Thursday, October 13, 2005
Previously awash in controversy, Boston's Muslim Community has been at pains to prove that they are a moderate group, and have nothing to do with any sort of extremism. No doubt, many are. The Islamic Society of Boston has gone out of its way to distance itself from anyone with ties to extremism or anti-Semitism.
Why then did they sponsor a lecture by Dr. Salah Soltan (or "Sultan") back in February? And why is something called the Al Huda Society holding a fund raiser featuring Dr. Salah Soltan this coming Sunday (with a return address at Harvard University - registrations are to be mailed to Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138)?
Why does it matter? The question is, who is Salah Soltan? The Al Huda material calls him a "scholar," and the ISB itself points to him for explanation of religious matters, but is Salah Soltan someone who a moderate that wants to be taken seriously as such would associate with? Who is he?
(Read on to the extended entry. There's a LOT there.)
According to his profile at Discover the Networks, he is an advocate for suicide bombing:
[Edit: It may be worth noting at this point that Solah Soltan's name appears on the list of signatories to the recent Fiqh Council Fatwa Against Terrorism.]
According to a quote from this page, Sultan believes that Israeli soldiers make ash trays from Palestinian embryo skulls, and that the Talmud commands the Jews to kill all gentiles:
What does "the Cause" mean to you? And what does it mean to your children?...How much do they know about these tragedies? Did we mention to them that the Children of Zion over there cut open the wombs of mothers. As Khalid M. Khalid mentioned in 1992 when he visited Shamir and saw on his desk a strange ashtray. He asked him, "What strange ashtray is this?" Shamir told him that this was the skull of an embryo. The skull of an embryo? An Israeli soldier opened the womb of a Palestinian mother, took out the embryo, cut off his head, and gave it to him as a present. He gave it to him as a present! This is the method of the Jews. Killing a Muslim or any other non-Jew does not matter to them. Because their motto is, "The gentiles mean nothing to us." This is what the text of the talmud says: "If you come across a non-Jew kill him!"
A couple of these quotes can also be found on the ADL's web site, here, where we also learn that Yusuf Qaradawi is a faculty member of the Islamic American University, where Sultan is Founder and President.
According to Soltan's own web page, he is for the violent destruction of Israel and the deportation (or worse) of its Jewish inhabitants -- a negotiated compromise is out of the question:
If you thought he was rough on Jews, be thankful you're not female -- or are you?
Sheik Sultan doesn't think women should be going out to the store if their husbands don't agree:
Answer: ...The husband and wife should cooperate with one another to fulfill the requirements and basic needs of the house. If the woman likes to go to the store and does shopping with her husband or alone, when needed, then she should agree with her husband on that. It is not allowed for the woman to go to the store without informing her husband, who might mistrust her if he knows. Therefore, I recommend the woman to discuss this issue with her husband and try to get a general approval of getting her basic needs with or without him going with her. If the husband does not agree, she is supposed to listen to him.
In this very difficult exchange, an American female questioner who married an Egyptian man and converted to Islam now has an issue:
Now to my problem! As I have said before his family knows nothing of me. However, I just found out that he got married in his country this past summer and his new wife is now pregnant with their child. He never discussed this with me. I am very upset. I cannot discuss this with anyone. I understand that a husband can take more than one wife. Should he have not asked for my permission? We have no intentions of divorcing but I feel that I was lied to...
The answer? It's the husband's right to have more than one wife...btw, get pregnant fast:
1. It is the right of the Muslim husband to get married to another woman. Seeking the permission of the first wife is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended because of the harmony and unity of the family Islam is keen to preserve. So, if your husband married a second wife without informing you, then he did what was not proper to be done, and not what was forbidden to be done...
...4. If your husband still wishes to keep you, then I advise you to get pregnant as soon as possible as children give a different taste of marriage and strengthen the relationship between spouses...
The answer concerning multiple wives seems a bit dodgy from a legal standpoint, what with US laws and all, but never fear, in this essay, there is no need for a citizen to feel loyal to laws that contradict Islam (page 3):
It is my opinion that a Muslim in any country must show that he or she is a good citizen, to love the country he or she is living in and detest those who try to mar it or feud it. This affection to one’s country does not suggest loyalty to the religions that rose through corruption or to the governments that enact laws contradicting with the Islamic rulings.
Accordingly, there is no harm, for those living in non-Muslim countries and even for the immigrants, to identify themselves as French, American or Japanese Muslims of Egyptian, Syrian or Indian origins. Besides, there is no harm either for the native citizen to be proud of his country rather than its government or its laws that are not in accordance with his or her religion.
It can be difficult to tell who the moderates are these days. So many respected Islamic scholars are tainted by some pretty extremist notions.
Now that you've read this, where does Salah Soltan fit in on the scale, and how can groups that look to him for guidance be viewed as moderate? If Sheik Soltan's CV is typical for religious leaders of his stature, well, what's a moderate to do?
(Special thanks to Miss Kelley for the research that went into this post.)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Salah Soltan - A moderate's guest?.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/4873
Call me a neo-con, call me insensitive, call me intollerant, but don't call me eagerly sitting around waiting for the next attack on America. I plan to at least keep warning everyone about the enemy within our gates, like this Islamist Sultan and his f... Read More
Patrick Poole has found some new information that shows that Ohio "terror sheik" Salah Soltan (also spelled Salah Sultan) is still up to his old tricks. Soltan was a guest of the Islamic Society of Boston, and a founder of... Read More
Before CAIR and the Flying Imams...the Islamic Society of Boston had already pioneered the use of lawsuits to silence their critics and the media. By Martin Solomon [Illustration from All Things Beautiful] You are a graduate of Egypt's Al-Azhar Univers... Read More
Salah Soltan (also spelled Sultan -- Jew-hater extraordinaire and sometime guest of the Islamic Society of Boston...see here for a search, here for the original "who is".) is back in video, along with a star-studded cast of like-minded indivi... Read More
You remember Salah Soltan (also spelled Salah Sultan). We've heard from him many times. We first met him in Salah Soltan - A moderate's guest? in his first appearance as a guest of the Islamic Society of Boston, the group... Read More
Funny how similar he sounds to Pat Robertson. Islam itself tends, like any other religion, to be very extremist in its views regarding otherness. I have no qualm with that but I do have one when it comes to the encouraging of so called "martyrdom". And the fabrication of lies designed to incite warfare. Is islam alone in this? Of course not, but islam does appear to have a rather virulent strain of this particular religious ailment. And in a world that can produce bio agents, nerve gas and nuclear weapons, that should give any reasonable person a pause and take a closer look.
Muslims go to great lenghts to prove how well women are treated in Islam. These excerpts from a supposed moderate scholar should awaken more to how horrific this 'religion' is to infidels and women.
And how lies are spread baout their enemies, especially Jews.
These Muslims collaborated with the real Nazis and they still think like him, if this is Islamic moderation, then there is no hope for them. [Genocidal comment deleted. Please don't do that here.-S]
I don't think he sounds like Pat Robertson at all. Pat Robertson is a jerk, and his call for "maybe we should consider taking out Chavez" was stupid. But there is nothing in Christian doctrines about asassinating political leaders. He advocated something antithetical to Christian doctrine. There is simply nothing in Christianity, or any other religion, that resembles the intolerant, supremacist ideology of Islam. The Koran and hadiths and sharia law, on the other hand, have plenty to say about killing apostates, homosexuals, and non-Muslims. It's not even close.
this is the worst article i have ever seen.. you do not criticize someone playing with words.. different circumstances call for different measures, islam is a submission to God, not a do-watever-during life and get all your sins forgive later on.. you must work to achieve paradise, and this is exactly what this man is doing.. its a shame seeing that there are pathetic people like you all puttin effort into nothing, criticizing a religion without knowing it properly, considering its the fastest growing religion in the U.S... its understandable that you all are mad on how pathetic the Jewish faith has gone to, killing young innocent children and publicly beating mothers on screen.. but dont take it out on people who have nothing to do with that
Incredibly funny how you can speak about such a man when you know nothing of him. A man that is an "extremist" for trying calling for peacefulness within homes so couples would not separate, so what if a women listens to her husband, in this special case the man is an extremist not Dr. Soltan, Dr. Soltan will not change religion to make it suitable for others, Islam is a way of life, not just a religion. Speaking of Dr. Soltan "the extremist", did I mention that he makes no major choice in life with out consulting with his beloved wife and kids; I do not believe many people do that these days that is called a modern, and a civilized person. Dr. Soltan has also written 3 books on women, their rights of inheritance in Islam and how it is stereotyped, that women receive half of a mans will only in four cases and in over 130 cases women receive as much as men do. Dr. Soltan also published marriage life in the west for women. I suggest that you be more opened minded about this religion as you are calling him an extremist, no I think this press is extreme against Islam. Scientifically Miss Kelley has failed to meet the standards required for a research. For a research to be complete you must have studied the subject in every aspect, and not stereotype it because of a few quotes IGNORING how you feel about the subject. Dr. Soltan is head of the Islamic Center for Islamic Research; he offers courses where he teaches the correct methods of researching, I would suggest that Miss Kelley take some of these courses. This article would have blown up, if the correct methods were used and that is why it will go no where. You have gladly wasted some of your life while Dr. Soltan is conveying the beautiful message of Islam yes Islam(submission, peace). You also cannot base Dr. Soltan’s image on those few quotes for he is a great gentleman, scholar, husband, and last but not least father, my father.
First, I would like to thank you for the extensive amount of research you must have endured in order to come up with such an article. It is people with dedication such as yourself that keep the news flowing.
Second, I would like to identify myself. I am the niece of Dr. Salah Soltan, the main subject in question in your article. As convincing as the information that you present seems, I can not help but speculate on the sources and the credibility of the quotes. And even if they are credible, I am more than positive they have been altered in some way, or taken completely out of context.
I am an inspiring young actress, and it is extremely rare to find a young, religious, scarf wearing Muslim girl attempted to dive into the entertainment world. For your information, it is none other than Dr. Soltan that pushed me to follow this difficult dream, ruling acting as something permissible for me in the right circumstances. I garuantee you, you will not find one "extremist" or even "moderate" scholar who would even consider allowing female actresses. How, then, do you explain this?
Everything I have ever learned about my great "religion"-yes, great-has been through him, and to my fellow peers and aquaintances I am considered very much liberal.
Dr. Soltan has taught me that there is no such thing as hate in Islam- so anything you find of his claiming to hate a certain people or advocating for the hatred of a group, I can assure you it is nothing that come out of his mouth.
Yes, Dr. Soltan is emotional and firm on his views of what should happen in Palestine. We deserve freedom, and he believes that with every fiber of his being. You mention this point while forgetting that Zionists hold fast the same belief of occupying every land from the Euphrates to the Nile- don't tell me they don't advocate for the "return" of these lands by any means possible? The Palestinians are engaged in war-and in war, anything is a possibility.
As for what is claimed about his view of women, there is nothing I could disagree with more. I have never met a more compassionate and romantic man as Dr. Soltan. He recites stanzas of beautiful arabic poetry to his wife on a daily basis! I have never met a more friendly, women-welcome man than Dr. Soltan, he truly supports the female in anything society falls her short of, from jobs to high positions, from mothers to managers. He does, however, hold fast to his belief of committement in a marriage relationship. There is absolutely no forced or arranged marriage in Islam, quite contrary to popular belief, and any such ceremony is a nulled one. So when a woman whole heartedly agrees to marry a man with the intention of being there for the rest of their lives, it only makes sense that you would do as your husband's bidding. Now, saying that, there are of course certain situations that include abuse and irrationality that are completely forbidden in Islam and require seperation. Marriage is compromise-it is not a man-run system-and Islam was the first to practice this.
Yes, Muslims do go out of their way to show how Islam calls for the fair treatment of women. This is not to prove anything but to counteract the false misconceptions that are being perceived as truth by people all over the world. Sadly, yes, there are people who abuse their women. But is that not in every country, culture, and religion? Some Hindu cultures still burn their women on the day of her husband's funeral! How come no one ever attempts to wholly swear themselves to give justice to those abused women? And may I remind you, also, that America does still hold the number one spot for abuse in the world, along with many other horrors.
Dr. Soltan is the smartest person I have ever met in my life (MashAllah-whichs stands for Thanks to God's Will), and I stand by every decision he makes. He is not only an Islamic scholar, but he is a lawyer, a poet, an outstanding father and a loyal, appreciative husband. So, no, Dr. Soltan is no extremist nor moderate nor liberal. He is a perfect blend between the old and the new; the tradition and the modern; the emotion and the logic. He is one of the greatest scholars of all time.
Thank you~
People can follow the links and see if the quotes are out of context or not. I'm not sure what the proper context could be.
Zionists (even on the fringes), do not believe in occupying every land from the Euphrates to the Nile "by any means necessary." This is a lie that is in fact an exact inversion of the truth. I have never seen that advocated on any site or source I've come across, and I've come across a lot of them (although I cannot speak for every individual potential nut-ball out there). It is, in fact, groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al Aqsa and even the PA itself that have expressed overtly genocidal goals and have acted on them. The lie you promulgate about "Zionist" boogey-men is intended to cause people fear and justify genocide.
I'm glad Shaima's uncle allows her to doff the headscarf for theater (why force her to wear it in the first place?), but there are more serious issues here.
Perhaps those with access to Dr. Soltan can inquire as to whether he still believes that Israeli soldiers use Palestinian childrens' skulls for ashtrays.
I will be sure to follow those links and question the sources.
You very much mistaken to believe I am forced to wear a scarf. I was encouraged by everyone around me to take my time before deciding to wear a scarf, but it was my own belief in its majesty that convinced me to wear it.
The scarf is a beautiful symbol to those who are open minded enough to understand it's significance. My Hijab is a symbol of my who I am, and who I plan on being for the rest of my life. It constantly reminds me that I am looked to as a carrier of my peaceful religion. It protects me from the sexual disrespect that so many women in America are exposed to and degrades them and their being. If you recall, the Virgin Mary wore a scarf covering her head, and at the beginning of Judaism, women also covered their heads and later began wearing wigs. It is all the same concept isn't it? Modesty. There are people, who, sadly force their women to wear the scarf, but this is condemned in Islam. Although the scarf is a required article of clothing in Islam, it is also against Islam to force anyone to do anything against their will. You will remember this, when Salahdin conquered Jerusalem and allowed its Christian citizens to remain on their belief- "there is no complusion in relgion"- The Holy Quran.
As for the the concept of the Euphrates to Nile is the Promised Land, you can check for the details of that in the Tankah.
The Palestinians are desperate for their rightful land back, and there are groups who are so passionate for this result that they call for the fighting of the opressors. But surely, anyone who has studied history would know that this form of fiery talk is merely used to ignite the people for change. Granted, I dont not agree with a lot of what some of the groups you listed advocate but tell me-if you had no money, no job, your dad dead, your mother raped, and your little brother burned (and do not pass this off as dramatization, i am telling you the exact circumstances of one of the families I know in Palestine, and there are many others like it), are you going to revert to violence, or will you say, come on guys! They dont really mean to hurt us, they just want our land. Now let's get along:). I think not. And as for the genocide, that is the most backward comment anyone could make. Muslims do not hate Jews, on the contrary they are considered "cousins" because of our ancestries. We are just tired of whats happening to our people, and it just happens to come from a group with a long conflicted history. Anyone who claims that all Muslims hate all Jews should trying going back to elementary school. Maybe there they will learn again, if you respect others, they will respect you.
And I will ask my Uncle about the "ashtrays". Its such a shame how some people these days get hung up on such little details...
Shaima, I'm glad you feel you wear the hijab by free choice.
Regarding the person who's circumstances you describe, I'd hope that the people around him would help him out, not ignite him with "fiery talk." That's an excuse people used to make about people like Yasser Arafat, when he would say something peaceful in English, then turn around and make fiery speeches in Arabic. They'd say, "Well, that's just how Arabic is -- you have to understand..." then people started blowing themselves up on buses and there was no excuse for not taking fiery talk seriously anymore, if there ever had been.
As for "rightful land," well that's the problem isn't it? Just was is their "rightful" land? It seems to me that people have been trying to give them that for a long, long time now, but it never quite seems to be enough.
There have been many, many people in history and in the world right now who have been dispossessed of their land, treated badly and live in grinding poverty worse than the Palestinian Arabs do, and yet they haven't sent their children off to be human bombs and to kill other people's children as the Palestinians have done, and as your Uncle encourages them to do (from what I've read).
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you how old you are before I continue this. Feel free to email me rather than post a personal detail here publicly. (solomon at solomonia dot com)
Hmm, I wonder what prompted this recent spate of e-mails.....and how timely, since according to Dr. Soltan's website, he is coming to Boston this very week.
A few comments:
1) Most of the quotes were taken directly from Soltan's website, or from his advice over at IslamOnline. His words, not mine.
2) Soltan advised an American woman that she had to accept that her husband had taken a second wife. Polygamy is illegal in the U.S. Why on earth is an American religious leader telling an American woman it's acceptable to be in a polygamous marriage? Sorry, we don't do second and third wives in the U.S. It's against the law.
3) Shaima says "May I remind you, also, that America does still hold the number one spot for abuse (against women) in the world, along with many other horrors." Gee, maybe you think that because in the U.S., we keep statistics on such things as domestic abuse. In this country, a person is arrested for beating up his wife. There are programs to prevent and deal with it. Do you think that any Muslim country is keeping tabs and publicizing data on how many women are beaten and murdered by their husbands and boyfriends? Are there statistics available from Muslim countries on honor killings? I'm guessing not.
4) If the U.S. is so full of abuses and horrors, why, pray tell, are you here?
5) The quotes I found were in the English portion of his site. One wonders what he is saying in Arabic on his website.
Im Omar Soltan, Dr.Salah Soltan's youngest son(12 Yrs. old) and i found this web site because he is really important to me and to the muslim community. what i read so far makes me feel really bad because i think that he is a really good person but other people think he is horrible. No offense but i really like the person that wrote this but i can gurantee that his childeren think hees the best father in the world(if he has any). i take it like the phrase "dont judge a book by its cover" and that what all of us thik of eachother. i think that if he got to know my dad, he might like him and if my dad knows him than he might like him. that was to the author, and to the commenter misskelley, look deeper in what you heard about polygamous marriage thing because personly i dont think my dad would say such a thing, or he couldve add more into it, so i advise you to look deeper in it. About his website, everything that is written in english is written in arabic, and just because there is a language that you dont understand that doesnt mean that it has something bad. think of what arab person that didnt read english went to any website, he could think that they are saying something about them. i suggest that misskelley would think before he says anything.
im sorry, i dont like the person that wrot this
Dr. Soltan certainly has lots of family members to defend him, even quite young ones. He may be a wonderful father and uncle, but I'm not convinced that his version of Islam is good for our country. Based on the writings on his own website, I'd characterize him as a hypocritical scholar who claims that Islam is a religion of peace, while at the same time he quietly supports Muslim fanatics, such as Palestinian suicide bombers. In one of his fatwas, he confirms that it is prohibited for an American Muslim soldier to serve in Afghanistan. Talk about un-American! (No wonder there's suspicion about the loyalties of of American Muslim soldiers.) Why do we allow two-faced religious "scholars" in our country who say such subversive things?
From a posting above:
"Funny how similar he sounds to Pat Robertson. Islam itself tends, like any other religion, to be very extremist in its views regarding otherness. I have no qualm with that..."
The poster obviously knows little, if anything about "other" religions: Which religion, besides Islam, tells its adherents to kill unbelievers, to rob and rape them (which is "lawful" according to the Koran) and to take their children as slaves?
Pat Robertson may be a crackpot, but compared with the islamic 'clerics' he is a non-issue.
it's funny how you in america you are not allowed to have more than 1 wife, but you are allowed to have as many girlfriends as you want. you can sleep with as many women as you want. america is full of men with kids from many different mothers.
we have the highest divorce rate in the world. we have the highest number of cases of domestic abuses in the entire moderen world.