My letter about Islam in the Daily Mail
I was just (vainly) doing a search for my name online and I discovered that a letter I wrote to the Daily Mail last month was published (in a somewhat edited form) under the title "Peaceful Majority". As I didn't get a response from them, and don't read that newspaper, I hadn't realised it was actually published!
It was written after the excellent Arab Media Watch sent an alert about a column of his that said: "The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee was forced recently to admit he didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia... So, for the benefit of Mail readers in the same boat, here is a simple cut-out-and-keep guide to the two dominant branches of Islam: Sunnis are the peace-loving, Saudi-backed wing who brought you Al Qaeda. Shias are the peace-loving, Iranian-backed strain behind Hamas and Hezbollah. I hope that helps."
My letter said: "I was shocked to read Richard Littlejohn's characterisation of the two main branches of Islam, implying that neither is 'peace-loving'. One might as well describe Christians as being 'behind the IRA and Ku Klux Klan'. Muslims who commit violent acts are not at all representative of the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide - almost a quarter of humanity. And Hamas isn't a Shia organisation: it is composed entirely of Sunni Muslims."
One line that was unfortunately cut from the published letter was: "I have worked in Palestine and Iraq with outstanding Muslims of both sects whose faith inspires them to risk their lives non-violently in the cause of peace and reconciliation."
1 comment:
You've bumped your head if you believe the KKK/IRA analogy is correct. These "Christian" groups are currently so far on the sidelines they aren't even relevant to the discussion. Whereas the Al Qaeda and Hamas way of thinking is prevalent in modern day Islam. Just see any poll taken in a Muslim country that confirms the allegiance to these groups. Your 'moderate' muslims would easily quash this radical form of Islam if your version was true. But they can't because the radical version is growing and dominating. The moderates cannot challenge the radicals since the radicals have the backing of the Koran. They follow a literal version of it that is difficult to argue against.
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