A fair question for a Muslim writer

The Leonard Pitts column (“Fox sinks to new low with interview,” Aug. 5) displays ignorance of the Mideast. Pitts scathes Lauren Green of Fox News for asking Reza Aslan, author of “Zealot: Life & Times of Jesus,” why a Muslim would write a book about Jesus.

Because Islam is involved, it’s an apt question: Open-mindedness is not something Islam is known for. Green articulates concerns of the born-again viewers of Fox.

Titling a book “Zealot” is akin to calling the book’s subject “Horrible Extremist.” The title is an incredibly poor choice for an author who claims several sheepskins. If Westerners released a book about Mohammed titled anything like that, embassies would be burned.

By the way, the United Nations’ annual Arab Human Development Report concluded that the number of Western books translated into Arabic since the dawn of publishing is equivalent only to what Spain translates in a single year. As one web commentator stated, Islam is not just a religion; it is a way of life.

In the Mideast, there are those who think it is still 600 A.D., but with television and surface-to-air missiles.

ROBERT A. YOUNG
ROANOKE

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