Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova (egg cells).

Defining characteristics

The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male. A female individual cannot reproduce sexually without access to the gametes of a male (an exception is parthenogenesis). Some organisms can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

There is no single genetic mechanism behind sex differences in different species and the existence of two sexes seems to have evolved multiple times independently in different evolutionary lineages. The repeated pattern is sexual reproduction in isogamous species with two or more mating types with gametes of identical form and behavior (but different at the molecular level) to anisogamous species with gametes of male and female types to oogamous species in which the female gamete is very much larger than the male and has no ability to move. There is an argument that this pattern was driven by the physical constraints on the mechanisms by which two gametes get together as required for sexual reproduction.

Other than the defining difference in the type of gamete produced, differences between males and females in one lineage cannot always be predicted by differences in another. The concept is not limited to animals; egg cells are produced by chytrids, diatoms, water moulds and land plants, among others. In land plants, ''female'' and ''male'' designate not only the egg- and sperm-producing organisms and structures, but also the structures of the sporophytes that give rise to male and female plants.

Etymology and usage

The word female comes from the Latin ''femella'', the diminutive form of ''femina'', meaning "woman," which is not actually related to the word "male." In the late 14th century, the English spelling was altered so that the word paralleled the spelling of "male."

Mammalian female

The distinguishing characteristic of the class ''Mammalia'' is the presence of mammary glands. The mammary glands are modified sweat glands that produce milk, which is used to feed the young during the period of time shortly after birth. Only mammals have the capacity to produce milk. The presence of mammary glands is most obvious on humans, due to the tendency of the female human body to store large amounts of fatty tissue near the nipples, resulting in prominent breasts, although today some human females also surgically augment their breast size. However, mammary glands are present in all mammals, although they are vestigial in the male of the species.

The mammalian female is characterized by having two copies of the X chromosome as opposed to the male which carries only one X and one smaller Y chromosome. To compensate for the difference in size, one of the female's X chromosomes is randomly inactivated in each cell. In birds, by contrast, it is the female who is heterozygous and carries a Z and a W chromosome whilst the male carries two Z chromosomes.

Mammalian females are characterized in that they all bear live young (with the rare exception of monotremes, which lay eggs). This is not totally unique, as some animals, such as guppies have analogous reproductive structures. In addition, some other non-mammalian animals, such as sharks, whose eggs hatch inside their bodies also have the appearance of bearing live young.

Symbol

A common symbol used to represent the female sex is ♀ (Unicode: U+2640 Alt codes: Alt+12), a circle with a small cross underneath. According to Schott, the most established view is that the male and female symbols "are derived from contractions in Greek script of the Greek names of these planets, namely Thouros (Mars) and Phosphoros (Venus). These derivations have been traced by Renkama who illustrated how Greek letters can be transformed into the graphic male and female symbols still recognised today." Thouros was abbreviated by θρ, and Phosphoros by Φκ, which were contracted into the modern symbols.

Sex determination

The sex of a particular organism may be determined by a number of factors. These may be genetic or environmental, or may naturally change during the course of an organism's life. Although most species with male and female sexes have individuals that are either male or female, hermaphroditic animals have both male and female reproductive organs.

Genetic determination

Most mammals, including humans, are genetically determined as such by the XY sex-determination system where males have an XY (as opposed to XX) sex chromosome. During reproduction, a male can give either an X sperm or a Y sperm, while a female can only give an X egg. A Y sperm and an X egg produce a boy, while an X sperm and an X egg produce a girl. The ZW sex-determination system, where males have a ZZ (as opposed to ZW) sex chromosome may be found in birds and some insects and other organisms. Members of Hymenoptera, such as ants and bees, are determined by haplodiploidy, where most males are haploid and females and some sterile males are diploid.

Environmental determination

Some species develop into one sex or the other depending on local environmental conditions, e.g. many crocodilians' sex is influenced by the temperature of their eggs. Other species (such as the goby) are capable of transforming, as adults, from one sex to the other in response to local reproductive conditions (such as a shortage of males). In humans and most mammals, sex is determined chromosomally—a Y sperm will produce a male offspring and an X sperm a female.

See also

Dakini

Femininity

Feminine side

Gestation

Girl

Lactation

Male

Transwoman

Transman

Woman

Womyn

Sources

Ayers, Donald M. English Words from Latin and Greek Elements. Second Edition. 1986. University of Arizona Press. United States.

References

Category:Gender Category:Sex Category:Women

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name	Muhammad Ali
nationality	American
nickname	The GreatestThe ChampThe Louisville Lip
height
reach
weight	Heavyweight
birth date	January 17, 1942
birth place	Louisville, Kentucky, US
style	Orthodox
total	61
wins	56
ko	37
losses	5
draws	0
no contests	0
Medaltemplates	}}

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an American former boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first and only boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and more recently to Sufism. In 1967, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was successful.

Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these are three with rival Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman, whom he beat by knockout to win the world heavyweight title for the second time. He suffered only five losses (four decisions and one TKO by retirement from the bout) with no draws in his career, while amassing 56 wins (37 knockouts and 19 decisions). Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the rope-a-dope. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents on television and in person some time before the match, often with rhymes. These personality quips and idioms, along with an unorthodox fighting technique, made him a cultural icon. In later life, Ali developed Parkinson's syndrome. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by ''Sports Illustrated'' and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

Biography

Amateur career and Olympic gold

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. The younger of two boys, he was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., who was named for the 19th century abolitionist and politician of the same name. His father painted billboards and signs, and his mother, Odessa Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his elder brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with some Irish and English ancestry.

Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over the theft of his bicycle. However, without Martin's knowledge, Clay began training with Fred Stoner, an African-American trainer working at the local community center. In this way, Clay could make $4 a week on ''Tomorrow's Champions,'' a local, weekly TV show that Martin hosted, while benefiting from the coaching of the more experienced Stoner. For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by legendary boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.

Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

Ali states (in his 1975 autobiography) that he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang. Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.

Early professional career

After his Olympic triumph, Clay returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Standing tall, at 6-ft, 3-in (1.91 m), Clay had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches, and carried his hands low.

From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19–0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs. Clay admitted he adopted the latter practice from "Gorgeous" George Wagner, a popular professional wrestling champion in the Los Angeles area who drew thousands of fans. Often referred to as "the man you loved to hate," George could incite the crowd with a few heated remarks, and Ali followed suit.

Among Clay's victims were Sonny Banks (who knocked him down during the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and the aged Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had fought over 200 previous fights, and who had been Clay's trainer prior to Angelo Dundee). Clay had considered continuing using Moore as a trainer following the bout, but Moore had insisted that the cocky "Louisville Lip" perform training camp chores such as sweeping and dishwashing. He considered having his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson, as a manager, but instead hired Dundee.

Clay first met Dundee when the latter was in Louisville with light heavyweight champ Willie Pastrano. The teenaged Golden Gloves winner traveled downtown to the fighter's hotel, called Dundee from the house phone, and was asked up to their room. He took advantage of the opportunity to query Dundee (who had worked with champions Sugar Ramos and Carmen Basilio) about what his fighters ate, how long they slept, how much roadwork (jogging) they did, and how long they sparred.

Following his bout with Moore, Clay won a disputed 10-round decision over Doug Jones in a matchup that was named "Fight of the Year" for 1963. Clay's next fight was against Henry Cooper, who knocked Clay down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. The fight was stopped in the fifth due to deep cuts over Cooper's eyes.

Despite these close calls, Clay became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. However, although he had an impressive record, he was not widely expected to defeat the champ. The fight was scheduled for February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida, but was nearly canceled when the promoter, Bill Faversham, heard that Clay had been seen around Miami and in other cities with the controversial Malcolm X, a member of The Nation of Islam. Because of this, news of this association was perceived as a potential gate-killer to a bout which, given Liston's overwhelming status as the favorite to win (7–1 odds), had Clay's colorful persona and nonstop braggadocio as its sole appeal.

Faversham confronted Clay about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Clay protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book ''The Greatest: My Own Story'' by Ali (with Richard Durham).

During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Clay, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."

First title fight and aftermath

At the pre-fight weigh-in, Clay's pulse rate was around 120, more than double his norm of 54. Liston, among others, misread this as nervousness. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height advantage to beat Liston to the punch with his own lightning-quick jab.

By the third round, Clay was ahead on points and had opened a cut under Liston's eye. Liston regained some ground in the fourth, as Clay was blinded by a substance in his eyes. It is unconfirmed whether this was something used to close Liston's cuts, or deliberately applied to Liston's gloves; however, Bert Sugar has claimed that "in two of his previous fights, Liston's opponents had complained about their eyes 'burning'", suggesting the possibility that the Liston corner deliberately attempted to cheat.

Liston began the fourth round looking to put away the challenger. As Clay struggled to recover his vision, he sought to escape Liston's offensive. He was able to keep out of range until his sweat and tears rinsed the substance from his eyes, responding with a flurry of combinations near the end of the fifth round. By the sixth, he was looking for a finish and dominated Liston. Then, Liston shocked the boxing world when he failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, stating he had a shoulder injury. At the end of the fight, Clay boasted to the press that doubted him before the match, proclaiming, "I shook up the world!"

When Clay beat Liston, he was the youngest boxer (age 22) ever to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion, a mark that stood until Mike Tyson won the title from Trevor Berbick on 22 November 1986. At the time, Floyd Patterson (dethroned by Liston) had been the youngest heavyweight champ ever (age 21), but he won the title during an elimination tournament following Rocky Marciano's retirement by defeating Archie Moore, the light-heavyweight champion at the time.

In the rematch with Liston, which was held in May 1965 in Lewiston, Maine, Ali (who had by then publicly converted to Islam and changed his name) won by knockout in the first round as a result of what came to be called the "phantom punch." Many believe that Liston, possibly as a result of threats from Nation of Islam extremists, or in an attempt to "throw" the fight to pay off debts, waited to be counted out (see Muhammad Ali versus Sonny Liston). Others, however, discount both scenarios and insist that it was a quick, chopping Ali punch to the side of the head that legitimately felled Liston.

Early title defenses

On November 22, 1965, Ali fought Floyd Patterson in his second title defense. Patterson lost by technical knockout at the end of the 12th round. As would later occur with Ernie Terrell, many sportswriters accused Ali of "carrying" Patterson so that he could physically punish him without knocking him out. Ali countered that Patterson, who said his punching prowess was limited when he strained his sacroiliac, was not as easy to down as may have appeared.

Ali was scheduled to fight WBA champion Ernie Terrell (the WBA stripped Ali of his title after his agreement to fight a rematch with Liston) on March 29, 1966, but Terrell backed out. Ali won a 15-round decision against substitute opponent George Chuvalo. He then went to England and defeated Henry Cooper by stoppage on cuts May 21, and knocked out Brian London in the third round in August. Ali's next defense was against German southpaw Karl Mildenberger, the first German to fight for the title since Max Schmeling. In one of the tougher fights of his life, Ali stopped his opponent in round 12.

Ali returned to the United States in November 1966 to fight Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams in the Houston Astrodome. According to the Sports Illustrated account, the bout drew an indoor world record 35,460 fight fans. A year and a half before the fight, Williams had been shot in the stomach at point-blank range by a Texas policeman. As a result, Williams went into the fight missing one kidney and of his small intestine, and with a shriveled left leg from nerve damage from the bullet. Ali beat Williams in three rounds.

On February 6, 1967, Ali returned to a Houston boxing ring to fight Terrell in what is regarded as one of the uglier fights in boxing. Terrell had angered Ali by calling him Clay, and the champion vowed to punish him for this insult. During the fight, Ali kept shouting at his opponent, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... What's my name?" Terrell suffered 15 rounds of brutal punishment, losing 13 rounds on two judges' scorecards, but Ali did not knock him out. Analysts, including several who spoke to ESPN on the sports channel's "Ali Rap" special, speculated that the fight continued only because Ali wanted to thoroughly punish and humiliate Terrell. After the fight, Tex Maule wrote, "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty." When asked about this during a replay of the fight on ABC's popular "Wide World of Sports" by host Howard Cosell, Ali said he was not unduly cruel to Terrell- that boxers are paid to punch all their opponents into submission or defeat. He pointed out that if he had not hit and hurt Terrell, Terrell would have hit and hurt him, which is standard practice. Cosell's repeated reference to the topic surprised Ali. Following his final defense against Zora Folley in March 1967 Ali would be stripped of his title the following month for refusing to be drafted into the Army and had his professional boxing license suspended.

Conversion to the Nation of Islam

After winning the championship from Liston in 1964, Clay revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam (often called the Black Muslims at the time) and the Nation gave Clay the name Cassius X, discarding his surname as a symbol of his ancestors' enslavement, as had been done by other Nation members. On Friday, March 6, 1964, Malcolm X took Clay on a guided tour of the UN building (for a second time). Malcolm X announced that Clay would be granted his "X." That same night, Elijah Muhammad recorded a statement over the phone to be played over the radio that Clay would be renamed Muhammad (one who is worthy of praise) Ali (fourth rightly guided caliph). Only a few journalists (most notably Howard Cosell) accepted it at that time. Venerable boxing announcer Don Dunphy addressed the champion by his adopted name, as did British reporters. The adoption of this name symbolized his new identity as a member of the Nation of Islam.

Many sportswriters of the early 1960s reported that it was Ali's brother, Rudy Clay, who converted to Islam first (estimating the date as 1961). Others wrote that Clay had been seen at Muslim rallies a few years before he fought Liston. Ali's own version is that he would sneak into Nation of Islam meetings through the back door roughly three years before he fought Sonny Liston.

Aligning himself with the Nation of Islam made him a lightning rod for controversy, turning the outspoken but popular champion into one of that era's most recognizable and controversial figures. Appearing at rallies with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and declaring his allegiance to him at a time when mainstream America viewed them with suspicion—if not outright hostility—made Ali a target of outrage, as well as suspicion. Ali seemed at times to provoke such reactions, with viewpoints that wavered from support for civil rights to outright support of separatism. For example, Ali once stated, in relation to integration: "We who follow the teachings of Elijah Muhammad don't want to be forced to integrate. Integration is wrong. We don't want to live with the white man; that's all." And in relation to inter-racial marriage: "No intelligent black man or black woman in his or her right black mind wants white boys and white girls coming to their homes to marry their black sons and daughters." Indeed, Ali's religious beliefs at the time included the notion that the white man was "the devil" and that white people were not "righteous." Ali claimed that white people hated black people.

Ali converted from the Nation of Islam sect to mainstream Sunni Islam in 1975. In a 2004 autobiography, written with daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali, Muhammad Ali attributes his conversion to the shift toward Sunni Islam made by Warith Deen Muhammad after he gained control of the Nation of Islam upon the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975. Later in 2005 he embraced spiritual practices of Sufism.

Vietnam War

In 1964, Ali failed the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were sub-par. However, in early 1966, the tests were revised and Ali was reclassified as 1A. This classification meant he was now eligible for the draft and induction into the U.S. Army during a time when the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. When notified of this status, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the United States Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector. Ali stated that "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers." Ali famously said in 1966: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me nigger." Rare for a heavyweight boxing champion in those days, Ali spoke at Howard University, where he gave his popular "Black Is Best" speech to 4,000 cheering students and community intellectuals after he was invited to speak at Howard by a Howard sociology professor, Nathan Hare, on behalf of the Black Power Committee, a student protest group.

Appearing shortly thereafter for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces on April 28, 1967 in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name. An officer warned him he was committing a felony punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Once more, Ali refused to budge when his name was called. As a result, he was arrested and on the same day the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title. Other boxing commissions followed suit.

At the trial on June 20, 1967, after only 21 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty. After a Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. During this time, the public began turning against the war and support for Ali began to grow. Ali supported himself by speaking at colleges and universities across the country, where opposition to the war was especially strong. On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction for refusing induction by unanimous decision in ''Clay v. United States''. The decision was not based on, nor did it address, the merits of Clay's/Ali's claims ''per se''; rather, the Government's failure to specify ''which'' claims were rejected and which were sustained, constituted the grounds upon which the Court reversed the conviction.

Quotes about Vietnam war

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The Fight of the Century

In 1970, while his case was still on appeal, Ali was allowed to fight again. On August 12, 1970, with the help of Leroy R. Johnson, a Georgia State Senator, he was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission. In Atlanta on October 26, 1970, he stopped Jerry Quarry on a cut after three rounds. Shortly after the Quarry fight, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly denied a boxing license. Once again able to fight in New York, he fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December 1970. After a tough 14 rounds, Ali stopped Bonavena in the 15th, paving the way for a title fight against Joe Frazier, who was himself undefeated.

Ali and Frazier met in the ring on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. The fight, known as "The Fight of the Century," was one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of all time and remains one of the most famous. It featured two skilled, undefeated fighters, both of whom had legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown. Frank Sinatra—unable to acquire a ringside seat—took photos of the match for ''Life'' magazine. Legendary boxing announcer Don Dunphy and actor and boxing aficionado Burt Lancaster called the action for the broadcast, which reached millions of people. The fight lived up to the hype, and Frazier punctuated his victory by flooring Ali with a hard, leaping left hook in the 15th and final round. Frazier retained the title on a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.

In 1972 Muhammad Ali held the "Muhammad Ali Boxing Show," a series of exhibition matches between himself and other wrestlers. In San Antonio, Texas, during the exhibition series, on October 24, 1972, Ali lost against boxer Elmo Henderson.

In 1973, Ali fought Ken Norton, who had broken Ali's jaw and won by split decision over 12 rounds in their first bout in 1972. Ali won the rematch, by split decision, on September 10, 1973, which set up Ali-Frazier II, a nontitle rematch with Joe Frazier, who had already lost his title to George Foreman. The bout was held on January 28, 1974, with Ali winning a unanimous 12-round decision.

The Rumble in the Jungle

In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Ali regained his title on October 30, 1974 by defeating champion George Foreman in their bout in Kinshasa, Zaire. Hyped as "The Rumble in the Jungle", the fight was promoted by Don King.

Almost no one, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton had given Ali four tough battles in the ring and won two of them, while Foreman had knocked out both of them in the second round. As a matter of fact, so total was the domination that, in their bout, Foreman had knocked down Frazier an incredible six times in only four minutes and 25 seconds.

During the bout, Ali employed an unexpected strategy. Leading up to the fight, he had declared he was going to "dance" and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and outbox him. However, in the first round, Ali headed straight for the champion and began scoring with a right hand lead, clearly surprising Foreman. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique but failed to knock him out. He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's weakness: staying power. Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout, mostly within three rounds. Eight of his previous bouts did not go past the second round. Ali saw an opportunity to outlast Foreman, and capitalized on it.

In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes—inviting Foreman to hit him, while counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows to exhaust him mentally and physically. While Foreman threw wide shots to Ali's body, Ali countered with stinging straight punches to Foreman's head. Foreman threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds, but with decreasing technique and potency. Ali's tactic of leaning on the ropes, covering up, and absorbing ineffective body shots was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope".

By the end of the seventh round, Foreman was exhausted. In the eighth round, Ali dropped Foreman with a combination at center ring and Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, Ali had regained the title.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" was the subject of a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film, ''When We Were Kings''. The fight and the events leading up to it are extensively depicted in both John Herzfeld's 1997 docudrama ''Don King: Only in America'' and Michael Mann's 2001 docudrama, ''Ali''.

The Thrilla in Manila

In March 1975, Ali faced Chuck Wepner in a bout that inspired the original ''Rocky''. While it was largely thought that Ali would dominate, Wepner surprised everyone by not only knocking Ali down in the ninth round, but nearly going the distance. Ali eventually stopped Wepner in the fading minutes of the 15th round. Following a title defense with Ron Lyle, in July Ali faced Joe Bugner, winning a 15 round decision.

On October 1, 1975, Ali fought Joe Frazier for the third time. Taking place in the Philippines, the bout was promoted as the Thrilla in Manila by Don King, who had ascended to prominence following the Ali-Foreman fight. The anticipation was enormous for this final clash between two great heavyweights. Ali believed Frazier was "over the hill" by that point. Ali's frequent insults, slurs and demeaning poems increased the anticipation and excitement for the fight, but enraged a determined Frazier. Regarding the fight, Ali famously remarked, "It will be a killa... and a chilla... and a thrilla... when I get the gorilla in Manila."

The fight lasted 14 grueling rounds in temperatures approaching . Ali won many of the early rounds, but Frazier staged a comeback in the middle rounds, while Ali lay on the ropes. By the late rounds, however, Ali had reasserted control and the fight was stopped when Frazier was unable to answer the bell for the 15th and final round (his eyes were swollen closed). Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to continue.

Subsequent bouts and retirement

In February 1976, Ali easily beat Jean-Pierre Coopman. In April 1976 he defeated Jimmy Young and then Richard Dunn the following month, which would turn out to be Ali's last knockout victory. Following that fight, he staged an exhibition match with professional wrestler and martial artist Antonio Inoki. Although widely perceived as a publicity stunt, the match against Inoki would have a long-term detrimental affect on Ali's mobility. Inoki spent much of the fight on the ground trying to damage Ali’s legs, while Ali spent most of the fight dodging the kicks or staying on the ropes. At the end of 15 rounds, the bout was called a draw. Ali's legs, however, were bleeding, leading to an infection. He suffered two blood clots in his legs as well.

In September 1976, at Yankee Stadium, Ali faced Ken Norton in their third fight, with Ali winning a close but unanimous 15-round decision. 1977 saw Ali defend his title against Alfredo Evangelista and Earnie Shavers. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco left Ali's camp following the Shavers fight after being rebuffed for advising Ali to retire.

In February 1978, Ali lost the heavweight title to 1976 Olympics Champion Leon Spinks. On September 15, 1978, Ali fought a rematch in the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome against Spinks for the WBA version of the Heavyweight title, winning it for a record third time. Ali retired following this victory on June 27, 1979, but returned in 1980 to face current champion Larry Holmes in an attempt to win a heavyweight title an unprecedented four times. Angelo Dundee refused to let his man come out for the 11th round, in what became Ali's only loss by anything other than a decision. Ali's final fight, a loss by unanimous decision after 10 rounds, was to up-and-coming challenger Trevor Berbick in 1981.

Ali's legacy

Muhammad Ali defeated every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. Ali was named "Fighter of the Year" by ''Ring Magazine'' more times than any other fighter, and was involved in more ''Ring Magazine'' "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter. He is an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and holds wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees. He is one of only three boxers to be named "Sportsman of the Year" by ''Sports Illustrated''.

In 1978, three years before Ali's permanent retirement, the Board of Aldermen in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky voted 6–5 to rename Walnut Street to Muhammad Ali Boulevard. This was controversial at the time, as within a week 12 of the 70 street signs were stolen. Earlier that year, a committee of the Jefferson County Public Schools considered renaming Central High School in his honor, but the motion failed to pass. At any rate, in time, Muhammad Ali Boulevard—and Ali himself—came to be well accepted in his hometown.

In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study found that over 97% of Americans, over 12-years of age, identified both Ali and Ruth.

He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

In retirement

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984, a disease to which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible than average. Despite the disability, he remains a beloved and active public figure. In 1985, he served as a guest referee at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 1987 he was selected by the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution to personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in various high profile activities. Ali rode on a float at the 1988 Tournament of Roses Parade, launching the U.S. Constitution's 200th birthday commemoration. He published an oral history, ''Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times'' by Thomas Hauser, in 1991. That same year Ali traveled to Iraq during the Gulf War and met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to negotiate the release of American hostages. Ali received a Spirit of America Award calling him the most recognized American in the world. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

He appeared at the 1998 AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final, where Anthony Pratt invited him to watch the game. He greets runners at the start line of the Los Angeles Marathon every year.

In 1999, the ''BBC'' produced a special version of its annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony, and Ali was voted their Sports Personality of the Century, receiving more votes than the other four contenders combined. His daughter Laila Ali became a boxer in 1999, despite her father's earlier comments against female boxing in 1978: "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that... the body's not made to be punched right here [patting his chest]. Get ''hit'' in the breast... ''hard''... and all that."

On September 13, 1999, Ali was named "Kentucky Athlete of the Century" by the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Galt House East.

In 2001, a biographical film, entitled ''Ali'', was made, directed by Michael Mann, with Will Smith starring as Ali. The film received mixed reviews, with the positives generally attributed to the acting, as Smith and supporting actor Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations. Prior to making the Ali movie, Will Smith had continually rejected the role of Ali until Muhammad Ali personally requested that he accept the role. According to Smith, the first thing Ali said about the subject to him was: "Man, you're almost pretty enough to play me."

On November 17, 2002, Muhammad Ali went to Afghanistan as "U.N. Messenger of Peace". He was in Kabul for a three-day goodwill mission as a special guest of the UN.

On January 8, 2005, Muhammad Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on November 9, 2005, and the "Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold" of the UN Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin for his work with the US civil rights movement and the United Nations (December 17, 2005).

On November 19, 2005 (Ali's 19th wedding anniversary), the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth.

According to the Ali Center website, "Since he retired from boxing, Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry. Ali travels, on average, more than 200 days per year."

At the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 2, 2007, Ali was an honorary captain for the Louisville Cardinals wearing their white jersey, number 19. Ali was accompanied by golf legend Arnold Palmer, who was the honorary captain for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

A youth club in Ali's hometown and a species of rose (''Rosa ali'') have been named after him. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University's 260th graduation ceremony.

Ali lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his fourth wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Ali. They own a house in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is for sale. On January 9, 2007, they purchased a house in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky for $1,875,000. Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late 20s.

On the August 17, 2009, it was voted unanimously by the town council of Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland to make Ali the first Freeman of Ennis. Ennis was the birthplace of Ali's great grandfather before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860s, before eventually settling in Kentucky. On September 1, 2009, Ali visited the town of Ennis and at a civic reception he received the honour of the freedom of the town.

Ranking in heavyweight history

Ali is generally considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time by boxing commentators and historians. ''Ring Magazine'', a prominent boxing magazine, named him number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.

Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ''ESPN.com'' behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson. In December 2007, ''ESPN'' listed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis.

Personal life

Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Ali met his first wife, cocktail waitress Sonji Roi, approximately one month before they married on August 14, 1964. Roi's objections to certain Muslim customs in regard to dress for women contributed to the breakup of their marriage. They divorced on January 10, 1966.

On August 17, 1967, Ali (aged 25) married 17-year old Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she converted to Islam and changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. They had four children: Maryum (b. 1968), Jamillah and Rasheda (b. 1970), and Muhammad Ali Jr. (b. 1972).

In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porsche, an actress and model. By the summer of 1977, Ali's second marriage was over and he had married Veronica. At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child. Their second daughter, Laila, was born in December 1977. By 1986, Ali and Veronica were divorced.

On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda Ali. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville. Asaad Amin, who they adopted when Amin was five.

Ali has two other daughters, Miya and Khaliah, from extramarital relationships.

Ali in the media and popular culture

As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. In 1963, he released an album of spoken word on Columbia Records titled ''I am the Greatest!'' He has appeared on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' on 37 different occasions, second only to Michael Jordan. He appeared in the documentary film ''Black Rodeo'' (1972) riding both a horse and a bull. His autobiography ''The Greatest: My Own Story'', written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. In 1977 the book was adapted into a film called ''The Greatest'', in which Ali played himself and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. ''When We Were Kings'', a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award, and the 2001 biopic ''Ali'' garnered an Oscar nomination for Will Smith's portrayal of the lead role.

For contributions to the entertainment industry, Muhammed Ali was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Professional boxing record

|- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|56 Wins (37 knockouts, 19 decisions), 5 Losses (4 decisions, 1 TKO), 0 Draws |- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3; background:#e3e3e3;" | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res. | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Round, Time | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Age | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Trevor Berbick | Decision | 10 | | | Align=left| Nassau, Bahamas | |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Larry Holmes | TKO | 10 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| New Orleans, LA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Earnie Shavers | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alfredo Evangelista | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| The Bronx, New York | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Richard Dunn | TKO | 5 | | | Align=left| Munich, West Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Young | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jean-Pierre Coopman | KO | 5 | | | Align=left| San Juan, Puerto Rico | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | TKO | 14 , 0:59 | | | Align=left| Quezon City, Philippines | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ron Lyle | TKO | 11 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Chuck Wepner | TKO | 15 , 2:41 | | | Align=left| Richfield, OH | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Foreman | KO | 8 , 2:58 | | | Align=left| Kinshasa, Zaire | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Rudi Lubbers | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| Jakarta, Indonesia | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| Inglewood, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| San Diego, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Bob Foster | KO | 7 | | | Align=left| Stateline, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 7 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alvin Lewis | TKO | 11 , 1:15 | | | Align=left| Dublin, Ireland | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 7 , 0:19 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| Vancouver, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Mac Foster | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Tokyo, Japan | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jürgen Blin | KO | 7 , 2:12 | | | Align=left| | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Buster Mathis | Decision | 12 | | | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Ellis | TKO | 12 , 2:10 | | | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Joe Frazier | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Oscar Bonavena | TKO | 15 , 2:03 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 3 | | | Align=left| Atlanta, GA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Zora Folley | KO | 7 , 1:48 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ernie Terrell | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Cleveland Williams | TKO | 3 | | | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Karl Mildenberger | TKO | 12 | | | Align=left| Frankfurt, West Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Brian London | KO | 3 | | | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 6 , 1:38 | | | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 15 | | | Align=left| Toronto, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 12 , 2:18 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | KO | 1 , 2:12 | | | Align=left| Lewiston, ME | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | TKO | 7 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 5 , 2:15 | | | Align=left| London, England | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Doug Jones | Decision | 10 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Charley Powell | KO | 3, 2:04 | | | Align=left| Pittsburgh, PA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Archie Moore | TKO | 4 , 1:35 | | | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alejandro Lavorante | KO | 5 , 1:48 | | | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Billy Daniels | TKO | 7 , 2:21 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Logan | TKO | 4 , 1:34 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Don Warner | TKO | 4, 0:34 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Banks | TKO | 4 , 0:26 | | | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Willi Besmanoff | TKO | 7 , 1:55 | | | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alex Miteff | TKO | 6 , 1:45 | | | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alonzo Johnson | Decision | 10 | | | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Duke Sabedong | Decision | 10 | | | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | LaMar Clark | KO | 2 , 1:27 | | | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Donnie Fleeman | TKO | 7 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Robinson | KO | 1 , 1:34 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tony Esperti | TKO | 3 , 1:30 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Herb Siler | KO | 4 | | | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tunney Hunsaker | Decision | 6 | | | Align=left| Louisville, KY |

See also

List of heavyweight boxing champions

List of North American Muslims

List of people from Louisville, Kentucky

List of WBA world champions

List of WBC world champions

Notable boxing families

Conscientious Objector

Notes

References

External links

Barrow Neurological Institute: Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center

WLRN: Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami

Life Magazine: Cassius Clay: Before He Was Ali (photo essay)

Honors and Awards.com – Presidential Citizens Medal

BoxRec: list of world heavyweight champions?

BoxRec: list of world P4P champions?

William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services: Ancestry of Muhammad Ali

{{S-ttl| title = WBA Heavyweight boxing champion | years = February 25, 1964 – June 19, 1964 (Stripped) }} {{S-ttl| title = WBC Heavyweight boxing champion | years = February 25, 1964 – March 11, 1969 (Stripped) }}

{{S-ttl| title = WBA Heavyweight boxing champion| | years = February 6, 1967 – April 28, 1967 (Stripped) }}

{{S-ttl| title = NABF Heavyweight boxing champion | years = December 17, 1970–1971 (Vacated) }}

{{S-ttl| title = NABF Heavyweight boxing champion | years = Ju1y 26, 1971 – March 31, 1973 }}

{{S-ttl| title = NABF Heavyweight boxing champion | years = September 10, 1973–1974 (Vacated) }}

{{S-ttl| title = WBA Heavyweight boxing champion | years = October 30, 1974 – February 15, 1978 }} {{S-ttl| title = WBC Heavyweight boxing champion | years = October 30, 1974 – February 15, 1978 }}

{{S-ttl| title = WBA Heavyweight boxing champion | years = September 15, 1978 – September 6, 1979 (Vacated) }}

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:African American boxers Category:American boxers of Irish descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists Category:Boxers from Kentucky Category:World heavyweight boxing champions Category:Heavyweight boxers Category:World Boxing Association Champions Category:World Boxing Council Champions Category:African American Muslims Category:American conscientious objectors Category:American Sufis Category:Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Converts to Islam from Christianity Category:International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Category:Kentucky colonels Category:Olympic boxers of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Category:Professional wrestling referees Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky Category:People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Category:Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Category:African American Muslims Category:Converts to Islam Category:Former Nation of Islam members Category:Olympic medalists in boxing Category:Converts to Sufism

af:Muhammad Ali ar:محمد علي (ملاكم) ast:Muhammad Ali az:Məhəmməd Əli (boksçu) bn:মোহাম্মদ আলী be:Махамед Алі bcl:Muhammad Ali bs:Muhammad Ali bg:Мохамед Али (боксьор) ca:Muhammad Ali (boxador) cs:Muhammad Ali cy:Muhammad Ali da:Muhammad Ali de:Muhammad Ali et:Muhammad Ali el:Μοχάμεντ Άλι es:Muhammad Ali eo:Muhammad Ali eu:Muhammad Ali fa:محمدعلی کلی fr:Mohamed Ali (boxe) ga:Muhammad Ali gd:Muhammed Ali gl:Muhammad Ali ko:무하마드 알리 hr:Muhammad Ali id:Muhammad Ali it:Muhammad Ali he:מוחמד עלי (מתאגרף) jv:Muhammad Ali kn:ಮುಹಮ್ಮದ್ ಅಲಿ ka:მუჰამედ ალი sw:Muhammad Ali la:Mahometus Ali lv:Muhameds Ali lt:Muhammad Ali hu:Muhammad Ali mk:Мoхамед Али ml:മുഹമ്മദ് അലി mr:महम्मद अली ms:Muhammad Ali mn:Мохаммед Али nl:Muhammad Ali ja:モハメド・アリ ce:Мохаммед Али (боксёр) no:Muhammad Ali uz:Ahmedov, Muhammad Ali ps:محمد علي کلي pl:Muhammad Ali (bokser) pt:Muhammad Ali ro:Muhammad Ali qu:Muhammad Ali ru:Али, Мохаммед sc:Muhammad Ali sq:Muhammad Ali scn:Muhammad Ali si:මොහොමඩ් අලී simple:Muhammad Ali sk:Muhammad Ali sl:Muhammad Ali so:Mohammed ali Clay, sr:Мухамед Али sh:Muhammad Ali fi:Muhammad Ali sv:Muhammad Ali tl:Muhammad Ali ta:முகம்மது அலி tt:Мөхәммәт Али te:మహమ్మద్ అలీ th:มูฮัมหมัด อาลี tr:Muhammed Ali uk:Мухамед Алі (боксер) ur:محمد علی (مکے باز) vi:Muhammad Ali vls:Muhammad Ali war:Muhammad Ali yo:Muhammad Ali zh:穆罕默德·阿里

Ingrid Mattson (born 1963) is a Canadian Muslim convert professor and activist and a former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

She was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, and studied philosophy and fine arts at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. Raised as a Catholic, she ultimately abandoned religion "for good" during her teenage years,; in her senior year of college, she went to Paris and befriended several Muslim Senegalese, and in a year converted to Islam and began to wear the hijab. She had initially studied art, but later came to accept non-visual representation of individuals.

In 1987 she travelled to Pakistan where she worked with Afghan refugees for a year. There, she met and married a fellow volunteer Aamer Atek, an Egyptian engineer. They have two children.

She earned her Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago in 1999. She went on to be very active in educating Canadian Muslims to become active participants in Canadian society at large. She is now Director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations and Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. She founded the Islamic Chaplaincy program at Hartford Seminary, the first Islamic chaplaincy program in the United States.

In 2001 she was elected Vice-President of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected the first female President of the organization. She has guest lectured at such institutions as the US Naval Academy. Dr. Mattson is the first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

References

External links

Home page of Ingrid Mattson

Ingrid Mattson Lectures

Article: Finding the Prophet

Article about Ingrid Mattson in the "Who's Next 2007" special section of the January 1, 2007 issue of ''Newsweek''

Ingrid Mattson speaks at Pennsylvania State University

"A New Voice for Islam." ''Speaking of Faith''

Category:Canadian activists Category:Canadian theologians Category:Living people Category:Canadian Muslims Category:University of Waterloo alumni Category:People from Kitchener, Ontario Category:Converts to Islam from Catholicism Category:1963 births

ar:إنغريد ماتسون fa:اینگرید متسون ml:ഇൻഗ്രിഡ് മാറ്റ്സൺ

name	Ayaan Hirsi Ali
birth date	November 13, 1969
birth place	Mogadishu, Somalia
nationality	Dutch
alma mater	Leiden University (MSc)De Horst Institute (P)
occupation	politician, writer
known for	''Submission''anti-circumcisionanti-female genital mutilation''Infidel''anti-sharia law
party	2001-2002: Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) (Labour Party)''''2002-present Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy)
influences	John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Hayek, Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Popper, Herman Philipse
religion	None (Atheist)
spouse	Niall Ferguson }}

Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali (; ; / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī ‘Alī''; 13 November 1969) is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer and politician who is known for her views as a prominent critic of Islam, as well as strongly opposing the practices of circumcision and female genital cutting. Her screenplay for Theo van Gogh's movie ''Submission'' led to death threats, which resulted in the director's murder. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA Foundation.

When she was eight, Hirsi Ali's family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia, and eventually settled in Kenya. She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later became the centre of a political controversy. In 2003 she was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parliament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet in 2006.

In 2005, she was named by ''Time'' magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has also received several awards including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'', the Swedish Liberal Party's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. In 2006 she published a memoir. The English translation in 2007 is titled ''Infidel''. Hirsi Ali is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and lives in the United States.

Life and work

Youth

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born into a Majerteen family in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a prominent member of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front and a leading figure in the Somalian Revolution. Shortly after she was born, her father was imprisoned due to his opposition to Somalia's Siad Barre government.

Hirsi Ali's father had studied abroad and was opposed to female genital cutting, but while he was imprisoned, Hirsi Ali's grandmother had the traditional procedure performed on five-year-old Hirsi Ali.

They settled in Nairobi, Kenya, where Hirsi Ali attended the English-language Muslim Girls' Secondary School. By the time she reached her teens, Saudi-funded religious education was becoming more influential among Muslims in other countries, and a charismatic religious teacher who had been trained under this aegis joined Hirsi Ali's school. She inspired the teenaged Ayaan, as well as some fellow students, to adopt the more rigorous Saudi Arabian interpretations of Islam, as opposed to the more relaxed versions then current in Somalia and Kenya. Hirsi Ali had been impressed by the Qur'an before she could even read, and had lived "by the Book, for the Book" throughout her childhood.

She sympathised with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and wore a ''hijab'' together with her school uniform, which was unusual at the time but gradually became more common. She agreed with the ''fatwa'' against British writer Salman Rushdie that was declared in reaction to the publication of his controversial novel ''The Satanic Verses''. After completing secondary school, she attended a secretarial course at Valley Secretarial College in Nairobi for one year. At this time, Hirsi Ali read English adventure stories such as the Nancy Drew series, containing modern heroine archetypes which overstepped the limits traditionally imposed by religion and society.

Early life in the Netherlands

Hirsi Ali arrived in the Netherlands in 1992. There is some lack of clarity about the events leading up to her arrival, and she has admitted to making false statements in her application for asylum to enhance her chances of staying in the Netherlands. Hirsi Ali states that in 1992 her father arranged to marry her to a distant cousin. She says that she objected to this both on general grounds (she states that she dreaded being forced to submit to a stranger, someone with "the Holy Book on his side" who could force himself on her sexually), and on specific objections to this particular cousin, saying that he was a "bigot" and an "idiot".

It is not disputed that in 1992 she travelled from Kenya to visit her family in Düsseldorf and Bonn, Germany. It was planned that she would join her husband in Canada after obtaining a visa while in Germany. Members of her family have disputed the story of her forced marriage. According to Hirsi Ali, she spent her time in Germany frantically trying to devise a way to escape her unwanted marriage. Ultimately she decided that she would claim to want to visit a relative in the Netherlands, but once she had arrived, seek help from that relative and claim asylum.

Once in the Netherlands she requested political asylum, and obtained a residence permit. It is not known on what grounds she received political asylum, though she has admitted that she had lied by devising a false story about having to flee Mogadishu and spending time in refugee camps on the border between Somalia and Kenya. In reality, she did spend time in those camps, but in order to help relatives who were trapped there; she was already safely settled in Kenya at the time open warfare erupted in the Somali capital. She gave a false name and date of birth to the Dutch immigration authorities; something she says was necessary in order to escape retaliation by her clan. She is known in the West by her assumed name, Hirsi Ali, instead of her original name, Hirsi Magan. Hirsi Ali received a residence permit within three weeks of her arrival in the Netherlands.

After being granted asylum she held various short-term jobs, ranging from cleaning to sorting post. She then worked as a translator at a Rotterdam refugee centre which, according to a friend interviewed by ''The Observer'' newspaper, marked her deeply. She says that she had been an avid reader from childhood, and access to new books and ways of thought stretched her imagination and frightened her at the same time. She says that Sigmund Freud's work placed her in contact with an alternative moral system, one that was not based on religion. During this time she took courses in Dutch and a one-year propaedeutic course in social work at the De Horst Institute for Social Work in Driebergen. She states that she was impressed with how well Dutch society seemed to function and, in an effort to better understand how this system had developed, studied at Leiden University where she obtained a MSc degree in political science in 2000.

Between 1995 and 2001 she also worked as an independent Somali-Dutch interpreter and translator, frequently coming into contact with Somali women in asylum centres, hostels for battered women, and the Dutch immigration and naturalisation service (IND, Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst). While working for the IND, she saw inside the workings of the Dutch immigration system and became critical of the way it handled asylum seekers. As a result of her education and experiences, Hirsi Ali speaks six languages: English, Somali, Arabic, Swahili, Amharic and Dutch.

Political career

After her education at Leiden University, Hirsi Ali became a fellow at the Wiardi Beckman Foundation, a scientific institute linked to the centre-left Labour Party (PvdA), of which Leiden University Professor Ruud Koole was steward.

During her studies, she was becoming increasingly disenchanted with Islam. Her identification as a Muslim suffered a strong blow after September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001. After listening to videotapes of Osama bin Laden citing "words of justification" in the Qur'an for the attacks, she writes, "I picked up the Quran and the hadith and started looking through them, to check. I hated to do it, because I knew that I would find Bin Laden's quotations in there." She decided that, despite her upbringing, she had to regard the Qur'an as relative—it was a historical record and "just another book".

The final blow to her faith was her reading of ''The Atheist Manifesto'' (''Atheistisch Manifest'') of Leiden philosopher Herman Philipse. She renounced Islam and became an atheist in 2002. During this period, she began to formulate her critique of Islam and Islamic culture, published many news articles, and became a frequent speaker on television news programs and public debate forums. She wrote up her ideas in a book entitled ''De Zoontjesfabriek'' (''The Son Factory''). It was at this time that she first began to receive death threats.

In November 2002, after some disagreements with the PvdA about her security measures, she sought advice from Cisca Dresselhuys, the editor of the feminist magazine ''Opzij'' how to raise funds from the government for protection. Her party having recently lost the election, Hirsi Ali would soon be unable to receive government-funded protection. Dresselhuys introduced Hirsi Ali to Gerrit Zalm, the parliamentary leader of the centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and party member Neelie-Smit Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition. At their urging, Hirsi Ali agreed to switch to the VVD and stood for election to Parliament. Between November 2002 and January 2003, she lived abroad and was put on the payroll as an assistant of the VVD.

In 2003, aged 33, she became prominent in the parliamentary election campaign. Her message: the Dutch welfare state had overlooked abuse of Muslim women and girls, contributing to their isolation and oppression.

During her tenure in Parliament, Hirsi Ali made a number of controversial statements about Islam. In an interview in the Dutch newspaper ''Trouw'' she said that by Western standards, Muhammad would be considered a pedophile. A discrimination complaint was filed against her on April 24, 2003. The Prosecutor's office decided not to initiate a case, because her critique did "not put forth any conclusions in respect to Muslims and their worth as a group is not denied".

Going into hiding

Hirsi Ali wrote the script and provided the voice-over for ''Submission'', a film produced by Theo van Gogh, which criticised the treatment of women in Islamic society. Juxtaposed with passages from the Qur'an were scenes of actresses portraying Muslim women suffering abuse. The film also features an actress dressed in a semi-transparent ''burqa'' who has texts from the Qur'an written on her skin. The texts are among those often interpreted as justifying the subjugation of women. The film's release sparked much furore, and Mohammed Bouyeri, a member of the Hofstad Group, murdered Van Gogh in an Amsterdam street on November 2, 2004. A letter pinned to Van Gogh's body with a knife was primarily a death threat to Hirsi Ali. After this murder the Dutch secret service raised the level of security that they provided to her. In an interview to journalist David Cohen, Hirsi Ali has said that although she deeply regrets the murder of van Gogh, she is proud of the film and does not regret having made it. "To feel otherwise would be to deny everything I stand for." At his televised funeral, Van Gogh's mother not only echoed this sentiment, she urged Hirsi Ali to continue the work that she and Van Gogh had done together.

Earlier that year the group The Hague Connection produced a rap song, "Hirsi Ali Dis", and distributed it on the Internet. The lyrics included violent threats against her life. The rappers were prosecuted under Article 121 of the Dutch criminal code because they hindered the execution of her tasks as a politician. In 2005 they were sentenced to community service and a suspended prison sentence.

After the murder of van Gogh, Hirsi Ali went into hiding. Government security services moved her around to many locations in the Netherlands, and eventually moved her to the United States for several months. On January 18, 2005, she returned to parliament. On February 18, 2005, she revealed the location of herself and her colleague Geert Wilders, who had also been in hiding. She demanded a normal, secured house, which she was granted one week later.

In January 2006 Hirsi Ali used her acceptance speech for the ''Reader's Digest'' "European of the Year" award to urge action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and to say that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be taken at his word in wanting to organise a conference to investigate objective evidence of the Holocaust. "Before I came to Europe, I'd never heard of the Holocaust. That is the case with millions of people in the Middle East. Such a conference should be able to convince many people away from their denial of the genocide against the Jews." She also said that "so-called Western values" of freedom and justice are universal; that Europe has done far better than most areas of the world at providing justice, because it has guaranteed the freedom of thought and debate that are required for critical self-examination; and that communities cannot reform themselves unless "scrupulous investigation of every former and current doctrine is possible."

In March 2006 she co-signed a letter entitled "MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism". Among the eleven other signatories was British writer Salman Rushdie, the ''fatwa'' against whom Hirsi Ali had supported as a teen. The letter was published in response to protests in the Islamic world surrounding the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy.

On April 27 a Dutch judge ruled that Hirsi Ali had to abandon her highly secure house at a secret address in the Netherlands: her neighbors had complained that living next to her was an unacceptable security risk to them, although the police had testified in court that it was one of the safest places in the country due to the large number of personnel they had assigned there. In early 2007 she stated that the Dutch state had spent about 3.5 million euros providing armed guards for her, and the threats made her live "in fear and looking over my shoulder", but she was willing to endure this for the sake of speaking her mind.

A private trust, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression, was established to help fund protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and other Muslim dissidents.

Citizenship controversy

In May 2006 the television program ''Zembla'' reported that Hirsi Ali had given false information about her real name, her age and the country she arrived from when originally applying for asylum. The program also presented evidence that she had been untruthful about the main reason for her asylum application, which she gave as a forced marriage. Hirsi Ali admitted that she had lied about her full name, her date of birth and the manner in which she had come to the Netherlands. However, several sources, including her first book ''The Son Factory'', which had been published in 2002, stated her real name and date of birth, and she had also publicly stated these in a September 2002 interview published in the political magazine ''HP/De Tijd''. and in an interview in the ''VARA gids'' (2002). Accordingly, these details were considered by many to be public knowledge. Furthermore, Hirsi Ali has asserted that she made full disclosure of the matter to VVD officials when she was invited to run for parliament in 2002.

Media speculation arose that she could lose her Dutch citizenship because of this identity fraud, rendering her ineligible for parliament. At first, Minister Rita Verdonk said she would not look into the matter, but after Member of Parliament Hilbrand Nawijn officially asked her for her position, she declared that she would investigate Hirsi Ali's naturalisation process. This investigation took three days; the findings were that Hirsi Ali had not legitimately received Dutch citizenship, because she had lied about her name and date of birth. Rita Verdonk moved to annul Hirsi Ali's citizenship, a move that was later overridden on the urging of Parliament.

On May 15, 2006, after the broadcast of the ''Zembla'' documentary, news stories appeared saying that Hirsi Ali was likely to move to the United States in September, and was expected to write a book entitled ''Shortcut to Enlightenment'' and work for a conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute.

On May 16 Hirsi Ali resigned from Parliament after admitting that she had lied on her asylum application. On that day, she gave a press conference, in which she restated that, although she felt it was wrong to be granted asylum under false pretences, the facts had been publicly known since 2002 when they had been reported in the media and in one of her publications. In the press conference, she also restated that she had spoken the truth about the reason for seeking asylum, which had been the threat of a forced marriage, despite a claim to the contrary on the ''Zembla'' program by some of her relatives. Her stated reason for resigning immediately was not the continuous threats, making her job as a parliamentarian "difficult" but "not impossible", but the news that the Minister would strip her of her Dutch citizenship.

After a long and emotional debate in the Dutch Parliament, all major parties supported a motion, requesting the Minister to explore the possibility of special circumstances in Hirsi Ali's case. Although Verdonk remained convinced that the applicable law did not leave her any room to consider such circumstances, she decided to accept the motion. During the debate, she astonished MPs by claiming that Hirsi Ali still had Dutch citizenship during the period of reexamination. Apparently the "decision" she had made public had been merely a report of the current position of the Dutch government. Hirsi Ali at that point had six weeks to react to the report before any final decision about her citizenship was taken. Verdonk was heavily criticised for not acting more prudently in a case that had so many political implications.

Besides a Dutch passport, Hirsi Ali retained a Dutch residency permit on the grounds that she was a political refugee. According to the Minister, this permit could not be taken away from her since it had been granted more than 12 years before, in 1992.

In a reaction to the announced move, former VVD leader Hans Wiegel stated that her departure "would not be a loss to the VVD and not be a loss to the House of Representatives". He said that Hirsi Ali was a brave woman, but that her opinions were polarizing. Former parliamentary leader of the VVD, Jozias van Aartsen, was more positive about Hirsi Ali, saying that it is "painful for Dutch society and politics that she is leaving the House of Representatives". Another VVD MP, Bibi de Vries, claimed that if something were to happen to Hirsi Ali, some people in her party would have "blood on their hands."

Ali reveals in her second biography, Nomad that in early 2006, Verdonk had approached Ali personally and asked for her public support in Verdonk's campaign to run for party leader. Ali claims she actually personally supported Verdonk's opponent, Mark Rutte, as the better choice for the position. She admits that Verdonk's request made her uncomfortable, and when she was honest with Verdonk about her political feelings, Verdonk then became vindictive and took up a campaign against Ali once the "Zembla" program had been aired. (see pp. 100-103) Nomad (book)

United States Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick stated in May 2006 that "we recognise that she is a very courageous and impressive woman and she is welcome in the US."

On May 23, 2006, Ayaan Hirsi made available to ''The New York Times'' some letters she believed would provide insight into her 1992 asylum application. In one letter her sister Haweya warned her that the entire extended family was searching for her (after she had fled to the Netherlands), and in another letter her father denounced her.

Christopher DeMuth, President of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), confirmed that this controversy would not affect the appointment. He stated that he was still looking forward to "welcoming her to AEI, and to America."

On June 27, 2006, the Dutch government announced that Hirsi Ali would keep her Dutch citizenship. On the same day a letter was disclosed in which Hirsi Ali expressed regret that she had misinformed Minister Verdonk. Hirsi Ali was allowed to retain her name because the Dutch government believes that Somalis are allowed to carry the name of their grandfather according to Somali family law, and her grandfather had used the last name Ali until his thirties and only then switched to Magan. The fact that this grandfather was born in 1845 complicated the investigation (her grandfather was a powerful warlord, and Hirsi Ali's father Hirsi Magan Isse was the youngest of his children, born when he was close to 70). Also, the issue of the false date of birth was not that important, according to the Minister.

Later the same day Hirsi Ali, through her lawyer and in television interviews, made a statement declaring that she had signed the letter that was drafted by the Justice Department under duress. She felt she was pressured into signing the statement in exchange for the passport, but that she had agreed to do it, swallowing her pride, in order not to complicate her pending visa application for the U.S. she still carried her Dutch passport. A close friend of Hirsi Ali, Leon de Winter, presented in his weblog a detailed account of the events which took place on June 27 leading to Hirsi Ali signing the statement confirming, in his view, the involuntary nature of her action.

In a special parliamentary session on June 28 questions were raised concerning the alleged coercion of the Hirsi Ali statement by minister Verdonk, the dismissal by the minister of the false date of birth as a relevant issue, and whether Somali law prevails over Dutch law. The ensuing political upheaval on June 29 ultimately led to the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet.

American Enterprise Institute

Following the citizenship controversy Hirsi Ali took up a position at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C., requiring her security to be upgraded once again.

Her autobiography, ''Infidel'', was published in September 2006. In a review posted on the summer reading list for the Middle East Strategy at the Harvard University website, American Enterprise Institute fellow Joshua Muravchik described the book as "simply a great work of literature," and compared her to novelist Joseph Conrad. In 2007 she told David Cohen she was working on another book, ''Shortcut to Enlightenment'', a philosophical fantasy about a visit by Muhammad to the New York Public Library in which he is confronted by various Enlightenment philosophers such John Stuart Mill, Frederick Hayek and Karl Popper (Hirsi Ali's "favourite liberal thinkers"), compares them to the state of Islam today, and then comes to a number of important conclusions.

On September 25, 2007, she received her United States Permanent Resident Card (green card). Since October 2007 she has continued her work for AEI from a secret address in the Netherlands. Her move back to the Netherlands was a result of the ruling of the Dutch minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin that, as of October 1, 2007, the Dutch government would no longer pay for her security while she was abroad. In 2007 she declined with thanks an offer to live in Denmark, and said that she intended to return to the United States.

2006–2007

According to journalist Jason Burke, Hirsi Ali had to move out of her house in The Hague in early 2006 after a court found that she was "endangering her neighbours" given the constant death threats and increasing criticism of her "trenchant statements."

On April 17, 2007, a lecture held by Hirsi Ali at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown required tight security, due to a protest by the local Muslim community. One of the protesters, Pittsburgh imam Fouad El Bayly, said that Hirsi Ali deserved the death sentence and she should be tried and judged in a Muslim country.

Hirsi Ali attended the 2007 Sydney Writers' Festival, giving an interview on June 2 and the closing address the following day, an extract of which appeared in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' of June 4. Hirsi Ali described her intellectual and religious journey as one in which she had "lost respect not for Muslims but for what they fear." Saying she was accused of hating Muslims and vilifying the Qur'an and Muhammad, she clarified that she did not hate Muslims, but rather the submission of free will.

In September it was announced that she would take part in the ''New Yorker'' Festival in an event with Martin Amis. The event had originally paired Norman Mailer and Amis, but Mailer could not attend. However, ultimately Hirsi Ali also could not attend, so she was replaced by Ian Buruma.

Social and political views

Hirsi Ali is a member of the VVD, a Dutch political party that combines conservative views on the economy, foreign policy, crime and immigration with a liberal stance on drugs, abortion and homosexuality. She states that she is a great admirer of one of the party's ideological leaders, Frits Bolkestein, a former Euro-commissioner. Ali received substantial criticism as a result of her defection from the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) to the VVD. By way of response she asserted that she would show greater loyalty to the VVD.

She states that her personal views are for the most part inspired by her change from Islam to atheism. Hirsi Ali is very critical of Islam, especially of its prophet Muhammad and the position of women.

Islam

Hirsi Ali is very critical of the position of women in Islamic societies and the punishments demanded by Islamic scholars for homosexuality and adultery. She considered herself a Muslim until 28 May 2002, when she became an atheist. In an interview with the Swiss magazine ''Das Magazin'' in September 2006, she said she lost her faith while sitting in an Italian restaurant in May 2002, drinking a glass of wine: "...I asked myself: Why should I burn in hell just because I'm drinking this? But what prompted me even more was the fact that the killers of 9/11 all believed in the same God I believed in." Despite that, in the television program ''Rondom Tien'' of 12 September 2002 she called it "my religion". She has described Islam as a "backward religion", incompatible with democracy. In one segment on the Dutch current affairs program ''Nova'', she challenged pupils of an Islamic primary school to choose between the Qur'an and the Dutch constitution.

In an interview in the London ''Evening Standard'', Hirsi Ali characterizes Islam as "the new fascism": "Just like Nazism started with Hitler's vision, the Islamic vision is a caliphate — a society ruled by Sharia law — in which women who have sex before marriage are stoned to death, homosexuals are beaten, and apostates like me are killed. Sharia law is as inimical to liberal democracy as Nazism." In this interview, she also made it clear that in her opinion it is not "a fringe group of radical Muslims who've hijacked Islam and that the majority of Muslims are moderate. [...] Violence is inherent in Islam — it's a destructive, nihilistic cult of death. It legitimates murder."

At the Sydney Writers' Festival in June 2007, she balanced her arguments, saying "I am a Muslim" because she understood why Muslims were silent when the Qur'an was "invoked to behead captured aid workers, journalists and other Western wanderers," as silence is "better than an argument with the author of the Holy Book who has given the command to behead infidels." Hirsi Ali stated that she was also "not a Muslim" as she had lost the fear of the Qur'an and of Hell and lost respect for "its author" and messenger; and that she felt a "common humanity" with those she once "shunned", such as Jews, Christians, atheists, gays, and sinners "of all stripes and colours."

In ''The Reason Magazine'', Ayaan Hirsi Ali stated that not just 'radical Islam' but 'Islam' must be defeated. She stated: "Islam, period. Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace."

Muhammad

Hirsi Ali criticises the central Islamic prophet on the grounds of both his morality and personality. In January 2003 she told the Dutch paper ''Trouw'', "Muhammad is, seen by our Western standards, a pervert", as he married, at the age of 52, Aisha, who was six years old and nine at the time the marriage was consummated. These and other statements led to a lawsuit by a number of Muslims in 2005. The civil court in The Hague acquitted Hirsi Ali of any charges, but mentioned that she "could have made a better choice of words".

She also has stated her opinions about his personality. When ''Trouw'' asked her about him, she answered, "Measured by our western standards, Muhammad is a pervert. He is against freedom of expression. If you don't do as he says, you will be punished. It makes me think of all those megalomaniacs in the Middle East: Bin Laden, Khomeini, Saddam. Do you think it strange that there is a Saddam Hussein? Muhammad is his example. Muhammad is an example for all Muslim men. Do you think it strange that so many Muslim men are violent?" In a 2003 interview with the Danish magazine ''Sappho'', she explains parallels she sees between the personality of Yasser Arafat and that of Muhammad.

Genital cutting

Hirsi Ali opposes not just the genital cutting of girls, but also the practice of circumcision of boys as practiced by Jews and Muslims, as well as the routine infant circumcision practiced in the United States. In her autobiography, ''Infidel'', she writes: "Excision doesn't remove your desire or ability to enjoy sexual pleasure. The excision of women is cruel on many levels. It is physically cruel and painful; it sets girls up for a lifetime of suffering. And it is not even effective in its intent to remove their desire."

A quotation from her on the subject: "girls dying in child birth because they are too young [...] The rise of radical Islam is an important part of this. I feel I have the moral obligation to discuss the source. I think if I think you are enriching the debate if you question it, you are not the enemy of Islam. We can look elsewhere using reason to discover answer to these problems, and we do not have to abolish religion. But we must do it by finding a balance."

When in Dutch parliament she proposed obligatory annual medical checks for all uncircumcised girls originating from a country where female mutilation is practiced. If a girl turned out to have been circumcised, the physician would report this to the police, with protection of the child prevailing over so-called privacy.

On debate

On August 31, 2006, while addressing the Dutch press on the occasion of her departure for the United States to work for the think tank the American Enterprise Institute, Hirsi Ali said: "...with like-minded people one cannot discuss. With like-minded people one can only participate in a church service, and, as is widely known, I do not like church services."

Freedom of speech

In a 2006 lecture in Berlin, she defended the right to offend, following the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy. She condemned the journalists of those papers and TV channels that did not show their readers the cartoons as being "mediocre of mind" and of trying to hide behind those "noble-sounding terms such as 'responsibility' and 'sensitivity'". She also praised publishers all over Europe for showing the cartoons and not being afraid of what she called the "hard-line Islamist movement", and stated "I do not seek to offend religious sentiment, but I will not submit to tyranny. Demanding that people should refrain from drawing him is not a request for respect but a demand for submission."

Political opponents

Hirsi Ali supported the move by the Dutch courts to abrogate the party subsidy to a conservative Protestant Christian political party, the Political Reformed Party (SGP), which did not grant full membership rights to women and still withholds passive voting rights from female members. She stated that "any political party discriminating against women or homosexuals should be deprived of funding."

Hirsi Ali has also stated that she wants the Belgian authorities to ban the (non-Muslim) Flemish Vlaams Belang party, claiming that "it hardly differs from the Hofstad Group. Though the VB members have not committed any violent crimes yet, they are just postponing them and waiting until they have an absolute majority. On many issues they have exactly the same opinions as the Muslim extremists: on the position of women, on the suppression of gays, on abortion. This way of thinking will lead straight to genocide."

Vlaams Belang leaders and press statements reacted to her allegations by denying the party rejects in any way the rights of women or in any way promotes genocidal policies, instead pointing out Vlaams Belang's support for Shoah and Armenian genocide commemorations. Vlaams Belang party leader Frank Vanhecke responded to Hirsi Ali's allegations by writing an open letter to her, stating that she is "closer to the Vlaams Belang with her viewpoints than to the Flemish Liberals." He also rejected the likeness with the Hofstad Group, saying that his party "has never and nowhere called for violence." The Vlaams Belang reacted to Hirsi Ali's retirement from Dutch politics by stating that the party has "respect for the way she has conducted and promoted the debate in the Netherlands with respect to Islam, female oppression and failed integration."

Opposition to denominational or faith schools

In the Netherlands about half of all education has historically been provided by sponsored religious schools, most of them Catholic or Protestant. Ayaan Hirsi Ali said in November 2003 that no religious school should receive government financing, which brought her into conflict with Hans Wiegel, a prominent former VVD leader.

She went further in an interview with the London newspaper the ''Evening Standard'' in 2007, saying "Close the Islamic faith schools today. [...] Britain is sleepwalking into a society that could be ruled by Sharia law within decades unless Islamic schools are shut down and young Muslims are instead made to integrate and accept Western liberal values. [...] We have to show the next generation of Muslims, the children, that they have a choice, and to do that — to have any hope whatsoever — we have to close down the Islamic faith schools." However, she said, ‘I haven’t seen anybody coming out of a Catholic or Jewish school advocating violence against women or homosexuals, or wanting to murder innocent people in the name of their religion.’

Development aid

The Netherlands has always been one of the most prominent countries that support aiding developing countries. As the spokesperson of the VVD in the parliament on this matter, Hirsi Ali said that the current development aid policy did not work to increase prosperity, peace and stability in the developing countries: "The VVD believes that Dutch international aid has failed until now, as measured by [the Dutch aid effects on] poverty reduction, famine reduction, life expectancy and the promotion of peace."

Immigration

Public statements

In 2003 Hirsi Ali worked together with fellow VVD MP Geert Wilders for several months. They questioned the government about immigration policy. In reaction to the UN Development Programme Arab Human Development Report Hirsi Ali asked the following question of Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the Minister without Portfolio for Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne. Together with parliamentarian Geert Wilders she asked the government to pay attention to the consequences for Dutch policy concerning the limitation of immigration from the Arab world to Europe, and in particular the Netherlands.

Although she always publicly supported the policy of VVD minister Rita Verdonk regarding limited immigration, privately she was not supportive, as she explained in an interview for ''Opzij'', given shortly after she had moved to the USA. In parliament, she supported the way Verdonk handled the Pasic case, although privately she felt that Pasic should have been allowed to stay. On the night before the debate, she phoned Verdonk to tell her that she herself had lied when she fled to the Netherlands, just as Pasic had. Verdonk responded that if she had been minister at that time, she would have had Hirsi Ali deported. Subsequently, when the matter came to a head in public with Verdonk it led to the challenges over Hirsi Ali's Dutch citizenship and ultimately to her leaving the parliament and the country (see above).

In the ''Opzij'' interview, Hirsi Ali said she supported a general pardon and the granting of Dutch citizenship for a group of 26,000 refugees, who had spent more than five years in the Netherlands without hearing about the status of their asylum. The VVD forbade her to speak her mind on this issue.

Since leaving the Dutch parliament, Hirsi Ali has made further statements in support of restrictive immigration policies. She made her statements on this subject on 1 November 2006 in the television program ''Aspekte'' on the German TV station ZDF. She said that she feared that Muslim immigrants, once in the majority, would introduce Sharia legislation.

Writings

Hirsi Ali has expounded on her view on immigration in Europe, in an article, published in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 2006. Noting first that immigrants are over-represented "in all the wrong statistics", she sees as consequences of the European Union's current immigration policy the trade in women and illegal arms, and the exploitation of poor migrants by "cruel employers", to which she adds that "Muslim migrants are receptive to the seduction of the Islamist movement".

She draws the attention to the numbers of illegal immigrants already in the Union. In her view current immigration policy will lead to ethnic and religious division, nation states will lose their monopoly of force, Islamic law (sharia) will, in fact, be introduced at the level of neighborhoods and cities, and exploitation of women and children will become "commonplace". To avoid this situation, she proposes three general principles for a new policy:

Admission of immigrants on the basis of their contribution to the economy. The current system "is designed to attract the highest number of people with truly heartbreaking stories".

Diplomatic, economic and military interventions in countries which risk causing large migrant flows.

Introduction of assimilation programs which acknowledge that "the basic tenets of Islam are a major obstacle to integration".

Israel and the Palestinians

"I visited Israel a few years ago, primarily to understand how it dealt so well with so many immigrants from different origins", Hirsi Ali says. "My main impression was that Israel is a liberal democracy. In the places I visited, including Jerusalem as well as Tel Aviv and its beaches, I saw that men and women are equal. One never knows what happens behind the scenes, but that is how it appears to the visitor. The many women in the army are also very visible."

"I understood that a crucial element of success is the unifying factor among immigrants to Israel. Whether one arrives from Ethiopia or Russia, or one's grandparents immigrated from Europe, what binds them is being Jewish. Such a bond is lacking in the Netherlands. Our immigrants' background is diverse and also differs greatly from that of the Netherlands, including religion."

As for Israel's problems, Hirsi Ali says, "From my superficial impression, the country also has a problem with fundamentalists. The ultra-Orthodox will cause a demographic problem because these fanatics have more children than the secular and the regular Orthodox."

On Palestinians: "I have visited the Palestinian quarters in Jerusalem as well. Their side is dilapidated, for which they blame the Israelis. In private, however, I met a young Palestinian who spoke excellent English. There were no cameras and no notebooks. He said the situation was partly their own fault, with much of the money sent from abroad to build Palestine being stolen by corrupt leaders".

"When I start to speak in the Netherlands about the corruption of the Palestinian Authority and the role of Arafat in the tragedy of Palestine, I do not get a large audience. Often one is talking to a wall. Many people reply that Israel first has to withdraw from the territories, and then all will be well with Palestine."

On the way Israel is perceived in the Netherlands: "The crisis of Dutch socialism can be sized up in its attitudes toward both Islam and Israel. It holds Israel to exceptionally high moral standards. The Israelis, however, will always do well, because they themselves set high standards for their actions.

"The standards for judging the Palestinians, however, are very low. Most outsiders remain silent on all the problems in their territories. That helps the Palestinians become even more corrupt than they already are. Those who live in the territories are not allowed to say anything about this because they risk being murdered by their own people."

Personal life

Hirsi Ali is married to British historian Niall Ferguson. Hirsi Ali gave birth to a son, Thomas, in December 2011.

Reception

Hirsi Ali has attracted praise and criticism from Anglophone commentators. Commentator and journalist Christopher Hitchens called Hirsi Ali a "charismatic figure in Dutch politics" and criticised the Dutch government for its negligent attitude towards her protection from "fascist killers". Patt Morrison of the ''Los Angeles Times'' called Hirsi Ali a freedom fighter for feminism who has "put her life on the line to defend women against radical Islam." Novelist and screenwriter Roger L. Simon has praised Ali's defense of women's rights, calling her "one of the great positive figures of our time, a modern Joan of Arc who surpasses the original Joan in a moral sense and is at least her equal in pure guts." He also criticises the ignorance of the Hollywood community about Ali's plight and the assassination of Theo Van Gogh.

The reception of Hirsi Ali's work in Scandinavia has been significant. She spoke at the meeting of the right wing Danish People's Party on 17 September 2010.

Islamic columnist Hesham A. Hassaballa has criticised Hirsi Ali for "making sweeping generalisations about Islam and Muslims" as "the Arab Human Development report speaks only of the Arab - and not Islamic - world". Hassaballa's criticism was in response to a comment Ali made on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" with Neil Conan, where she said "For empirical evidence on whether women and/or the Islamic world is in a crisis, I would like to refer Tony [a caller to the show] to the Arab Human Development report ... in which the writers of that report say the Arab/Islamic world is retarded when it comes to ... three factors: The freedom of the individual, knowledge, and the subjugation of women." Hassaballa has also criticized Hirsi Ali's statements by saying: "But what left me truly flabbergasted by that NPR interview was Ali's statement about the West: I know that Western societies have had a terrible past from the burning of women as witches all the way to what happened in the Second World War ... that's one part of the West. But there's the other part which is really developing institutions that safeguard the life and freedoms of the individual, and it would be a huge pity to confuse the two and to, you know, lump them together and describe the West only as a source of evil." Yet, she does that exact same thing when it comes to Islam and the Muslim world."

In its critique of Ali's autobiography, ''The Economist'' called her a "chameleon of a woman", referring to her "talent for reinvention".

Awards

: awarded the Freedom Prize of Denmark's Liberal Party (20 November 2004). the country's largest party and opponent leader, "for her work to further freedom of speech and the rights of women". Due to threats from Islamic fundamentalists she was not at the time able to receive it personally; however a year later, November 18, 2005, she traveled to Denmark to thank Prime Minister and party leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen for the prize, and made an unannounced attendance at Liberal Party's 2006 convention to thank party members. : Voted European of the Year for 2006 by the European editors of Reader's Digest magazine. At a ceremony in The Hague on January 23, Hirsi Ali accepted this award from EU Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes. : awarded the Prize of Liberty by Nova Civitas, a classical liberal think tank in the Low Countries (January 2004). : given the civilian prize ''Glas der Vernunft'' Kassel, Germany. The organisation rewarded her with this prize for her courage in criticising Islam (1 October 2006). Other laureates have included Leah Rabin, the wife of former Israeli prime-minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany. : given the Harriet Freezerring Emancipation Prize by Cisca Dresselhuys, editor of the feminist magazine ''Opzij'' (25 February 2005). : awarded the annual European Bellwether Prize by the Norwegian think tank Human Rights Service. According to HRS, Hirsi Ali is “beyond a doubt, the leading European politician in the field of integration. (She is) a master at the art of mediating the most difficult issues with insurmountable courage, wisdom, reflectiveness, and clarity" (June 2005). : awarded the annual Democracy Prize of the Swedish Liberal People's Party "for her courageous work for democracy, human rights and women's rights." She received the prize at a ceremony at the Swedish Riksdag from the party leader Lars Leijonborg (29 August 2005). : listed by American ''Time Magazine'' amongst the 100 Most Influential Persons of the World. She was put in the category "Leaders & Revolutionaries" (18 April 2005). : awarded the Tolerance Prize of Madrid (7 March 2005). : accepted the Moral Courage Award from the American Jewish Committee (4 May 2006). : given the Goldwater Award for 2007 from the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, at a dinner attended by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Rep. John Shadegg (R-Arizona), and Steve Forbes (7 December 2007). : presented with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for nonfiction for her book for ''Infidel''. Due to security concerns because of the death threats, the award was not announced in advance, but was a surprise presentation at the award ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, presided over by Rita Dove (11 September 2008). The Anisfield-Wolf awards recognize "recent books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture."

Publications

''De Zoontjesfabriek over vrouwen, Islam en integratie'', translated as ''The Son Factory: About Women, Islam and Integration''. A collection of essays and lectures from before 2002. It also contains an extended interview originally published in ''Opzij'', a feminist magazine. The book focuses on the position of Muslims in the Netherlands.

''De Maagdenkooi'', translated as ''The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam''. A collection of essays and lectures from 2003–2004, combined with her personal experiences as a translator working for the NMS. The book focuses on the position of women in Islam.

''Mijn Vrijheid'', translated as ''Infidel''. An autobiography published in Dutch in September 2006 by publisher Augustus, Amsterdam and Antwerp, 447 pages, ISBN 90 457 0112x/ISBN 978 90 457, and in English in February 2007. It was edited by Richard Miniter.

''Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations''. Published by Free Press. Released 18 May 2010. ISBN 1439157316 ISBN 9781439157312

AHA Foundation

Hirsi Ali is the founder and president of the AHA Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian organisation created to protect women and girls in the U.S. against political Islam and harmful tribal customs that violate U.S. law and international conventions. Through the AHA Foundation, Hirsi Ali campaigns against the denial of education for girls, genital mutilation, forced marriage, honour violence and killings, and suppression of information about the crimes themselves through the misuse and misinterpretation of rights to freedom of religion and free speech in the U.S. and the West. Such crimes are increasing in America and may affect the rights of all Americans. For example, a nine-month old female was genitally mutilated in Georgia in 2010. The AHA Foundation exists as a resource for women in America in this vulnerable population.

See also

Criticism of Islam

Criticism of Islamism

Irshad Manji

Tasleema Nasreen

Raheel Raza

Wafa Sultan

Women in Islam

References

External links

Jusova, Iveta. "Hirsi Ali and van Gogh's Submission: Reinforcing the Islam vs. Women Binary." Women's Studies International Forum 31:2 (Spring 2008): 148-155.

weblog American Enterprise Institute profile

The Viability of Hope conversation with David A. Harris at The American Jewish Committee, May 2008

From Islam to America talk with author Susanne Pari at The Commonwealth Club, May 2010

Nomad: From Islam to America discussion with Jennifer Byrne and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at The Wheeler Centre, July 2010

Category:Living people Category:1969 births Category:Dutch people of Somali descent Category:21st-century women writers Category:Atheism activists Category:Classical liberals Category:Criticism of Islam Category:Dutch atheists Category:Dutch former Muslims Category:Dutch politicians Category:Feminist writers Category:Free speech activists Category:Genital integrity activists Category:People from Mogadishu Category:Immigrants to the Netherlands Category:Islam in the Netherlands Category:Islam and women Category:Leiden University alumni Category:Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands Category:Opposition to Islam in Europe Category:People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians Category:Women's rights in religious movements Category:Somalian emigrants Category:Dutch feminists Category:People from Washington, D.C.

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