More provocation

And now the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has pitched in with several pages of material offensive to Muslims. Some people, in their efforts to be clever, are extraordinarily stupid. They appeal to 'democracy' and 'freedom of expression', but their efforts are worthy of Goebbels and Der Stürmer. Having lived for years in Muslim-majority countries and enjoyed the generous hospitality of many ordinary people there, I find it very painful that some Westerners are ready to hate the religion that produces such behaviour. In fact Muslims have often treated each other far worse than they ever treated Christians or Jews.The quarrel between Sunni and Shia began with a dynastic dispute more than thirteen and a half centuries ago and is still killing people daily in Syria and Iraq, with the potential to start up elsewhere.