UNITY

Bismillah. I’ve just sent this letter to the ES.
—
With the Name of God

Dear Editor,

Peyvand Khorsandi is right to highlight Iran’s appalling human rights record. But there was no need for his inaccurate and gratuitously-offensive description of Islamic worship as “rolling around on the floor of a mosque.” Would ES have printed something similar about any other religion? Muslim Londoners, who constitute 8-10% of our great city’s population, expect better.

And how can a columnist mention Gaza whilst ignoring the fact that it is effectively one big prison camp, as David Cameron put it, or concentration camp, as others describe it?

Khorsandi’s article, sadly, neatly encapsulates the current Muslim dilemma: we are caught between extremism and fanaticism of both the religious and secularist variety. May God give us the courage to get the balance right!

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Usama Hasan
Leyton, London

Bismillah. Benoit Mandelbrot passed away on Thursday, RIP. Studying fractals & the Mandelbrot set has given pleasure to millions of people over the years. http://nyti.ms/aCy0RG

From Abu Ammar Mangorangca:

Salaam. There is an interesting article on the visible stars with Arabic names, 210 of them, entitled “Arabic in the Sky.”

This is found and may be downloaded from: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201005/arabic.in.the.sky.htm

Bismillah. I attended Friday prayers today at Palmers Green Mosque in North London (www.mcec.org.uk). 1/6 of the site is for a Hindu temple, 1/3 for the mosque, 1/2 for two football pitches used by local schools + the mosque. (Remind you of inheritance calculations, anyone?) Ayodhya: we beat you to peaceful coexistence! 🙂