31 JULY 2004, Page 25

Living by the sword

From Randhir Singh Bains Sir: Anthony Browne is quite right to claim (The triumph of the East', 24 July) that Muslims have an open agenda of taking over Europe through demographic means. However, the problem, as Islamic history amply demonstrates, lies not with Muslims, but with the imperialistic nature of Islam.

Unlike Christianity and non-Semitic faiths, Islam is not a spiritual religion — it is a political ideology. Its creator shed blood to conquer land. During the Battle of the Trench in 627 AD, Prophet Mohammed ordered the massacre of 700 Jews and Christians, whom he accused of collaborating with his enemy.

On conquering Mecca in 630 AD, his first task on entering the city was to order the wholesale destruction of idols revered by the then Arabian tribes. This single act of desecrating and destroying temples set the precedent that Muslim conquerors, throughout Islamic history, remained committed to and followed with gusto. In the Topkapi museum in Istanbul, one may still see the sword of Prophet Mohammed and the swords of the first three caliphs. No one is ever going to find the sword of Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak or Lord Buddha. Randhir Singh Bains

Gants Hill, Essex From William J. Abbott Sir: Anthony Browne reveals the Islamic threat 66 years after Hilaire Belloc. In his 1938 book The Great Heresies, Belloc wrote quite prophetically, 'Millions of people have forgotten all about Islam. They take for granted that it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them. It is, in fact, the most formidable and persistent enemy which our civilisation has had. The story is by no means over; the power of Islam may at any moment re-arise.' Of course, Belloc had no way of knowing that by the 21st century Christianity would be well on its way to becoming a dead religion, thereby creating the vacuum into which Islam's revival is flowing.

William J. Abbott

Oyster Bay, New York, USA