[ suicide] incident had no relation to Islam whatsoever, but if a book came out today or tomorrow saying that it was an Islamic act since Islam is the embodiment of evil and excuses such deeds, many people would accept it without discussion.

When [the boxer] Muhammad Ali visited the ruins of the World Trade Center a heckler said to him, “Aren’t you ashamed to belong to the same religion as BinLadin?” He replied, “Aren’t you ashamed to belong to the religion that produced Adolph Hitler?” His answer was logically correct, but if the questioner believes that Hitler is exchanged Christian ethics for the ethics of the devil –which he unconsciously equates with Islam- than Muhammad Ali’s answer would not be unconvincing. This shows us the depth of the problem and the size of the tragedy.

The Church used to interpret the “number of the beast –666” in the book of Revelation (the Apocalypse of John) as being Islam, and it seems that this interpretation, or a trace of it, remains within the minds of their descendants –even thought they are secularists.

Thus the open letter is contradictory. It uses the voice of reason when it distinguishes between Islam and that which was done by some Muslims, and between Jihad and terrorism; and it uses the cumulative voice of its hereditary culture within the unconscious whose errors are simply compounded by deception of the official media when it describes all Islamic movements as terrorists, or even more, when the term “international terrorism” is applied only to Muslims.

Do we believe that Islamic Civilization is absolutely perfect, or that the Islamic movements are infallible? No Muslim says that. Absolute perfection belongs only to the essence of Islam –in its doctrines, values and laws. Infallibility belongs only to the Prophet himself–God’s blessing and peace be upon him- in the message which he delivered from God, and then to the Muslim community as a whole an ideal person following the Prophet. They are only infallible in that they cannot all agree on an error, despite the small number of them who are true and upright.

All Muslims know, whether they are common people, governments, movements, or nations, that the gap between the reality of the Islamic community and true Islam is the driving reason and only purpose for the existence of the Islamic reform movements. For this reason, all the Islamic movements strive -each according to its own distinct understanding and methodology- to bring the community back to the Islamic values that are in reality, as we have seen, the universal values, not to the destroy those values as the signatories to this open letter claim.

Acknowledging this is the key to a great opportunity for dialogue between these movements and the West. That is, based on Western recognition of the positive role they have, and their true representation of the Islamic peoples. Will the signatories to this letter or others do so? I do not believe it would be very difficult for those who love the truth and desire the welfare of humanity, as long as they are sincere.

The hostile stance towards Islam was firmly established in American policy before September 11 and afterwards. The American war against terrorism has only confirmed that fact more firmly for Muslims. The rest is yet to be seen( 42).

If this inequity, or better yet, antagonism was limited to the Palestinian problem it could be said to be the result of the Zionist lobby in America, or if it was limited to Afghanistan it could be said to be the result of the presence there of Al-Qaeda. But when it is directed towards all Muslim countries and minorities, then how can we interpret it? To clarify this point, let us take six examples divided into two categories, from which we will deduce our results.

First, two countries: The (former) Soviet Union, and China. Both are former enemies of America, and each contains minorities who demand this right. In the first