Dr. Wafa Sultan’s life “changed in 1979 when she was a medical student at the University of Aleppo, in northern Syria. At that time, the radical Muslim Brotherhood was using terrorism to try to undermine the government of President Hafez al-Assad. Gunmen of the Muslim Brotherhood burst into a classroom at the university and killed her professor as she watched, she said.
"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." …
An angry essay on that site by Dr. Sultan about the Muslim Brotherhood caught the attention of Al Jazeera, which invited her to debate an Algerian cleric on the air last July.
In the debate, she questioned the religious teachings that prompt young people to commit suicide in the name of God. "Why does a young Muslim man, in the prime of life, with a full life ahead, go and blow himself up?" she asked. "In our countries, religion is the sole source of education and is the only spring from which that terrorist drank until his thirst was quenched." …
"The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations," Dr. Sultan said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality." ...
[S]he 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 NYT story on her is here. The MEMRI video of her is here.
I don't understand what has Dr Sultan to do with democracy which your organization claims to fight for? Hence, why did you post this?
Posted by: Smith Richards | March 14, 2006 at 07:01 AM
Dear Mr. Richard:
I don’t understand your question.
Did you listen to Dr. Sutan’s comments?
Did you hear her brave criticism of Militant Islamism, -- the most lethal and dangerous totalitarian movement in the world today?
Do you understand that she is now under threat of death for exercising her freedom of speech?
Do you honestly not understand what this has to do with democracy?
- Cliff May
Posted by: Cliff May | March 14, 2006 at 08:14 AM
Another interview with Dr. Sultan can be found here:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=100139
Posted by: Tony | March 15, 2006 at 11:57 AM