Muslim draws both praise and death threats for interview on Al Jazeera...

Click here to check out the video of the interview. (hat tip Michael Yon)

Dr. Wafa Sultan is a Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside Los Angeles. The unusually blunt interview aired on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21.

You need to watch this if you haven't seen it already. It's very encouraging...the kind of message that I've not heard much of previously, especially from a Muslim.

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.

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It is a clash between
civilization and
backwardness

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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.

She has a lot of courage to say this. I pray for her safety.

*** UPDATE 3/17/2006 ***

Jamal from the Opinionated Voice sees this differently. Click here for a view into another perspective...and for some really good comments.

...this woman is another example of Muslims that have made their fame and fortune through supporting that which is against Islam, such as Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali...

Wafa Sultan distorts the facts in order to fit a politically motivated inaccurate view of Islam. The world is full of good Muslims who understand Islam as a religion of peace, and it is a minority of Muslims, like the members of Al-Qaeda, that have misinterpreted the Qur’an. I am therefore not surprised that in response to Wafa Sultan’s distortion of these facts, clerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats causing her to go into hiding.

*** UPDATE 3/18/2006 ***


(Click the cartoon for a great, in-depth post from Cox & Forkum)