Sunday, March 30, 2008

More On Dr. Wafa Sultan

Additional information related to this posting here at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS....

A little less than two years ago, Time Magazine published the following about Dr. Wafa Sultan:
By so sharply voicing her beliefs, Sultan crystallizes the mission for the rest of us who want to take the slam out of Islam.
Also in 2006, Time Magazine recognized Wafa Sultan as one in "The Time 100: The People Who Shape Our World."

Whatever happened to supporting Dr. Sultan, an American citizen, in her exercise of freedom of speech here in America? A bunch of cartoons got in the way?

Also see this March 11, 2008 article in the New York Times. Why isn't this information on the front page instead of buried in the "International" section?
...[C]lerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats.

[...]

Perhaps her most provocative words on Al Jazeera were those comparing how the Jews and Muslims have reacted to adversity. Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, "The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling."

She went on, "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."

She concluded, "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."

[...]

Shortly after the broadcast, clerics in Syria denounced her as an infidel. One said she had done Islam more damage than the Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, a wire service reported.

DR. SULTAN is "working on a book that — if it is published...

Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouli, asked, "Are you a heretic?" He then said there was no point in rebuking or debating her, because she had blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran.

Dr. Sultan said she took those words as a formal fatwa, a religious condemnation. Since then, she said, she 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....
The latest information I have is that our government will do nothing to protect Dr. Wafa Sultan, referred to by Robert Spencer as "a national and international treasure."

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