Ayaan Hirshi Ali: Is She the Reformer or the Zealot?

Is Islam a violent religion in need of a “reformation?” Are Muslims responsible for 70% of the violence in the world?

These are some of the claims that the celebrated author,  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, makes in her new book Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.  Many Muslims and some writers disagree with Hirshi Ali’s characterization of Islam as a violent religion and recently took their debate to Twitter.

On one side was Max Bluementhal, a journalist and author, and on the other was Ali Hirshi’s husband, Nial Ferguson, the British historian, author, and Harvard professor.

Hirshi Ali is a Somali-born Muslim who fled her tribal village in 1977 and eventually settled in the Netherlands. In 2003, she  was elected to the Dutch Parliament and in 2005, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2006, she emigrated to the United States where she founded a women’s rights organization and became a fellow at the Kennedy Government School at Harvard.

Here Hirshi Ali talks to CNN about her book and here she talks to the  New York Times.

Max Blumenthal responds to Hirshi Ali’s argument in an essay for Alternet called “Exposing Anti-Islam Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Latest Deception.”

Read the stories and take a look at the tweets below. The last tweet  is from Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth who wonders how you can have a reformation of Islam if you are at war with all of Islam.

What do you think?

.@nfergus “If you look at 70 percent of the violence in the world today, Muslims are responsible” — @Ayaan http://t.co/n9WRy26DaE

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 27, 2015

.@Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest deception: One of America’s most prominent Islam bashers has a long history of fraud http://t.co/n9WRy26DaE — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 27, 2015

.@Ayaan Fascinating to see the unholy alliance of Islamists and extreme Leftists trying to smear you. Lots of them, organized, unscrupulous.

— Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) March 28, 2015

Which side are you on? The Islam reformers vs. the Muslim zealots by @Ayaan http://t.co/fonpKV0S6Q — Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) March 28, 2015

You can’t say we are at war with all of Islam and then call for reform @Ayaan – you can’t be taken seriously anymore

— Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) March 27, 2015