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Bet-Nahrain Forum
An interview with the psychologist, Wafa Sultan
Posted By: simon malek (cache-mtc-ad06.proxy.aol.com)
Date: Thursday, 23 March 2006, at 7:20 p.m.
MEMRI TV - 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
>
> An interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan was aired on
> Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null
> Following are excerpts from the interview
>
> 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 came 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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