St. Martin's Press Mainstreams Hate of Arabs and Muslims

St. Martin's Press Mainstreams Hate of Arabs and Muslims
Wafa Sultan: The Native "Arab Muslim" Daniel Pipes needs to appear moderate
"Hungry" Sultan As the Radical Right/Israel Supporters Useful Tool

Faisal Al Qasim Makes Wafa Sultan

Wafa Sultan was a largely unknown Syrian-born psychologist who used to write articles for Arabic language publications until she was hosted by Dr. Faisal Al Qasim of Aljazeera's Opposite Direction. On that show Dr. Al Qasim provided her a forum where she used vulgar language to attack Islam and Prophet Mohammed. Dr. Al Qasim provided a forum for an unknown person of no intellectual, scholarly or policy merit to speak in a vulgar fashion about Islam on a network that is generously funded by a Muslim government and watched by millions of followers of Islam. The very appearances on Aljazeera, insulting its millions of viewers, have provided her with the "credentials" to be considered a number of things that have evolved with time from "Muslim reformer" to an advocate for the "Islam is evil" campaign spearheaded by Christian and Jewish extremists who need a "Muslim" to validate their extreme views or, as in the case of Mr. Daniel Pipes, to have the "Muslim" say outrageous things that make them appear relatively moderate.

St. Martin's Press Publishes "A God Who Hates"

St. Martin's press has recently published a book by Sultan, "A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam." Although, many things have inflamed the Muslim world, Sultan is not one of them. It is impossible to get St. Martin's Press to publish a book of a similar content and purpose that targets any group other than Arabs or Muslims. But what is acceptable for Muslims and Arabs is not acceptable for any other groups.

The Praise of Pipes, Spencer and Wilders

Advance praise for the book comes from Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Geert Wilders. Advance praise reads:"….but Islamic reformers have praised her for saying out loud, in Arabic., and on the most widely seen television network in the Arab world, what few Muslims dare say even in private. A God Who Hates..will remind readers why, even at a time when we are reaching out to others, we must be ever vigilant about the threat Islam poses to the West." Robert Spencer: " A God Who Hates shall be read closely and studied by the president, European leaders, ad all Western policy makers and opinion shapers- before it is too late." Daniel Pipes writes: "But she worries that Middle East customs are encroaching on the West and writes with passion to awaken Americans to a menace they barely recognize, much less fear."

One is tempted to read a book published by St. Martin's press and recommended for reading by Western policy makers and opinion-shapers. What does this ordinary psychologist say that deserves praise by "Muslim reformers"? What does she say that "policy makers" and "opinion shapers" need to take time from their busy schedules to read?

On 9/11: Because Muslims Hate Women

Much has been said and written about 9/11. There has been a 9/11 commission which published its findings in a rather thick report. Ms Sultan has an explanation for why the attacks happened: "Because Muslims, that is the 1.2 billion followers of Islam, hate their women. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks Americans asked themselves 'why they hate us.' My answer is: Because Muslims hate their women and any group who hates their women can't love anyone else. People ask: But why do they hate their women? And I can only reply: "Because their God does."

Arab Immigrants: "Raiders" of American Supermarkets

Sultan's bigotry is not directed only against Muslims but against Arabs as well. Arabs are "raiders." Sultan's Arabs are bad raiders who are interested not in finding treasure but in destroying food packets in supermarkets. She writes:
"When I immigrated to America I discovered right away that the local inhabitants were not proficient in raiding while the expatriate Muslims could not give it up. After I had been in the United States for only a few weeks, an Arab neighbor of mine took me to the supermarket in an attempt to familiarize me with the area we lived in. We went into a VOS market, and once there, she began to make holes in the lids of cartons of milk, Jell-O, and cream. Then she made holes in a number of bags and potato chips, packets of handkerchiefs, and packets of spaghetti. I shouted at her disparagingly, 'Dina, what are you doing?' She replied, ' May God curse them! They stole our land!'"

Muslims: irrational, don't listen

Orientalism portrays the East as irrational while the West is rational. Sultan parrots this orientalist "truth" by writing:
"When you talk to a Muslim, rationally, in a low calm voice, he has trouble understanding your point of view. He thinks you have lost the argument. A Muslim conversing with anyone else Muslim or non-Muslim, cannot remember a single word the other person has said,…"

Muslim Women See Themselves as "Furniture"

Muslims are "irrational" and do not listen to voices of reason that speak with a "low calm voice"? I wonder what other "insights" can Sultan share with us? Oh wait, there is more. Not only are Sultan's Muslims irrational, they have no "human feelings or values" either. Sultan writes:
"A Muslim man can see himself only in terms of his ability to pump out money and sperm. The Muslim women, for her part, sees herself only as an incubator for his sperm and as a piece of furniture he has bought and paid for with his money. The man alone decides when to take possession of this object and when to deposit his sperm in it dictating a relationship in which human feelings have no value."

The Rhetoric of Radicalization: Islamism is True Islam, America is Fighting Islam, and a True Muslim Does Not Acknowledge the Constitution

The Christian Science Monitor had a story entitled "Internet aids terrorist recruiting, radicalization, Pentagon says." The radicalization process involves, among other things, advocating what Sultan is preaching about Islam. In fact, Sultan says the exact same things that recruiters say and gets praised by Pipes, Spencer and Wilders- crusaders who have allegedly declared war on "radical Islam." Pro- Israel groups have either invited her to speak or awarded her for making statements about Islam that are similar to those made by radicalization agents.
"America is waging a war against Islam" is the primary recruiting argument for radicalization agents. Sultan relates in her book that she was "stunned" by the fact that there are Muslim youths memorizing the Koran in Anaheim while the "American government exposes its troop to dangers in Iraq and Afghanistan on the grounds of combating terrorism. Yet increasingly, both the government of the United States and the American people turn a blind eye to the fact that American children are imbibing terrorism…" Sultan also claims that Islamists are true Muslims, no one else: "Islamists who grasp the true nature of Islam…" and "[ A] true Muslim does not acknowledge the United States Constitution…"

Beyond Islamophobia: Demonization and Marginalization Policy
Promoters and Users of the Hungry Who Found Their "Heaven"

It is tempting to dismiss Sultan's book as Dear Diary fulminations of a mentally- ill "hungry" woman who found a way to make a living. After all the writer herself admits she was "hungry" when he came to America and the book is rich with "deep insights" that begin with "I know a Muslim woman…I once stopped for an oil change…driving out of the garage like the wind, shaking with fury (after an argument with a complete stranger)……I met up with a woman who had been a close friend before I left Syria… where I come from people believe that the officials of American embassies worldwide are the bearers of that key."

Rep. Keith Ellison and American "Sultans"

Representative Keith Ellison said the following about another "Sultan": "I think you give people license for bigotry. I think people who want to engage in nothing less than Muslim-hating really love you a lot because you give them freedom to do that. You say, 'yeah, go get after them.'"

It is more than that. The heart of the matter is that Sultan has found a way to make a comfortable undreamt of living by what she says and writes about Arabs and Muslims. Sultan herself writes on page 235 that she" loves America," the country that "fed" her when she was "hungry." The real problem is those who are taking in, paying, and promoting 'the Sultans" of the world. They are not mentally ill like the term Islamophobia suggests. They are in fact rather calculating individuals and groups who are out to demonize and marginalize Muslim and Arab Americans. They believe the exclusion of Arabs and Muslims in America is critical for the permanence and dominance of their national and foreign policy preferences. Sultan's book is merely another brick in the wall of the campaign of extremists who are engaged in an unholy war to demonize and marginalize American Arabs and Muslims.

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