http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html

Dear Pervaiz Sahib,  

Thanks for sharing the article about the Syrian women, Dr. Sultan. It is surprising to see that a lot of well educated Muslims are falling into the traps set by the clerics and Mullahs for their own political or social gains. What is particularly upsetting for me is that why these people do not learn to ignore the clerics.  

If some one makes cartoons or writes an objectionable book about the Prophet, why on earth people have to smash cars and burn down the buildings? Where does Islam preach any such thing? We all know that the Prophet Mohammed and many others have been repeatedly insulted or attacked but the Prophets never killed or harmed any one for it. The Quran says it clearly that there is no compulsion on religion. It is hard to see how the clerics and the Mullahs justify their fatwas against these people. 

About a year ago, during general election  in UK, a Muslim cleric came up with fatwa against taking part in the election and strictly stopped the UK Muslims from casting their votes. I wonder, if casting the vote in the country’s general election is haram, how come living and working in the same country is halal ?   

The Talibans in Afghanistan, for example, were not following the true Islam but had it mixed up with what they call Pakhtoonwali, which is Afghanistan style shria, a mixture of Quran, Hadith and local cultural or social values.  

According to the article, Dr. Sultan has decided to give up on Islam after witnessing the murder of her professor by some Muslim criminals. I can appreciate being part of such scene can be very upsetting but what does this has to do with Islam? I blame people like Dr. Sultan, who fail to establish the difference between right and wrong in the light of Quran, rather then rely heavily on clerics only to get disappointed in the end. Witnessing some one committing crime while shouting ‘Allah-o-Akber’ is not exactly a fair assessment of Islam and its teachings. There is a great number of out of control Mullahs and clerics who have thoroughly confused their followers. It may not be practically possible to do away with these Mullahs, but why can we not ignore them? 

As always, I will have to repeat the question umpteenth time; when are we going to learn to separate a Muslim from Islam? Every one who claims to be a Muslim, is not necessarily a Muslim therefore, Islam must not be judged from the misdeeds of an individual, but from its holy book, the Quran. 

Regards,