For those of you who don't know about this courageous and fascinating young woman, you should read her memoir, Infidel, a New York Times bestseller published in 2008. In the memoir, Ali recounts her life as a young Somali girl born in a war-torn land, and eventually her flight to Holland. In the process, she gives penetrating insights into Somali culture, Islam, and the treatment of women. Ali also shares how she lost her faith in God (or at least the god that she knew in Islam), hence the title of the book. 
While Infidel leaves the reader with a bit of a sour taste in one's mouth because of Ali's loss of faith in God, her new book, Nomad, published in 2010, reveals some striking new thoughts on Christianity and Islam. She says:
I have a theory that most Muslims are in search of a redemptive God. They believe that there is a higher power and that this higher power is the provider of morality, giving them a compass to help them distinguish between good and bad. Many Muslims are seeking a God or a concept of God that in my view meets the description of the Christian God. Instead they find Allah. They find Allah mainly because many are born in Muslim families where Allah has been the reigning deity for generations… (p. 239, emphasis added).
The Christian leaders now wasting their time and resources on a futile exercise of interfaith dialogue with the self-appointed leaders of Islam should redirect their efforts to converting as many Muslims as possible to Christianity, introducing them to a God who rejects Holy War and who has sent his son to die for all sinners out of a love for mankind… The Vatican and all the established Protestant churches of northern Europe believed naively that interfaith dialogue would magically bring Islam into the fold of Western civilization. It has not happened, and it will not happen…. To help ground these people in Western society, the West needs the Christian churches to get active again in propagating their faith. It needs Christian schools, Christian volunteers, the Christian message… The churches should do all in their power to win this battle for the souls of humans in search of a compassionate God, who now find that a fierce Allah is closer to hand. (pp. 247, 249, 250, 251, emphasis added).
Even as we consider and marvel at the keen insights of this former Muslim who now claims no faith, let us pray that this dear sister will move from Infidel, to Nomad, to Daughter of the King!
HT: KL, DL, Seedbed
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteFascinating! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLet me try to read between the lines here. Ali hates Islam and the best thing she can think of to shame Islam is to call the Christian church (of which she isn't a part of) to convert Muslims?
ReplyDeleteShe's trying to ruse us to advance her secular, western adgenda! How ironic! :)