Readers React: The world needs more peaceful takes on Islam

To the editor: Muslims such as UCLA professor Khaled M. Abou El Fadl and the Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam, Netherlands, are coming out with a view of Islam that the world can live with. Will they attract enough followers to defeat the militants and avoid a major war with forces such as Iran and Islamic State? (“‘Not an Islam I can recognize’; a Muslim scholar discusses the Paris attacks,” Patt Morrison Asks, Jan. 13)

We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Rabbi Baruch Cohon, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Patt Morrison’s interview of El Fadl shows there are moderates in the Muslim community who oppose all terrorism.

As a Jewish kid growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, I was assaulted by three Italian boys who yelled, “You killed Jesus.” I assumed Jesus was a cat or dog since I had never heard of the Christian messiah Jesus. With that incident in mind, I note that El Fadl says, “When a Jew or Christian does something in the name of Judaism or Christianity, we don’t hold all Jews or Christians responsible.”

In reality, Jews have been paying the price for the Biblical myth that they killed Jesus. All the pogroms and the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stem from an act 20 centuries earlier.

Today’s Muslims are feeling the tinge of guilt by association with the terrorists of 9/11 and now Paris. This association may last for generations.

Sol Taylor, Studio City

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To the editor: If I were to respond to the attacks in Paris by saying, “Je suis Charlie,” what would I be insinuating? Of course I would be condemning the attacks, but I would also be promoting the mocking of the prophet Muhammad.

I unequivocally condemn the terrorist attacks in France and pray for the families of the victims. Terrorism has no place in Islam. In line with Islamic views on freedom of speech, I believe in respectful discourse based on logic and reasoning, not on libel and ridicule. I respond to the cartoons with my weapon of choice: the pen.

Ibrahim Ijaz, San Jose

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