One of the other reasons I recommend this book is because it makes one very aware of the Muslim culture throughout the world. Her explanations of Islam in Africa were incredibly enlightening and engaging for me. As I have been praying about where to travel to Africa this fall, I’ve felt my heart breaking for West Africa, which Islam is growing rampant in. Needless to say, I’ve been doing quite a bit of studying and praying. I would be lying if I told you that the idea of ministering to women in a closed, Muslim country doesn’t strike a bit of fear in me. But, ignoring the Lord’s calling on my life should (and does) instill a greater fear, so study I must. Hence this series.

I digress, In one part of the book, Hirsi Ali makes a bold observation of the religion she grew up in. Here, she is remembering the 9/11 attacks and the effect they had on her:

The little shutter at the back of my mind, where I pushed all my disonant thoughts, snapped open after the 9/11 attacks, and it refused to close again. I found myself thinking that the Quran is not a holy document. It is a historical record, written by humans. It is one version of events, as percieved by the men who wrote it 150 years after the Prophet Muhammad died. And it is a very tribal and Arab version of events. It spreads a culture that is brutal, bigoted, fixated on controlling women, and harsh in war.

The Prophet did teach us a lot of good things. I found it spiritually appealing to believe in the Hereafter. My life was enriched by the Quranic injunctions to be compassionate and show charity to others. There were times when I, like many other Muslims, found it too complicated to deal with the whole issued of war against unbelievers. Most Muslims never delve into theology, and we rarely read the Quran; we are taught it in Arabic, which most Muslims can’t speak. As a result, most people think that Islam is about peace. It is from these people, honest and kind, that the the fallacy has arisen that Islam is peaceful and tolerant.

But I can no longer avoid seeing the totalitarianism, the pure moral framework that is Islam. It regulates every detail of life and subjugates free will. True Islam, as a rigid belief system and a moral framework, leads to cruelty. The inhumane act of those nineteen hijackers was the logical outcome of this detailed system for regulating human behavior. Their world is divided between “Us” and “Them” — if you don’t accept Islam you should perish.

Just in case you skimmed the quote, please re-read the last paragraph. I’ll wait.

She is saying here, that Islam in it’s truest, fundamental form, is violent. Cruel. Inhumane. There is a quote from the article I posted in part one that reminded me of what Hirsi Ali says here. The article says that

“[Geert Wilders] planned to make a short film showing that Islam’s holy book, the Koran, is “a fascist book” that “incites people to murder”.” and the film “would lead viewers through the Koran, Islam’s holy book, he said, and show texts illustrated by documentary video images to show the Koran is not a symbolic text “but that Islam can take away our freedom unless we act against it”.

Wilders makes an interesting point here, when he speaks of Islam taking away our freedom. What Hirsi Ali says at the end of her book gives a basis for why she made Submission and Wilders made Fitna:

When people say that the values of Islam are compassion, tolerance, and freedom, I look at reality, at real cultures and goverernments, and I see that it simply isn’t so. People in the West swallow this sort of thing because they have learned not to examine the religions or cultures of minorities too critically, for fear of being called racist. It facinates them that I am not afraid to do so.

We have lived in a society where we have been taught to not question the beliefs of another, especially a minority. We fear that in doing such, the American dogma that we’re the melting pot of the world and tolerance should be our middle name, would be extinguished. Wilder’s film is telling us that tolerance in the name of religious freedom will ultimately be our demise. Ignorance will be our end.

I found an article today about how the US government has added a new Islamist group to their list of terrorist organizations. Their response? “Al-Shabab feels honoured to be included on the list. We are good Muslims and the Americans are infidels. We are on the right path,” he said.

Dutch MP says anti-Islamic film set for broadcast in March

Feb 9, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Dutch far-right deputy Geert Wilders said in an interview published Saturday that his controversial anti-Islam film will be called “Fitna” , arabic for ordeal, and will be aired in March.

The leader of the Freedom party (PVV), which has nine of 150 seats in parliament, said in November that he planned to make a short film showing that Islam’s holy book, the Koran, is “a fascist book” that “incites people to murder”.

According to the interview with Dutch GPD news agency, Wilders’ 15-minute film is almost done, and he hopes it will be shown on Dutch television in March. He had initially said it would air at the end of January.

Wilders said he has called the film Fitna, an arabic word that in Islam is used to describe all things that can test the faith and is sometimes synonymous to evil.

“I use the term in an inverse sense because for me Islam … is fitna,” he said.

Wilders also gave some more details about what would be shown in the film, which for months has been causing concern in the Netherlands.

It would lead viewers through the Koran, Islam’s holy book, he said, and show texts illustrated by documentary video images to show the Koran is not a symbolic text “but that Islam can take away our freedom unless we act against it”.

In the end the film returns to the situation in the Netherlands and finishes with a picture of the prophet Mohammed, he explained. Muslims consider images of their religion’s founder to be blasphemous.

“Something will happen to that picture but I won’t say what,” Wilders said.

There has been media speculation in the Netherlands that Wilders will tear up or burn the Koran in his film.

The Hague fears a repeat of the 2005 riots when thousands took to the streets in Muslim countries to protest cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that appeared in Danish newspapers.

Wilders has been under heavy police protection since the 2004 murder of Dutch director and columnist Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh was killed by a radical Muslim after he directed a film criticising women’s position in Islam.

After I finished reading Infidel, I stumbled upon a blog called Saudi Stepford Wife. She is an American who married a Saudi man and now lives in Saudi Arabia. She’s clearly Muslim by marriage (by choice) and her American insights into the Saudi culture and religion are eye opening. As a Christian, I’ve been challenged by this woman’s frankness and openness as she often leaves you to draw your own conclusions about her life. I found her post about slavery very eye-opening.