OpinionJournal - Hypocrisy Most Holy

Best of all, this comes to us from a Muslim who happens to be a lawful resident of the USA and director of the Saudi Institute in Washington. His major point: even if the Newsweek story had not been found false, it would have represented an isolated case. He, again being a lawful resident, knows the real situation. How does he describe it?

As a Muslim, I am able to purchase copies of the Quran in any bookstore in any American city, and study its contents in countless American universities. American museums spend millions to exhibit and celebrate Muslim arts and heritage. On the other hand, my Christian and other non-Muslim brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia--where I come from--are not even allowed to own a copy of their holy books. Indeed, the Saudi government desecrates and burns Bibles that its security forces confiscate at immigration points into the kingdom or during raids on Christian expatriates worshiping privately.

He directs his most withering fire at Saudi Arabia, the country most in the news today for confiscating and destroying Bibles and even telling American Embassy staff that they may not observe their own holidays. His conclusion, however, is more general: all Muslims ought to show to those of other faiths the same respect they demand that those of other faiths show them.

I appreciate the attempt at peace-making. Unfortunately, I doubt that many people will listen. If, as he seems to imply, the problem is limited to Saudi Arabia (and for the sake of argument, I'll admit that possibility), then the only thing those Saudis are going to understand is Americans telling them to drink their oil if they like. (Co-dependency, anyone?) But the real problem is that the Koran itself ends up saying that those of other faiths deserve no respect. By the time you apply the abrogation principle (that the passage most recently written takes precedence), and then sort the various surat of the Koran in the order of their writing, this becomes "very evident," as the French like to say.