WAFA SULTAN

"... but if only I could get my hands on you..."

W

afa Sultan has been getting lots of attention for her verbal sparring with fundamentalist Imams and Islamist teachers on al Jazeera TV, and as anyone who watches these clips will soon realise, this Arab-American psychologist has a powerful way of expressing her views. Misogynistic fundamentalists tend not to like women like this very much, and when they are completely outclassed in debate by one, sometimes tend to lose their cool. "I don't care if you believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me," is just such a perfect line to toss back when an Imam screams "Heretic!" I bet it's even more poetic sounding in the original Arabic.

MEMRI TV (Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project) has two edited clips of Wafa Sultan in their archives, the most recent of which has apparently been viewed over a million times. The servers must be still pretty busy. I've never had trouble with MEMRI videos before but these didn't play very smoothly for me, and I suspect it's because of all the competition to watch them. But try if you're able -- they're more then worth the effort and should be seen by as many people as possible.

Our screen capture is from her latest appearance on AJ just three weeks ago, the second is from July of last year. Transcript links are also available on both pages. The embedded player will only work on Internet Explorer, but Firefox and other browsers are given a link which will start up your Media Player.

MEMRI TV: Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) - 2/21/2006 - 00:05:28

MEMRI TV: Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) - 7/26/2005 - 00:07:43

The New York Times had a profile of Wafa Sultan over the weekend (the link should work for non-subscribers). I really hope the information in that story doesn't make it too easy for jihadists to track her down, as she is surely under a fatwa from some "religious leader" or other. She describes how she began questioning her faith after some Islamist fanatics burst into her classroom in Syria and murdered the teacher "for Allah." She and her husband and children are now American citizens.

And the always interesting blogger in Saudi Arabia, The Religious Policeman says he has found a new best friend. Read his analysis of the tactical alternatives available to the men who find themselves facing this formidable woman, bluntly calling them on their bigotry. None of the options really works very well for them, as she wields indisputable truths like a razor sharp scimitar.
- posted by Agam @ 10:29 PM 0 comments

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