Dr. Wafa Sultan shocking interview
I know this is old news; it dates back to the 21 of February. I received this from a friend few days ago and it was one of those interviews that got me thinking for days. I am talking about Dr. Sultan Interview at al Jazeera TV.
Now let’s try to keep an open mind about this whole interview, there were both positive and negative points in the interview. To start with the positive, she really displayed a lot of courage in saying what no one else dared say. Lets imagine a scenario, a non-Muslim western woman in the Hyatt in Amman, this imagined lady lost her partner and the love of her life with the explosions… would that person go having positive ideas about Muslims?… lets think of the same scenario in a house in Palestine, where a missile just hit the house and a Muslim visitor has lost her partner and the love her life… would she think positively of Jews?
What I am trying to say is that we Muslims should not fall in the trap of double standards that we condemn all the time… people of the world do think badly of us Muslims. Is it fair? I can’t answer this question… I know that my blood boiled when I heard about the explosions in Amman.
What this Syrian doctor has achieved is made me realize how the world thinks of us Muslims… Now, I know this is not the truth about us, and many Muslims know that Islam is not a violent religion, on the contrary a religion that has showed mercy and leniency all through history. The prophet words were about mercy and leniency, but really is this the case in today’s picture of Islam? Many of her arguments were really and truly valid… her bitter criticism of all these holy people who interpret Qura’an and say that the murders are justified in the name of religion. Her argument was that in today’s world, Islam which is the religion of a billion people in a world of six billion plus divides people into true believers and infidels, and are called to fight until all people believe, which makes Muslims stand alone in isolation against the rest of the world.
Now to the negatives. Dr. Sultan did not make any distinction between Islam and Muslims, which I found not fair, what Muslims do, does not reflect the spirit of Islam, especially that these are a minority. She kept mixing national identities with religion in a non-balanced way. I believe the provocative bit comes from the comparison she made between Muslims and Jews, because her facts were neither accurate nor fair. are we talking about the land or about the religion? These are completely different stories. “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.”
Is this really true? Would the millions of Palestinians s in Diaspora agree with this? Those who were killed and raped and tortured and thrown out of their lands and houses… would they agree? What about the crying and yelling? Please…. What is the massacre most celebrated in the world? How many massacres happened through the history of the world? How many out there would know about the Rwanda genocide for example vs. how many know about the Holocaust?
Another example is when she said: “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.” This made me wonder where she has been living the last 50 years.
Maybe they did not blow themselves up, but that does not mean they did not kill people or destroy holly places… as a matter of fact, there are several events that come to my mind without even thinking; the massacre of Hebron to start with… then the 1200 Islamic mosques that were destroyed in Palestine. Among the historic mosques that were converted to synagogues or restaurants and bars are Yaquque mosque in Tiberias turned into Hibaquqeu synagogue, Abu Huraira mosque in Ramleh turned into Jamli’el synagogue, Wadi Hunayn mosque also in Ramleh turned into Geulat Yesrael synagogues….etc.
In conclusion, regardless of what she said, I think she would have been a winner if she was more diplomatic in what she said, and if she was fair. I remember my dad used to tell me as a child, when you are right, you are never afraid… and if we Muslims believe that we are right, we should never be afraid of being questioned, and we should argue smartly… I insist on smartly, because in this interview the people who were debating were noton equal pace with the doctor.
I agree with most of what you have said here, but we should consider the weakness of a nation here… I mean if you were walking in a street, and saw a big muscled man beating up another weak, old, almost dead man…you will for sure ask the big guy to stop, and perhaps hate him for whatever he is doing, regardless and before you hear the full story.
Now, if you passed by the same scenario, but the weak guy was holding a gun, a small one, shooting at the big man without getting him really hurt, will you take the same stand you took in the first scenario?!
At the time the Jews were a weak nation, they claimed their “rights” without being aggressive or real fighters, they allied with bigger & stronger nations against Germany and did help them to win big time… and the pay was Palestine and the infinite support they are receiving in every occasion.
I am not suggesting that Jihad in Palestine should stop, but I am saying if we are not strong enough to win at the moment, why not trying the other way around…lets stand doing nothing, and when an Israeli F16 strike over Gazza, we don’t respond with an operation inside Tel Aviv… cause the world already believes we are terrorists, and we need to show peace now, so when they strike, the world will be embarrassed to support their actions which are justified now by: “Israeli Self-Protection”
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I don’t think she raised “many valid” points. Pretty much the only thing I could agree with her about is the last 20 seconds or so from the interview, in which she says that the ways that muslims today choose to deal with their problems and enemies are very ineffective, and that muslims have to really ask themselves what they can offer humanity before they can ask what other humans can give them.
I think muslims have forgotten that they are entrusted with spreading the message of Islam, not keeping it to themselves and calling everyone else a kafir. I think it’s a great injustice to God’s message the way some muslims take their religion these days.
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I agree with your take on this. I’ve read plenty from people who agree with the Dr., so it’s good to see some reasoned responses.
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I am not taking any side here, I was just stating facts. Although i dont necessarily see things from this perspective, but i wont be able to comment as i unfortiunately dont feel as i am informed enough in the history of Palestine to answer you
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she definetly was an excellent debater! I wish the guy that was arguing back was as good, it is a shame and a lost opportunity.
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thanks for your comment. I think people tend to think more emotionally when it comes to faith or identity and to gender sometimes!
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She, herself, is a victim of her drive for fame and recognition. I personally think she’s a hypocrite even thought some of what she says is true. Had she been truly genuine in her beliefs she would’ve gone back to Syria and tried to change things.
It is easier to talk and put theories and write books to accumulate dust than to actually go out and take this onto herself to change things and bare with the consequences personally.
The only difference between her hypocricy and that of the people she criticizes is on which side of the ocean they lie. In my eyes they are all the same!
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Add to it that her stance is a reaction to an incident and an experience. This is exactly what the radical’s stances is: a reaction to modernity and the break down of the social fabric in their socieites.
Having the title of a Doctor isn’t enough, a person needs:
1. Knowledge علم
2. Work عمل
2. Intention نية
3. Awareness وعي
Missing any of the four components renders the work incomplete.
Why is the media shedding the light on only hypocrites, self-haters and reactionaries? Aren’t there objective and sincere voices amongst the Muslims to highlight?
4.
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kafir is a word that should be changed in the qoran.
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i dont know why you bother debating here. your opinions are so insignificant and incongruent to your fellow arabs. you are the educated elite. really, you are not representative of anything! if anything, you should immigrate! sorry!
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I just read this article today (from the NYT), and I applaud your willingness to post it…it must not be an easy read. when you are willing to dialogue on the tough stuff (and remind people of the Hebron Mosque Massacre)as you did, it really does help Westerners understand.
I was glad Hamzeh brought up the last part.
Rami, from what I know of you, it seems not your normal style to discredit the messenger rather than her words. None of us know her. If she said these words in Syria you know she’d be a dead woman, I don’t fault her for speaking up from Cerritos.
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Thanks for sharing this Madas, it’s definitely not old news to me.
I’ll add my voice to Kinzi’s, focus on the message not the person, Dr. Sultan is a self-declared secular, so really her stance on Islam is not all that shocking, the New York Times played on the “a Muslim and an Arab saying that in Arabic..” a little too much, the lady is secular.
But to get the focus back on the message, Islam/Muslims does/do have a problem with modernity and issues such as jihad, women rights, etc. All Muslims need to address these issues and the heavier responsibility falls on the shoulders of clerics who the majority of are not doing their jobs. Quite frankly, with no offence to anyone, I’m sick of people saying Muslims today do not represent Islam, well that’s not an excuse, if “true Islam” exists only as an idea and is not or can not be practiced, what good does that do us?
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Here is a recording of the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN4AL-AOyfs&search=arab%20tv
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Rami, I tend to think that she can’t change things, and maybe this is her way to change things.
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thank you i am very happy with who I am and the way I lead my life. I am one of those who believe that every little help, and that change start with the individual.
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Well thank you for your supportive comment. I hope it would help people see other point of views.b
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dear lady ,I share your dismay .It is very unfortunate not to have a scale of rating for divinity or divine believes, we humans created what is called a “dipstick “for us to know if a tank is full, half full or empty ,that is physically accepted for the eye to convenes the mind .
But schools of divinity through out human creations kept a distant between dogmatic script ,such as religion ,and logic .In any school of religion we are what we believe through our intemperate feelings ,we may adopt and accept to acquire other skills to change ,but never in religious adapted feelings .it was and well always be eternal the thin edge of a believer or a non believer .
.Supposedly at creation when we where given/assigned our fortunes we disputed, but when we where given our minds each took his and ran away very happy. I don’t have a judgment on or for the debater in this program or in any other media matters ,I evolved and excelled in my life in many directions ,but I find such debates keep on a U turn ,Or a dead end . I wish I can add, or judge or even condone or praise. In this interview my judgment is sterile ,what a petty .
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