A very recent perversion of Islam

JC Wilcox couldn’t be more wrong when he claims that the terrorists who carried out the atrocities in France submit to a “7th century political ideology unchanged since its inception”. In fact, the rancid perversion of Islam advocated by vile people and groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS is very different from the religion brought into being by the Prophet Mohamed and his adherents in the 7th century. 

During the Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries, when Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and North Africa, a central principle which the conquerors generally adhered to was the establishment of religious freedom among the subject peoples. For centuries thereafter, Islam was a religion noted for its learning, and for pioneering intellectual enlightenment in fields such as mathematics and astrology. Muslims created the first university. 

The rise of the violent, extremist, fundamentalist strand of Islam adhered to by these terrorists is a relatively recent phenomenon, rooted in factors so complex that they cannot be addressed in a short letter like this.

The further claim by the writer that Sharia law is incompatible with democracy is also wrong. In the United Kingdom, people of the Jewish faith have for centuries been able to settle civil matters according to their own legal system, Beth Din. This principle is enshrined in English law, which permits people to voluntarily use a third party to settle civil matters. The same limited freedom can therefore extend to Sharia courts. This is an example of how a flexible, tolerant approach to the religious beliefs of different groups is in fact an essential principle of true democracy.

Robin Grant

Bangkok