Monday, March 20, 2006

Heroine Chic ....By Val MacQueen : From TCS Daily: Irshad Manji, Aayan Hirsi Ali and Wafa Sultan all have international recognition.

Irshad Manji: Muslim Refusenik,

"Tolerance of intolerance is a betrayal of our basic shared humanity," she writes. And "Muslim intimidation needs to be faced head on."
She also says on her site, "Civilizational progress happens when individuals transgress, even blaspheme. Galileo offended the Church. So did Darwin. The concept of universal human rights offends most religions. Without offence, there is only silence." In addition to her TV, lecture and radio appearances, Manji also writes articles condemning some of the more outré aspects of Islam.

"Civilizational progress happens when individuals transgress, even blaspheme. Galileo offended the Church. So did Darwin. The concept of universal human rights offends most religions. Without offence, there is only silence."

Aayan Hirsi Ali:
Hirsi Ali is an escapee -- from both her religion and her family. Born in Somalia, she suffered genital mutilation at the hands of her grandmother when she was five. As a young woman, she was sent to Canada by her father to marry someone she had never met. There was to be a connecting flight through Germany. With extraordinary self-possession, she ditched her itinerary at Düsseldorf's airport and caught a train to Amsterdam, where she pled for, and was granted, political asylum.

Rather than be a passenger, she was determined to earn her way. She learned to speak Dutch (she also speaks and writes fluent English), earned a Master's in Political Science in her new language and had the nerve to think she might be of service to her adopted country. Some tip her for the premiership of Holland one day. It was on the publication of her book critiquing Islamic culture, The Son Factory, that she received her first death threat.

Wafa Sultan:
She was invited to go on Al-Jazeera and debate Islam and the so-called 'clash of civilizations'. Jaw, say hello to floor. (Love this video, must have watched it six times already) This clip is so extraordinary, it has been clicked on by more than a million people worldwide so far. The man chairing the discussion made a wise decision to keep his head down, but the Algerian Islamist who was... debating is too strong a word as he hardly got a chance to get a word in -- her opponent, kept coming back in disbelief to take another hit. This debate, which was translated by MEMRI and is run on their site, has made Wafa Sultan a worldwide recognizable, and quoted, name.
Link: TCS Daily

What you will also read in this article is that all three are living under the threat of death and so are their families.

Who claims be a tolerant person, a religious person, yet needs to threaten others, like these good women of this world, for expressing free thought?
Do they not see how obviously stupid they look with this reasoning?

Big Pharaoh stated that he didn't think that Dr. Sultan or Manji can be effective as they are ignored in Islamic countries and Islamic ears, but I would say, they should also understand that there are many others who are listening to them instead of these mad mullahs.