Dear FRONTLINE,

I found the program to be well presented, tasteful and timely. I especially commend your efforts to be objective.

One observation I'd like to discuss is the seemingly disproportionate time given to women's issues. They were discussed in the segments about Nigeria, Malaysia and Iran. Though these issues are certainly important, there are many other facets of Islam that could have replaced at least one of those segments.

Baltimore, Maryland

Dear FRONTLINE,

I enjoyed watching your Frontline program entitled 'Muslims', which for once gave a balanced view of Islam. I was, however, expecting to see some more faces of born Americans white, black and Spanish who have recently become Muslims such as Hamza Yusuf Hansen who was invited to the White House after 9/11, Zaid Shakir who was recently interviewed in the 'Now' program by Bill Moyer, Prof Jeffery Lang University of Kansas - Maths Dept, Sr. Ameenah Assilmi, Yusuf Islam formerly Cat Stevens, Imam Siraj Wahhaj of New York, Abdul Hakim Murad Cambridge University, London etc...

In my opinion these people who became Muslims after studying Islam extensively can do a much better job in explaining Islam to your viewers than most of the born Muslims because of their superior knowledge about Islam and also because of their command of the English language. Since all of these people came from different backgrounds other than Islam, and became Muslims on their own volition, their views on comparative religion would also be more credible than those of born Muslims who might not possess an in-depth knowledge of any other religion except that of Islam.

Maybe you could make a separate program showing in-depth interviews of these new American/European Muslims, which I am sure would attract a big audience. Thank you again for educating the American public about true Islam which I am sure would go a long way in removing the stereotype image most of the people have about Islam here.

Mohib Hasan
Lompoc, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

"Muslims" gave a one-sided politically correct view of a religion that largely hates the West and the individual-centered culture that most Americans treasure.

Even the warm and fuzzy stories Frontline served up couldn't disguise the misogyny that is endemic particularly to Arab societies. By advocating the multicultural view that all cultures are equal, PBS gives tacit approval to practices like female genital mutilation, honor killing, female infanticide and the political disempowerment of millions of women. All the PC propaganda in the world cannot change the reality of these brutal cultures.

In addition, the program tried to convince Americans that Muslim immigrants are just like Irish and Italians. Not so. While some individuals may wish to assimilate into American society, many choose to stand arrogantly apart -- the Islamic school Frontline visited is a perfect example, with boys and girls segregated. Importing mysogyny endangers American women's rights and safety.

Islam has declared war on the West and it is foolish to continue immigration from countries that are bent on our destruction. There was no immigration from Germany during WWII, after all.

Dana Garcia
Berkeley, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Excellent program! As a Christian I find studying other religions very interesting, and thought your program was very informative.

There is one point I would like to comment on that was made by one of the followers of Islam in the program. I have often heard the same thing stated and have to disagree. Many Muslims say that because Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions we worship the same God, and this same God is Allah; the God of Islam.

If this is true then this ONE GOD is inconsistent and contradictory. There are significant differences among the truth claims of Christianity and Islam such that they both cannot be true; someone's teaching is in error.

Muslims believe Christians commit the UNPARDONABLE sin of shirk by equating something else with God i.e. Jesus. This is a sin that Allah will not forgive. Muslims also deny the Trinity, that Jesus was crucified on the cross and that man is born with a sin nature. All significant contradictions of truth claims with Christianity. The same Jesus cannot be both God and "Not" God.

Muslims believe that Christians are just misinformed about what they believe because they believe the Bible has been corrupted through the centuries However if you ask a Christian this they will emphatically disagree. Since the revelation given to Mohammad in the Koran is the most recent it is the truth. If Christians understood this then they would also see that Islam is the "true" religion of truth.

Let's discuss and point out the similarities, differences and admirable qualities of the various religions, but please don't spread the false belief that we all worship the same God Allah, the God of Islam.

Gerald

Gerald Readore
Houston, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

I thought PBS stood for America's Public Broadcasting System but I see that now it stands for Muslim Propaganda Broadcasting System.

This makes how many Pro Muslim documentaries that have been shown now? But not one pro Judaism or pro Christian documentary to be found. Well, it figures. I read somewhere that which is "good" would be called "evil" and that which is "evil" would be "called" good in the end times. Oh, sorry, that's from that "evil" book the Bible, right? Thanks for letting me share my opinion.....at least that's still okay in America!

Reno, NV

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your program, Muslims, is an excellent analysis of what faces Isalm and Muslims in the world. For those people who think of Isalm as a relegion of terror, I would like to point to them that bilions of people see it as a peaceful way of life which offer justice, equality and remidies for many of the social ills facing humankind.

Let us all educate ourselves about real Islam and use this great relegion to the betterment of humankind.

Khaldoun Faris
Shresbury, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I found the program very informative. Since 9/11 all we watch and hear about Islam in the media has been dictated by a few terrorists.

It is easy to lose track of history as well. The fact is that until two centuries ago Muslim lands were the centers of science, philosophy and tolerance in many occasions Jews escaped to Muslim lands from the persecution of european christians. That is, the "theoretical" Islam was the "practiced" Islam until recent history. It seems that the religion has been hijacked by a few dictators and terrorists recently. As with any other great religion, however, Islamic world will come out of this dark period.

Dr. Andy Young
port matilda, pa

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think the documentary was informative, and I appreciate the interviews with real Muslims in America. As a Christian, I can identify with some of their struggles of living in a modern society.

One part which bothered me, and I don't know if this was due to bias, was that there seemed to be some slant towards the idea that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship the same God. As a Christian, I have to disagree. We may have similarities, but there is one difference that radically separates these religions: Jesus Christ. As Christians, we believe he lived a perfect life, and was crucified on the cross to atone for the sins of the whole world. He rose again, and is alive today with the Father in Heaven. What a person does with Christ determines whether or not he is going to heaven or hell. If a person accepts what Jesus did on his behalf, then all his sins are erased, and they commit their lives to Christ's teachings.

Jewish people do not accept that Christ was the messiah, so he cannot be God. Muslims also do not believe he is God. The Bible clearly says that all religions who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ are different from Christianity, and do not worship the same God. I just wanted to clarify that point. Thank you.

Kari Smith
Albert Lea, MN

Dear FRONTLINE,

I missed the Frontline: Muslims I caught only the end of it. when will this be broadcasted again? I would like to watch the whole program. Pls email me. thanks

Ira R.
North Hollywood, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I appreciate the efforts made to represent a more realistic view of Islam. As a Muslim, however, I'd like to clarify to the viewers that there are not this much interpretations of Islam: there's one source and one law, the differences are minor and do not go as far as saying some interpretations support killing innocent and some don't...this is completely false!

Even Bin Laden said in the videotapes that he doesn't support the killing of innocents...but he stated real events that motivated him. Therefore it is very important to know that the problem is not that there are many interpretations of Islam, but that there are different cultures and different traditions and different political contexts. In fact, most Muslim countries are now being represented in an organization of the most important scholars that have influence on the Muslim world OIC - organization of islamic conference, and they agree on Islamic law.

There's no disagreement over the status of women and the gaining of her rights: these are sacred rights and there are no different interpretations. In fact, Muslim derive their teachings from two sources, the Quran and the Hadith. Maybe Iran is an exception because, being Shii Muslim, it doesn't always take the Hadith as a credible source. But the fact that the sayings of the Prophets all guarantee explicitly the rights of women even the right of sexual satisfaction leaves no room for interpretation. The problem is that there's a distortion of Islam that can be easily eliminated by education. This distortion has been solidified with un-islamic cultural and tribal practices.

But thanks for this interesting program..and it is really just a start. I hope next time it'll show more what Islam is really about, so that people don't fall easily in misconception, and that it'll show the origins of the problems in the Middle East. by the way Islam was a civilization for 8 centuries and the political changes in the world's map and distribution of forces happened only half a century ago, which means not because of Islam.

The tolerant face of Islam that history has shown shouldn't be removed that easily with the current events, but we should work together to ensure that this true Islam emerges again, this Islam that encouraged the implementation of free universities, free health services..This is what Muslims really miss and want back.

Heba E
San Diego, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I found the program to be nothing more than what we have come to expect from PBS and the national standards of left-leaning journalism:

1. Soft, puffy joe-blow pieces...e.g. the former Saudi woman who has just brainstormed with other women some stereotypical Arab/Islamic qualities, and the Iranian who complains that the west doesn't try to understand other cultures.

...which are 2. coupled with "interviews" that are really forums... e.g. the religious leader from Nigeria who straightened us out on Islamic thought and why Bin-Laden is so popular, but was not questioned or debated on any point.

...with 3. people who provide little, if any, cross section of thought or opinion...The Professor/Historian from SUNY Binghampton, and Dr. McCloud are interchangable, as are most of the featured muslims.

In other words, the same lack of rigorous scholarship and analysis that separates a real degree in English or History from one in "Islamic", "Women's", or other "Studies". Because of this, the program was repetitive, flat, and incomplete.

A great opportunity existed, in the piece about the woman trying to obtain a divorce, to reach in and grab some real discussion about why these people pretty much across the board refuse to leave the sixth century except to buy race horses or videotape their illegal, it turns out fatwas. No, you chose to show the lawyer a brave woman, whom you showed as such having a little grassroots planning session with...other women!. Why didn't you hammer that snotty little clerk for 5 or 6 or 7 minutes?

Of course, you did regain your sea legs in time to give it to Attaturk for westernizing Turkey. You almost sounded sad that Turkey isn't an Islamic theocracy like Iran, Taliban Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, the PA, etc. Aren't two dozen enough? You'd be dancing in the streets if the government of Ireland threw out the Catholic Church. Then, Three Girls in Scarves: walking down the street, riding the train, getting on the train, getting off the train, walking into their grassroots activism office, talking on the phone, standing at the bus stop, standing in front of the library, waiting to cross the street. Three Girls in Scarves doing damn near everything but downloading internet pornography. We got it. Three Girls in Scarves. Three protesters. More propagandhi. Less rigor.

The bit on the woman in Los Angeles who converted to Islam...did you have an editor, or did you run out of relevant Muslims to talk to? See definition of "Joe Blow Stories" in Journalism 101 textbook.

I also browsed this webpage a bit, and found all of your related links go to publications like Time, The New Republic, The New York Times, W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African American Research, etc. Do yourselves a big favor: go to National Review Online www.nationalreview.com and read EVERYTHING that Victor Davis Hanson has written since 9/11. It won't hurt a bit.

Robert Gansauer
Evergreen, Colorado

Dear FRONTLINE,

So much thoughtful response is here, and brevity is so important.

I feel that we need to distinguish between the radicals and the observant, in any religious community; there is also a need, shown in several of the responses, for various religious communities to 'open their books', and read again.

One thing I'd like to point out, especially in the area of dress, etc. The Chador and the head dresses of the farther Eastern peoples have nothing whatever to do with the Quran itself. The only stricture Muhammad laid on women was to dress modestly; head covering was never mentioned in the Text, that I have seen. So, why is it such an issue? Because Islamics use it to accentuate their 'separateness' from 'Western' peoples.

Friend of mine once said that every place on this globe, except the extreme poles, is east of someplace, and west of yet another. If Moslems insist on polarization in this manner, they can hardly complain when that's what happens!

The extremism and rise of fundamentalism in many religious communities is, in reality, anti-religious. The term 'religion', in its Latin roots, means to bind together. the circle must be extended beyond one's own community, to interact with others. 'East and West will embrace each other.', it's said. Let's not make it the embrace of two warriors who can only kill each other if they separate. That's not the God I'm familiar with ...

Martin Flick
San Mateo, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Every religion, whether it be Islam or Christianity are nothing but contantly changing interpretations of their Holy writings. Most religions are about power and control by men. Our very own Evangelical movement here in the states actually alligns itself more with Islam than with our own country's values. They want men to control women in almost every aspect of their lives and both have hatred of homosexuality. I'm constatntly perplexed by people that continue to practice a particular religion yet don't really believe in it's tenets.

None of these religions really ever adapt to the modern world because if they had, most of the suffering and wars of the world would not continue as if it were 1100 AD. How can you argue with anything that cannot be proven or seen. May we keep all interpretations of all relgions forever out of our government. I want freedom from religion not of relgion.

terry harris
austin, texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

It seems to me that most religions have started with high ideals, but have then been degraded and distorted by generations of "intellectuals" who came later.

All in all, Islam seems to suffer from a lot of the same problems that have afflicted other religions: hatred, violence and bigotry. The main difference is that most Christians and Jews have recognized a standard of civilization which sees religious tolerance as a good thing. Until Muslims accept the same standard, it will continue to clash with the West.

Most of Europe and other Western nations have advanced beyond the Dark Ages, but Islamic fundamentalists seem to think it is God's will that their nations return to the kind of superstition and backwardness that Europeans lived with when Islam was the most advanced and cultured system on earth.

I recently read "What Went Wrong?" by Bernard Lewis. After watching "Muslims," I am convinced that the answer is that they are further from God, and it isn't God who has moved.

Castle Dale, Utah

Dear FRONTLINE,

I'm reading the Quran, the Ali translation, where in surah 9:5 it says: "Fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategem of war... your program didn't really deal with some of the key texts like this it seems to me.

How do my fellow American Muslims interpret this verse for example?

Roger Malstead
Memphis, TN

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