I found a copy of this article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in one of the local newspapers in Turkey. It was originally published in the Wall Street Journal and I was surprised to come across it in Olympus, a small beach town in Southern Turkey. I found it interesting not only because Infidel was still on my mind, but also because Women's Rights, Islam and the Muslim world at large was a hot topic for Ayesha and I while traveling in the Middle East. We were immersed in this new world for the first time and were both drawn into it completely and appalled by it.
Huntington's Clash of Civilizations was widely unpopular and I think Ali is straddling the line between being liked and being hated. She is the kind of scholar we want to see succeed - a woman from a visible minority who overcame a very challenging upbringing to ultimately fight for equal rights for many oppressed subgroups. I don't necessarily agree with Ali in this article, but I think she asks good questions. Reading this while in Turkey, after visiting Malaysia and Indonesia, and before traveling to Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, this article asked for what we were in some way doing... looking into life on "the other side."
I left the Middle East with more questions than I arrived with. More questions, which for me means more reading.
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