The Centre for Social Cohesion this morning hosted Dr Wafa Sultan at a meeting of opinion-formers in Westminster.
Wafa Sultan is a Syrian-born psychiatrist who now lives in the United States. She leapt to international prominence in February 2006 after an outspoken interview on Al-Jazeera (click on link to watch). The clip was swiftly disseminated and viewed by over a million people on the internet in the following weeks alone. Dr Sultan - who in her interview tackled, and trounced, a cleric who tried to stop her from expressing her opinions - fast became a spokesperson for women and independent thinkers across the Muslim and Western world.
This morning she talked - as ever - with great force and determination about the current world-struggle and especially the role of women in it. She spoke of the desire for liberty and the opportunity of freedom.
Dr Sultan's leap to prominence was swift, but, as was clear to everyone this morning, she will have a continuing and valuable contribution to make in the generational debate which lies ahead.
Dr Wafa Sulta is a brave individual; we need more insiders from the Muslim communities to express their opinion. It's also noticeable that she is not an academic or a journalist or a cleric or someone in the business of ideas. We need this kind of people to come forward and express their views on Muslim issues. Why only clerics or academics or journalists should have views on Muslim issues?