There are several reasons. One is that contemporary Muslim societies don't speak out at all that much. The Westerners are used to see democratic demonstrations every day, because they live in open societies that have the habit of speaking out. Yet Muslim societies, especially those of the Middle East, are way more stagnant. When Serbs were slaughtering fellow Muslims in Bosnia in mid-90s, they were again pretty silent. Sunni terrorists in Iraq kill Shiites every day; but the Shiites in Iran are, apparently, comfortably numb. This is the outcome of centuries of authoritarianism, fatalism and insularity. It is not right, but it is a fact.

The second reason is outright wrong: Muslim societies have a tendency to show solidarity with Muslims whatever they do. This is an extension of tribalism — you support your tribe whatever it does — and it is indeed denounced by the Koran, which emphasizes justice in verses such as, "be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives" (4/135). What I mean is that Muslim tribalism has grown despite, not because of, the Koran.

Added to this are the bizarre conspiracy theories widespread in the Middle East, which says that Al Qaeda is a CIA plot and madness like that. Again, note that such conspiracy theories are a common trait in closed societies. (Remember the Soviet Union and even consider the French!)

Secondly, Mr. Pager asks, "Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?" Actually, some of them are. George Habash, the leader of the bloody Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is, at least by birth, a Christian. There have been many other Christian terrorists and activists in the Palestinian movement — not in Hamas or Islamic Jihad, obviously — but in different ranks of the PLO.

And if you wish to see how Christianity can be — despite its teachings, I should say —merged with slaughter, just consider the ethnic cleansing done by the Christian Orthodox Serbs, sanctioned by some of their fanatic clergy, by which they killed around 250 thousand Bosnian Muslims. Or just remember the Crusades.

Thirdly, Mr. Pager asks, "Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?" If he thinks this is because Islam says, "freedom is bad," he is wrong. Freedom in the modern sense is very much linked with socio-economic progress and that is what the Islamic world lacks. Its current desolation is the result of a very complex historical progress, doomed by its arid and infertile geography, hit by the change of world trade roots in the 16th century, the consequent insularity of Muslim societies, the fall of the Ottoman empire, the rise of secularist tyrants (such as the Shah), and the brutal Islamist response and so on.

However the West, including the U.S., also has a share in the freedom deficit of the Islamic world. European colonialism had added a lot to the mess in the Middle East. And, as President Bush and Secretary of State Rice frankly acknowledged, America has "pursued stability instead of democracy" and supported authoritarian regimes in the Middle East for decades. (We are glad to see that this policy is history now.)

Mr. Pager's fourth and fifth questions are related; "Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?" and "Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?" My answer will be forthright: Because the Islamic world is in its Dark Ages. Christianity had its Dark Ages a millennium ago. If we were at that time, I could ask Mr. Prager why Christian Europe is so repressive, brutal and close-minded. I would be terribly wrong to link that misery to Christian faith itself.

So, when he waits an answer from us such as "Yes, we have real problems in Islam," Mr. Prager gets it wrong. We don't have a problem with Islam, but we have a problem with the current Islamic world and how it interprets this faith. The solution will come from earthly progress — the spread of democracy, human rights, free markets and free ideas — and a re-interpretation of Islam in the modern milieu.

And as for those who kill innocents in the name of Islam; the killers of American, Israeli, European, Iraqi or say, Jordanian civilians... As a committed Muslim, I denounce them with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my might. I wish I could do more. For now I can only tell where the problem is. And it is not with Islam, but with the Dark Ages of its civilization.