Two Reviews of "The Caged Virgin"

It is a poorly kept secret that one’s admittance into the inner sanctum of neo-con think-tank harems can be pushed along if an author goes public with his or her insolence toward Islam and slurs its most revered figures, and does so with plenty of meretricious prose to boot. Enter Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a modern-day spoof of an embattled “intellectual” (of the James Frey school of literature), who joyfully joins the brainy likes of the legendary Irshad Manji and hidden Jerry Springer protégé, Ibn Warraq. Please join me as I stand at the mere mention of these luminaries.

You now may be seated. I invite you to read two reviews of Ali’s latest book The Caged Virgin. First up: Fareena Alam, editor of Q-News Magazine. Her review appears in The New Statesman. Fareena begins like this:

"It's obviously what I've been waiting for all my life: a secular crusader - armed with Enlightenment philosophy, the stamp of the liberal establishment and the promise of sexual freedom - swooping into my harem and liberating me from my "ignorant", "uncritical", "dishonest" and "oppressed" Muslim existence. At least that is what Ayaan Hirsi Ali thinks I've been waiting for. Her latest book, The Caged Virgin, is a collection of essays intended to unveil the sexual terrorism she says is inherent in Islam. In reality, it is a smash-and-grab aggregation of inconsistencies, platitudes and poor scholarship."

Read the rest here.

Read also Laila Lalami (of Moorishgirl.com). Her review appeared in The Nation.