At the Philadelphia Inquirer, a profile of Ayaan Hirsi Ali brings some formerly taboo subjects into the mainstream media: Freedom fighter. (Hat tip: Miss Kelly.)

You need talk only briefly with Hirsi Ali, or read The Caged Virgin - a crisp, very clear indictment of Islamic misogyny mixed with autobiographical scenes and reflections about her own liberation - to understand that the lady pulls no punches.

This is not Rodney King and “Can’t we all just get along?” Not “We respect Islam and, hey, everyone has a few bad apples.”

Hirsi Ali aims at Islam’s heart. She insists that the beliefs and life of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, must be confronted, analyzed, and, in many respects, rejected.

“If 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion abide by, follow his rules,” Hirsi Ali observes, “and say we want to be like him, then I think it’s urgent, it’s necessary.”

She concedes that Muhammad urged Muslims to do some good things, “such as his advice to be charitable toward the poor and orphans.” But, Hirsi Ali insists, on the whole he’s not admirable.

“He borrowed a little bit from Judaism,” she says, “he borrowed a little bit from Christianity, and he invented some things, especially the fierceness with which he dealt with his enemies, the killing, the way he violated special tribal rules.”

Long before radical Islamists threatened violence in return for any criticism of Muhammad (thus violating the Islamic principle that Muhammad was a man with flaws and should not be idolized), Islamic scholars accepted that Muhammad was a warrior of his time, contending that he shouldn’t be judged by modern standards.

Even Lewis, the great scholar of Islam, leans to that interpretation, though Hirsi Ali sees his graciousness as prudence: “I think Bernard wants to leave the Arabs some dignity... . He wants to give them an opening, which is really noble... . ”

Her own view, however, is that “following this man [Muhammad] can lead to only one thing, fascism... .”

Hirsi Ali says she decided to confront Muhammad’s history after Nigerian Muslims rioted over the planned 2002 Miss World contest there. A British-educated Nigerian journalist poured fuel on the fire by writing that Muhammad himself would have married one of the contestants. The rioting killed 200 people.

“So I said,” Hirsi Ali confides, “ ‘You know what, darling Europeans? I’m going to tell you about Muhammad!’ ”

True to her gloves-off approach, Hirsi Ali talked about how Muhammad, who had nine wives, fell in love with his wife Aisha when she was 6 and married her when she was 9. Hirsi Ali outraged Dutch Muslims by accusing Muhammad of pedophilia.