Iranian Letter In Islamic Context

Last week's letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush, full of appeals to Bush's religious values and heavy on quotes from the Koran, seemed somewhat bizarre by Western diplomatic standards. However, according to columnist Amir Taheri in today's Jerusalem Post the letter fits squarely into Islamic traditions that date back to the Prophet Muhammad himself. In 625 AD, Muhammad wrote letters to the rulers of Persia, Byzantium and Ethiopia calling on them to convert to Islam. In 1987, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini wrote a letter to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev inviting him to convert to Islam before Iran would assist the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Taheri argues that instead of ignoring Ahmadinjad's letter, Bush should respond by inviting him to convert to liberal democracy.