.
Sultan was born into a large traditional Alawite
Muslim
family in Baniyas, Syria.
Although Sultan wanted to be a writer, and would have preferred to study Arabic literature, she studied at the Medical faculty at the University of Aleppo
due to pressure from her family, stating that she was shocked into secularism
by the 1979 atrocities committed by Islamic extremists of the Muslim Brotherhood
against innocent Syrians
, including her witnessing while she was a medical student the machine-gun assassination of her professor, Yusef al Yusef, an ophthalmologist from the university who was renowned outside Syria.
We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. (Appeared on Al Jazeera TV, February 2006)
Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them. (Appeared on Al Jazeera TV, February 2006)
Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. (Appeared on Al Jazeera TV, February 2006)