Taslima Nasrin

Thank-you for your editorial, “Falling Off Moderation’s Path” (June 19), stating the story of the writer Taslima Nasrin of Bangladesh. Ironically, on the day you advised Bangladesh to stay on the route of moderation, you also carried the news story about the plight of Egyptian professor Nasr abu Zeid, whose life is under threat for his alleged questioning the divine origin of the Koran (“Couple Ordered to Separate Leaves Egypt”).

You also mention the case of the secular author Farag Fouda, who was shot to death in Egypt for apostasy. The world has not yet forgotten the case of Indo-British author Salman Rushdie, whose life is still under threat from Islamic fundamentalists in Iran. Nasrin and Abu Zeid are two new examples of a phenomenon that is common to the Islamic world.

It is a reassuring thought that the divine knowledge was revealed to us for all time to come in the form of one or more books on one or more occasions. But this thought does not release us from our responsibility to interpret that knowledge in a just, moderate and humane manner. The examples of Nasrin, Abu Zeid, Rushdie and numerous others indicate that the Islamic world has not yet learned this lesson.

These inhumane tendencies of the Islamic societies can only be erased by continued education. Your editorial about Nasrin is a step in the right direction.

NEERAJ BHATNAGAR

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