A follow up to the last post

The NY Times article on Dr Sultan made mention of Annaqed as the website where she initially started posting her views. I have looked at the English version of the site, and they will be added as of today to the blogroll. There is some good reading there, much of which tends to debunk the myth about Islam being a religion of peace. They (the sites contributors) use the Koran (and other sources) to back this up. Take a look around you won’t be disappointed.

Sometimes In A War …

bravery doesn’t wear a uniform. I have often pleaded since that black day in September, as to where are the so called “moderate Muslims”? What is preventing them from coming forward and making their voice or voices heard. And have read all of the excuses real and imagined which supposedly prevented them from stepping forward to raise their voices in condemnation of those who have usurped their way of life, their faith, their God.
To be sure there have been half hearted attempts. Mostly apologists who although sorry for what their more “hot headed” brethren have or had done in the name of Allah or Islam, found no fault within their faith or belief system. What many in the west, particularly in America were feeling was, the vast majority who did not either openly support (vocally or by their outward actions) the extremists who appeared to be the current vanguard of their faith, their very silence (if in fact disapproving) was a tacit approval of same. And that in fact the myth of the so called “moderate or legitimately questioning Muslim”, was just that, a myth.
I can happily tell you right now, there is hope real hope that this is not a myth. For if one voice can speak directly to the heart of the matter and literally risk all in doing so, can there not be others who will also take up the banner?
Sometimes in a war bravery doesn’t wear a uniform …

Woman: 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, 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. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on one hand, and the violation of these rights, on the other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we seen today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
Moderator: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?
Woman: Yes, that is what I mean.
Moderator: Who came up the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don’t mind.
Woman: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: “I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger.” When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to stop this war, they mush reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels. My colleague has said that he never offends other people’s beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names they did not choose for themselves? Once he calls them Ahi Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the “People of the Book.” And yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians “those who incur Allah’s wrath.” Who told you they are “People of the Book”? They are not the People of the Book; they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them “those who incur Allah’s Wrath.” Or “those who have gone astray.” And then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others? 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.
Guy With Hat: Are you a heretic?
Woman: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural…
Guy with Hat: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran…
Woman: These are personal matters, which do not concern you. 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 of Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs. The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most f the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish Scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. 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 three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down and 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.
from al-jazeera transcript

“The Woman” indicated above is Dr. Wafa Sultan. She did say the above on a Feb 21, 2006 interview on al-jazeera television. In doing so she has not only put her life in jeopardy but the lives of her husband, children, and relatives who still live outside the United States.

Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose.
In response, clerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats. But Islamic reformers have praised her for saying out loud, in Arabic and on the most widely seen television network in the Arab world, what few Muslims dare to say even in private.
from March 11, 2006 NY TImes Saturday Profile article

The 47 year old, who lives in California is working on an as of yet unpublished book tentatively titled “The Escaped Prisoner: When God Is a Monster.”.
Little more can be said about the obvious display of courage and the steel this brave woman must have in her heart and soul. However what needs to be said and is not (at least not that I know of), is this …