LETTER: Facts and Fancy

Reshma Yaqub (DP 2/26/92) said, "According to Islam, women are to be respected and treated with great dignity, and they are accorded abundant rights, in many ways more so than men." To see this to mean that women are more liberated than men is either due to a lack of ability to comprehend plain English, or to think that the extent of a woman's liberation is proportional to the area of her body she decides to uncover in public. In this case, we have no argument. We as Muslims are perfectly content to submit to Allah and in exchange get liberated from vain desires and from the liberty of indulging in immoral behavior. Meanwhile, others are welcome to preach to their like to take the last step towards complete liberation per their understanding. The Encyclopedia Britannica is as authentic about Islam and Muslims as Hitler's Mein Kampf is about Judaism and Jews. These passages in the Britannica are written by Noel Coulson, a non-Muslim Orientalist, and represent a rather mild attack on Islam in the classical Oriental tradition. Better material to justify hatred of Islam can be discovered in a lot of books in Van Pelt library, written in such Oriental tradition, which distort and contort Islam in all imaginable ways and are adept at mixing fact with fancy. For Muslims, these works only represent one of the dirty tricks the West has chosen to respond to the challenge of Islam. In spite of all this, many Americans have come to appreciate what Islam actually stands for, and many of them, due to their unbiased understanding, have chosen to adopt Islam as their way of life. This month, we witnessed [in the national media] an American lady formally announcing her acceptance of Islam. For someone sincerely trying to understand Islam, we will suggest that they read with a critical mind the authentic works on Islam written by well-known Muslim scholars or read the meanings and interpretation of the Qur'an by sound Muslim scholars. They can then form their opinion about Islam. The Qur'an is very clear on that matter: "There is no compulsion in religion. Truth has been clearly set apart from arrogant ignorance. One who rejects the evil and believes in Allah has surely taken a firm hold of the strong chain, which does not break . . . " HAROON BABRI Executive Committee Muslim Students Association PhD candidate Electrical Engineering

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