I agree with Eva Ibrahim ([#1]Let's not cut off anyone's hand[/#], April 5). No one should accept a law that dehumanises another human being in this barbarous way.

Malaysians should be concerned if such a law is adopted. It would be like turning the clock back many millennia. The kind of Islam which is based on many ancient Jewish laws needs to bring itself into the 21st century. Even many Jews no longer practise the 'eye for an eye' and 'tooth for a tooth' laws to the letter and submit themselves to modern civil law.

Most religions have discarded archaic and cruel practices. The Pope no longer burns 'witches' at the stake (it was a heretical practice anyway). The Hindus no longer burn their widows in a suttee. The Chinese no longer drown adulterers. Why then must some Muslims continue to uphold outdated punitive practices meant for a different time and people?

If belief in God makes me display cut off hands and feet in public (as in the photo shown in the linked site) I would rather not follow this gory God who has no mercy for his creatures whom He knows are imperfect and capable of doing wrong. Whither, God the Merciful? If God is merciful, then why aren't those who speak in His name? Of course, we all know God is merciful, and we should follow Him, but not those who impose harsh laws and their misguided followers who misrepresent God's true nature.

Have the past decades since the Shah's overthrow brought about a better way of life for the Iranians? Has an even more extreme Islamic government in Afghanistan advanced its people's quality of life and their society? What about Pakistan? Alas, we know the answers. And I hope Malaysia escapes the fate of extreme Islamic countries, most of which lag behind Malaysia. Let us not play with the fires of fanaticism and dupe ourselves into thinking it will be different in Malaysia if religious extremists get into power.

I have nothing to fear from the most rigid laws but I don't think the taking of life or limb fits into the 21st century or Malaysian society.

When the Jews brought a woman caught in adultery to Isa, a man highly honoured by Muslims and Christians, they expected him to pronounce the usual sentence of death by stoning upon the woman. Instead he said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." No one did. "Go and sin, no more," he told her and history tells us she became one of his most devoted followers and a pious person.

Isn't this a more merciful and positive approach than the old (Jewish) way, which unfortunately, many Muslims still follow?