11 Items

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- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Q&A: Immigration and Terrorism

| Spring 2017

In response to the Trump administration’s rollout of aggressive policies on immigration and travel, Farah Pandith and Ayaan Hirsi Ali­—both senior fellows with the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project—have shared their contrasting views in media interviews.

Analysis & Opinions - The Wall Street Journal

Islam’s Jihad Against Homosexuals

| June 13, 2016

The Orlando massacre is a hideous reminder to Americans that homophobia is an integral part of Islamic extremism. It is important to establish why a man like Omar Mateen could be motivated to murder 49 people in a gay nightclub while he proclaimed his support for Islamic State and then pray to Allah. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Fellow of the Future of Diplomacy Project examines the connection between homophobia and the Islamic religion.

Major General Michael Nagata, pictured right with President Obama, has said, "We do not understand the movement [of the Islamic State]. And until we do, we are not going to defeat it."

Secretary of Defense

Analysis & Opinions - Dallas Morning News

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why the United States should back Islam's reformation

| August 14, 2015

We have a problem — not a problem from hell, but one that claims to come from heaven. That problem is sometimes called radical, or fundamentalist, Islam, and the self-styled Islamic State is just its latest iteration. But no one really understands it.

In the summer of 2014, Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata, the commander of U.S. special operations forces in the Middle East, admitted as much when talking about the Islamic State. “We do not understand the movement,” he said. “And until we do, we are not going to defeat it.”

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Analysis & Opinions - TIME / time.com

Hirsi Ali: Beware of Michiganistan

| April 1, 2015

Since the massacre at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January, the U.S. media has understandably devoted attention to the problem of radical Islam in Europe. The fact has been widely reported that thousands of European Union citizens have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the self-styled Islamic State. Almost as much coverage has been given to stories of French Jews emigrating to Israel. And there have been numerous articles about Michel Houellebecq’s diabolically timed novel Soumission, which imagines France in 2022 with a Muslim president introducing sharia law and being fawned over by the Parisian establishment.

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba and pray inside the Grand Mosque.

Wikimedia Commons

Analysis & Opinions - The Wall Street Journal

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: America's Academies for Jihad

| March 31, 2015

Less than a year after I moved to the United States in 2006, I was asked to speak at the University of Pittsburgh. Among those who objected to my appearance was a local imam, Fouad El Bayly, of the Johnstown Islamic Center. Mr. Bayly was born in Egypt but has lived in the U.S. since 1976. In his own words, I had “been identified as one who has defamed the faith.” As he explained at the time: “If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death.”

Book - Harper Collins Publishers

Heretic

| March 24, 2015

In Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes 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. She argues that the violent acts of Islamic extremists cannot be divorced from the religious doctrine that inspires them. Instead, she says, we must confront the fact that they are driven by a political ideology embedded in Islam itself.

Our Duty Is To Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive

John Van Hasselt/Corbis

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Beast

Our Duty Is To Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive

| January 8, 2015

"I’ve seen today the images of the sea of faces in European capitals holding placards saying “I am Charlie Hebdo.” That is beautiful and it’s the perfect thing to do. Tomorrow they should hold placards of the cartoons Charlie Hebdo had printed. Asserting our right to free speech is the only to ensure that 12 people did not die in vain." Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project, makes the case for a greater stand against Islamic fundamentalism and defends the right to free speech in her reflections on the recent Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris.

Analysis & Opinions - The Wall Street Journal

How To Answer The Paris Attack

| January 7, 2015

According to Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the West must "stand up for freedom - and acknowledge the link between Islamists' political ideology and their religious beliefs." In this article for the Wall Street Journal, Ayaan Hirsi Ali firmly maintains that the West must realize that recent reprisals are driven by political ideology and that appeasement is not the right way to respond to radical Islam.

This screengrab taken from the Australian Channel Seven broadcast shows presumed hostages holding up a flag with Arabic writing inside a cafe in the central business district of Sydney on December 15, 2014.

Channel Seven—AFP/Getty Images

Analysis & Opinions - Time

The Shahada in Sydney Reminds Us That Political Islam Is Deadly

| December 16, 2014

"No symbol represents the soul of Islam more than the shahada. But today there is a contest within Islam for the ownership of that symbol. Who owns the shahada? Is it those Muslims who want to emphasize Muhammad’s years in Mecca or those who are inspired by his conquests after Medina?" Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project, reflects on the Martin Place siege and examines the political and religious significance of the shahada.