Sunday, March 30, 2008

More On Dr. Wafa Sultan

From this March 11, 2008 article in the New York Times:
...[C]lerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats.

[...]

Perhaps her most provocative words on Al Jazeera were those comparing how the Jews and Muslims have reacted to adversity. Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, "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."

She went on, "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."

She concluded, "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."

[...]

Shortly after the broadcast, clerics in Syria denounced her as an infidel. One said she had done Islam more damage than the Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, a wire service reported.

DR. SULTAN is "working on a book that — if it is published...

Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouli, asked, "Are you a heretic?" He then said there was no point in rebuking or debating her, because she had blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran.

Dr. Sultan said she took those words as a formal fatwa, a religious condemnation. Since then, she said, she has received numerous death threats on her answering machine and by e-mail.

One message said: "Oh, you are still alive? Wait and see." She received an e-mail message the other day, in Arabic, that said, "If someone were to kill you, it would be me."

Dr. Sultan said her mother, who still lives in Syria, is afraid to contact her directly, speaking only through a sister who lives in Qatar. She said she worried more about the safety of family members here and in Syria than she did for her own.

"I have no fear," she said. "I believe in my message. It is like a million-mile journey, and I believe I have walked the first and hardest 10 miles."
The above story appeared in the International section of the New York Times. Never mind that Dr. Sultan and her family are American citizens.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lady Courage.

It wasn't a requirement of her profession to take a public stand for the truth -- as it is for thousands of journalists who default on that duty every day -- but she stood up anyway because her commitment to reality is so strong that she cannot do otherwise.

We need to tell the Islamists out there that should something happen to Dr. Sultan or the others like her who are our heroes for standing against their viciousness and injustice there will be boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses, there will be picket lines, there will be social ostracizing until they step forward and condemn the intimidation and the violence.

Always On Watch said...

RRA,
I'm all riled up over Wafa Sultan's situation.

Please see the posting at my web site. I just put in an addendum.

I'm getting angrier by the minute.

Always On Watch said...

And...If something happens to her, I'm going to have a fit like no other I've ever had.

I'm sick and tired of Muslim bullies.