Clergy wrong about Islam

As a native of your region, I often browse the pages of the Missourian in an effort to keep current with Southeast Missouri. In a recent edition, news of a memorial for the victims of the Orlando massacre was quite prominent, as were words of members of the local clergy. Certainly, a memorial was appropriate; however, when individuals with neither personal nor academic experience with Islam insist on deeming that religion a “religion of peace,” I must beg to differ.

Having lived under Sharia law for six years in Saudi Arabia, I was forced to worship secretly with fellow Christians, some of whom were arrested and expelled. In addition, Islamic law and practice were quite specific that homosexuality was a capital offense, women should be excluded from public life and total censorship should be in effect.

My tenure there allowed me to hone a basic knowledge of Arabic, gain awareness of Sunni and Shia Islam and differentiate between the many schools of Islamic thought. From my studies, I concluded it was unrealistic to view Islam as a peaceful religion.

If, for example, there were a fundamentalist Christian sect attacking individuals considered “infidels,” we would not assert the sect was not “Christian,” for its roots would certainly lie in Christian history and interpretation. The same is true for ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, for, as fundamentalists, they are acting on a nonpeaceful, fundamentalist interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. They are, indeed, Muslims.

Let us hope the present dominant strain of political correctness does not continue to obscure a realistic evaluation of Islam.

JOHN BARHAM, Brownsville, Texas