I wish to place a small caution in Maria Idris's comment in the Lessons from ulama past on Malaysian Muslim scholars. In the letter, she supported Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's diatribe in Parliament and the freedom of speech of the writers accused of denigrating Islam.

I think most of us, Malaysians and Muslims, appreciate the comments of free speech but are also concerned with vilifying and hate speech. I think there is simply no room for this even in the best democracies.

I note her rhetoric about the scholars of an Islam past. I hope Maria is not suggesting that we in this modern age are not capable of producing scholars of equal calibre or scholars who are able to meet the challenges of modernity.

In taking the line of a glorious past and the comparison that past scholars are 'real ulama' (for want of a better phrase), we may fall into the trap set up by some conservative Muslims who view that the gates of independent reasoning are closed (because we no longer have 'real ulama' in our midst) and we should be followers of the interpretations of the past.