Wafa Sultan

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Wafa Sultan

Born Baniyas, Syria
Residence Los Angeles, California
Occupation Psychiatrist
Known for Criticism of Islam

Wafa Sultan (Arabic: وفاء سلطان‎; born 1958, Baniyas, Syria) is an author and well known a critic of Islam.[1] Sultan trained as a psychiatrist in Syria and is a US naturalized citizen.

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[edit] Life and career

Sultan was born to a Sunni Muslim family in Baniyas, Syria.[2][3] She resides in Los Angeles, California. She emigrated to the United States in 1989, and is now a naturalized citizen. Sultan has become notable since the September 11, 2001 attacks for her participation in Middle East political debates, with Arabic essays that circulated widely and some television appearances on Al Jazeera and CNN.

On February 21, 2006, she took part in Al Jazeera's weekly 45-minute discussion program The Opposite Direction. She spoke from Los Angeles, arguing with host Faisal al-Qassem and with Ibrahim Al-Khouli about Samuel P. Huntington's Clash of Civilizations theory. A six minute composite video of her remarks was subtitled and widely circulated by MEMRI on blogs and through e-mail; The New York Times estimated that it has been seen at least one million times.[4] In this video she criticised Muslims for treating non-Muslims differently, and for not recognizing the accomplishments of Jewish and other members of non-Muslim society while using their wealth and technology.

Sultan is working on a book to be called The Escaped Prisoner: When God Is a Monster.[4]

[edit] Political views

Sultan describes her thesis as witnessing "a battle between modernity and barbarism which Islam will lose". It has brought her telephone threats,[4] but also praise from reformers. Her comments, especially a pointed criticism that "no Jew has blown himself up in a German restaurant", brought her an invitation to Jerusalem by the American Jewish Congress.

Sultan believes that "The trouble with Islam is deeply rooted in its teachings. Islam is not only a religion. Islam [is] also a political ideology that preaches violence and applies its agenda by force."[5] In a discussion with Ahmad bin Muhammad, she said: "It was these teachings that distorted this terrorist and killed his humanity".[6]

Sultan stated that she was shocked into secularism by the 1979 atrocities committed by Islamic extremists of the Muslim Brotherhood against innocent Syrian people, including the machine-gun assassination of her professor, Yusef al Yusef,[7] an ophthalmologist renowned beyond Syria, in her classroom in front of her eyes at the University of Aleppo where she was a medical student. "They shot hundreds of bullets into him, shouting, 'God is great!' " she said. "At that point, I lost my trust in their god and began to question all our teachings. 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."[8] Adnan Halabi (not his real name), a Syrian expatriate who met and got to know the Sultans when they first came to the United States, claimed that the incident took place off-campus, and at a time when Sultan wasn't even around. [1]

[edit] Recognitions

In 2006 Wafa Sultan was named in Time Magazine in a list of 100 influential people in the world "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world."[9][10] Time stated that "Sultan's influence flows from her willingness to express openly critical views on Islamic extremism that are widely shared but rarely aired by other Muslims."[9]

[edit] Religious sentiment

In the same Time Magazine interview, Sultan conflictingly described herself as a Muslim who does not adhere to Islam: "I even don't believe in Islam, but I am a Muslim."[9] However, in a recent conference associated with conservative writer and activist David Horowitz, Wafa Sultan expressed her views unequivocally stating:

“ "I have decided to fight Islam; please pay attention to my statement; to fight Islam, not the political Islam, not the militant Islam, not the radical Islam, not the Wahhabi Islam, but Islam itself...Islam has never been misunderstood, Islam is the problem....(Muslims) have to realize that they have only two choices: to change or to be crushed."[11] ”

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Abdussalam Mohamed. "WAFA SULTAN: Reformist or opportunist?". Southern California InFocus. http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/4009/135. Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  2. ^ Ruthie Blum Leibowitz. "One on One: A woman's work in progress". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193523009&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull. Retrieved on 2008-03-01. 
  3. ^ Gerard Henderson. "Welcome to all who pass the test". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/welcome-to-all-who-pass-the-test/2007/08/27/1188067035595.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-01. 
  4. ^ a b c John M. Broder. "For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html?ex=1299733200&en=d13886daba5e586f&ei=5090&partner=rssus. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  5. ^ "A "crack in the wall" - Wafa Sultan on the mohammed cartoons". http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Negt6IzxPTo. Retrieved on 2008-10-14. 
  6. ^ "LA Psychologist Wafa Sultan Clashes with Algerian Islamist Ahmad bin Muhammad over Islamic Teachings and Terrorism". Middle East Media Research Institute. http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/783.htm. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  7. ^ Kerry Howley. "Breaking the Silence: One woman is risking her life to speak the truth about radical Islam.". Readers Digest. http://www.rd.com/stories/inspiration/a-woman-speaks-out-against-radical-islam/article.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  8. ^ John M. Broder. "THE SATURDAY PROFILE; For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E6D71331F932A25750C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  9. ^ a b c Asra Nomani. "Wafa Sultan". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187385,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  10. ^ "The People Who Shape Our World". Time. http://www.time.com/time/2006/time100/. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  11. ^ "Panel:Women in Islam". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up3yuQDAWKQ. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wafa Sultan

[edit] Wafa Sultan's Articles

[edit] Interviews and speeches

(MEMRI transcript)

[edit] Opinions

[edit] Critical opinions

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafa_Sultan"
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