Date:05/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/05/stories/2007120553621002.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

On Islamophobes

This refers to the editorial “Who needs Islamophobes?” (Dec. 3). Much of the damage to Islam comes from its hardline followers and is a reminder to the champions of archaic interpretation of Islam, to understand the sharia better and implement it as envisioned by Prophet Muhammad. The so-called “custodians” of the religion have not only made practising the religion difficult but have also discouraged much of the scholarly interest in Islam.

One sincerely hopes these hardliners sit down and try to go through the teachings of the Prophet, the man whom Michael H. Hart, the eminent American historian, ranked as the most influential person in history.

Thamim Muhamed,

New Delhi

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Ask any person belonging to any religion how he or she would feel if an animal is named after an object or a person of his or her religious devotion. It is just that incidents related to Muslims are exaggerated so that the hatred against Islam and Muslims grows to the advantage of those who have an agenda against them.

Let us not use the words religious sensitivities in parenthesis to save the likes of Gillian Gibbons from learning about them the hard way.

Basheer A. Khan,

Garden Grove, California