Rebutting the Saudi Smear Campaign Against Wafa Sultan

With the release of Wafa Sultan's book, A God Who Hates, the various Saudi front organizations have sprung into action doing their best to smear her reputation.

It is of course completely unsurprising that the agents of a kingdom that despises women and treats them like cattle would be furious at criticism of Islam coming from... a woman.

Ever since Wafa Sultan first came to the public's attention by defiantly challenging a male cleric and demanding her right to speak, she has been the target of repeated death threats and slander.

So it is also completely unsurprising that those same Saudi front groups would then use transparent lies and smears to attack her now. But their smear campaign reveals more about them than it does about Wafa Sultan.


First up is the claim that Wafa Sultan lied about ever being a Muslim, because she was an Alawi Muslim. This is a bizarre claim that only fanatical Sunni Wahhabi groups could make with a straight face. To argue that Sultan did not grow up as a Muslim because she grew up as an Alawi Muslim, is akin to a Catholic arguing that a Protestant is not a Christian and vice versa.

The other half of this claim is the argument that since she does not currently believe in Islam and the Koran, she is somehow unqualified to talk about what is wrong with Islam. A position that would disqualify every Scientology critic on the planet and every dissident who escapes from an oppressive regime. Wafa Sultan's qualifications to talk about what is wrong with Islam come from growing and living as a Muslim under Islam. As well as her study of what is wrong with Islam from a cultural, religious and psychological standpoint.

A corollary to this is the claim that Syria was secular and therefore Wafa Sultan did not grow up living in an Islamic society. While Syria under Assad was more secular than say Saudi Arabia, it was still a Muslim country, in the same way that the similarly Baathist Iraq was Muslim. Aside from small minorities, virtually every Syrian is Muslim and mosque attendance is normative. The state funds mosques and Islamic education is part of the regular curriculum. Islamic norms are thoroughly integrated within the national culture.

For a snapshot of that, here's an excerpt from an academic paper on Syria's educational system

Islamic education in Syrian schools is traditional, rigid, and Sunni. The Ministry of Education makes no attempt to inculcate notions of tolerance or respect for religious traditions other than Sunni Islam. Christianity is the one exception to this rule. Indeed, all religious groups other than Christians are seen to be enemies of Islam, who must be converted or fought against. The Syrian government teaches school children that over half of the world’s six billion inhabitants will go to hell and must be actively fought by Muslims...

The government is to be an Islamic State without separation of church and state. The student is constantly reminded that the Islamic state is a divine order whose wisdom, justice, and laws are imposed by God. The chapter of the twelfth grade text entitled, “The System of Government in Islam,” concludes with the following sentences:

There's your "secular" Syria right there. That's the "secular" Syria that Wafa Sultan grew up in.


Secondly, there's the claim that Wafa Sultan is a "turncoat" who has deliberately sought fame in order to get rich. As In Focus, a CAIR front magazine writes;

"As for the Sultans’ financial troubles, Halabi told InFocus that ever since Dr. Sultan gained notoriety those troubles are a thing of the past. "She bought a house for herself and bought another for her son," ... When asked about the source of her material well-being, Halabi was unsure.

As to the reasons that may have pushed Sultan to be so outspoken and vocal against Islam in a post-9/11 world, Halabi sympathetically remarked, "Poverty. It drives people to sell their soul."

The "mysterious source" of their material well-being is that Wafa Sultan was able to become a practicing doctor in the United States. Doctors in the United States tend to have not particularly mysterious sources of material well-being. And whatever money she has made from her speaking fees is hardly anything compared to the security costs of regularly dealing with death threats from Muslim.


Thirdly, let's discuss the In Focus magazine hit piece, Wafa Sultan Reformist or opportunist? that is the source of many of the smears aimed at Wafa Sultan.

In Focus bills itself as the largest Muslim magazine in California. Unsurprisingly the whole thing is attached to the usual Islamist groups. Who runs In Focus?

"Asma Ahmad, a Pakistani Canadian citizen who grew up in Saudi Arabia attending American-run schools and formerly edited the national newsletter of the Muslim Students Association, is the paper's managing editor and only full-timer staffer"

What is the Muslim Students Association? The Muslim Students Association is a project of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is behind the creation of Hamas and Al Queda.

Does In Focus support Islamic terrorism? Does a bear use the men's room in Yellowstone National Park?

"Asma Ahmad is the managing editor of CAIR-California’s monthly tabloid, In Focus. Under her leadership, in October of 2006, In Focus published an article lauding Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah. The piece read, “[I]t was undoubtedly the epic heroism of the resistance fighters that dealt the humiliating defeat to the Anglo-American-backed Zionist forces, but such heroism would not have been possible without the larger-than-life leader to inspire, direct and focus it. Nasrallah’s leadership in war and later has made him into an emblematic figure of long-cherished hope not only to a majority of the Lebanese people but also to the Arab nation as a whole and indeed to the Muslim world.”

Absolutely shocking that a pro-terrorist Islamist publication would have issues with Wafa Sultan.

The In Focus magazine hit piece on Wafa Sultan, "Wafa Sultan: Reformist or opportunist?" primarily relies on a long chain of bizarre stories by some supposed anonymous figure who claims to have known and still be friends with Wafa Sultan.

The odds are good that "Halabi" is just a tag that allows In Focus to assemble whatever smears or stories they collected about Wafa Sultan under one name, while playing the FUD game by trying to make her think that one of her friends is slandering her to In Focus. And his claims that Wafa Sultan is really a Mexican migrant worker and is just doing this for the money are too silly to even be worth paying attention to, right up there with the Zionist arachnid bubble gum of lust.


Fourthly, is the claim being circulated by Muslim "activists" that Wafa Sultan called for "nuking the Muslim world". Naturally this relies on circulating an out of context and off the cuff remark in which Wafa Sultan agreed that it might end up taking the same measures to stop Islamofascism that it did to stop Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. However she had already stated and would state in her speech that Islam could be reformed without violence if sufficient pressure was placed on the Saudi royal family.

Naturally Islamist front groups which are often Saudi front groups are not interested in citing that part of her remarks, only her agreement that it might indeed take the use of nuclear weapons if the Clash of Civilizations continues escalating. This is an entirely reasonable statement when you consider that Iran and Saudi Arabia are both going nuclear, and if such weapons fall into the hands of Islamists, the result is likely to be a nuclear exchange.

The best way to prevent a situation where anyone is getting nuked, is for those same Muslims who are busy smearing Wafa Sultan, to actually begin listening to her and try to reform Islam away from violence and terrorism. Naturally they aren't doing that. It's always been easier in the Muslim world to shoot the messenger, than to actually listen to her. Particularly if it's a "her".


This essentially sums up the list of smears currently being circulated aimed at Wafa Sultan. More of course will arise as her tour continues. If you do see such smears being circulated, feel free to link to this article for a rebuttal and provide any updates in the comments.