Comments on: On Dr. Wafa Sultan

By: forsoothsayer

forsoothsayer — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:31:44 +0000

the Quran most certainly states that females get half of the inheritance of males and that their testimony is worth half of a man's. there is not the smallest amount of controversy regarding these things. not to mention the indisputable permissibility of polygamy. that's equality??

By: Esra'a (Bahrain)

Esra'a (Bahrain) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:42:19 +0000

Sharia Law has been altertered beyond belief and differs in practice from one country to another. There are lots of religious Muslims who have a huge problem with most of the things you mentioned as they are not based on the faith and are not supported by any official religious texts. Islamic feminists have been using the Quran to defend themselves (quite successfully at times) for decades. It’s easy to witness a few actions by a few Muslims and dismiss their religion as a whole, but it’s also lazy and baseless. If the Quran really disrespects women there wouldn’t be female doctors and leaders in their time who fought side by side with their male comrades during war. That’s equality in action.

By: forsoothsayer

forsoothsayer — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:29:47 +0000

these things you write are actually NOT true. where are u getting this rubbish? islam does not sanction or allow any of the things u mentioned, except for the half inheritance. i hoep you’re aware – but you undoubtedly are not – that this measure is because the woman’s brother, husband or male relative are legally obligated to provide for her, and she can force them to in a sharia court. the testimony is also true, but not against a man who is blind and deaf!
the rest is totally false.

By: Noor

Noor — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:29:07 +0000

The writer in untruthful when he says Islam respects and honours women. Consider the following messages that the moslem woman gets about her worth & capacities from the sharih law:-
- A Qouranic verse orders husbands to beat up his wife if he fears that she might disobey him( i.e according to Islam, she sould not behave like a psychologically mature adult, having her own thoughts/feelings/experiences/will separate from husband’s;
-She inherits half of what a male gets;
-Her testimony in courts is worth half that of a male, even if he is blind and hard of hearing;
- The moslim male can divorce his wife by just verbally saying ‘I divorce you’ and gets custody of children ( despite the psychologically proven, lifelong trauma and unimaginable emotional suffering this will cause to the mother & child );

* She is considered equal to a minor not allowed to marry or make her own life decisions outside the will of a male gaurdian(wali-amr);
with all the above messages about her worthlessness and the supramacy of males, the moslem woman very early in her life learns not to trust herself, lacking confidence in her capacities & decision-making, filled with fear of punishment by the male wali-amr or males in the family, she will psychologically remain infantile, underdeveloped & dependent on males all her life. On the other hand, the muslim male very early in his life learns that men have supremacy over women according to Islam, therefore he learns that he can physically,sexually & emotionally abuse women knowing that he will not be punished. A woman who is raped in Sharia based Islamic countries will have to produce four males who have witnessed the act of rape. if she fails to produce four male witnesses, she will be stoned to death for adultery. Even if she produces the witnesses, the rapist is spared punishment if he agrees to marry the victim to protect her family’s honor!! Where have any one seen such barbaric criminal law where the victim is punished, by being condemned to lifelong rape, while the male rapist is rewarded?
* The practice of sex with little girls is allowed under shariah laws, where 6 year old girls are given to old men in marriage by fathers in return for money, following prophet Mohammad’s marriage to 6 year old Aisha. He sexually molested her from the age of 6 and had full sexual intercourse with her when she was 9. These shockingly inhuman & abusive practices against females exposes the primitive and psychopathic nature of Islamic medieval society where every year, thousands of women and girls are killed, stoned to death, sold in marriage by savage insecure males programmed by primitive Islamic moral code.

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:03:54 +0000

i don’t see you actually refuting the presence of intolerant and indeed violent verses.

I’m not refuting or denying them, because they exist. Just like they exist in every single religion out there. I do not see you speaking towards Christians or Jews or others in fear. Why then single them out?

And what do you propose to do, eliminate Islam from planet earth? Have everyone else shun and discriminate against all Muslims?

All of these arguments are quite frankly pointless.

You will never get rid of the religion. It is one of the largest in the world. All you can do is fight and condemn the injustices like millions of Muslims already do. Everything else will get you nowhere and will only lead to more hatred and culture wars, and that’s really the last thing we need right now.

By: SZ

SZ — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:43:40 +0000

i have lived in a Muslim country for 20 years, and am generally well disposed towards Muslims. but i won’t bury my head in the sand. I am frequently woken on Fridays by muezzins screeching bile. you may argue that these people are mistaken, but there must be some basis for their views.
what makes you think my comparative reference point is the bible? why does there need to be a comparative reference point anyway? especially since the link you provided does not prove any point. i don’t see you actually refuting the presence of intolerant and indeed violent verses. there is also the argument of chronology…the bible’s violent references all occur in the old testament, whereas the Quran’s all occur in the later medinan verses.

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:22:35 +0000

It must be Islamophobe week on the internet. Seems like 1 in every 3 commenters thinks that Muslims are out to gouge their hearts out with ginsu knives and proceed by eating their children.SZ, I guess you missed the violent verses in the Bible?

By: SZ

SZ — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:16:26 +0000

why don’t you think that clerics represent the truth of Islam? Why do you think you’re right and they’re wrong? They do have thousands of years of sharia to back them up.
also, you are i am sure very well aware that for the verse you quoted above, there are several highly hostile verses to minorities. the briefest of google searches will take you to these. oh, wait – those are “out of context!”

By: RandallJones

RandallJones — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:51:24 +0000

Regarding Wafa Sultan’s claim that her professor was killed in the classroom. There have been American-Muslim websites that have said that there was no professor that was killed in the classroom.

But instead of giving you those links. I give you a link of an article written by Wafa SUltan and translated by MEMRI, where she contradicts herself. She wrote (fifth paragraph):

Was Dr. Yusef Al-Yusef, whose body they riddled with bullet in front of the medical school at the University of Aleppo while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar’ – was he one of the pillars of the regime, or an ophthalmologist who didn’t have anything whatsoever to do with the regime?
complete article at http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=reform&ID=SP94905
SO in this article written in June 2005 she says the professor was killed in front of the medical school. Why does Wafa Sultan need to embellish her story by saying gunmen had entered the classroom to kill her professor?
I would love to hear Wafa Sultan’s views about the many school shootings and massacres that have occurred in the United States.
Regarding the issue of Islam, yes there needs to be reform. But if those living in the West are really interested in this, why don’t they work with and support the Muslims living in Muslim countries that are fighting for human rights?
I do not believe Wafa SUltan and those who uncritically praise her are sincere in reforming Islam until I hear them include a discussion of the role of countries like the United States, Britain, and Israel in collaborating with Muslim extremists.