Ayaan Hirsi Ali weighs in on Swiss vote banning the construction of minarets

Swiss ban on minarets was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Christian Science Monitor.

Hirsi Ali considers the societal and political debate that was evident in the Swiss referendum in which the construction of minarets on Muslim mosques was banned. A couple of quotes:

"The recent Swiss referendum that bans construction of minarets has caused controversy across the world. There are two ways to interpret the vote. First, as a rejection of political Islam, not a rejection of Muslims. In this sense it was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, which political Islam rejects. Second, the vote was a revelation of the big gap between how the Swiss people and the Swiss elite judge political Islam."

"The minaret is a symbol of Islamist supremacy, a token of domination that came to symbolize Islamic conquest. It was introduced decades after the founding of Islam. "

"And this is what the Swiss vote shows us. This is a confrontation between local, working-class voters (and some middle-class feminists) and Muslim immigrant newcomers who feel that they are entitled, not only to practice their religion, but also to replace the local political order with that of their own."

Hirsi Ali highlights the current conflict and uncertainty about how the Swiss and, indeed, other Europeans, will regard the growing Muslim population in light of Muslim ideology.