Wafa Sultan
Life and career
Sultan was born in Banyas, Syrian Coast, to a
Nusairi family.
[1][2] She resides in
Los Angeles, California. She emigrated to the United States in 1989, and is now a
naturalized citizen. She allegedly arrived in California with her husband Moufid (now David) in the late 80s on a tourist visa and later they managed to get US citizenship on account of an amnesty law for farmers, through a Mexican lady who worked as a farm hand. 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
weblogs and through
e-mail. In this video she scolded Muslims for treating non-Muslims differently and for not recognizing the accomplishments of non-Muslim society, while using its wealth and technology.
The New York Times estimated that the video of her appearance was viewed at least one million times as it spread via weblogs and email.
[3] Sultan revealed to the
Times that she is working on a book to be called
The Escaped Prisoner: When God Is a Monster.
Political views
Sultan describes her thesis as witnessing "a battle between
modernity and
barbarism which Islam will lose". It has brought her telephone threats,
[3] 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."[
citation needed] In a discussion with Ahmad bin Muhammad, she said: "It was these teachings that distorted this terrorist and killed his humanity".
[4]
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,
[5] 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."
[6]
Riyad Asfari, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Aleppo, stated in an interview that the assassination took place off campus, and that no one had ever been killed anywhere at the university. Asfari's comment was also supported by Syrian expatriates Adnan Halabi and Ghada Moezzin. Moezzin, who attended the University of Aleppo in 1979, commented "We would?ve known about the killing if it had happened. It would have been big news on campus and I do not recall ever hearing about it." Moezzin added that government security was always present around the university at the time.
[7]
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."
[8][9] 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."
[8] Gay Adult Film Star
Michael Lucas recently expressed his "disdain" for Islam by giving Wafa Sultan praise, consequently sparking debate and controversy.
[10]
Crticism
Wafa Sultan rose to fame through her debate with Ibrahim Al-Khouli on
Aljazeera.The uproar caused by the heavily edited debate on
youtube had subsequently died down after the posting of the unedited version of the debate.
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."
[8] However, in a recent conference associated with the controversial conservative writer
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]