Ayaan Hirsi Ali describes Islam as a religion of violence

By Leah Garchik (original source SF Chronicle)

Forty-seven strong, the biggest-ever gathering of the Monday Group — which assembles to break bread together while listening to a range of authors and civic leaders — welcomed Ayaan Hirsi Alilast week at Park Tavern.

Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia, subjected to female genital mutilation as a child, and became an advocate and activist, first for women’s rights, then against Islam’s violent elements. She escaped her family after she was married off against her will, and fled to Holland, where, in 2003, she was elected to the Dutch parliament. After a challenge to her Dutch citizenship, she resigned that post, left Europe and resettled in the United States. Nowadays, she lives with her husband and child and lectures at universities and other places. In “Heretic,” her latest book, she expounds her strongly held belief — with which she began her remarks at lunch — that “Islam is not a religion of peace.”

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