On a Tuesday, January 7th or in Persian Calendar 17th Dey, I was watching a program on Azadi television on celebration of the Iranian day of the woman. The day the late Reza Shah removed the hijab from the women of Iran in 1936. When one of the panelists began to express her opinion about the oppressive laws of Islam regarding women, another panelist snapped at her and stated that: "I don't want to get involved in such discussions, we should not offend people for their beliefs. After all there are two billion Muslims and we should respect them. I, myself have some strong religious beliefs."

First of all since when there are two billion Muslims on this earth? I think Ms. Pahlavan should get her statistics correct. Secondly even if there were that many people adhering to this faith it does not mean that we must respect such barbaric religion. Quantity is not a requirement for respect. AIDS is a disease killing people in millions. Does it mean that we have to respect it and do nothing to stop it? Cancer is another killer disease. So far it has taken the lives of millions of people. Its indiscriminate nature destroys families by killing young and olds. Are we supposed to respect such a killer disease just because it has taken so many lives and do nothing to exterminate it? Islam and its Sharia laws are like cancer and AIDS killing and destroying nations, families and cultures. We must stop its growth.

I want to ask this self-described highly educated woman why she must believe that her worth should be considered half of just about any man? Why should she ask for her husband permission if she wants to leave her house? Why shouldn't she have the right to divorce or get custody of her children? Why shouldn't she become a judge or her testimony in a court of law be equal to half as much as her male counter part? What is there to respect about these barbaric and outdated laws?

And who are all these one billion Muslims in this world anyway? I consider them in three categories:

1. First, are the people who are Muslims by name only. This constitutes most of my family, friends and neighbors in Iran. The only religious ritual we ever received was the statement our grandfathers read in our ears when we were only six days or so old. Or at least that is what I was told. We never went to the mosque, did not pray, fast, studied the Koran, the Sunna and/or the hadiths. In my opinion at least 50% of all Muslims in the world are in this category.

2. In the second category are the people who pray, fast, read the Koran in Arabic, they don't understand it but have memorized it and perform most rituals of sacrificing sheep, paying Khoms and Zakat (charity) and go to Friday prayers. Some of their women cover themselves and some don't and their men don't believe in polygamy, temporary marriages and divorce Islamic style. In my opinion some 30 to 40% of Muslims in the world are members of this group or category.

3. The third category is what we in the West call the Islamic fundamentalists or Islamists. These are the real Muslims. In Saudi Arabia they are called the Wahabis, in Afghanistan they are called Talibans, in Iran and other places they are called the Basijis, Hizbollahi, Mojahedeen, Hamas, Ansar-e-Hizbollah, the Fadaian, and so on. These people know what Islam is all about and they believe that it is their duty on this earth to expand their religion at all costs. These are mostly men and they control their women, their countries and hope to conquer the world. Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Khomeini, Khatami, Khamenei, Motawas and so on are members of this category. Their numbers could not be more than 10% of all Muslims or about 100 million.

The first group of Muslims are quite successful especially if they have left their birthplace and have migrated in Western countries. They have integrated into the societies they have chosen to live in and most of them are not passing their religion to the next generation and many of them consider themselves humanists, atheists and have even forgotten or never learned the Islamic religious rituals. They are quite modern, progressive and love to live and have a good time. They love to drink, dance and dress in Western style clothing.

The second category are harmless people. They do not want to totally integrate into the societies they have migrated into or born in. They are basically good people. They stay fairly close to each other and continue to practice their religion as their duty on this earth in order to have a lasting afterlife.

The third group are the dangerous ones. A great majority of them are poor, uneducated and ignorant. Most of them cannot even write their own name. The only education many of them have ever received has been reciting and memorizing Koran in a language they have no knowledge about? There has never been any creative work presented to humanity by a Muslim in this category. They have never achieved anything in their lives except beating and oppressing their women, raping them at ages when their counterparts in the Western world are enjoying a happy childhood. They believe in polygamy and take children as brides. They do not believe in abortion or birth control and their purpose in life is to leave behind as many sons as possible. They have no respect for their women and require total obedience from them. These are the people who marry their daughter at age 9, amputate people for minor crimes such as theft, flog their men for drinking alcohol, beat their women for not being covered properly and stone them to death for adultery. These are the true Muslims. They live by the book, the Koran. These are the terrorists whom we must be afraid of.

They are in minority in the Muslim countries however, they are the Muslims with a mission and if we do not talk about them, write about them and expose them they will force us into submission with their swords as they have done in the last 1400 years.

These are the cancerous cells in our world today and we must find a way to destroy them before they destroy us and our civilization. Today, the world population is more than 6 billion. We cannot ignore the danger that these one hundred million Islamists thugs or 1.6% of world population present to our wellbeing. So we must criticize them, expose them and as much as we can work to stop them. Numbers don't command respect. Respect must be earned. Thugs don't require respect.

Parvin Darabi