Austen and Islam

Dale Dykema of Covenant Home Curriculum writes: “I have just finished reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali Moslem woman converted to Dutch Humanism. Her efforts to expose the violence of Islam, especially its oppression of women is noteworthy. Of particular interest to me was how this woman discovered another way of life. As a young girl, living in Kenya, Ethiopia and other Moslem countries, she was able to teach herself enough English to read all of Jane Austen and other similar novels. In them she discovered the Western, or Christian status of women. Though not given the insight to see Christ in this, she nonetheless saw much more than most people do of the influence of Christendom expressed there. This was her only contact with the outside world.”