Muslim attitude toward Holocaust

Re “Why they deny the Holocaust,” Opinion, Dec. 16

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is commendable not only for her extraordinary courage to speak the truth about Islamic oppression of women, but she may be, unfortunately, one of only a handful of Islamic intellectuals with the courage to honestly confront the Islamic “party line” that demonizes Jews, denies or is willfully ignorant of Jewish history and clings to fabricated historical fantasies whereby all Muslims are victims of Jewish oppression and evildoing.

How different the conversation about the problems in the Middle East would be if the Arabs and Muslims freed themselves of their anti-Semitic rhetoric and accepted their heavy share of responsibility for their suffering.

BRUCE KAYE

West Hollywood

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Hirsi Ali is to be congratulated for pointing out the reasons why the Jewish Holocaust is denied by many Muslims. Lack of education is also the reason why other holocausts, such as massacres of Zoroastrians or the genocide of Armenian Christians in Turkey, are not accepted by Muslims who claim that Islam is a peaceful religion.

Unless mainstream Muslims break their silent, indirect support of militant Muslims and condemn Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran for promoting religious bigotry in their educational systems and politics, we will continue to hear denial of holocausts of non-Muslims.

MANECK BHUJWALA

Huntington Beach

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Both Jews and Muslims have discernible knowledge about the suffering of each other, and yet both groups claim an interpretive right to history that excludes the other. Who can forget the infamous words of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, who proclaimed that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people?

If anyone finds the remarks of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revolting to the Western consciousness, imagine how the remarks of Meir resound in the Arab world.

DAVID N. SEAMAN

Long Beach

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While Hirsi Ali is entitled to her opinions, I wonder if she has done the research to back the claim that the majority of the world’s Muslims are ignorant about the Holocaust. And maybe she didn’t have time to read the denouncements of the Iranian conference by, say, the Council on American Islamic Relations or the Muslim American Society.

Somehow I don’t think that Hirsi Ali would be interested in clouding her opinion with truth.

AMIR HUSSAIN

Los Angeles

The writer is an associate professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.