Wafa Sultan
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Wafa Sultan on Al Jazeera February 2006
Wafa Sultan on Al Jazeera February 2006

Wafa Sultan (Arabic: وفاء سلطان) (born 1958, Baniyas, Syria) is a secular activist [1] and vocal critic of Islam.

In a video interview, Wafa Sultan stated, "I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it."[2] In recent Time interview she still described herself as a Muslim though ... "I even don't believe in Islam," she says, "but I am a Muslim."[3]
Contents
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* 1 Life and career
* 2 Political views
* 3 Awards and recognitions
* 4 Criticism
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
o 7.1 Interviews and speeches
o 7.2 Opinions
o 7.3 Photos

[edit] Life and career

Sultan is a Syrian-American psychiatrist (from an Alawi family). She resides in Los Angeles, California. She emigrated to the US in 1989, and is now a naturalized citizen.

Sultan has become notable since the September 11, 2001 attacks for her participation in Middle East political debates, with Arabic essays that circulated widely and some television appearances on Al-Jazeera and CNN.

On February 21, 2006, she took part in Al Jazeera's weekly 90-minute discussion program The Opposite Direction. She spoke from Los Angeles, arguing with host Faisal al-Qassem and with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli about Samuel P. Huntington's Clash of Civilizations theory. A six minute composite video of her remarks was subtitled and widely circulated by MEMRI on weblogs and through e-mail. In this video she is scolding Muslims for treating non-Muslims differently and for not recognizing the accomplishments of non-Muslim society, while using its wealth and technology.

The New York Times estimated that the video of her appearance was viewed at least one million times as it spread via weblogs and email.[4]

Sultan revealed to the Times that she is working on a book to be called The Escaped Prisoner: When God Is a Monster.

Recently, she sat in on a free-speech discussion at the University of Southern California, organized by the Ayn Rand Institute with Yaron Brook and Daniel Pipes as speakers.

[edit] Political views

Sultan describes her thesis as witnessing "a battle between modernity and barbarism which Islam will lose", has brought her telephone threats,[5] but also praise from reformers. Her comments, especially a pointed criticism that "no Jew has blown himself up in a German restaurant", brought her an invitation to Tel Aviv, Israel by the American Jewish Congress.

Sultan believes that "The trouble with Islam is deeply rooted in its teachings. Islam is not only a religion. Islam (is) also a political ideology that preaches violence and applies its agenda by force."[6]

Discussing with Ahmad bin Muhammad, she said: "It was these teachings that distorted this terrorist and killed his humanity[7]

Sultan said she was shocked into secularism by the 1979 atrocities committed by Islamic extremists of the Muslim Brotherhood against innocent Syrian people, including the machine-gun assassination of her professor, Dr. Yusef al Yusef, an ophthalmologist renowned beyond Syria, in her classroom in front of her eyes at the University of Aleppo where she was a medical student. "They shot hundreds of bullets into him, shouting, 'God is great!' " she said. "At that point, I lost my trust in their god and began to question all our teachings. It was the turning point of my life, and it has led me to this present point. I had to leave. I had to look for another god." This account of on-campus assassination is disputed by several people including staff and students of the university[8].

[edit] Awards and recognitions

In 2006 Wafa Sultan was named on Time Magazine in a list of 100 influential people in the world "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world."[9] The Time Magazine stated that "Sultan's influence flows from her willingness to express openly critical views on Islamic extremism that are widely shared but rarely aired by other Muslims."[10]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Wafa Sultan

[edit] Criticism

Several claims by Sultan have been disputed. Abdussalam Mohamed of InFocus, the largest Muslim newspaper in California, questioned her assertion that her professor was machine gunned in the classroom before her eyes, the circumstances of her emigration to the US, and that her Al Jazeera clip was edited out of context. [11] as per the transcript of the interview [12]. The Annaqed (The Critic) web site.

Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein wrote in Los Angeles Times on June 25, 2006 after attending a fundraiser for a local Jewish organization where Sultan was a speaker: "The more Sultan talked, the more evident it became that progress in the Muslim world was not her interest... She never alluded to any healthy, peaceful Islamic alternative." The rabbi mentioned that Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, "was one of the few voices of restraint and nuance heard that afternoon. In response to Sultan’s assertion that the Koran contains only verses of evil and domination, Pearl said he understood the book also included ‘verses of peace’ that proponents of Islam uphold as the religion’s true intent. The Koran’s verses on war and brutality, Pearl contended, were ‘cultural baggage,’ as are similar verses in the Torah." He added, "Sultan’s over-the-top, indefensible remarks at the fundraiser, along with her failure to mention the important, continuing efforts of the Islamic Center (of Southern California), insulted all Muslims and Jews in L.A. and throughout the nation who are trying to bridge the cultural gap between the two groups. And that’s one reason why I eventually walked out of the event."

Arabs need to eliminate this stupid "hudna" concept from their lexicon. Dhimmis don`t go for this idiocy anymore, temporary cease-fire in exchange for something permament. Hamas offers this because they are fast losing the ability to wage war at all, Israel has wrecked their main explosives labs, cut off the pipe supplies used for Qassam production, and stopped sniping and suicide attacks by constructing the security barrier. Of course they want the boycott to end, to regroup, rearm and free up resources to launch future terrorist attacks! Total military subjugation of Hamastan is a legitimate path to real peace, just as Nazism had to be foreceably dismantled to create today`s Europe. PA made a fatal mistake by trying to sweeten the Oslo deal using terrorism. The Oslo deal is now gone, and Hamas isn`t going to get it back for them. Sane thing to do is cut losses and salvage a smaller deal by rebuilding trust with Israel through the 3 Road Map steps. Not threats and this "hudna" crap.

In the Oslo Declaration of Principles, the Palestinians undertook to refrain from violence, and Israel and the United States were assured that the PLO recognizes the right of Israel to exist. Of these undertakings, nothing at all remains. Hundreds of reassurances about stopping violence were followed by terror attacks. Even while assuring the world that he opposed violence, Arafat was signing salary cheques for terrorists and the Palestinian treasury was funding suicide bomber vests. In violation of the Oslo DOP and the Wye River accords, incitement against Israel in the Palestinain media continued.
The elections that brought the Hamas to power, held with the consent and on the insistence of the PLO were illegal. Under the Oslo interim agreement, parties that are committed to violence were not allowed to participate in the elections, yet Hamas was allowed to participate.

You can instantly hit the best seller list regardless what baseless and unfounded crap you`re peddling so long as you present yourself as viciously anti-israel and pro-palestinian. Well, pro Palestinian isn`t quite so important since none of the famous Israel bashers have ever offered up anything positive or pragmatic for Palestinians. No, being an author who viciously attacks Israel based on lies and half-truths pretty much guarantees wide readership.
Just ask Noam Chomsky, Norman Finklestein, Alexander Cockburn, David Duke etc...At least those guys have the courage to attempt to back up their claims in some sort of debate forum. Carter`s plan boils down to this.."i`ll publish a book so full of lies that my own staff quits rather than publishes with me, i`ll push this book as if it were the gospel, i`ll refuse to discuss any aspect of my book with critics, and i`ll take this opportunity to attempt to cement my legacy as something other than the best example of a lame duck president"