Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali got married to Niall Ferguson, a British historian. They had their first child, Thomas, in 2011.

She was named as one of Time magazine's most influential people in 2005.

Ali has a foundation named after her in Philadelphia, the ‘Ayaan Hirsi Ali foundation’.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born on November 13th, 1969 in Somalia. She is the daughter of Hirsi Magan Isse, a well-known politician in Somalia's opposition party.

Ali moved around often during childhood. She left Somalia in 1977 with her family. They had short stays in Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia before settling in Kenya.

In 1992 she sought and received political asylum in the Netherlands and began her pursuit of higher education.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's road to a career in politics began in 2000 when she received a master's degree in Political Science from the State University of Leiden.

Her first job in politics came in 2000 with the Netherlands' Labor party. She worked as a researcher on immigration issues.

Ali changed political parties in 2002. She began work with the Liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. She was elected to the lower house of the Dutch Parliament in 2003.

While in Parliament she became known for her outspoken stance on the treatment of women in Islam. She also attacked Dutch immigration policy towards Muslims.

In 2004 Ali took her activism mainstream by partnering with Theo Van Gogh to make the documentary Submission. This documentary highlighted the ways Islam promoted abuse of women.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali made her first big splash in 2004 with the documentary ‘Submission’. This documentary, directed by Theo Van Gogh, opened western eyes to how Islam justifies abuse towards women.

The documentary contained controversial scenes showing passages of the Quran on the uncovered body of a woman. These passages all contained language that justifies mistreatment of women.

’Submission’ made Ali and Van Gogh plenty of enemies within the Islamic world. On November 2, 2004, Van Gogh was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam by a Muslim assassin. The assassin pinned a death threat for Ali to Van Gogh's body.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's first book, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman's Cry for Reason, was published in Dutch in 2004 and in English in 2006. It highlights Ali's firsthand experience of the familial abuse endured by Islamic women.

The Caged Virgin is significant because it is one of the first anti-Islam works written by an Islamic woman. It solidified Ali's place among the forefront of female Islamic activists.