[Mb-civic] MUST READ: Transcript of 'Brilliant Speech by Woman on Arab TV' (Thanks, Michael and Golshori!)

[William Swiggard]

Arab-American Psychologist 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 psychologist 
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 start 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.
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