Hoosen, G M

Omar, M A K

Solwa, M

Tayob, H

Tikly, M

Wadee, S

South African Medical Journal (SAMJ)

Free service at the MedicinesInformation CentreTo the Editor: It is with great pleasure that we announce there-introduction of the free service of the Medicines InformationCentre at the University of Cape Town Medical School to allhealth professionals throughout South Africa, effectiveimmediately.To those very kind supporters who helped us through atough period with subscription fees, we say a sincere thankyou.The Centre is open for all drug-related queries, Mondays toFridays, from 08h30 to 17h00. Our direct lines are 086 110 0531,021 406 6829, 021 406 6780, and 021 406 6783. You’re also mostwelcome to pay us a visit to see how we operate.With our good wishes for a happy and healthy 2005.Annoesjka SwartJoe TalmudBriony ChisholmMedicines Information CentreDepartment of MedicineUniversity of Cape TownWhat Islam does not need is apope!To the Editor: Having read your editorial in the June 2004SAMJ,1 we were astounded by the unwarranted andunfounded statements that were made by yourself.  It appearsthat you too have climbed onto the Islamophobia bandwagonthat is currently in vogue in the Western countries, notably theUSA.  It is a well-known fact that the vast majority of Muslimsthroughout the world have been and are being immunisedagainst polio as well as other infectious diseases. To say thatimmunisation activities in Nigeria were brought to a haltbecause of ‘exhortation against immunisation by Islamicclerics’ on the basis of flimsy evidence is therefore unbecomingof somebody with a scientific background.  In fact, according toa recent report, it is people with a political agenda who appearto be responsible for such a state of affairs.  More often thannot lack of education among the people themselves rather thanthe words of clerics is the root cause of the failure to institute amass immunisation programme in such countries.  You then go on to lambast Islam by quoting ChristinaLamb, a Western writer, whose book is undoubtedly biasedand based on prejudice.  It would have been far better had youalso read the book by Yvonne Ridley, a Scottish woman whowas detained during the Taliban reign, to get a balancedoverview. She highlighted the tremendous respect afforded toher as a woman by the very same Taliban people who youhave demonised on the basis of writings of some Westernjournalists who have a vendetta against the Muslims.   Grantedthere could have been some excesses, which would be likely tooccur in any society undergoing a transition, but on the wholewomen could walk the length and breadth of Afganistan withimpunity without being molested.  Moreover, during theTaliban era the abolition of the opium trade as well as sanctityof family life and absence of crime were the order of the day, incontrast to the post-Taliban era, where the opium trade is oncemore flourishing and anarchy is the rule.  Of interest is that thepresent US-appointed president, Hamid Kharzai, controls just asmall area around his headquarters in Khabul.  You then discuss terrorism, implying that it is an exclusivedomain of Islam while ignoring the even greater acts ofterrorism of the US government and its lackey, the Britishgovernment, in its unwarranted invasion of Iraq with a totaldisregard of international law; not to mention the atrocities,only some of which have been exposed, in the infamous AbuGhraib Prison and the Guantanamo Bay torture camp.  Themassacre in Rwanda and Burundi and in the Palestinianrefugee camps of Sabra and Shatila should be seen in a similarlight.  The perpetrators were Christians.  Christianity has aPope, but he remains silent or powerless in stopping suchatrocities being committed by Christians.  Nor has he been ofany help in resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland that hasbeen going on for over three centuries.  In spite of the presenceof the Pope the Nazis managed to kill millions of Jews, Gypsiesand Russians during World War II.  Moreover, the massacre ofworshippers in the Hebron mosque by one Goldstein in thename of his religion has elevated him to the status of a hero inthe eyes of the Jewish settlers in the region, culminating in amonument in his name.  You appear to be applying different standards by invokingonly one religious grouping.  It would have been far better hadyou directed your venom at the likes of Bush, who launchedhis ‘Crusade’ in Afganistan and is still hell bent on pursuinghis missions elsewhere, and Blair, who is blindly followingBush — reminiscent of our own notorious apartheid era wheremight was right and no attention whatsoever was paid to anymoral or ethical principles.  Moreover, it would have beenappropriate to highlight the wanton loss of life and destructionof property perpetrated by the Americans in Iraq with the useof warheads with depleted uranium and the horrific daisybombs instead of launching your own personal crusade againstIslam. Such an unwarranted attack on a religion as has beendisplayed in your editorial appears to be without precedent inthe history of any scientific journal.  In closing, Sir, Islam does not need a pope because Muslimshave their divinely revealed book, viz.  The Quran.  For yourinformation the caliphs of the past were certainly not popes,January 2005, Vol. 95, No. 1  SAMJBRIEWE8BRIEWEbut responsible for the everyday running of both the temporaland religious affairs of the community based on the teachingsof the Quran, which is still available today in its original form.It provides guidance for all Muslims.M A K  Omar, DurbanG M Hoosen, DurbanM Tikly, DurbanS Wadee, Cape TownM Solwa, DurbanH Tayob, JohannesburgPO Box 701063Overport40671. Ncayiyana DJ. What Islam does not need is a pope! (Editorial). S Afr Med J 2004; 94: 385.Cancer and the prediction ofdeath by oncologistsTo the Editor: The diagnosis that one has cancer comes as agreat shock. Many people immediately accept it as a deathsentence, while a few resolve to fight the disease. On top of thistraumatic situation, oncologists predict the death of the patientwhen their treatment fails.When my late wife was diagnosed with cancer of theovaries, both she and I went into shock. I urged her not to takethe diagnosis as a death sentence. The first thing the oncologistasked us to do was to have an interview with the counsellor atthe oncology department. One visit was all we could take. Shestarted off by saying that people with cancer are lucky becausecancer is a slow-developing disease and that it gives one timeto prepare for death. That is not what we wanted to hear. Wewanted to be given hope for life, not a lecture on how toprepare for death! The treatment my wife received was notsuccessful. Instead of keeping the hope of life alive in her, theoncologist asked her to prepare for death within a month ortwo. My wife was devasted by the news. Once again we wentto the counsellor who immediately started to prepare for thefuneral. She contacted the hospice, and advised us on funeralundertakers. The very people to whom we turned to keep ourhope alive wanted my wife dead. That is what their adviceamounted to.She gave up on life and almost fulfilled the oncologist’sprediction. Fortunately we changed doctors. Our new doctorencouraged her to live and did everything possible to

What Islam does not need is a pope!

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What Islam does not need is a pope!

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