Re: Folly to establish Sharia courts (Letters, Oct. 21)
I had to read the comments by John H. Redekop a few times just to digest the absurdity of his views on Sharia law. Even if intended as a hypothesis, each of the points quoted were not only disconnected from reality and entirely incorrect, but also quite obnoxious.
It is interesting to note that no Islamic textual evidences were cited for Mr. Redekop's distorted interpretation of Shariah, which is not really surprising given his source. It is disturbing to see anyone taking cues from such a disreputable website as TheReligionofPeace.com, a notorious and toxic hate site. What's next, discourses on Judaism or African-American history quoted from neo-Nazi forums?
Equally shameful is that intelligent and honest discourse on an important issue has been allowed to be hijacked by those seemingly with an agenda to whip up fear and distrust of Islam and Muslims. Mr. Redekop's rant serves no useful purpose except to fan the flames of intolerance against a faith followed by one-fifth of humanity on the pretence of standing up for "democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and equal rights for women."
We can only hope that fear, hostility and the campaign of misinformation against Islam and Muslims can one day be replaced by more civil and scholarly analyses. Wishful thinking perhaps.
Omar Khan
Richmond