Despite risk, Muslim speaks out

tonyexpress

Whac-A-Troll Patrol
Staff member
Dr.Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside of Los Angeles, nursing a deep anger and despair about her fellow Muslims.

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP110706

She speaks clearly and critically about the Muslims clerics, holy warriors and politcal leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran for 14 centuries in her interview on Al-Jazeera television on February 21.

These things are not spoken of in private let alone her speaking of them on Al-Jazeera. Of course she has been condemmed and received several death threats. Goes with the territory..

View the Al-Jazeera clip:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080714225616/http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1050.htm
 

tonyexpress

Whac-A-Troll Patrol
Staff member
What are you implying Tyrone? This is a discussion forum and I put this up there for discussion.

The article was a half page story in the Orange County Register today giving the link for MEMRI for further information. The website also had the Al-Jazeera televison interview link for anyone interested in viewing it.

Your post implies you have some more knowledge, please share.:thumbup1:
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
Well, MemriTV certainly has an agenda in that they wish to influence policy against the Arab world by portraying most Arabs, and the Arab media, as western hating religious fanatics. But it's not like they have to make this stuff up either, it basically gets handed to them because there really is so much religious fanaticism in the middle east and much of it is directed against the west. What's more interesting to me is the fact that you can now see opposing views like the the clip Tony linked on major Arab news networks like Al-Jazeera, which is one of the benefits of having a free press over there now. Ten years ago, when essentially all Arab media was state controlled, that woman would never have been allowed to voice her opinion like that.
 

tieguy

Banned
Very courageous lady. I was impressed when she condemns all the violence in the middle east by saying "the Jews never bombed any German Church's".

I don't know how much support she will get though. If I paid attention to what she said I believe she is probably the equivalent of a moslem atheist. That coupled with her being a women won't garner much support in the old world mindset of the middle east.

Her point is correct. Their battle is between the old world and the new.

If the people of the middle east could just learn to watch the same news sources we watch they could then learn to be just as confused as we are.:lol:
 

tieguy

Banned
tonyexpress said:
What are you implying Tyrone? This is a discussion forum and I put this up there for discussion.

The article was a half page story in the Orange County Register today giving the link for MEMRI for further information. The website also had the Al-Jazeera televison interview link for anyone interested in viewing it.

Your post implies you have some more knowledge, please share.:thumbup1:

I presently have TS [-]Susan[/-]on ignore but I'm sure I can guess that TS is either trying to discredit this women or the organization she belongs to. Which is standard operating procedure for TS. If you then fall into that trap you then have to evaluate TS sources used to discredit and either validate or discredit them. Which then becomes the diversion TS intended in the first place. TS why don't you try something different this time and validate the women on the courage she has shown for speaking out.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
I had to go grab the paper and find this story. After reading it, I think Dr. Sultan is a very brave woman trying to right what's wrong in what she sees in her religion. She makes valid points and has put her life in danger by doing so. It takes heroism to speak out when it's life threatening to do so.
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
Well, in all fairness, it's not "her religion", which is one of the reasons she has a big problem with it. The reason she referred to herself as a "secular person who doesn't believe in superstition" is that she is an atheist.
 

wily_old_vet

Well-Known Member
LA Times is carrying the story which surprises me as the major media don't seem to have the stomach to criticize Islam. Wonder if a fatwah has been issued to kill her the way they did for Rushdie. After what happened in Denmark to that movie maker I hope she is taking precautions.
 

cheryl

I started this.
Staff member
The LA based John and Ken talk show is talking about this story right now. Apparently Wafa Sultan lives in Corona, CA, and has now gone into hiding.

Well, in all fairness, it's not "her religion", which is one of the reasons she has a big problem with it. The reason she referred to herself as a "secular person who doesn't believe in superstition" is that she is an atheist.
The background story, as they tell it, is that she was raised a Muslim in Syria. She renounced her religion 27 years ago after personally witnessing a violent attack made in the name of Islam.
 

tieguy

Banned
And I suppose its possible she is merely trying to keep her own personal religious beliefs out of the debate. the struggle for freedom of speech here is what is holding the middle east back. Who would have ever thought that we would have riots in the middle east over what amounts to political cartoons. If you wish to be able to maintain the sanctity of your own belief system then you can not allow those beliefs to be manipulated for political gain. The effort to protest those cartoons was nothing more than a ploy by religious leaders to portray westernization as a threat to their society..

the battle for freedom in the middle east continues.
 
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