Wonderwoman.(Wafa Sultan)

Syrian-born psychiatrist Wafa Sultan has taken on the Islamic establishment, and she is formidable. Now a resident of southern California, she went verbally mano a mano with an Egyptian theologian in an interview broadcast on al-Jazeera earlier this year.

Sultan argued that the "clash of civilizations" is not an invention of the West but a concept originating with Muslims. She noted that Mohammed said he was ordered to fight people until they believe in Allah and his messenger. The idea of subjugating infidels and forcing the whole world to embrace Islam comes right from their prophet.

Today's terror war, according to Sultan, is "a clash between opposites"--between civilization and backwardness, rationality and barbarity, freedom and oppression, democracy and dictatorship, human rights and the violation thereof. Other religions have not destroyed churches or mosques or embassies, she notes, suggesting, "Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for human-kind before they demand respect."

In an earlier debate on al-Jazeera with an Algerian cleric, Sultan criticized the religious indoctrination that motivates young Muslim men to volunteer for homicide/suicide missions. In other appearances and interviews, she has challenged the oft-repeated notion that Islam is a peaceful religion. She asserts instead that it is essentially violent.

She should know. Her epiphany occurred in 1979 when she was a medical student at the University ...