Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes about Islam

Islam is not a race...Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it is not 'Islamophobic' to say Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy.

Islam is not a race...Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it is not 'Islamophobic' to say Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Race, Islam, Democracy

CBC News Interview, July 11, 2007.

Islam was like a mental cage. At first, when you open the door, the caged bird stays inside: it is frightened. It has internalized its imprisonment. It takes time for bird to escape, even after someone has opened the doors to its cage.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Doors, Bird, Islam

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2008). “Infidel”, p.382, Simon and Schuster

I wanted secular, non-Muslim people to stop kidding themselves that Islam is peace and tolerance.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

People, Tolerance, Islam

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2008). “Infidel”, p.307, Simon and Schuster

I have had to pay a price for leaving Islam and for speaking out. I have to pay for round-the-clock security because of the death threats against me.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Leaving, Islam, Pay

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2011). “Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations”, p.129, Simon and Schuster

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists or sympathetic to terrorists. Equating all Muslims with terrorism is stupid and wrong. But acknowledging that there is a link between Islam and terror is appropriate and necessary.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Stupid, Islam, Majority

I see no difference between Islam and Islamism. Islam is defined as submission to the will of Allah, as it is described in the Koran. Islamism is just Islam in its most pure form.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Differences, Islam, Submission

"The Refugee Who Rocked Islam: an Exclusive Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali". Interview with Johann Hari, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 31, 2008.

After the horrific massacre Wednesday at the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, perhaps the West will finally put away its legion of useless tropes trying to deny the relationship between violence and radical Islam.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Charlie Hebdo, Islam, Trying

"How to Answer the Paris Terror Attack". Article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, www.metafilter.com. January 7, 2015.

My friend, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered in 2004 for having been insufficiently reverent toward Islam.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Islam, Dutch, Vans

There is one Islam, unreformed, but three sets of Muslims. Medina, Mecca, and. Dissidents, reformers, whatever you want to call them. The first group are the extremists and fundamentalists, the second the great mass of Muslims who just want to live their lives in peace, and the third are reformers.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Islam, Groups, Three

"The Interview: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on reforming Islam". Interview with Brian Bethune, www.macleans.ca. April 13, 2015.