Reply #5: Another story on Dr. Sultan

[PsychoDad]

Islam Fatally Flawed, Says Voice From Corona via Al Jazeera
Wafa Sultan, who tells a tale of terror from Syria, draws lots of Western media attention but not as much from Muslims.
By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
March 13, 2006


She's no longer a Muslim, has never connected with progressive Islamic groups and does not know the writings of Islam's most respected voices of reform.
...
"I don't believe you can reform Islam," Sultan said. Saying Islamic scriptures are riddled with violence, misogyny and other extremist ideas, she declared, "Once you try to fix it, you're going to break it."

Sultan's Al Jazeera remarks have been widely circulated by such groups as the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington-based translation service founded by a former Israeli colonel, and the American Jewish Congress. She made the New York Times front page and is being plied with interview requests from CNN, Fox, "Good Morning America" and public radio. Her e-mail in-box is filled with messages from well-wishers around the world — mostly non-Muslims — praising her "courage," offering donations and pitching proposals to make a documentary about her life.
...

"I haven't come across any indication that people are discussing her," said Abdulaziz Sachedina, a University of Virginia Islamic studies professor who was blacklisted eight years ago by Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Sistani for his reformist ideas that women were equal to men and all Abrahamic faiths were equally respectable. "Cyberspace is almost silent."

He said he first heard of her a few weeks ago, when the American Jewish Congress sent him an e-mail with a link to her Al Jazeera interview, which was translated from Arabic into English by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Sachedina said he agreed with some of her remarks, including her criticism that too many Muslim rulers fail to protect human rights. But he objected to what he called her "vilification" of the entire tradition.

More Here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sultan13mar13,0,2410999.story