My blood ran cold as I turned every page of this book …. A God Who Hates ? I was intrigued by the title. Then I read that this is a personal account of a Muslim woman from Syria. I am not a Muslim and I don’t know if what Wafa Sultan has written about the Koran is correct or not. I am just deeply moved by her struggles as a woman.
A God Who Hates, must be read by every woman. Its important to understand how women feel in an Islamic society. The more we understand different cultures, the more aware we become and can pick and choose what works or not. Also without knowing the cultural background of an individual, we really cannot understand their actions.
Some Excerpts from A God Who Hates
“… After the 9/11 terrorist attack Americans asked themselves: “Why do 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 Muslims hate their women?” And I can only reply: “Because their God does.”
“The patients and their escorts entered the office concealed under their cloaks so that only their hands showed. None wished to risk being recognized. In the examination room, where the woman and her daughter or granddaughter talked to the doctor, the story was always the same: “Doctor, my daughter had a serious fall and bled when she was a child, and we’re here now to make sure she’s still a virgin, because she’s about to get married. ….. In most cases, after a number of questions, the young woman would confess that for many years, since childhood, she had been sexually abused by her father, her brother, an uncle, or another male relative.“
“…. The status of women in Muslim countries is a human catastrophe that the world has ignored for centuries and for which it is now paying a high price for ignoring. An oppressed and subjugated woman cannot give birth to an emotionally and mentally well-balanced man. The invisible Muslim woman has been and continues to be the hen who incubates the eggs of terrorism and provides them with the necessary warmth to hatch the terrorists.”
“… But what is a Muslim woman? She is whoever Islam tells her she is in her early years. What motto does Islam painfully inscribe on her birthmark? “A woman is a defect.” This hadith pronounced by Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, was handed down mother to daughter, inscribed on one birthmark and then the next and then the next until it reached me.”
“…My sister decided to marry her daughter to the son of her paternal aunt when she was eleven years old and he was forty. I was an adolescent at the time and I can still remember my sister’s response to the women of the neighbourhood when they asked her what her daughter thought of this marriage. “She’s still young, she’ll come to love him as time goes by. It’s a marriage in accordance with the law of God and his Prophet.
…….. My niece, seeing no other way out, committed suicide at the age of twenty-six, by which time she was the mother of four children.”
“… When you read the Koran in English or in any other language, you are reading not a literal translation but, rather, the meaning that the translator wants to impart to the text. Not all Arabic works which deal with Muhammad’s life, conduct and thought have been translated into the languages spoken by non-Arab Muslims, and what translations do exist are not faithful to the original.”
“….War on terrorism is pointless unless the world works together to replace this life-disdaining culture that incites people to sacrifice their lives with a more humane and reasonable alternative.”
“… In an attempt to avoid facing his failure the Muslim man plays the game of “killer and victim”. He is the victim, and the whole world is out to get him!”
The author lives in America and is an American citizen now. She says what America means to her in these lines –
“.. America means I can live my life and no one will judge me because of my color, gender, race, religion, political opinions, or country of origin; instead I am evaluated on my work and my personality. America, to put it very briefly indeed, is my freedom.”
I can only admire Wafa Sultan for taking the brave step of immigrating to the US and living a life of freedom. So many of her fellow Muslim women have not been able to take that step in Syria or other Muslim countries.
The glimpse into Wafa Sultan’s life does disturb me tremendously, and I don’t know if we can hope for a change…. that’s the big question. Remember, Afghanistan just happened and the author’s adopted country is responsible for pushing it back by several decades. :(:(