Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the price of liberty

Dialogues with Richard Reeves

My guest today, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is one of the most important intellectuals working today on issues of free speech, human rights, feminism and foreign policy. She is no stranger to either controversy or danger, not least because of her fierce criticism of Islam and Islamic culture. We discuss her own journey from Somalia to Saudi Arabia, via asylum in Holland to escape an arranged marriage, and finally to an academic career in the U.S. We also trace her psychological journey from a tribal mindset to a zealous religious worldview, and finally to a fiercely-held liberalism. We discuss the limits of Islamic liberalization, the contest for free speech, critical race theory, the state of intellectual and academic debate, the risks of self-censorship, and much more besides. We also discuss her latest book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (2021). We don’t agree on everything, of course, but as she says: “That’s the whole point!”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan is a former Member of the Dutch Parliament (2003-2006) and is now a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Founder of the AHA Foundation. She has written several books including Infidel (2007); Nomad (2010); Heretic (2015); and The Challenge of Dawa (2017). Her newest book Prey is available now. She also has her own podcast, the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast.

More Ayaan

• Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (2021)
• See this NYT profile, “Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim Men and Western Women”
• In January 2020, Ayaan spoke at The Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization on “The Market for Victimhood”

Also Mentioned

• We talked quite a lot about Mustafa Akyol’s views on liberalizing Islam. Listen to my dialogue with him here (Apple) or here (Spotify).
• If you’re interested in truth and truthfulness, you might enjoy my essay for Aeon, “Lies and honest mistakes”

The Dialogues Team

My guest today, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is one of the most important intellectuals working today on issues of free speech, human rights, feminism and foreign policy. She is no stranger to either controversy or danger, not least because of her fierce criticism of Islam and Islamic culture. We discuss her own journey from Somalia to Saudi Arabia, via asylum in Holland to escape an arranged marriage, and finally to an academic career in the U.S. We also trace her psychological journey from a tribal mindset to a zealous religious worldview, and finally to a fiercely-held liberalism. We discuss the limits of Islamic liberalization, the contest for free speech, critical race theory, the state of intellectual and academic debate, the risks of self-censorship, and much more besides. We also discuss her latest book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (2021). We don’t agree on everything, of course, but as she says: “That’s the whole point!”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan is a former Member of the Dutch Parliament (2003-2006) and is now a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Founder of the AHA Foundation. She has written several books including Infidel (2007); Nomad (2010); Heretic (2015); and The Challenge of Dawa (2017). Her newest book Prey is available now. She also has her own podcast, the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast

More Ayaan

• Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (2021)
• See this NYT profile, “Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim Men and Western Women”
• In January 2020, Ayaan spoke at The Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization on “The Market for Victimhood”

Also Mentioned

• We talked quite a lot about Mustafa Akyol’s views on liberalizing Islam. Listen to my dialogue with him here (Apple) or here (Spotify).
• If you’re interested in truth and truthfulness, you might enjoy my essay for Aeon, “Lies and honest mistakes”

The Dialogues Team

• Creator: Richard Reeves
• Research: Ashleigh Maciolek
• Artwork: George Vaughan Thomas
• Tech Support: Cameron Hauver-Reeves
• Music: "Remember" by Bencoolen (thanks for the permission, guys!)