I refer to the letter We Muslims are only protecting Islam .

I apologise firsthand if anything said may sound too direct but I find that the writer seriously needs to do a little more research before making some of his claims.

Firstly, on the claim that the Muslims or Kelantan government had never torn down/ruined any non-Muslim places of worship. This is a very loosely said statement. The Kelantan government alone in prior years had torn down at least one church that I know of in a Christian majority Orang Asli area, even though the church was built on their own ancestral land using their own hard-earned and saved money. Dozens of Islamic authorities and/or people had come during the course of several weeks surveying, trespassing, causing commotions as well as disrupting the construction of the near completed church among several things. In the end, it was forcefully torn down by the government.

Furthermore, have we so very easily forgotten the temples torn down throughout last year, one very close to Deepavalli and because the place is a ‘Muslim majority area’? Remember all the banners inciting the Muslims and threatening the Hindus to not ‘test the patience of the Muslims’ by just having a temple that had been there for many years?

Sure, some temples were declared illegal as their construnction was ‘not approved’ but many of these temples are older then Malaysia itself. How come the mosques are legalised but these temples aren’t? Does it not give us reason enough to fear what is happening?

To the main gist of the letter, it must be very important to note that the issue at hand isn’t so much about defending a religion but more on defending the freedom of choice of a person. Yes, I understand that Muslims would want to preserve the sanctity of their religion but for those non- practicing Muslims, why force them to believe in something they don’t?

Isn’t forcing them to believe causing more defilement to the Muslim religion? You may ask, how is it that this type of person could defile Islam. Simple. Just by claiming to be Muslim but doing anything and everything that is contrary to Islam and not being bothered by it.

By not allowing him/her to leave Islam and insisting that he/she stay an Islam, he/she does nothing more than defile Islam even more. Sure, some ulama would say that he/she had not been properly educated and should be sent to rehabilitation. Remember Rani? The only thing that she said after coming out of ‘rehabilitation’ and still not being allowed out of Islam is: ‘I hate Islam even more’. What does that say about Islam?

Please understand that I mean no disrespect to Islam or Muslims. I have many Muslim friends who are great people. I only have a problem with how the religious authorities go about interpreting them and trying to enforce it (think the snoop squads). We all respect Islam but the religious authorities also need to respect the right of the person to choose.

Most especially, there need to be a mutual respect for other religions as well. How can Muslims expect the world and their respective religions to respect and give credit to Islam, if those professing Islam in high places blatantly refuse to respect other religions? Let’s live in harmony through mutual respect and understanding.