Dr. Wafa Sultan, A true Muslim Hero

Know this name. Remember it, because in the next few days/weeks the whole world will know it. Dr Sultan has spoken words that have most certainly condemned her to death, words that criticize Islam. Not just criticize Islam, but she actually used the Jews as a model for Islam on Al Jazeera TV.

But understand Dr Wafa Sultan is (was) a Muslim herself, not some non Muslim critic or analyst looking to get a name out there. And she was clear, concise and held no punches in her criticism of Islam and its teachings and the terrorism that results.

But don’t take my word for it, see it yourself
here

Some quotes from the interview:

“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.”

(My personal favorite)

“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.”

“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.”

(Maybe this one was my favorite?)

It’s so refreshing to find an intelligent speaker like Dr. Wafa Sultan who is willing to speak out and risk her life like this. These are the things we must hear and see on the news; it’s this kind of thinking that the world needs to open itself up too. That last quote nails it, you earn respect, and you cannot demand it without earning it. Things aren’t like they were 1500 years ago.

Dr. Wafa Sultan, the bravest Muslim on the planet. Its unfortunate that the very things she speaks out against will ultimately cause many people to want to kill her.

Expect much uproar over her words over the next few days as it gets around. I predict even more than the Danish cartoons.

Another source: www.michaelyon-online.com...




[edit on 14-3-2006 by skippytjc]

Full transcript here:
www.memritv.org...


You go Wafa!

She has been doing the rounds on some lesser known-to-the-US European media for a year or two now (I remember first properly hearing her speak on BBC radio four after the July 7th London bombing) and while I'm sure the Al-Jazeera deaththreat answer machine service was red hot all night after her interview, I doubt it'll spark the kind of reaction you saw with the cartoons (much of which was probably a stunt anyway by radical student groups in the west and radical Islamic political factions in the M East)...

Moderate voices are heard within Islamic communities in the west and east (not as much as one would probably like though) and you just don't hear about it so much on the global media (be it CNN or Al Jazeera) as it tends tobe very local... I dont think most people find it that super-brave or suprising though

Still, I guess it's always good to hear, after all.. dissenting voices do begin reformations...

I think the Jewish analogy is pretty flawed though...

She certainly is brave and I admire her for taking such a dangerous stand, but I really do think (correctly or no) that people who in the end say Muslims are the only ones who do these things aren't helping.

Extremists on either side are capable of massive stupidity and it's just my opinion that it's all about a mindset more than religion. While the extremist muslim sects seem to do a very good job with their programming their suicide bombers, we've seen "warriors for god" under various religions do similar things for various reasons.

It's the sheer number of willing muslims who become suicide bombers or members of terrorist cells that seem so overwhelming.

The vast majority of the bombers are men, they live in abject poverty, no job prospects, no marriage prospects, nothing but their religion it's all they have to hold onto and unfortunately that makes them very easy prey for cowards who are all about the sacrifice of others than the sacrifice of themselves.

If martyrdom is so great why hasn't osama bin laden strapped a bomb to his chest and blown something up? Because his reaction would be the same as anybody else who actually has something to live for..."What are you nuts! You strap a bomb to yourself, I've got a noon tee off time."

She's certainly brave and hopefully Salman Rushdies got an extra room, but I just think terrorism can happen under many guises and using the word muslim instead of extremist just seems wrong to me.

Maybe it's semantics, maybe I'm making too big of a deal about nothing, but it just seems like the wrong approach to the problem somehow.

IMO of course and as always.

Spiderj

Very interesting find though.

Originally posted by skippytjc

“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.”

(My personal favorite)

“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.”

shes pretty stupid to say those considering the terrorism the jews carried out in palestine when they wanted there own country when they destoryed/bombed the king david hotel with terrorist bombs and they also detonated a bomb outside on the road and killed dozens of civillians also the stern/irgun terrorist orginisations thats carried out terrorist activities in the middle east to create israel combined with random land mines placed in civillians ares to kill arabs. jews have carries out terrorism i cant belive she got away with saying that crap without being challenged.

the jews carried out hundreds of terrorist operation in palestine to create israel this is documented fact.

also lets not forget the targeted assinations of ex-millitry personel from germany carried out by mossad even though killing an ex-millitry personal is considered illegle by internation law becuase since that person is not a part of the millitry there considered civillians. israel killed them by carrying out there own trials without involving the world community to confirm and double check the facts for which they charged those civllians beofre they killed them.

Originally posted by skippytjc

“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.”

(Maybe this one was my favorite?)

once again not true look at northen ireland an dthe christian civil war that happened there cristians slaughter other christians burned down each other churches and killed people.

Originally posted by Spiderj
She certainly is brave and I admire her for taking such a dangerous stand, but I really do think (correctly or no) that people who in the end say Muslims are the only ones who do these things aren't helping.

The vast majority of the bombers are men, they live in abject poverty, no job prospects, no marriage prospects, nothing but their religion it's all they have to hold onto and unfortunately that makes them very easy prey for cowards who are all about the sacrifice of others than the sacrifice of themselves.

She's certainly brave and hopefully Salman Rushdies got an extra room, but I just think terrorism can happen under many guises and using the word muslim instead of extremist just seems wrong to me.

Maybe it's semantics, maybe I'm making too big of a deal about nothing, but it just seems like the wrong approach to the problem somehow.

IMO of course and as always.

Spiderj

Remember the context - she was debating another muslim. I don't think she in any way meant to imply that muslims are the only ones who do those things. And she was speaking from the vantage point of a former muslim, who had seen her school teacher murdered in the name of Allah.

One very interesting point that she brought up was when she said that the Quran was the only source of education that many of these extremists have.

I applaud her courage.

Remember the context

That's a very good point, but anything at all can be taken out of context and used to enflame hatred that is my fear. Someone involved in a propaganda campaign (pro or con) can use statements like that to their advantage. Not that, that would be anything new of course.

As for some of these people having only the quran as their only source of education could be compared to some christrians in abject poverty in the bible belt being fed only "the word and law of god" as their only education.

I'm not actually disagreeing with you but my point is simply that I really think it's more a factor of situation than religion.

If anyone has seen the news reports about the very extreme christrian group evangilizing their unique and quite crazy point of view (IMO of course) at military funerals is to me a good example of religious manipulation.

Spiderj

She kicks ass. We need more people like her.