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[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Wafa Sultan

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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]