Octavio

Submitted by Daisy (United States), Mar 1, 2006 at 15:19

First, let me thank you for the question and the opportunity to answer - and also apologize if I've presumed your gender incorrectly. I've read and appreciated your posts for some time .. and hope I've not made the 'chauvinistic' mistake of assigning my own feminine gender to you (since I've identified with so much of what you've said). In Shakespeare your name is masculine ... but here, I'm simply not certain.

It does seem true that the highest profile moderates are Muslim 'apostates' (this certainly cancels all credibility in the world of Islam) .. Irshard Manji being a notable exception. But I still wonder about those 700 Danish Muslims who felt bravely supported enough to take a public stand. Had they all left Islam? I suppose it's possible, but I don't know.

Have you heard about the American-Arab Psychologist, Wafa Sultan? She is extraordinary by any free person's standards. You can find her latest video on MEMRI ... and this from MEMRI by way of Jihad Watch:

Wafa Sultan, a psychologist from LA, here speaks with Dr. Ahmad Bin Muhammad, an Algerian professor -- this was aired on Al-Jazeera on July 26, 2005. Sultan starts out by asking him why Muslim men become suicide bombers. She speaks plainly about the role of Islam:
Wafa Sultan: [...]In our countries, religion is the sole source of education, and is the only spring from which that terrorist drank until his thirst was quenched. He was not born a terrorist, and did not become a terrorist overnight. Islamic teachings played a role in weaving his ideological fabric, thread by thread, and did not allow other sources – I am referring to scientific sources – to play a role. It was these teachings that distorted this terrorist and killed his humanity. It was not (the terrorist) who distorted the religious teachings and misunderstood them, as some ignorant people claim.

When you recite to a child still in his early years the verse: "They will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off," regardless of this verse's interpretation, and regardless of the reasons it was conveyed or its time – you have made the first step towards creating a great terrorist...

Every single word is worth reading. Go here for that:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/2005/07/007434print.html

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".