I refer to the letter headlined Restoring the rightful place of Islam . The writer's perspective is particularly insightful when he argued that:

'Also, authentic Islam must be able to separate form and substance or appearance and reality. The greatness of Islam is stored in its messages for all mankind. It's therefore in the hearts and minds - not in pompous ceremonies, grandiose mosques or buildings, colourful, expensive or exotic attire or flowery or fiery speeches'.

If we Muslims care to study the penetration and subjugation of the Middle East by European imperialism, we cannot fail to notice that the forms of Islam or Muslim tradition have always been exploited by European imperialists to serve non-Islamic or anti-Islamic purposes.

One simple and very illustrative example is how a British secret agent TE Lawrence - or 'Lawrence of Arabia' - who merely dressed, spoke or behaved like an Arab but could dupe enough Muslims to join him to overthrow the Islamic Ottoman Empire.

The 'Lawrence of Arabia' model of operation has been elaborated and fine-tuned into a worldwide system of Western psychological warfare against Islam and Muslim societies that dare to challenge the hegemony of Western neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism.

Another Western imperialistic trick is to co-opt some local or indigenous traditional ruling elite to serve the capitalistic and strategic interests of Western powers.

These top indigenous and traditional ruling elite have often been given scholarships to Oxford, Cambridge or Sandhurst to empty their hearts and minds of the authentic messages of Islam and re-programme them with orientalist or racist worldviews as well as anti-Islamic lifestyles.

After this reprogramming process in Western cosmopolitan cities, they are posted back to their tribes, communities, societies or nations to control and manipulate the hearts and minds of the more malleable masses.

From observations of the ruling elite in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Brunei one can say that the more inwardly 'Westernised' they are in their own hearts and minds, the more they need to to build more grandiose mosques and conduct more pompous ceremonies to pose themselves outwardly as 'defenders of Islam'.

These grandiose mosques, pompous ceremonies and exotic titles also serve to create an illusion of power and complacency in Muslim societies. They are a highly institutionalised form of imperialists' death-kiss.

For Muslims to free themselves from Western neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism, they have to break out mentally, intellectually and psychologically from these imperialistic stratagems of the Western powers.