Muslim scholars, as those supposedly possessing knowledge of the true content of Islam, should teach by dialogue and debate, not threaten (by lodging reports) whenever they are not articulate nor knowledgeable enough to discourse.

For if malaysiakini and News Straits Times columnist Dr Farish A Noor were foolish, argue and contradict him, expose his ignorance and mock him. One can't extend influence or win credibly in an argument by simply saying "the other is insulting Islam" (Report lodged against The Edge, writer for 'insulting' Islam, Jan 25).

That "if there were going to be dialogues among Muslims, they should not be confined to the ulama (religious teachers) alone" is something that has been said by many people besides Farish, including no less the number one man of this country.

One recalls in your website Ulama support jihad in Afghanistan (Dec 2), it was the same Abdul Ghani Samsudin, head of the Malaysian Ulama Association who urged Muslims to wage jihad against Americans for their bombing of the Taliban.

I think it was a Bernama report (Dec 26) that said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned ulama who were involved in politics that they should not misinterpret Islamic teachings in such a way that had negative repercussions for Muslims.

"It has been observed that when such ulama get involved in politics, a large section of the masses is led astray into ignoring the teachings of Islam and believing that they are holier than other Muslims," he was reported to have said.

So what was wrong with Farish's argument that Islamic discourse was not the sole preserve of the ulama? Is Islam insulted just because its discourse is not the exclusivity of clerics?

Come, come, this is pluralistic and supposedly democratic Malaysia in 2002, a far cry from Iran 1979!

If it were the ulama's intention to lodge reports against anyone whose views are disagreed to by MSAM, it will be read as an insidious step to seize exclusivity of dialogue on Islam and from that point wrestle political influence from the Umno government.