The Fearless Dr. Wafa Sultan

[Guest]

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/monacharen/2006/03/17/190228.html


Stand up: Wafa Sultan is passing
Mar 17, 2006
by Mona Charen

Among the most moving scenes in film history occurs in "To Kill a Mockingbird," in which the little girl, Scout, who has been watching her lawyer/father plead for the life of a falsely accused black man in the old South, is exhorted by an elderly black spectator in the gallery to rise to her feet. "Your father is passing," he explains.

I thought of that after viewing video of a woman who must be one of the bravest souls on earth. A Syrian-born psychologist who now lives and works in Southern California, Dr. Wafa Sultan caused a sensation when she appeared on Al-Jazeera TV in a debate with an Egyptian professor of Islamic Studies named Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli. Speaking (in Arabic) as if the words could not come quickly enough to keep up with her thoughts, Dr. Sultan offered the most impassioned defense of Western civilization I have heard in a very long time. Certainly she was more ardent for the values we hold dear than most liberal Democrats.

She began by describing the struggle in which we are engaged as one between "two opposites, between two eras." It is a clash, she said, "between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights on the one hand, and the violation of those rights on the other hand . . . "

Dr. Al-Khouli was clearly taken aback.


Are you saying, the host asked, "that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?"

"Yes," replied Sultan, "that is what I mean."

She wasn't finished. Not by a mile. She went on to scorn Muslim clerics who say out of one side of their mouths that Islam forbids them to offend the beliefs of others, and yet characterize Christians and Jews as "those who incur Allah's wrath" or as apes and pigs. She paused to consider the common Islamic description of Jews and Christians as "People of the Book."

"They are not the 'People of the Book,' they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their tree and creative thinking."

Sultan then forthrightly explained that she herself is neither Muslim, Christian nor Jew, but simply a secular human being. She does not believe in the supernatural, but respects the right of others to believe what they wish.

"Are you a heretic?" demanded Al-Khouli in triumphant tones. "You can say whatever you like," she replied. In an age that has brought us the Theo van Gogh assassination, deadly riots over a series of Danish newspaper cartoons, the Pym Fortune assassination, the death threats against Salman Rushdie, Hirsi Ali and Ibn Warraq, among many others, it requires truly remarkable courage to stare into the Al-Jazeera camera and calmly permit yourself to be labeled a heretic.

Sultan was raised as a pious Muslim, but her faith was shaken when she was studying medicine at the Aleppo University in northern Syria. As The New York Times reported, terrorists from the Muslim Brotherhood burst into her classroom in 1979 and shot her professor as she watched. "They shot hundreds of bullets into him, shouting, 'God is great.'" It was a turning point in her life. She eventually left her home and moved with her husband and children to the United States.

Sultan's debate is available on The Middle East Media Research Institute's website at www.memritv.org. MEMRI says that the video has already received 3 million hits since it first aired on Feb. 21, 2006.

Courage is among the rarest of virtues. Most people will not risk even the displeasure of their boss, far less their very lives, for something they believe in. Sultan doubtless speaks for millions of Muslims who similarly deplore the barbarism that has come to dominate large segments of the Muslim world. But without leadership like hers, they must feel besieged and beleaguered. Her heroic stand deserves our awe and deep respect. Stand up: Ms. Sultan is passing.

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I challenge ANY of the apologists, leftists, PC harpists, and West-bashers to contradict this woman. Go on, I dare you and I'm waiting.

Respectfully,

mh

all emphasis is mine

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[sfzombie13 324]

well, one thing is for sure: that took balls. i admire someone like that. if only half the people in the world thought like that, we'd be ok.

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Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[warpedskydiver 0]

I feel like sending her a box of ammo

[kallend 2,175]

Someone hasn't been paying attention:

www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2123974#2123974

www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2134143#2134143

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[tbrown 26]

Quote

Someone hasn't been paying attention:

www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2123974#2123974

www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2134143#2134143

No problemo. Anyway, Dr. Sultan lives here in Orange County, CA. And right here in the good old USA her telephone message machine has been filling up with death threats on a daily basis. Shows a solid Islamic understanding and appreciation of American values. They're plainly incompatable value systems, it seems evident one would have to choose. America may not be a "Christian nation", but it sure as hell isn't an Islamic one. And anyone who feels stronlgy enough about their Islamic beliefs to threaten to kill this woman - who is an American citizen by the way - should simply pack their bags and take their pick of which Islamic sewer state they would like to practice their religion in.

By the way, Dr. Sultan gave up on Islam after witnessing some of "the faithful" barging into one of her classes in medical school and murdering the professor in front of the entire class.

A religion based on murder as its core belief is an evil religion. We are already at war with these people and have been since the 7th century.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[sfzombie13 324]

now, now....that last statement about being at war with these people, smacks of predjudice. true, some of the extremists are extremely bad people, but that is why they call them extremists. the mainstream islamic people are not bloodthirsty nor evil. they don't have to like us any more than we have to like them, however, we need to respect their right to be different. that applies only to the peaceful majority of muslims.....extremists who are violent need to be dealt with with force.

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Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[skydyvr 0]

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. . . however, we need to respect their right to be different.

Maybe YOU need to respect them, but you speak for yourself. I have absolutley no respect for the entire wife beating, barely-beyond-stone-age lot of them, and I'm not alone.

It's nice to see an insider express the truth about this for once. Maybe more will wake up soon.

. . =(_8^(1)

[sfzombie13 324]

i'm not surprised at your attitude, just embarrassed by it. there is no room in this world for prdjudice in any form. that's just another form of racism, and living in wv, i've seen plenty of it.

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Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[skydyvr 0]

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i'm not surprised at your attitude, just embarrassed by it.

Anyone who supports and defends a culture that institutionally abuses women has true reason to be embarrassed.

. . =(_8^(1)

[sfzombie13 324]

and i suppose that you are one of those idiots who would like to push your values and beliefs on everyone...someone who just knows everything that is their way is right, the only way. i'm gonna quit typing here because i usually don't try to fight ignorance with facts. the fact here is that people are different and cultures are different and what works in some cultures will not work in others. end of discussion.

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Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[skydyvr 0]

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. . . i usually don't try to fight ignorance with facts.

And you certainly aren't going to start here.

. . =(_8^(1)

[SpeedRacer 1]

I'm going to take a wild guess here & guess that you don't have too many Muslims living/working around you.

Speed Racer
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[skydyvr 0]

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I'm going to take a wild guess here & guess that you don't have too many Muslims living/working around you.

Yes, it's not possible that my opinions on the subject are based on any kind of knowledge or experience.

. . =(_8^(1)

[tbrown 26]

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now, now....that last statement about being at war with these people, smacks of predjudice. true, some of the extremists are extremely bad people, but that is why they call them extremists. the mainstream islamic people are not bloodthirsty nor evil. they don't have to like us any more than we have to like them, however, we need to respect their right to be different. that applies only to the peaceful majority of muslims.....extremists who are violent need to be dealt with with force.

Bullshit. The Nazis were a small minority of German people. The Bolsheviks were a small minority of Russians. We in the west have been more than tolerant and understanding for years and all we get for it are train station bombings and hijacked airliners being flown into buildings. And a president of Iran who has publickly stated that he hates our culture - his words. And his Ambassador to the UN who says iran can cause great suffering to America and should get the ball rolling - his words, I heard him say that on NPR.

I'm not prejudiced against people. I don't harass women who wear veils in public or any of that nast shit. I often shop at an Arab market in Orange County because they have the best meats I've ever seen anywhere. And I've always believed that the best way to cool off and relate to people as people is to do it around their food, whether shopping or eating. I see lots of nice people and families in that store. But I also have to wonder if some of those nice people are responsible for the death threats Dr. Sultan is receiving on her message machine here in So. Cal, USA.

No man, it's not prejudice, there's a real problem going on, a real clash of cultural values. I don't care if somebody wants to hug a rug and pray to Mecca, but if they can't get along and show the respect to others that they demand, then they've got a problem. This ain't Berkeley down here.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !