medical career. then another turning point. for the first time she saw recruitment videos of child jihadists ritualistically killing adults in the name of islam. qanta traveled to her parents homeland pakistan visiting a school that rehabilitated children who were brainwashed by islamists. in 2012 she testified before the house homeland security committee on radical islam in the united states. islamism is a political ideology with totalitarian missions. dr. qanta ahmed joins me now. author of in the land of invisible woman. what a great title, doctor. good to see you tonight. in the land of invisible women is right. that s one issue we have yet to fully explore and that is something that drove ayaan to have the views that she has and that is something you share with her, the treatment of women and how abhorrent it is in some factions of islam. yes, megyn. thanks for tracking me down in
welcome back now to our kelly file special defying the sword. tonight we re looking at the issue of radical islam and how best to deal with it. in her new book heretic ayaan hirsi ali says islam needs a gut renovation. not everyone agrees. a fellow at the institute for social policy and understanding. and also back with us now is ayaan hirsi ali. let me start with you. what is it about ayaan s call for a repformation with which you disagree it. two things. the first is she has no traction in the muslim community. if we re interested in tackling radical islam, we should be she doesn t have an audience, doesn t have traction. if you re talking about a reform trying to stop a real problem in the modern day it should be a problem people are willing to listen to. second more seriously, her
special. welcome back. our kelly file special continues now with a story of dr. qanta ahmed. like ayaan hirsi ali and dr. jasser she once sat with a terror expert to view jihadist videos of decapitation. what she calls a pivotal experience. we ll speak with her in a moment. first, more on her story. dr. qanta ahmed was born in london raised in the islamic faith. i m the granddaughter of muslims born in india. she earned her medical degree at the university of nottingham took a job practicing and teaching medicine in a country she thought she understood saudi arabia. it was while she was there that the attacks of september 11th happened. she was stunned by the reaction some colleagues and fellow muslims did not share her feelings of horror at the loss of innocent life. in 2010 dr. ahmed moved to new york city to continue her
speaking out against islam. absolutely true. unacceptable. violence against anyone is unacceptable. is there anything we can be saying or discussing here in the united states that can get us past that or that can stop this problem at least within our borders? well there is no problem within our borders. there isn t? look at what happened in dallas texas. two men already known to the fbi, already radicalized attacked an event. no american organization made a protest against the event. the men did not bring up radical ideas in their mosque. the minute they brought them up they d be reported. isis has a presence in all 50 states. we have an issue. with respect the fbi says the number one terror threat in america is domestic right-wing groups. let s quote all of the fbi. the right wing groups are more of a threat to america than radical islam? i m saying what the fbi is saying. you quoted the fbi. i m going with that. that s what you think we should focus on? i think
distinction of those that would like to fight radical islam and don t like what they are doing and the perception of islam at large and our last guest that wanted to equate radical islam with right wing extremism and try to drawequation there is a description but we don t see it by right-winged extremists in the united states. it doesn t come to mind. do individuals that claim to speak as muslims recognize the deeper problem or just deal with violence and apologetics. if he they say the problem is the means, that s absurd. what is the end game? if they want do it peacefully or violent by the end game is the islamic state of some form they are part of the problem. if not the major problem. thank you all so much for your thoughts and participation