http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null
Brave woman. (It's in Arabic but the subtitles are in English.)
Brave woman. (It's in Arabic but the subtitles are in English.)
Arab-American woman speaks out on the clash of civilizations
- Thread starter Jokerman
- Start date
transcript:
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash 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 these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[...]
Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[...]
Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...
Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.
My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "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 free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?
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.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. 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. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. 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.
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash 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 these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[...]
Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[...]
Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...
Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.
My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "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 free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?
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.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. 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. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. 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.
^Interesting.
Some background: Syrian born Dr. Wafa Sultan is currently living in Los Angeles and practicing psychiatry. In 1979 Sultan witnessed the horrific murder of her college professor in 1979. The perpetrators of the crime were members of the Brotherhood of Islam. The justification; battling the Syrian government even though the professor had nothing to do with government. That was the turning point for Sultan. As the terrorists shouted "Allah is great" while executing her professor, Sultan turned her trauma into questions about who this God really was.
No longer a Muslim, Sultan immigrated to America. She met Jews that treated her with respect and dignity, a sharp contrast to how she was taught to treat them as not human. Sultan has made it her mission to speak out on how current radical ideas have imprisoned those who follow Islam. She calls upon women in Islam to step up and take the lead in bringing about reform since they are the most repressed and have the most to gain.
Interesting read:
http://crazypolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/speak-truth-and-die.html
Of course, she's gotten hundreds of death threats since that broadcast.
Some background: Syrian born Dr. Wafa Sultan is currently living in Los Angeles and practicing psychiatry. In 1979 Sultan witnessed the horrific murder of her college professor in 1979. The perpetrators of the crime were members of the Brotherhood of Islam. The justification; battling the Syrian government even though the professor had nothing to do with government. That was the turning point for Sultan. As the terrorists shouted "Allah is great" while executing her professor, Sultan turned her trauma into questions about who this God really was.
No longer a Muslim, Sultan immigrated to America. She met Jews that treated her with respect and dignity, a sharp contrast to how she was taught to treat them as not human. Sultan has made it her mission to speak out on how current radical ideas have imprisoned those who follow Islam. She calls upon women in Islam to step up and take the lead in bringing about reform since they are the most repressed and have the most to gain.
Interesting read:
http://crazypolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/speak-truth-and-die.html
Of course, she's gotten hundreds of death threats since that broadcast.
it's hilarious the way peole here are considering her like a hero...
Wafa Sultan has always been a harsh critic of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed syrian opposition
she has always had the blessing of the current baathist syrian regime. She is being used to discredit the muslim brotherhood who have been persecuted in Syria for 43 years... and which has been strengthening lately due to the weakening of the terrorist regime of Bashar El Assad
she has not criticise anything about the current terrorist regime in Syria, the one that is sending weapons to Iraqi sunnis, and to the palestinians in Israel and the one who has torched the danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon....
don't be quick to congratulate her, she's not better than the ones she's criticising... she's just working to maintain the status quo in the region.
peace
Wafa Sultan has always been a harsh critic of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed syrian opposition
she has always had the blessing of the current baathist syrian regime. She is being used to discredit the muslim brotherhood who have been persecuted in Syria for 43 years... and which has been strengthening lately due to the weakening of the terrorist regime of Bashar El Assad
she has not criticise anything about the current terrorist regime in Syria, the one that is sending weapons to Iraqi sunnis, and to the palestinians in Israel and the one who has torched the danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon....
don't be quick to congratulate her, she's not better than the ones she's criticising... she's just working to maintain the status quo in the region.
peace
Oh my God!!!!!!!!! An Arab woman gives this ludicrous theory her assent* and a thread is made about it?
Yes, "Islam" is as monolithic as "Christianity" and "the Jews" and we are in a perpetual battle to rid the world of each other simply because our beliefs are inherently unable to accommodate each other.
(Sarcasm.)
*And she was all-but affirming this idea. She stated that she rejected it, but went on to explain the evidence in a way that would make Samuel P. Huntington and Bernard Lewis proud.
Yes, "Islam" is as monolithic as "Christianity" and "the Jews" and we are in a perpetual battle to rid the world of each other simply because our beliefs are inherently unable to accommodate each other.
(Sarcasm.)
*And she was all-but affirming this idea. She stated that she rejected it, but went on to explain the evidence in a way that would make Samuel P. Huntington and Bernard Lewis proud.
well they are also muslim's attacking and trying to make points threw terror.. So she also in a way covers those points.
She should be considered a type of Hero , putting her life in danger to speak out for human rights. Thats some1 i would call a hero.
EDIT: I saw this post as deleted by beReal, but quotes by people that showed nothing weird being said. Assuming its a glitch, i brought it back
Duke.
She should be considered a type of Hero , putting her life in danger to speak out for human rights. Thats some1 i would call a hero.
EDIT: I saw this post as deleted by beReal, but quotes by people that showed nothing weird being said. Assuming its a glitch, i brought it back
Duke.
no she didn't speak about them. She never criticised the current terrorist syrian regime. she kept claiming that the syrian opposition (the opposition that has been asking for democracy in Syria for 40 years) is the danger. She's actually defending the syrian regime (thus, she is in no way in danger)
just because she's speaking against islam doesn't make her a hero. she's just trying to get back at islam cuz some extremists killed her teacher when she was young.
just because she's speaking against islam doesn't make her a hero. she's just trying to get back at islam cuz some extremists killed her teacher when she was young.
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