Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00537)

Dear Friends,

Maybe this interview will be interesting for some:

Memri TV
Clip No. 1050
 
Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of 
Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages 
and That of the 21st Century.
 
Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American 
psychiatrist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on 
February 21, 2006.

Wafa Sultan: 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 the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on 
other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, 
and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not 
a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[...]
Host: 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?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[...]
Host: Who came up with 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...
Wafa Sultan: 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 must 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 that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he 
calls them Ahl 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 
that 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.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human 
being who does not believe in the supernatural...
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in 
rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, 
and the Koran...
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: 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.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: 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 of 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 an 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.