Webloggin » Interview with Wafa Sultan

Wafa Sultan of YouTube and MEMRI fame (text here) has two formal fatwas issued against her. She is a Syrian born and educated woman who now lives in California. She bravely speaks out against Islam.

She is considered a Muslim ‘refusenik‘. I don’t think that description fits Dr. Sultan and neither does she. “I am myself. I am enjoying my apostasy.” On the anniversary of the Danish Cartoons about Mohammad, (published on September 11,2005), Dr. Wafa Sultan was in Copenhagen with a group called Democratic Muslims.

Democratic Muslims were formed after the Danish cartoon episode. Their goal is a peaceful co-existence of Islam and democracy. This is the first time Dr. Sultan has been asked to speak to a Muslim group, which should not be surprising since Dr. Sultan doesn’t believe Islam can co-exist peacefully with democracy.

Author Amy Wilentz was with Dr. Sultan interviewing her for an article in MORE Magazine, which is in the February 2007 issue, on news stands now.

Ms. Wilentz does a wonderful job revealing the many faces of Dr. Sultan … wife, mother, daughter, sister, gas pump jockey, and “one-women anti-Islamic-fundamentalism machine” (Ms. Wilentz’ words). I highly recommend this article, titled, “A Dangerous Mind”. The title troubles me, though.

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. The Muslims have turned Buddha statues into rubble; we have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. 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”

That is just a tiny sample of the interview. Ms. Wilentz goes into Dr. Sultan’s history from childhood to present, her relationship with family members, her supporters and those who would like to see her silenced. Her detractors see her being used by both the West and the Jews, one suggesting that she had been paid “a million dollars from the Jews”. In this interview, the reader sees the woman Wafa Sultan, not just the person who spoke out on Al Jazeera telling the Algerian professor who interrupted her, “Shut UP. It’s my turn.” Ms. Sultan explained why that statement was so well received, “In Islamic culture, women have no turn.”

I suggest you read the article in MORE Magazine, February 2007 issue, available now.

Bio: Amy Wilentz is the author of “The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier” and “Martyrs’ Crossing,” a novel set in Jerusalem. From 1995 through1998, she was Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker. She is a contributing editor for The Nation magazine and is currently at work on a book about California.

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