By Syed Osman Sher, Toronto, Canada
I refer to the press release of the Islamic Society of North America, and the letter by Syed B. Soharwardy on Rev. Frank Graham’s outburst about Islam in the November 30 issue of PakistanLink.
It is not only Rev. Frank Graham who claims that Islam “is a very evil and wicked religion.” Another evangelist, Pat Robertson, aspiring to be the President of the USA, calls Islam “nothing short of insanity”. He believes that an African-American, who converts to Islam, is not in a healthy state of mind.
I am not sure of the source, but probably it is the Bible that says: Perfect fear casteth out love. The hatred for Islam is natural, because its growing popularity - evidenced by the rising rate of conversion to Islam in North America - has created a fright and is giving shivers to many. The faculty of reasoning being lost, fear has taken control of them.
How right is Edmund Burke, the Irish writer, when he says, “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”