own views, however, seem not to follow a preordained template: A highlight of her activism in 2006 was a call to ban the neo-fascist Vlaams Belang party, a leading force in the European anti-immigration movement. A 2007 piece in The Economist is direct in its assessments, calling Hirsi Ali a "chameleon of a woman" and suggesting "opportunism" as a common denominator of her public career.