Dear Editor,

I read the article ‘Muslim leader blasts gay lifestyle’ in yesterday’s Observer with a tinge of shock and bemusement. I trust that your paper would follow up this article with an exposé on Sharia law, which this “righteous man” is proposing, so that Jamaicans (many of whom are sure to be rejoicing upon reading his words of prejudice) will see what they will be getting into.

Yes, Sharia law proposes death for homosexuality. But I do wonder when was the last time that this “holy man” saw someone in Jamaica who was “openly flaunting homosexual behaviour”. I want to know how someone does that, just so that I do not risk death by “openly flaunting homosexual behaviour” when I next visit a Muslim country or when Sharia law becomes applicable in Jamaica.

It is Sharia law that caused a Sudanese female journalist to be sentenced last year to 40 lashes for daring to wear pants. It was Sharia law that caused the public whipping of a young man recently in another Muslim country, because he dared to hang out with a young girl.

It is Sharia law that dictates that, in the case of inheritances, a son gets twice as much of his father’s inheritance as does the daughter, for no other reason than gender. It is Sharia law and its interpretation that causes honour killings, the killing of young Muslim women for bringing a family into disrepute for reasons some of us would consider “normal things.”

It is Sharia law that has women walking around in garb that robs them of their identity. People implementing Sharia law in Jamaica would have a field day whipping all the drinkers of alcohol and all the gamblers. And you thousands of Jamaican fornicators and adulterers, be prepared for your stoning to death, under Sharia law!

Mr Muslim cleric, do not stop only at homosexuality; speak to Jamaicans of all these things under Sharia law. Why do you have to be selective?

I would also want to inform this Muslim cleric of the discrimination that people like him face, in light of global animosity to people of Muslim faith. What goes around (hate, prejudice, and discrimination) comes around! Recently, in one European country, a football team consisting of Muslims refused to play a Sunday league match against a team of homosexuals, which had been entered into the competition in an effort to dispel some of the negative stereotypes of homosexuals that currently hold sway and to foster understanding.

We are Muslims, and the Koran speaks out against homosexuality, they said; and so did not play. A few weeks later, in another part of the same country, someone/some people desecrated a mosque, scrawling words of hate over the building. Muslims were up in arms; they could not understand how in this day and age someone/some people would do that. Really?

It is borne out of the same hate and prejudice that the football team exhibited! Recently, in Switzerland, people voted against the construction of minarets in their country. And do not even get me started on how some Muslims travelling out of various airports and with various airlines around the world are treated with suspicion!

What goes around comes around. In this the 21st century, there is no place for hate and prejudice, and there certainly should be no place for Sharia law in Jamaica.

Anthony C Gordon

acommentary@yahoo.com