For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats

[rayofreason]

LOS ANGELES, March 10 — Three weeks ago, Dr. Wafa Sultan was a largely unknown Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside Los Angeles, nursing a deep anger and despair about her fellow Muslims.

Today, thanks to an unusually blunt and provocative interview on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21, she is an international sensation, hailed as a fresh voice of reason by some, and by others as a heretic and infidel who deserves to die.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html?ex=1299733200&en=d13886daba5e586f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

This woman is a profiile in courage for saying what needs to be said.

[Jim Sagle]

1. She absolutely is.

[Pooka Fey]

2. Wow. Amazing article. And the woman is a former Muslim - she describes

herself as "secular" now. We need to hear a lot more from people like her. Agreed - she is saying what needs to be said.

[ronnie624]

3. I find it interesting that Dr Sultan

does not mention the history of involvement in the Middle East and other Islamic nations by westerners. She doesn't seem to consider in her assessment the centuries of imperialism as well as the facilitation and outright installation of brutal dictatorships in a number of countries in Asia including Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia - the bombings and invasions resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

When you brutally exploit other nations for cheap energy, profit and hegemony perhaps you bear a degree of responsibility for the radicalism which might arise as a result. Perhaps the most effective means of understanding the origins of the radicalism of modern Islam and dealing with it rationally and logically can be found in a certain amount of introspection by those of us who benefit from the exploitation of others.

[RDU Socialist]

11. oh the radicals are exploiting the people who kill in their name

they are twisting around the Koran to justify they're hideous agenda, just like people like Rev. Fred Phelps and his ilk twist around the Bible to treat homosexuals with scorn and even violence. Blacks were oppressed in this country for hundreds of years, and only became somewhat equal citizens in the last forty years. When the Million Man March happened to protest racism and to further progress Black America, did they firebomb any buildings? Did they kill one another in anger? I'm sorry, killing people over cartoons as happened in Nigeria can't be rationalized in any human way. Issuing calls for death over disagreements about what someone has written or said can't be rationalized in any human way.

And don't make it seem like Islam didn't engage in serious imperialism. They invaded and held Spain for centuries. They attempted (unsuccessfully) to invade the West in the 17th century but were stopped in Austria. Islam is as guilty of colonialization and brutal foreign policy as the west and christianity are.

[smirkymonkey]

13. Great post.

Two words for the defenders of violence in the name of resisting Western Imperialism: Ottoman Empire.

And let's not forget the Armenian(Christian)Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Turks.

[genie_weenie]

14. I find that interesting, as well

Because my understanding of the growth of Islam from 622 Common Era onward was one of joy and peaceful acceptance by peoples around the world of the *finally* complete revealed and perfect word. Thank goddness the early Muslims never had to engage in combat or ever force a person to accept the beautiful word...

[Lost-in-FL]

15. The same happens in Latin America with Imperialism

but you don't see Equatorians, Panamenians or Colombians blowing themselves up! :shrug: What we are seen in Latin America is a new found love for Socialism and unity, not extremism.

If it wasn't imperialism, they would find another excuse or another country to go against.

[DemExpat]

4. Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The Netherlands has 24 hour protection

from those within Islam who threaten her life.

I am curious to see how Dr. Sultan will manage with her and her family's protection. :-(

DemEx

[gtar100]

16. I don't think the article helped her protection

Basically said, here's the town she lives in, this is what her husband does for a living, her children go to public school, her mother lives in ... blah blah blab

Not that she seems to be hiding, but they did all but give her address and phone number and how many hits they would need to make to take out her family. What stupidity. It was irrelevant to the point of the story.

I hope she stays safe; she seems very smart and right on topic with Islam. But tempt the devil and the devil you get.

[DemExpat]

17. Ayaan's site in English hosts the video of Dr. Sultan

along with other articles of interest criticising negatives of the practice of Islam and its impact on Dutch society.

http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/categorie/46044

DemEx

[Andromeda]

5. What a brave woman.

The backlash from radicals probably holds a lot of Muslims back from expressing their true feelings. Nobody should have their life threatened for speaking the truth.

I pray for her continued health and safety.

[DemExpat]

18. I agree that more moderate Muslims do not dare speak their mind

in this climate. :-(

But they are the ones who are going to have to open any real, honest dialgoue IMO.

DemEx

[0007]

6. We need more people like this lady to work for peace.

In the interview, which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.

She said the world's Muslims, whom she compares unfavorably with the Jews, have descended into a vortex of self-pity and violence.

Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose.

In response, clerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats. But Islamic reformers have praised her for saying out loud, in Arabic and on the most widely seen television network in the Arab world, what few Muslims dare to say even in private.

"I believe our people are hostages to our own beliefs and teachings," she said in an interview this week in her home in a Los Angeles suburb.

Dr. Sultan, who is 47, wears a prim sweater and skirt, with fleece-lined slippers and heavy stockings. Her eyes and hair are jet black and her modest manner belies her intense words: "Knowledge has released me from this backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs."

Perhaps her most provocative words on Al Jazeera were those comparing how the Jews and Muslims have reacted to adversity. Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, "The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling."

She went on, "We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people."

She concluded, "Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."

[smirkymonkey]

9. She's got a point.

A number of them in fact.

"Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose...."Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."

History is filled with stories of bruatally oppressed people who have overcome by organinzing and coming up with workable and positive solutions - sometimes even a revolution against the existing structue or governments (in their case, theocracies.) The western nations would not be able to take advantage of these countries if their goverments weren't complicit. The greed is both on our part and the part of the rich and powerful in Muslim nations.

They will NEVER prevail unless they first take a look their own failings first, instead of perpetually blaming others for their misery. And this will never be accomplished as long as they are mired in religious fundamentalism and ignorance.

[DemExpat]

12. I agree with you on the greed involved here , SM.

And the most salient point that she makes, along with the few others who have the courage to criticize many who practice Islam today, is the one she makes by risking her life to say what she thinks.

DemEx

[robcon]

7. Not only is the article inspiring,

the video, where her calm, earnest voice calling for reason is amazing.

Her bravery in the light of the violence of the Muslims (cartoons, France, etc.) is enormous. We must respect her for her courage and wisdom.

She will be killed, I am afraid.

[RDU Socialist]

10. she lives in Los Angeles

people who speak out against Islam are fairly safe in this country. They can issue all the fatwas they want, but look at the Salmun Rushdie one, he's still alive and kicking.

[SKKY]

8. Beautiful.

[oblivious]

19. "Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing..

...people and destroying embassies.

Is that a fair statement?

[Scurrilous]

20. Dr. Sultan had better watch her back...

...she's seriously encroaching on Nonie Darwish's meal ticket.

[oblivious]

21. The NYT calls her a Muslim, but she says she is not.

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."...

...She said she no longer practiced Islam. "I am a secular human being," she said.


In the original interview:
I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395542151&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[megatherium]

22. Apostasy is supposed to be punished by death in Sharia (Islamic law). nt

[PsychoDad]

24. Only in the case where the apostate...

Becomes a danger to the Ummah, or Muslim community. Remember that when the Quranic injunction was given about apostates that there was only one Muslim community/nation, to turn against it was, what is today called Treason.

Treason is still punishable in the United States by Death.

The verse must be understood in the context of the times.

Unfortunately Muslim theologians, as do Christians and others, sometimes use verses out of historical and textual context to further their aims.

Peace.

[megatherium]

25. Would merely declaring you no longer believe in Islam

be construed as treason? Or would you have to declare yourself as an enemy of Islam, actively involved in efforts to defeat the religion? I suppose that in the seventh century, this would have been a difficult distinction to make. I also suppose that our modern, American understanding of religion as something you "believe" in, has little bearing on the attitudes of Muslims or other religions, where belonging to the religion is a much more profound matter of belonging to a culture, a community, where there is no distinction between politics and religion. (Europeans, and by extension Americans, constructed the notion of religion being a matter of private conscience in the 18th century, after centuries of terrible religious wars and persecutions and after the Enlightenment threatened core religious doctrines.)

Of course, in the modern world, we do expect freedom of religion as a basic human right, a human right that does not exist in some Muslim countries (and elsewhere). Pakistan, our ally in the war on terrorism, still punishes blasphemy by death. (I don't know if this law is ever enforced; I have read of recent cases involving Christians accused of blasphemy.)

Perhaps it is unreasonable of me as an American to expect the Pakistanis or the Saudis to respect freedom of conscience or other human rights that they do not accept as Muslims. Perhaps in cases where Muslims are accused of blasphemy, apostasy (or homosexuality, etc), we can offer to accept them as political refugees. And we would have no further business in the Middle East; we would spend our trillion dollar war budget on energy independence instead.

[IA_Seth]

26. I am not an expert...

Nor am I a Muslim, but having read some on the subject, and having been embraced by many Muslim families in my area I will give it a shot...

I believe that actively disrupting the community, or Ummah, would be viewed as "treason" for lack of a better word. So I guess it would depend on when/where you declared you were no longer a Muslim?

I believe the issue of "treason" or "blasphemy" has changed back and forth depending upon time, location, and interpretation (as much as any religion)...

At one point Muslims considered people of the Abrahamic faiths (Christian and Jew) as "people of the book". They allowed them to live, work, and worship in their own ways, but taxed them extra for their lack of faith in the one true God. The three faiths weren't always "at war" and at one time co-existed relatively peacefully.

In other times/places a declaration of blasphemy would have been met with stoning (I believe).

Islam is not a faith of violence any more than Christianity or Judaism. It is and always will be a matter of interpretation.

[populistdriven]

23. "Violence Destroys Christianity" Slap that on your car

$5 says it gets keyed