Muslim-Turned-Atheist Rips Islam a New One
...I'd Like To Buy That Brave Lady a Bulletproof Vest
For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats
from Free Republic
LOS ANGELES —
Three weeks ago, Dr. Wafa Sultan was a largely unknown Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside Los Angeles, nursing a deep anger and despair about her fellow Muslims.
Today, thanks to an unusually blunt and provocative interview on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21, she is an international sensation, hailed as a fresh voice of reason by some, and by others as a heretic and infidel who deserves to die.
In the interview [video], which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.
She said the world's Muslims, whom she compares unfavorably with the Jews, have descended into a vortex of self-pity and violence.
The
clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages & another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization & backwardness, between the civilized & the primitive, between barbarity & rationality. It is a clash between freedom & oppression, between democracy & dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights on the one hand & the violation of these rights on the other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts & those who treat them like human beings.
The Jews have come from the [Holocaust] & forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge
, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying & yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries & science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists...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...Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people & 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.
Brother,
you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
from Free Republic
LOS ANGELES —
Three weeks ago, Dr. Wafa Sultan was a largely unknown Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside Los Angeles, nursing a deep anger and despair about her fellow Muslims.Today, thanks to an unusually blunt and provocative interview on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21, she is an international sensation, hailed as a fresh voice of reason by some, and by others as a heretic and infidel who deserves to die.
In the interview [video], which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.
She said the world's Muslims, whom she compares unfavorably with the Jews, have descended into a vortex of self-pity and violence.
The
clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages & another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization & backwardness, between the civilized & the primitive, between barbarity & rationality. It is a clash between freedom & oppression, between democracy & dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights on the one hand & the violation of these rights on the other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts & those who treat them like human beings.I have reached the point that doesn't allow any U-turn. I have no choice. I am questioning every single teaching of our holy book.
The Jews have come from the [Holocaust] & forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge
, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying & yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries & science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists...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...Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people & 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.Our people are hostages to our own beliefs & teachings.
When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims & called to fight the others until they believe what they themselves believe, they started this clash & began this war.
Brother,
you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.
Darren Said, Let There Be Post! at 7:28 PM
10 Comments:
she's brave but stupid. i cant imagine her living for long.
i myself am a muslim-born atheist and cant see what i can achieve by going public about it except shortening my life. She could have written articles etc.
Salman Rushdie has lived now for, what, over a decade since having a jihad declared against him. Prospered, even. I would replace "stupid" with "gutsy." An article would not have had the same impact, or press coverage, as did her forceful delivery. She of all people knew what she was doing and the risks involved - she chose to have a real impact rather than enjoy personal safety. She put herself on the line for the truth. She didn't cower like everyone else. It's admirable.
Neither Salman Rushti nor her have achieved anything.
Im a realist (in political terms), so I see the real fight to be in the creation of secular governments and secular laws.
The christian right in America have to go through a hard fight only because of what the founding fathers of America had established in US constitution.
It wasn't the ordinary, everday people of America who created the secular democracy. It was the philosophers and secular-minded politisions, and many of them were also influenced by the WRITTINGS of former philosophers.
This generation (in Middle East) is not going to change. I dont understand why we should care if these ideas get through to them. I lived in middle east myself all my childhood and even though I never heard of anyone saying there is no god I could not believe in those shitty superstitious beliefs.
I understand and respect Roya's commments (even though I can't really imagine the cultural pressures experienced by Roya -- I am an American born secularist who read about evolutionary biology and natural history before I attended Sunday school). However, I think that what Dr. Sultan has said is terrific.
If the objective were simply to counteract the life-hating, mind-hating aspects of fanatical Islam, Dr. Sultan need not have gone as far as she did. She could have simply invited all Muslims to do what many Muslims (perhaps a majority) have already done -- to stop paying attention to the portions of the Quran and the Hadith that either justify or actively urge (1) violence against non-believers, (2) treating women as second-class citizens, (3) theocratic dictatorship, and (4) rejection of science and reason.
Christians and Jews have (respectively) 700 and 1,200+ extra years of practice in ignoring or downplaying the barbaric, cruel, and ignorant aspects of their holy scriptures. Islam is a comparatively young religion, and it will take time for the most extreme Muslims to decide that large chunks of the "received wisdom" of Islam should not be slavishly followed in the 21st century.
P.S., for those readers of this most excellent blog who would like to read an unvarnished history of Islam and an analysis of Islam's problems, I recommend "Why I Am Not a Muslim" by Ibn Warraq.
Jeff D (F.I.S.H.M.A.N.)
With each courageous public pronouncement of unbelief such as Wafa Sultan's, the trail is that much more blazed for others to do the same. Cheers to her!
I think this lady is right, I am a muslim, born muslim from afghanistan. I can't imagine living in an Islamic country. I like committing sins, that I think only God can judge me for, and punish me. Who the hell is a man, to punish for my sins. It's totally understandable, Muslims just don't know what to do with themselves, they are just bunch of sheep waiting to get slaughtered, and the sad part is that, they don't even understand their religion totally. Most piss in their pants, trying to question it. Fear not man but God himself, and The Almighty allows you to seek knowledge, be it secular or religious. Then you decide for yourself, which one is right or wrong. Even a Zebra is able to avoid sins he don't know about. It takes a real believer to avoid that which he has knowledge of, in order to do the right thing. I personally think, if you use religion and secular methods of living, you are bound to be happy and successfull. Religion without law, doesn't govern. and Law without religion,can easily get corrupted.my email is dezyne69@gmail.com....have you any question contact me, I am a self made millionaire.
Who on the comments section of this blog actually studied Islamic History in a formal setting? Or how about Islami theology or Islamic law from a practicing Muslim? The comments on this page are what I like to call, stupid. Just like the rhetoric on fox news and many other tv and radio stations. When unqualified people make comments about world religions that existed for hundreds or some thousands of years, who still have followers numbering in the billions without studying extensively the ACTUAL proven effect the religion has had on society, I like to call that stupidity. The problem with the world is not Islam. The problem with the world are unintelligent people making comments about things they have no idea about.
If I wasn't a doctor or I didn't do extensive research on medicine in my life, and I began making accusations agains a specific medicine and the way it works, no one would listen.
If you haven't learned Islam from Islamic scholars, from the perspective they teach it, or have extensively studied the history of Islam and the impact it has had on the world, country by country or region by region or science by science, then SHUTUP STUPID!
To SHUTUPSTUPID ANNONYMOUS.
Just as I don't need to be a doctor to recognize that someone who has blood spurting from an artery needs to get to a hospital, I don't need to have studied Islam from some idiot "scholar" to know that people who blow themselves up to kill innocent people and beat women with sticks because they dressed "immodestly", are a bunch of sick fucks. I don't mean to specifically pick on Islam here either. All religions are pretty stupid, Islam is just stupid AND stuck in the dark ages.
I think ignorant ppl should know that islam condemns killing islam is not the problem its the culture n tradition practised before prophet muhammed came read the quran for yourself even the bible declares honour killing n jihad those pple u see are not following the quran they are hypocrites n are stuck in traditions u really need to study the quran its the most perfected book in existence subhanallah nothing can match it I still question but islam just hits me with the truth having studied all religions have to say islam is the one for me its the most growing faith on earth also picked on the most u should wonder why so go do ur research islam is exposed so negatively in the west but u should know a lot more dirty things are kept hidden in the west that they don't want u to know each to their own I don't judge just appreciate n patience is my virtue but before u point a finger at islam 3 fingers are pointing straight back at u don't be ignorant go study it with ppl who know it truely then u would see what peace it gives u
No part of the Quran encourages all those things. Only War is a neccesity to defend ourselves but it also is the last choice. Have you ever read the Quran, it is based on facts and things we cannot prove to be false or true. Even Thomas Jefferson testified that this is the bright future and how it is more advanced then our thinking. We as Muslims cannot deny even a single word if the Quran as it is the truth and the straight path and the humane path and the respectful to all humans path and the truly scientific path and the accurate path
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