Historical quotes important
Once again someone (Richard Camp, September 5) writes to the Star to say how dreadful other people (in this case Muslims) are and I find my myself writing to say how dreadful the writers are.
The trouble with people blessed with excessive religiosity is that they tend to quote from translations of text without appending any knowledge of the original or its historical context.
Worse, they cherry-pick quotes and add their own interpretations to justify their views. Islamic scholars have debated for almost 1500 years the true meaning of the Holy Koran. It is unlikely that a bloke from Telford is going to unravel its sublime mysteries in one letter in the Star.
The 9th Sura to which Mr Camp referred was uttered at a time when Christianity was being imposed at sword point in the middle east by an expanding Byzantine Empire. The Prophet, quite understandably, foresaw this as leading to an upcoming battle between the faiths, which puts the quote in a quite a different light.
I am hugely proud of the use which the western world was able to make of Indian mathematics, Arab science, Chinese technology and Greek philosophy once the dead hand of "religion" had been replaced by the Enlightenment. But that does not justify the assumption that we can decry the religion or way of life of other people. Bad people are bad people regardless of culture or creed.
Charles Jerrett, Shrewsbury
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