Restoring the West by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Restoring the West by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Law & Liberty

Ayaan Answers: Why Western Liberty Cannot Coexist with Islamic Law

To intelligently discern between legal, moral and ethical options, one must first study them all.

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Trey Dimsdale and Restoring the West by Ayaan
Mar 25, 2026
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the Founder of AHA Foundation and Restoring the West Substack. Known as someone who speaks truth no matter the cost, she is a women’s rights activist, champion of free speech, and best-selling author.

In this conversation, Ayaan lays out exactly why treating Islamist societies as identically beneficial to Western ones isn’t compassionate, democratic, smart, or even trendy—it is actually culturally suicidal. As someone who grew under Islamist rule, she argues that Western traditions of religious, civil, and political liberties are uniquely better to create and sustain human flourishing.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

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Trey Dimsdale
Trey Dimsdale, Senior Editor of Law & Liberty at Restoring the West, is president of the AHA Foundation. Follow him on X @TreyDimsdale.
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