WAFA SULTAN

Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan: There Is No Clash
of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and
That of the 21st Century

Following are excerpts from an interview with
Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on
Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006

.
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.

[...]

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.

[...]

Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of
civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would
like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...

Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this
expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations.
The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they
believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people
into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they
believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began
this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic
books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the
infidels.

My colleague has said that he never offends other people's
beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call
other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he
calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the
Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls
the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are
"People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people
of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are
theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the
right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone
astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to
refrain from offending the beliefs of others?

I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular
human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others'
right to believe in it.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?

Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular
human being who does not believe in the supernatural...

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no
point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet,
and the Koran...

Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not
concern you.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long
as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but
other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the
Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people
have their beliefs.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the
Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not
with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity
owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to
Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united
and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single
Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew
destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people.
The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a
single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy.
Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing
people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The
Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they
demand that humankind respect them.