Western quality
Sir: The article by Nigel Cousins (`Belly dancing at lunchtime', 13 May) on the feelings of his Muslim pupils is interesting in pointing to a truth about Christian as opposed to Islamic culture. The former allows for an essential separation between the secular and the religious which the latter, being an all-embracing prescription for every day life, does not.
It is easy, however, to become over- impressed by what seems on the surface to
be a more vigorous religion than our own. In practice the rules and prescription for daily living are evident more often in the breach than the observance thereof; and the Islamic world stays riddled with hypoc- risy, tolerance, and corruption on a scale which can only be understood by those who have experienced it first hand. The weakness of Islam as a religion lies in its unadaptability to change. The Koran and the traditions are subject to the interpreta- tion of scholars but not to the laws of evolution, and thus many a modern Mus- lim who endeavours to practise his religion is forced to adopt a split personality. This phenomenon is observable throughout the Muslim world.
None of this should derogate from the traditional ties and disciplines of Asian family life which put us, in the so-called Christian world, to shame. But personal liberty and freedom of thought and ex- pression, essentially Christian-inspired values, are worth paying a high price for (even, regrettably, to the extent of preserv- ing Salman Rushdie's life) in the face of the tyrannous alternative, which tends to pre- vail in all societies dominated by Islam.
G. C. FitzGerald
Suite 13, 1 Battersea Bridge Road, London SW11
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