Ayaan Hirsi Ali's
enlightening op-ed, "'South
Park' and the Informal Fatwa," (April 28) discusses how a tenet of
Islam encourages Muslims to take it upon themselves, as individuals, to
punish those who somehow commit "wrong." This raises another basic issue
surrounding Islam: That it is an honor-based culture that places
enormous importance on the public display of respect. This leads to a
host of actions that seem barbaric to others; not only may—or must—one
kill another person who has "disrespected" Muhammad, but fathers and
husbands may also slay their daughters and wives if they have somehow
dishonored the family, perhaps for something as trivial as talking in
public to an unrelated male or dressing immodestly. This honor-based
culture similar [sic] fosters suicide bombers who indiscriminately murder
innocent people to gain the glorified status of martyr and instant entry
into paradise.
For those of us who see
Islam from the outside, these brutal, merciless and death-extolling
tenets engender not respect but horror and disgust. It is ironic that
the fundamentalist followers of an ideology that seeks respect with such
determination, manage to achieve precisely the opposite.
David Kronfeld
New York
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 