VOLUME XV, NUMBER 3, SUMMER 2015

A Journal of Political Thought and Statesmanship

Christopher DeMuth: Charles Murray: William Voegeli: Our Corrupt Our Kids e Church of What’s Government Happening Now James Grant:

Brian T. Kennedy: Causes of the Choosing Defeat omas D. Klingenstein Crash & Peter W. Wood: Timothy Sandefur: Free Speech Joseph Epstein: Star Trek Adrift on Campus Young T.S. Eliot

A Publication of the Claremont Institute PRICE: $6.95 IN CANADA: $8.95 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Book Review by Peter Skerry Imagine No Religion Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. HarperCollins, 288 pages, $27.99

n her international bestseller infi- Her claims are simultaneously too sweep- undeniably appealing. She rejects the fatuous del (2007), Ayaan Hirsi Ali renounced the ing and too slippery. She boldly asserts that slogan that “Islam is a religion of peace”— IIslamic faith in which she was raised, and “violence is inherent in Islam,” but also that though she neglects to mention that this for- declared herself an atheist. In her new book, she has “no objection whatever to millions of mulation was originally George W. Bush’s, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, other people from the Muslim world coming preferring instead to associate it exclusively she identifies as a Muslim—albeit a dissent- to America to seek a better life for themselves with President Obama. She similarly rejects ing one—who seeks a reformation of her an- and their families.” Her “concern is with the such ill-conceived formulations as “counter- cestors’ faith. attitudes many of these new Muslim Ameri- ing violent extremism” (which is more fairly A former member of the Dutch parliament, cans will bring with them.” Yet because im- and directly identified with Obama), arguing the Somali-born Hirsi Ali is an exotically migration officials have limited means, and persuasively that political elites on both sides beautiful woman and mesmerizing speaker. (I authority, to assess the attitudes or religious of the Atlantic have been alienating broad sec- once heard an eminent political scientist gush views of new arrivals, she would appear to be tors of their societies by refusing to associate in her presence that she should run for high compelled, logically, to want limited migra- contemporary terrorist threats directly with public office in the United States.) Fleeing tion from Muslim-majority societies—the Islam. She quotes a Moroccan television evan- the Netherlands after her film collaborator, very opposite of what she claims. gelist and former Muslim who urges President Theo van Gogh, was murdered for denounc- Obama to abandon his “political correctness” ing Islam and after Dutch authorities revoked he is also quite suspicious of, even and face up to the challenge: “ISIL, Al Qaeda, her citizenship on a technicality, in 2006 she hostile to, religious faith, at least as Boko Haram, Al-Shabab in Somalia, the Tali- found refuge at the American Enterprise In- Smost Americans—and certainly most ban, and their sister brand names, are all made stitute, where then-president Christopher Muslims—think of it. Citing Voltaire more in Islam.” As she concludes, “the claims that DeMuth welcomed her as a resident fellow. than Martin Luther, she clearly envisions an the ‘extremists’ have nothing to do with the She is currently a fellow at Harvard’s Ken- Enlightenment-inspired, reconstructed Islam ‘religion of peace’ simply cease to be credible.” nedy School of Government. to be regulated and disciplined by the state. But again, she pushes her argument too Despite her compelling personal story and Yet even if her aggressive secularism does far. Elaborating on the Moroccan’s criticism of distinguished sponsors, Hirsi Ali’s call for a not sit well with America’s dynamic religious Obama, she denounces overly tolerant West- reformation of Islam is not very promising. pluralism, aspects of Hirsi Ali’s argument are ern liberals and “cultural relativists” who in the

Claremont Review of Books w Summer 2015 Page 50 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm face of Islamist terrorism urge the rest of us to ly as if they have decades still to live.” Her re- Church. “The central question for Western “be nonjudgmental about the religious practic- formed Islam would apparently de-emphasize civilization,” she concludes, “remains what it es of others.” Yet whom does she have in mind not simply the notion of an afterlife but the was in Locke’s day: What exactly can we not here? After all, the same individuals, private inevitability of death. tolerate.” Yet, in the United States, religious organizations, and governmental agencies that Modern clerics, she insists, must also dis- liberty is not something merely to be tolerat- take care not to offend Muslims with politi- abuse their fellow Muslims of the centuries- ed but has been recognized as an inalienable cally incorrect terms also push aggressively for old teaching that the Koran is the last, immu- natural right. women’s and gay rights around the globe. Pro- table word of God. “Human life, human free- moted as “human rights,” these hardly come dom, human dignity—they all matter more n fact, hirsi ali fails to draw any across as cultural relativism to Muslims, never than any sacred text,” she writes. The Muslim distinctions among the United States, mind to many other Americans. Reformation she champions must acknowl- IWestern Europe, and Muslim-majority Commenting on the stoning of women and edge “that the right to think, to speak, and to societies. As far as she is concerned, these are homosexuals in various Muslim societies, she write in freedom and without fear is ultimate- merely different fronts in the same battle of writes: ly a more sacred thing than any religion.” ideas. She pays no attention to the distinc- tive histories, social and cultural dynamics, or The ancient Aztecs and other peoples hich raises the question: how political systems and institutions of the very practiced human sacrifice…but we don’t does she propose to bring about the different societies about which she is writing. condone it…. So why do we condone Wsecularized Islam she advocates? It is striking, for example, that in a book the “sacrifice” of women or homosexuals She immediately rules out any notion of mili- that begins with her account of being invited or lapsed Muslims for “crimes” such as tary force, reminding us that we are facing a and then disinvited to receive an honorary apostasy, adultery, blasphemy, marrying “culture war” that must be fought “with better degree from Brandeis University in 2014, she outside of their faith, or simply wishing ideas, with positive ideas.” She cites the Cold never mentions the First Amendment. To be to marry the partner of their choice? War and the Congress for Cultural Freedom, sure, she challenges those who would seek to which supported intellectuals and writers de- “[w]ithdraw my right to speak freely.” Yet in a Again, who exactly is condoning such prac- fending Western democratic principles and volume full of impressive citations to obscure tices? And what would she have the United mores against the Communist Left. And be- but relevant scholarly works on Islam, she is States do to stop them? cause she regards Islam and Muslims here in surprisingly incurious about how religious lib- the United States, as well as overseas, as part erty in America has resulted in a bustling, of- ike many other critics of islam, of the same ideological threat, she envisions a ten conflictual pluralist ferment. Instead, her Hirsi Ali is, ironically, herself a fun- war of ideas on two fronts. account consists almost exclusively of examples Ldamentalist. Certainly, for her, Islam But now things get complicated. Hirsi Ali of reactionary Muslims from around the world is reducible to a core of teachings and texts, glides past lingering controversies over such being indulged by politically correct elites. and the Koran becomes the single most im- Cold War programs, which were generally For example, highlighting the alarming portant, often the only, key to understanding funded covertly by the government, typically appeal of violent jihad to young Muslims in Muslims. Thus, she gently but firmly rejects through the CIA. More to the point, while Western Europe, she asks, “Why should the the view of her Harvard colleague, terrorism Communism may have been a surrogate reli- United States be any different?” Her response expert Jessica Stern, that history, politics, cul- gion for some, Islam—whatever variant, and is almost shocking. She cites some genuinely ture, economics, and national identity all play whether or not she approves—is the real thing. alarming and neglected Pew survey data a role in how faith is received and lived. Hirsi Government-funded ideological combat with from 2007, which found that 7% of Ameri- Ali doesn’t puzzle over why “Palestinians have Muslims overseas is one thing (though even can Muslims between the ages of 18 and 29 been the most frequent proponents and prac- then First Amendment issues get raised); any had a “favorable” view of al-Qaeda. (She fails titioners of suicide bombing.” For her, this such engagement with Islam here at home to point out that in 2011, Pew replicated this is explained not by their particular history, would face much greater constitutional hur- survey but neglected to ask these questions!) their relations with Israel and Israelis, their dles—a point completely lost on her. Yet she has nothing to say about how the First prolonged consignment to refugee camps, or Though she never actually mentions Otto Amendment has meant that Muslims here their corrupt leadership, but simply by what von Bismarck’s Kulturkampf against Prussian have benefitted from the opportunity—in- all Muslims are taught—that “[y]ou can be Catholics during the 1870s, she clearly envi- deed, the necessity—of organizing, managing, redeemed, you can salvage whatever you have sions relying on the full force of the state to and supporting their own religious institu- lost, not by devoting yourself to improving forge her reformed Islam. Commenting on an tions, while their co-religionists in Western your life in the here and now, but by follow- Urdu-language radio program in the United Europe have not. Just as importantly, our tra- ing religious dictates and achieving entry into Kingdom on which marriage between Mus- dition of competitive but generally tolerant paradise.” lims and Christians was condemned outright, religious pluralism, fostered by First Amend- Instead, she wants imams “to make explicit she remarks ominously: “For these comments, ment freedoms of speech and press, helps ex- that what we do in this life is more important the radio station was fined £4000 (around plain why we have had no polarizing episodes than anything that could conceivably happen $6000), but there was no move to suspend such as the fatwa that forced Salman Rushdie to us after we die.” Contrasting life in Africa its broadcasting license.” Lest there be any into hiding in the United Kingdom, or the vi- with what she experienced in the Netherlands, doubt as to what she has in mind here, she olence over cartoon depictions of the prophet she marvels that in Holland “no one talked invokes John Locke’s argument for religious Mohammed in Denmark and France. about death, let alone life after death.” And she toleration, only to emphasize how he restrict- She fails to consider that Muslims here enthusiastically relates the way she’s “heard ed freedom of religion to various Protestant might be different because she fails to under- Westerners in their eighties talking confident- denominations and excluded the Catholic stand that America is different. Toward the

Claremont Review of Books w Summer 2015 Page 51 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm end of her book, she mentions the work of the dangers and difficult trade-offs confronting puzzlement of young Muslim Americans eager Quilliam Foundation, a respected British think our leaders in the post-9/11 era. to support Democrats but troubled by their tank established by reform-oriented Muslims. Heretic also overlooks how Muslim Ameri- support of gay rights: “No one is forcing you to Ghaffar Hussein, Quilliam’s managing direc- cans are increasingly mindful of themselves as be a homosexual…. If you think…Democrats tor, argues that “the jihad narrative” has be- a minority that shares interests with other mi- are the best candidates, then vote for them.” come “the default anti-establishment politics norities, non-religious as well as religious. Af- of today. It is a means of expressing solidarity ter enthusiastically supporting George Bush’s irsi ali’s rigid, fundamental- and asserting a bold new identity while being a presidential candidacy in 2000, Muslim ist focus on Islam’s doctrines can- vehicle for seeking the restoration of pride and Americans reacted negatively to the invasion Hnot account for such changes evi- self-dignity.” The romance of alienation from, of Afghanistan and especially of Iraq, and to dent among Muslims here, or anywhere. Of and of violent resistance to, Western society at the vitriol heaped on them by many conserva- course, political accommodation and expedi- the core of this “jihad narrative” is undoubt- tives. As a result, over the past decade Muslim ency can shift Muslims in intolerant as well edly a major concern in the U.K. Though also Americans have decisively thrown in their lot as tolerant directions. But in America, at least, evident in the United States, it hardly consti- politically with Democrats. the overall dynamic in our history has been tutes the “default anti-establishment narrative” This hardly means that Muslims in Ameri- fierce competition among religious and eth- here that Hirsi Ali suggests. To make that ca have come to see themselves as liberals. Yet nic groups accompanied by specific accom- case, she raises the specter of honor killings in their self-image as a minority group allied with modations. Initially, these typically did not the U.S. as if they were frequent occurrences other minorities in a coalition with Democrats emerge out of tolerance or even respect, but that somehow get ignored by law enforcement has definitely begun to affect not only how were, as Cornell historian R. Laurence Moore authorities. To illustrate the virulent presence they define their interests but also, apparently, notes, “the product of uneasy arrangements of the “cult of death” among Muslims here, she their values. This is most striking with regard made between groups that did not much like cites an obscure Islamist author whose over- to toleration of homosexuality, which Mus- one another.” Genuine respect and tolerance heated text was published a quarter-century lims everywhere have difficulty accepting and came much later, undoubtedly after religious ago—and for which a Google search produces about which Hirsi Ali is particularly insistent. attachments weakened. links only to Hirsi Ali and other contempo- Yet on this most intractable topic, Muslim None of this is to suggest that Americans rary critics of Islam. Americans have shifted dramatically. Accord- do not face serious challenges ahead. We will ing to highly reliable Pew surveys, 27% of continue to struggle to balance First (and ontrary to what she suggests, Muslim Americans in 2007 agreed that “ho- Fourth) Amendment rights with counter-ter- here in the U.S. “default anti-establish- mosexuality should be accepted by society.” In rorism and public safety in the face of violent, Cment politics” is all about Muslims (es- 2011, 39% did. Though Americans are on the extremist Islam. Not the least of these chal- pecially second- and third-generation, native- whole more tolerant of homosexuality, they lenges is, as Hirsi Ali emphasizes, a small but born Muslims) challenging counter-terrorism did not register as much change over this pe- nontrivial level of sympathy and even support policies as unwarranted infringements on their riod (51% to 58%) as Muslims did. And while for Islamist terrorism among Muslims here in rights as American citizens. Indeed, they do so among Muslims those with the least religious the United States. with a zeal and energy quite unlike the ambiva- commitment were the most accepting of ho- But despite its well-placed criticisms of lence and alienation their immigrant parents mosexuality (57% in 2011), Muslim Ameri- P.C. formulations about Islam and Muslims, have often displayed. Hirsi Ali may be oblivi- cans of all levels of religious commitment Heretic is profoundly misguided and unhelp- ous to the Bill of Rights, but Muslim American shifted dramatically toward toleration. ful. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a cosmopolitan secu- youth clearly are not. Various Muslim American leaders and even larist who lacks any insight into the nature of To be sure, such rights-obsessed politics some imams—including those with Islamist religious faith and any understanding of the poses new challenges. Caught up in self- origins or ties to the Muslim Brotherhood— American experience with religious pluralism. centered identity issues, Muslim American have urged believers to be more tolerant of gays. Her views are perhaps better suited to where youth too readily and persistently refuse to But rather than formal changes in doctrine, she came from—the Netherlands! acknowledge the legitimate concerns about these represent tactical shifts in orientation. Islam that millions of Americans continue to As I heard one elderly imam from India, edu- Peter Skerry is professor of political science at have. Nor do these youth face up to the real cated in Saudi Arabia, respond to the earnest Boston College.

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