This letter is in reply to the column by Elie Dvorin that appeared Sept. 9. Reading that article blows a lot of whistles and bells and draws concern and criticism. Not all of the column is erroneous, but what ultimately is alluded to taints the veracity of the analysis.

To be more specific, it formulated that Islam and terrorism are synonymous; only to inevitably conclude that Islam somehow needs “rectification!”

This is outrageous, and everybody knows that an individual is an individual and whatever he or she does is not necessarily a testament of his or her religion. He or she might cross red lines, go astray, or be reckless and violent, but this should in no way incriminate any religion in itself.

What Timothy McVeigh, David Koresh or even Hitler did never would incriminate Christianity; what Sharon did in Sabra and Shatila will not reprobate Judaism. Similarly what the Chechens did last week can’t incriminate Islam. When it comes to the Muslim world, the problems of the oppressed are not objectively presented by the media but their outcry often is cunningly exaggerated.

Little is emphasized about the problems and suffering of refugees in Chechen, Palestine, Albania and much of the Islamic world. For example, one has to factor in the huge disparity in military means between the Palestinians and the Israelis before one can objectively delve into the situation.

There’s no need for the Israelis to adopt suicide bombings, when they can simply flex their high-tech weaponry. And there’s no desire for the Palestinians to take that step either, since they are humans and would rather just live in peace. But once cornered and desperate, and once confronted with occupation, home demolishment and settlements, anyone, and I mean anyone, would seek an outcry to deliver a strong message to the dormant world around, not to necessarily justify or advocate the bombings, but to shed more light on its complexity and more importantly not to impugn Islam in the process.

Remember, we are not in their shoes to objectively relate, and we have not experienced their suffering firsthand. It is not hard to imagine that if that were the case, our opinion might be diametrically opposed to the original.

Instead of writing feign comments on Islam’s stance on women’s rights and slavery that targets to contribute the new trend within the media to foster anti-Muslim sentiments, I challenge the author and readers to first check their references and read objectively about the teachings of Islam. Only then may one write intelligently about Islam and its teaching, unless of course the goal is to exasperate Muslims everywhere.

After all, journalism is intended to spread knowledge and awareness of truth, not to spread ignorance and contaminated, prejudice thought. It is the very writing of those fallacious articles that “only will lead to a more dangerous world for all of us.”

Mohamed Mohamed

graduate student