The writer has rightly diagnosed Islam’s internal schisms as the cause of and not as the consequence of U.S. interference in West Asia (Editorial page, “Betrayals from outside and within,” Jan. 9). But his proposed cure — an appeal to Muslims to shun orthodoxy — appears as a mere palliative. Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the role of Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia in propagating extremist ideology. Ordinary Muslims are powerless to counter the coalition of powerful rulers and fundamentalists. How then can the syncretic and benign Islamic vision that remains in the margins of popular imagination go mainstream? Where is the courageous reformer who will challenge the intolerant scriptural narratives?
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
