Perspective: Ayaan Hirsi Ali is Neither a Critic of Islam, Nor a Champion of Women's Rights

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It is unclear how Hirsi Ali can be an advocate for Muslim women while simultaneously calling for the outright defeat of their faith.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Nathan Lean | April 18, 2014

The controversy over Brandeis University's decision to withdraw its honorary degree invitation to Somali-born American activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is puzzling. Not because it wasn't the right decision -- it was -- but because of two specific ways that the school, major media organizations, and Hirsi Ali's supporters and detractors described her.

The New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and dozens of other outlets referred to Hirsi Ali as a "critic of Islam."

A "critic."

That's a lukewarm description for someone who has expressed her support for defeating Islam (not extremists, but the entire faith) by military means if necessary. Let's be clear: Such measures do not constitute "criticism." Instead, they are dangerously close to advocating genocide.

Faith and Inter-faith: Churches in Muslim countries

I always find it very discomforting reading about sanctions on building places of worship or attacks on such places. I feel a lot of sorrow whenever I read about a place of worship being attacked, damaged, demolished and disrespected.

Sacred Heart Church, Lahore, Pakistan has be repeatedly threatened.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Article
Source/Credit: Times of Malta
By Laiq Ahmed Atif | November 20, 2010

Churches, synago­gues and mosques are all places of worship where the name of God the creator and lord of the entire universe is oft-commemorated. Thus, they all are very sacred and holy and deserve to be respected and honoured fully, irrespective of the denomination to which they belong.

But, unfortunately, there are some countries that do not allow the building of churches, mosques or other places of worship on their territory. Also, there are some people who are not paying full respect to the places of worship that do not belong to them or which are not the symbols of their religion. However, I believe all places of worship, whatever the religion they belong to, whoever the worshipers, whatever the way they worship God, are sacred and holy and must be respected fully, in every country, in every part of the world and by all people.

Human Rights: ‘All are equal but some are more equal than others.’

As far as the U.N.O's Charter of Human Rights is concerned, by and large its value remains academic, in that it is a testimony to a very important historical fact; namely, that over the centuries man's conception of human rights has gradually evolved to reach a stage where it could be documented in such detail...

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Jama'at Mauritius | AlIslam.Org
By Dr. Iftikhar Ayaz, OBE | October 10, 2010

The following is an excerpt from a speech made at the 49th Annual Convention in Mauritius.

Since times immemorial, man has, at the hand of man, been suffering all kinds of miseries and cruelties; his rights have been violated; he has become alienated from his own species.

Today, most of the evils humanity is confronted with are rooted in the violation and deprivation of human rights. No doubt in the dark corridors of history, we hear echoes reverberating protest against human sufferings and exploitation. No doubt in these very corridors sometimes we also see a chink of light of hope for man in the form of Charters, such as Magna Carta, English Petition of Rights, The Virginian Declaration of Rights, American Bill of Rights and so on and so forth. However, when we critically look at these various documents, we are a bit disappointed. We soon realise that they are not after all what humanity expected them to be. They disappoint not so much in what they say, but in what they leave out to say. They give no redeeming hope to man, or offer any source of perennial light for humanity. They, if not in their letter, at least in their spirit and the way in which they were composed, and have been understood, interpreted and applied, epitomise the Orwellian formula:

‘All are equal but some are more equal than others.’

(Adapted from Animal Form – Penguin Classic, by G. Orwell).