NOVEL THOUGHTS
………
FREE PRESS, 2007
(available in paperback from Free Press, 2008)
AYAAN HIRSI ALI first achieved international attention when Theo van Gogh, a filmmaker in the Netherlands, was found murdered, with a note pinned to his chest naming Hirsi Ali as the next victim. Hirsi Ali’s remarkable journey—from a childhood in war-torn Somalia into the halls of the Dutch parliament, where her outspoken views on the treatment of women in Islam made her a target—is the subject of her memoir.
Hirsi Ali experienced oppression and exclusion from an early age. As a young girl born into a strict Muslim family, she was ritually circumcised to insure her marriageability, and beaten so severely by her Koran teacher that she was hospitalized. Her family was forced into exile by her father’s revolutionary activities, and fled first to Saudi Arabia, and then to Ethiopia and Kenya. As an outsider in these countries, Hirsi Ali willingly assumed the trappings of observant Islam, wearing the black hijab “because it made me feel powerful.”
Even as she embraced Islam, though, she increasingly questioned its tenets, especially its requirement of women to submit themselves completely to Allah, and to men. Reading Western novelists such as Danielle Steele further piqued Hirsi Ali’s interest in the freedoms women enjoyed elsewhere. When her father arranged a marriage for her, Hirsi Ali escaped to the Netherlands, claiming to be a refugee from the civil war. Landing in a refugee camp, Hirsi Ali gradually worked her way up in Dutch society—learning the language, taking on translation jobs, moving into her own apartment, and eventually earning a degree in political science. In 2003, Hirsi Ali was elected to the Dutch parliament. By this time she was an atheist and she embraced Western culture and values. Disowned by her father and her entire clan, Hirsi Ali used her political position to expose truths about honor killings and other violence against women in Muslim circles. Her collaboration with Theo van Gogh on a short film, Submission, about female oppression, ultimately led to his murder—and to the threat to Hirsi Ali’s life.
A triumphant narrative, Infidel tells the story of a brilliant young girl’s gradual liberation from the bonds of sexual and intellectual oppression, and her determination to make her voice heard.
When Hirsi Ali moved with her family to Nairobi, Kenya, she sought tastes of her home country for comfort and familiarity. Hirsi Ali spent evenings in the kitchen making the dough for the next day’s angellos—a common breakfast and snack food in Somalia. And angellos figured prominently in the story of how Farah Gouré—the Somali businessman and clan member who provided for Hirsi Ali’s family when they lived in exile—met his wife, Fadumo. He first spotted his future wife “cooking the pancakes on a charcoal brazier [a metal box holding hot coals] on the ground, rolling them up with sugar and butter, and selling them to passersby. He walked up and down smelling the angellos …”
You don’t need a brazier to make these simple pancakes—a regular stove and skillet will allow you to bring this taste of the Somali streets to your meeting.
This was adapted from a recipe for angellos on mysomalifood.com.
1 cup all-purpose flour ½ cup whole wheat flour ½ cup finely ground cornmeal 3 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt |
2–2½ cups milk 3 tablespoons sugar, divided 1 large egg 3 tablespoons melted butter for brushing on pancakes |
Combine both flours, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, milk, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and egg in a large bowl. Stir well to avoid lumps. Add more milk as needed to achieve a thin batter.
Heat an ungreased cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-low heat. The pan is ready when water sprinkled in pan sizzles.
Spread ¼ cup batter gently, in a circular motion by starting in the middle and then working clockwise. Cook on one side only, until surface is bubbly and set, and underside is browned, about 3 minutes. (If batter sticks, add a few drops of oil to the pan and wipe it off with a paper towel.) Remove pancake to plate. Repeat using all batter.
Brush surface of pancakes with melted butter, sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and roll.
Yield: About 24 pancakes
NOVEL THOUGHTS
Chapter 3 Reading Group is one of more than forty book clubs registered with My Sister’s Books, a used paperback bookstore in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s memoir prompted group members to compare the roles of women in Third World countries, such as Somalia, and the United States. The group also explored the histories of the various countries mentioned in Infidel and the development of the Muslim Brotherhood, including its involvement in current-day upheaval in the Middle East. “Each person in the group was surprised about a different aspect of Hirsi Ali’s story,” says group leader Kit Blaker. One woman was shocked at the amount of genital mutilation still taking place in the modern world—even in the United States. Another commented on the author’s bravery in going public with her negative beliefs about Islam, the religion of her youth. And another was struck by the different ways in which the Muslim religion is practiced by various groups within a particular culture. Some members had seen Hirsi Ali in television interviews and admired her presence and strong commitment to her beliefs. “This book inspires us all to think about what we can contribute to our fellow human beings to make this world a better place,” says Blaker.