Coverage of Muslims

The day after Eid (the Muslim festival celebrating the end of Ramadan), Dec. 28, I picked up a copy of The Times to see how you covered this major holiday celebrated by close to a million Southern Californians, 8 million other Americans and over a billion Muslims worldwide. What I saw on the front page shocked me but ironically did not surprise me. You had chosen to present a basically derogatory article about Islam and Muslims, with a provocative title, boxed prominently (“The Chilling Goal of Islam’s New Warriors”). My sense of celebration and pride as an American Muslim turned into disappointment, frustration and a feeling of being victimized. By the time I got past this painful feature to the Valley section to see the coverage of the Eid congregation prayer in Granada Hills (“Muslims Celebrate End of Monthlong Sacrifice”), I simply could not feel any relief or appreciation for your correspondent’s interesting coverage. I recall how on another Eid The Times had done the same thing.

The tone, content and slant of Robin Wright’s article was unfortunate. It did not give the full picture of the situation in Pakistan or the Islamic world, in its true context. To a readership generally ignorant about Islam and Muslims, the article would come across as alarmist and ominous. That is not factual.

Ordinary Muslims are mostly victims across the globe, not perpetrators. Afghanistan is an excellent case in point. Our U.S. government helped the Mujahideen defeat the Russian occupiers, leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then we turned against the very people who had helped with their blood to make us the “sole superpower” of the world. Now we have chosen to ally with a war criminal like [Vladimir V.] Putin to cause further misery to the impoverished but brave people of Afghanistan. Facts like that did not get prominent play in Wright’s cry-wolf article.

SAIF HUSSAIN

Woodland Hills