My letter to IHT....
Tariq Ahmad says “To defeat the threat of radical Islam, I suggest that the answer lies among the people who are the least Muslim.” (The Price of Being Born Muslim, Dec 05).
Just how does he propose this be done, given the lack of any meaningful reform of Islam over the last ten centuries? Those who are rather “more” Muslim than Dr Ahmad, let alone those who are “most” Muslim (ie, true Muslims), would easily trounce any thoughts Dr Ahmad may have on that score, since Islam is by its own account inerrant.
A first step Dr Ahmad might take is to rid himself of Muslim victimhood. He talks of people who ask “Why every time a bomb goes off, a Muslim person is behind it?”. But in the next breath bemoans a society which keeps Muslims, he says, at a safe distance “just in case”. Can he not connect the dots? If not, I pity the poor Doctor, for without even this glimmer of self-awareness, his hope to “unite to properly forge a positive and progressive future for Muslims worldwide” is forlorn.
Yours, etc, PF
