Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The Caged Virgin, An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam 2008
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"..Is there an enlightened Muslim man or woman who can stand with Voltaire and say, "To think of virgin as a virtue--and not a barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge -- is an infantile superstition"? Where is the biting criticism from within? Or is it the West that should be listening to the critical voice of Voltaire and examining itself and it's committment to moral principles? As Thomas L. Friedman has written, Westeners should hold Arabs and Muslims to the same high moral standards as Westeners hold for themselves. .."

— Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Superstitions in Muslim societies

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets ""..Is there an enlightened Muslim man or woman who can stand with Voltaire and say, "To think of virgin as a virtue--and not a barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge -- is an infantile superstition"? Where is the biting criticism from within? Or is it the West that should be listening to the critical voice of Voltaire and examining itself and it's committment to moral principles? As Thomas L. Friedman has written, Westeners should hold Arabs and Muslims to the same high moral standards as Westeners hold for themselves. .."" in the context of "Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The Caged Virgin, An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam 2008" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Superstitions in Muslim societies" (Quotes, A) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

About Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born Ayaan Hirsi Magan on November 13, 1969) is a Somali-born American liberal politician and feminist. She was an MP for the Dutch liberal People's Party for Democracy between 2003 and 2006. She currently works for a conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute.