Jazeera was forced to issue an apology last week when Wafa Sultan, who had been hosted on the weekly slugfest “The Opposite Direction” defended the re-publication of the offensive Danish cartoons caricaturing Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), then spent most of her airtime insulting Muslims by saying the cartoons were reflecting what she called the truth about Islam. The Syrian-born Sultan has been on Al-Jazeera before, so the station must have known what to expect from her. It was wise of the news channel to apologize. The Danish cartoons have caused uproar among Muslims worldwide. To have her on the program to spew follies only added insult to injury. Since 9/11, Sultan has made a name for herself giving speeches and writing articles that condemn Islam as barbaric. She is a darling of Western media because she seems to satisfy their concept of what a good Muslim should be. So whenever a Western news outlet wants a Muslim to attack his or her own religion with extremist views, they give her a call. I never paid much attention to people like Sultan, but her comments have drawn so much attention that I decided to watch the interview. I saw an angry woman who only used the Danish cartoon issue to further her own agenda, and she often referred to Muslims as “you,” as if she is distancing herself from her own culture and “religion”, assuming she has any. Her single-mindedness in attacking Islam often led her off the topic of the segment. Sultan claims to be a Muslim who doesn't believe in Islam – if that's possible. I've heard that she sometimes refers to herself as an ex-Muslim, which begs the question what she is and what she wants to be. What is the point of having her on the program? Fame is the only motive I can think of, since she isn't clear on her political and religious stands. She is a contradiction in the starkest of terms. From what I can glean from her rants, if we want the West to perceive us in a better light, then we should conform to their concept of what Islam is. But is it our ultimate goal to be perceived better in the West by changing our religious values? What kind of a mentality is that? My impression of that particular TV episode was that Sultan did not speak as a scholar or expert on Islam, but as an allegedly hurt and angry woman. From what I understand of her background, she was reportedly traumatized when, a 21-year-old student at the University of Aleppo, Syria, allegedly witnessed one of her professors being murdered by terrorists. That, she says, pushed her into a crisis of faith. If that were true, it might explain her hatred of her own culture and religion. It might explain why she is a single-note critic of Islam. It might be why she parrots non-Muslims who use fear and hate to attack Islam. But it can never justify having her on the program. It's also interesting that Southern California InFocus, a Muslim newspaper, conducted an investigation of Sultan that cast doubt on her story of the professor's assassination. The investigation also revealed that she lived in poverty and had little interest in politics – until her overnight fame once she appeared on Al-Jazeera. What makes Sultan even more of a fraud and an opportunist is that she has virtually no credentials that could allow her to speak on Islam. She is an American citizen and a psychiatrist. She is not a theologian, a scholar or even an expert on political issues. She's an angry, bitter woman with an agenda. But Western media find her entirely credible as well as entertaining. After all, she does call herself a Muslim, and that is all the credentials she needs to get a free pass in the West as an expert. This is why I was surprised that Al-Jazeera gave her airtime in the first place. Tal'at Rumeih, the renowned Egyptian writer who appeared opposite Sultan, said that Muslims should exercise their right to boycott Danish products and stage demonstrations outside Danish embassies. Sultan's extremist remarks neither fit Rumeih's sensible, moderate comments nor the opening tone of the show. She came out hitting all things Islamic and did not even directly respond to Rumeih's views. Al-Jazeera would have served its viewers better if it found a moderate Muslim, and not necessarily one who is well-known. If the news channel wanted an opposing view to Rumeih, it could have found a Muslim or even non-Muslim with a Western viewpoint who would defend the publication of the cartoons without the need to resort to anti-Muslim gibberish. What I found especially mind-boggling with this highly inflammatory interview is that I hear this kind of hatred in English from Westerners. While I don't hear it often to my face, it doesn't surprise me when I do. But to have to hear these hurtful things in Arabic makes me sick to my stomach.– The writer can be reached at: [email protected] Her blog is : www.saudiwriter.blogspot.com __
