I refer to the letters 'Don't speak for the silent' (July 12) and 'The silent should shut up' (July 12). I commend both writers for taking a stand.

According to a great scholar of early Islam, At-Tarmidhi, Satan has some evil traits or his 'bag of tricks' which he would use against mankind to mislead them to ruin. At-Tarmidhi went on to list all 99 of them. These include, for example, ignorance ( Jahl ), pride ( kibr ), deceit ( khida ), perfidy ( khiyana ), wickedness ( Sharr ), transgression ( ghayy ), oppression ( jawr ) and injustice ( zulm ).

However, in the same list, he also mentioned heedlessness, or indifference ( ghafla ), apathy ( qillat al-mubalalah ), idleness ( kasal ) and procrastination ( ta'khir ). I wonder about the silent majority, why they are silent and which trick of Satan they fell for?

From my reading of Islam and some other religions, there is no such thing as a 'neutral' position. There is nothing in the world that is 'value-free'. Either one stands on the side of Good, or on the side of Evil; one can't do both or neither. However, most religions say that it is not for us to judge people, but we can judge actions.

Therefore, it is my view that the silent majority, in their silence, support the prevailing notion of what is right or wrong. The prevailing notion is that the 'powers that be' are right, and by keeping silent, the majority give tacit approval of all the authorities do.

However, some argue that if we want a change then we should do it during the election. But then what if someone supports most of the policies of the ruling party, but disagrees strongly with the ISA or some other similar policies? How is this person going to show his/her dislike for the ISA during the election? Not by remaining silent, I assure you.

More so, the majority is not always right. The majority in the US thought slavery was right, the majority in Nazi Germany thought that killing Jews was right, and so on.

And if marching in the streets is wrong, then the first person that deserved to be detained under the ISA was Moses, for leading the one of the largest march ever, out of Egypt. Can you tell me that this event was is not a political statement? Or were they making some sort of a pilgrimage?