Islam as homogenous as Christianity

READER Miles Pitman may be right that Saudi Arabia is a repressive state (Letters, September 14), but for other Muslims it represents an extreme version they would no more subscribe to than I as a Christian identify with Pentecostalism as representing my faith. The founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, stated that God (Allah) had made people different so they could get to know each other and enjoy the differences. A lovely mural illustrating this text can be found on the wall of one of the Islamic schools in Melbourne. Jews and Christians are seen as people of the Book and their texts respected. Certainly the hardliners might see the rest of us as infidels, but then a lot of Christians regard members of other faiths as heathens and actively work to convert them to the “one true faith”. Islam is no more homogenous than Christianity, and pretending that Saudi Wahhabism represents Islam is a distortion of their faith.

Peter D. Jones

Lenah Valley