بعد ظهور اللّيدي فوفو دايفد سلطان على الجزيرة في برنامج الإتّجاه المعاكس لتناقش موضوع صراع الحضارات في مواجهة شيخ أزهري وتقيّأت على الهواء أطروحات إسلاموفوبيّة مكرّرة صدمت المسلمين من طنجة إلى جاكرتا لأنّها خرجت من فم امرأة كانت تعتبر عربيّة سوريّة مسلمة، تلقّفتها وسائل الإعلام الغربيّة وصنعت منها بطلة إصلاحيّة لا يشقّ لها غبار. وفي تدوينة اليوم، أعرض عليكم مقالا صدر في النيويورك تايمز (وما أدراك ما النيويورك تايمز) بعد أيّام قليلة من ظهورها -اللّيدي- على شاشة الجزيرة (في برنامج الإتّجاه المعاكس، حلقة 21 فيفري 2006). هذا المقال يتحدّث عن وفاء سلطان، المرأة المكافحة، الشجاعة، صاحبة قضيّة، الرّاغبة في إصلاح الإسلام العنيف والوحشي. صدر المقال بعنوان "تهديدات عنيفة ضدّ المسلمين الذين يقولون أنّ العنف يهدم الإسلام" في العاشر من مارس 2006 (أيّ بعد حوالي ثلاثة أسابيع من ظهورها على الجزيرة) وكتب هذا المقال الصحفي جون م. برودر (John M. Broder).For Muslims Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violence ThreatsBy John M. Broder
LOS ANGELES, March 10 — 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, 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.
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.
"I believe our people are hostages to our own beliefs and teachings," she said in an interview this week in her home in a Los Angeles suburb.
Dr. Sultan, who is 47, wears a prim sweater and skirt, with fleece-lined slippers and heavy stockings. Her eyes and hair are jet black and her modest manner belies her intense words: "Knowledge has released me from this backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs."
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."
Her views caught the ear of the American Jewish Congress, which has invited her to speak in May at a conference in Israel. "We have been discussing with her the importance of her message and trying to devise the right venue for her to address Jewish leaders," said Neil B. Goldstein, executive director of the organization.
She is probably more welcome in Tel Aviv than she would be in Damascus. 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 — it's going to turn the Islamic world upside down."
"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 working title is, "The Escaped Prisoner: When God Is a Monster."
Dr. Sultan grew up in a large traditional Muslim family in Banias, Syria, a small city on the Mediterranean about a two-hour drive north of Beirut. Her father was a grain trader and a devout Muslim, and she followed the faith's strictures into adulthood.
But, she said, her 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."
She and her husband, who now goes by the Americanized name of David, laid plans to leave for the United States. Their visas finally came in 1989, and the Sultans and their two children (they have since had a third) settled in with friends in Cerritos, Calif., a prosperous bedroom community on the edge of Los Angeles County.
After a succession of jobs and struggles with language, Dr. Sultan has completed her American medical licensing, with the exception of a hospital residency program, which she hopes to do within a year. David operates an automotive-smog-check station. They bought a home in the Los Angeles area and put their children through local public schools. All are now American citizens.
BUT even as she settled into a comfortable middle-class American life, Dr. Sultan's anger burned within. She took to writing, first for herself, then for an Islamic reform Web site called Annaqed (The Critic), run by a Syrian expatriate in Phoenix.
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."
Her remarks set off debates around the globe and her name began appearing in Arabic newspapers and Web sites. But her fame grew exponentially when she appeared on Al Jazeera again on Feb. 21, an appearance that was translated and widely distributed by the Middle East Media Research Institute, known as Memri.
Memri said the clip of her February appearance had been viewed more than a million times.
"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."
She said she no longer practiced Islam. "I am a secular human being," she said.
The other guest on the program, identified as an Egyptian professor of religious studies, 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.
"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."
- عرض تسجيل حلقة الإتّجاه المعاكس الذي نشرته ميمري أكثر من مليون مرّة.
- قالت وفاء سلطان أنّ الصراع بين الإسلام والغرب هو صراع بين عقليّة العصور الوسطى وعقليّة القرن الواحد والعشرين [نقل الصحفي هذه الفكرة بطريقتين مختلفين أولاها تأويلا وثانيها نقلا حرفيا على لسان صاحبتها].
- أنّ علماء وفقهاء العالم الإسلامي يكفّرونها فيما تعتبره فتوى صريحة [بإهدار دمها] لذلك فهي تتعرّض إلى التهديد بالقتل عبر هاتفها وبريدها الإلكتروني وهي خائفة على سلامة أهلها وأقاربها في الولايات المتّحدة وسوريا على حدّ سواء [هنا يريد الصحفي التأكيد على خطورة وضعيّة وفاء سلطان بعدما أقدمت على قول رأيها بصراحة وكذلك على الطبيعة غير المتسامحة للإسلام والمسلمين وتأصّل العنف فيهم. وهو ما يفسّر كذلك العنوان الناري للمقال].
يقول صاحب المقال ما يلي:
The other guest on the program, identified as an Egyptian professor of religious studies, 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.
إبراهيم الخولي: ملحدة؟
وفاء سلطان: ولكنني أحترم حق الآخر في أن يؤمن بها..
إبراهيم الخولي: ملحدة يعني.. ملحدة؟
وفاء سلطان: تستطيع أن تقول ما شئت..
إبراهيم الخولي: أنا بأسألك..
وفاء سلطان: أنا إنسانة علمانية لا أؤمن بالغيبيات..
إبراهيم الخولي: أنا بأسألك لأعاملك بمنطقك، إن كنتِ ملحدة فلا عتب عليكِ إن سببتِ الإسلام ونبي الإسلام وقرآن الإسلام..
وفاء سلطان: هذا أمر شخصي لا علاقة لك به..
Right, playing the Rushdie card for well-meaning but naive Westerners by calling statements made during a TV debate a "formal fatwa" because the immediate association is "death sentence". Fatwas are legal rulings in Islamic jurisprudence and are issued as a response to a specific legal question. A quick overview of what is and is not a fatwa can be found here:
Every Muslim may be entitled to declare an opinion on whatever he or she wishes. But a fatwa is not a point of view; it is a legal opinion. A fatwa is not personal advice given in response to a personal problem and it is not simply an answer to a question. A fatwa is a non-binding legal opinion issued in response to a legal problem. For instance, if one asks, "How many times a day do Muslims pray?" The answer to this is not a fatwa. If one asks: "Do you think it is a good idea to marry someone older than myself?" The response to this is personal advice but not a fatwa. However, if one inquires about a problem that is the proper subject of a legal inquiry, then one is asking for a fatwa. For example, if one asks, My father is opposed to my marrying this man, but legally, could I still marry him anyway?" This question solicits a fatwa. A fatwa assumes a conflict of evidence and a need to weigh and evaluate the evidence. In the language of fiqh, a fatwa is issued in response to a problematic matter (amr mushkil). The point is well-illustrated by the following incident: A man asked al-lmam Malik about a matter. Imam Malik responded by saying, "I don't know." The man retorted, "But this is a simple and easy matter." Irritated Imam Malik said: "Nothing is easy in knowledge and fatwa.Fatwas are not religious condemnations, they are formal legal opinions. Dismissing someone in a TV debate by calling them a blasphemer does not mean you have issued a fatwa calling for their death. It is extremely important that Western readers understand this distinction, as it is obviously being glossed over in the media.
- تذكير بتفاصيل الإغتيال المزعوم للأستاذ يوسف اليوسف بتفاصيله المعتادة في فصل دراسي بجامعة حلب وكيف مثّل ذلك نقطة تحوّل إلى غير رجعة في حياة وفاء سلطان [وهنا لابدّ من التساؤل حول السبب وراء التكرار المتواصل لهذه القصّة المختلقة: في الحقيقة، الأمر لا يتعلّق فقط بمحاولة تشويه الإسلام وإن كان ذلك بديهيّا، وإنّما القارىء الغربي في حاجة أيضا لتبرير يقنعه كيف يمكن لمسلمة تعترف بأنّها سليلة عائلة متديّنة وملتزمة نشأت ودرست وقضّت الجزء الأكبر من حياتها في مجتمع مسلم، تنقلب إلى النقيض تماما بهذا الشكل].
- تذكير بالمقارنة التي قامت بها وفاء سلطان بين اليهود المسالمين، نظيفي الأيدي الذين تمكّنوا من إقناع العالم بعدالة قضيّتهم عبر العمل والإنتاج والمسلمين الذين يجعلون التعاليم الدينية مصدر كل شيء في حياتهم ولا يتحرّجون من ارتكاب المجازر وتفجير أنفسهم بغاية دخول الجنّة.
- ذكر أيضا كيف أنّ وفاء سلطان أصبح مرحّبا بها في تل أبيب أكثر من دمشق وكيف تلّقى الكونغرس الأمريكي لليهود ما قالته بكل ارتياح وبناءً على ذلك تمّت دعوتها إلى محاضرة في شهر ماي 2006 في إسرائيل [لأهميّة الرسالة التي تروّج لها - بالنسبة لهم طبعا]. هل فهمتم الآن لماذا حلّت فوفو مفيد أحمد -المرأة النكرة- ضمن قائمة المائة شخص الأكثر تأثيرا في هذا العالم لسنة 2006؟
تجدون في التسجيل الموالي خطابا لوفاء سلطان بتاريخ 03 ماي 2007 (لوس انجلس، كاليفورنيا)، تقدّم فيه نفسها للجمهور الذي يساند آرائها وتقول بالحرف الواحد ما يلي:
Since then, I have been trying to define the Muslim God and his teachings scientifically. I have lost hope for Islam and I think it is the duty of all free thinkers to be blunt and straight forward in their effort to enlighten the Muslims. (...) My goal is to carry my message on. And hoping, I will be able to bridge the gap between Islam and the rest of the World.
Je n’ai aucun espoir à l’égard de l’islam car quand une idée est corrompue, on ne peut pas la réformer, mais on peut en changer. Il est possible de changer l’esprit qui croyait en cette idée. On peut remplacer cette idée ou ce système de pensée par un meilleur système de pensée. Vous ne pouvez pas réformer une idée corrompue : elle est corrompue. Jetez-la et remplacez-la par une meilleure idée.
وقبل ذلك نقلت صحيفة ذي سيدني مورنينغ هيرالد (The Sydney Morning Herald) في مقال بعنوان "مرحبا بكل الناجحين في الإختبار" ونشر بتاريخ 27 أوت 2007 [مقال حول الهجرة إلى أستراليا]، ما يلي:
The Syrian-born Sunni Muslim Dr Wafa Sultan has recently completed a visit to Australia, jointly sponsored by some Christian and Jewish groups. In response to questions, she has advocated the end of Muslim immigration to Western democracies - believing that the practitioners of her former faith want to destroy Western civilisation. Yet as one participant put it at a function which Sultan addressed, she was only able to leave Syria and settle in the United States almost two decades ago because American officials were prepared to give a Syrian Muslim the kind of chance which she now believes that others like her should not be given.
Sultan's message about radical Islamism is important and she is a courageous critic of jihadist terrorism and societies such as Syria. It's just that she has nothing to tell Australia about immigration. Australia is an immigrant nation which is close to Indonesia, which happens to have the largest Muslim population in the world. Realistically, Australia cannot say that immigrants are welcome, except for followers of Islam. Nor would Australia want to - since many Muslims have become fine residents and citizens, including the Turks who were the first group of Muslims to settle in Australia in large numbers.
خارج النص (رسالة إلى أصحابها): أليس لديكم ما تدافعون به على سيّدتكم يا حرافيش؟!
