Wafa Sultan, Psychiatrist

[HisChildForever]

A very good friend of mine wanted this to be passed along.

The video is just under 8 minutes long. The content of it is disturbing (particularly the end where Ms. Sultan discusses her niece), and some parts may be suitable for a mature audience only.

[url="http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/arab-american-psychiatrist-wafa-sultan-harshly-criticizes-the-status-of-women-in-islam/17882448"]http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/arab-america...-islam/17882448[/url]

[Hassan]

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1877976' date='May 29 2009, 03:03 PM']A very good friend of mine wanted this to be passed along.

The video is just under 8 minutes long. The content of it is disturbing (particularly the end where Ms. Sultan discusses her niece), and some parts may be suitable for a mature audience only.

[url="http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/arab-american-psychiatrist-wafa-sultan-harshly-criticizes-the-status-of-women-in-islam/17882448"]http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/arab-america...-islam/17882448[/url][/quote]


A very trustworthy woman

[the lords sheep]

I hope she does not find her life in danger speaking against the prophet Muhammad in Islamic/Arabic states.
She has a lot of courage.

[Hassan]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1878108' date='May 29 2009, 05:13 PM']I hope she does not find her life in danger speaking against the prophet Muhammad in Islamic/Arabic states.
She has a lot of courage.[/quote]


She doesn't live in the Arab world. She was from Syria and she moved to the US. Aside from those basic details it's hard to know much about her. Being that she tends to lie a lot (about major things in her life, not little white lies)


Unfortunatly, despite her being a charlatan, some gullible people, looking for justification for the prejudice, will latch onto such individuals (like some "friend" of members here). The more unfortunate thing is that people like her draw attention away from individual genuinly interested in engaging in a dialogue with elements of the Islamic world about the status of women. Not to mention casting a poor light on Arab/Muslim individuals (those who arn't opportunistic liars) who genuinly want to talk about/try to shift the poor status of many women in the Islamic world.

[Hassan]

She's like a female Walid Shoebat

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1878108' date='May 29 2009, 06:13 PM']I hope she does not find her life in danger speaking against the prophet Muhammad in Islamic/Arabic states.
She has a lot of courage.[/quote]

I too hold this fear for her. Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and watch it with an open mind.

[Hassan]

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1878231' date='May 29 2009, 10:11 PM']I too hold this fear for her. Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and watch it with an open mind. [/quote]


What point of hers do you feel was the most important and why?

[HisChildForever]

Oh, I should have mentioned this earlier. I found it really beautiful when Ms. Sultan said, and I quote, "Do they realize that Allah chose the female body for his greatest invention - creation itself? Wouldn't it be moral to bestow upon the female body a certain holiness, instead of viewing it as impure?" I found that to be very Catholic thinking, to tell you the truth.

For those who are interested, I found an article about this as well. Here is an excerpt which gives detail about her background:

[b]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.
[/b]

Source: [url="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1"]http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/internat...nted=1&_r=1[/url]

[Maggyie]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1878120' date='May 29 2009, 07:29 PM']She doesn't live in the Arab world. She was from Syria and she moved to the US. Aside from those basic details it's hard to know much about her. Being that she tends to lie a lot (about major things in her life, not little white lies)


Unfortunatly, despite her being a charlatan, some gullible people, looking for justification for the prejudice, will latch onto such individuals (like some "friend" of members here). The more unfortunate thing is that people like her draw attention away from individual genuinly interested in engaging in a dialogue with elements of the Islamic world about the status of women. Not to mention casting a poor light on Arab/Muslim individuals (those who arn't opportunistic liars) who genuinly want to talk about/try to shift the poor status of many women in the Islamic world.[/quote]


What would you say she has lied about? I know absolutely nothing about her but I would like to know if her integrity is suspect. People will listen to anyone (even someone with no credibility) if they tell them what they want to hear or can confirm a deeply held prejudice. Fundamentalist Christians do this with Catholics all the time getting "testimonies" of "former nuns" etc.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Maggie' post='1878257' date='May 29 2009, 11:44 PM']What would you say she has lied about? I know absolutely nothing about her but I would like to know if her integrity is suspect. People will listen to anyone (even someone with no credibility) if they tell them what they want to hear or can confirm a deeply held prejudice. Fundamentalist Christians do this with Catholics all the time getting "testimonies" of "former nuns" etc.[/quote]

[b] In May of 2006, Dr. Sultan was named as one of Time Magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World.” [/b]

Source: [url="http://www.cusa.uci.edu/wafa_sultan.htm"]http://www.cusa.uci.edu/wafa_sultan.htm[/url]

You may also be interested in this: [url="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187385,00.html"]http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1187385,00.html[/url]

[Hassan]

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1878251' date='May 29 2009, 11:37 PM']Oh, I should have mentioned this earlier. I found it really beautiful when Ms. Sultan said, and I quote, "Do they realize that Allah chose the female body for his greatest invention - creation itself? Wouldn't it be moral to bestow upon the female body a certain holiness, instead of viewing it as impure?" I found that to be very Catholic thinking, to tell you the truth.[/quote]

I don't see how it is Catholic to be honest.

[quote]For those who are interested, I found an article about this as well. Here is an excerpt which gives detail about her background:

[b]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.
[/b]

Source: [url="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1"]http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/internat...nted=1&_r=1[/url][/quote]

That's just not true. She lied about that story and it's been well proven. There was no professor shot on campus much less a classroom, amongst other things. I think there was a professor from the university shot, but certianly not on campus and not in her presence.

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1878268' date='May 29 2009, 11:56 PM']I don't see how it is Catholic to be honest.



That's just not true. She lied about that story and it's been well proven. There was no professor shot on campus much less a classroom, amongst other things. I think there was a professor from the university shot, but certianly not on campus and not in her presence.[/quote]

Proven by who and when and how?

Edited May 30, 2009 by KnightofChrist

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1878268' date='May 29 2009, 11:56 PM']That's just not true. She lied about that story and it's been well proven. There was no professor shot on campus much less a classroom, amongst other things. I think there was a professor from the university shot, but certianly not on campus and not in her presence.[/quote]

Source please.

[CatherineM]

It was an interesting tape. I had never heard anyone make the suggestion that some of the tenets of Islam were in a form of apologetics to make up for or cover up for the transgressions of Muhammad, or that perhaps Muhammad had invented Islam to legalize his desires. I'll have to think of that some. It kind of reminds me of how some Roman emperors had elevated themselves to God, like Nero.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Maggie' post='1878257' date='May 29 2009, 11:44 PM']What would you say she has lied about? I know absolutely nothing about her but I would like to know if her integrity is suspect. People will listen to anyone (even someone with no credibility) if they tell them what they want to hear or can confirm a deeply held prejudice. Fundamentalist Christians do this with Catholics all the time getting "testimonies" of "former nuns" etc.[/quote]


I actually think about that a lot. I know it continues but it was particularly popular in the 19th ish century with anti Catolic nativism. In fact once in a library I found a book (something like) "50 Years in the Church of Rome" but a supposed former Priest. The author may have been a former Priest but reading it one could not helped but be shocked that anyone could be so blinded by prejudice and bigotry as to believe his inane fabrications and obvious lies. In fact there used to be a whole industry of "former nuns (priests, monks whatever)" willing to write books and articles informed a xenophobic protestant majority the *truth* about Catholicism. Like the present day with Muslim immigrants there were legitimate concerns about the integration of Catholics into American society, unfortunatly many individuals did not remain in the domain of rational caution and discussion and went straight into paranoia and hatred. We see this now with some individuals like ths woman or Shoebat. In both cases the prey off legitimate concerns to feed the bigoted and paranoid and let them feel justafied into their bigotry and paranoia.