I’M an atheist but wrote a letter on Sharia in the UK saying it comprised religious committees advising on family matters.

Jeff Adams has written a very long reply. He denies any similarity between the advisory bodies used by some Muslims and those used by some Jews. Why?

He says “Jews believe that the law of the land is the law.” But this is the position of most British Muslims regardless of their position on Sharia.

Mr Adams provides no evidence of his allegation that Muslims seek to follow some parallel legal system. He quotes Baroness Cox but fails to realise that the context of his quote actually undermines his case. She made her comments in an intervention about Law society guidance on drawing up wills. British Law allows anyone to bequeath property on any basis they want, including religion. Bequests according to Sharia are allowed providing that the will is signed in accordance with the requirements set out in the Wills Act 1837. (ie: No parallel legal system, no contradiction.) That Baroness Cox, who invited the notorious Geert Wilders to the House of Lords, can use this as an occasion to spout complete nonsense ought to surprise no-one.

Mr Adams makes the claim about “separate” institutions. Here he does give examples. First, the Muslim Parliament. But this organisation itself says it is a non-Governmental organisation. (It campaigns against forced marriage, female genital mutilation and on other issues.) I fear for Mr Adams’ nerves when he reads about the Youth Parliament.

Then he talks about a “separate bank”. Readers might want to check out a Guardian story last year about HSBC refusing accounts, or closing them, on Muslim organisations and individuals.

I believe Mr Adams has been swept up by a tsunami of Islamophobic nonsense in our media.

A few examples; we’ve had Muslims banning Christmas, banks banning piggy banks from promotions, the “Muslim sicko Maddie kidnap shock”, Muslim bus drivers turfing passengers off to pray, nurses being told to turn beds to face Mecca, Muslim doctors supposedly refusing to follow hygiene rules — all completely fabricated; as was the story about a “Muslim hate mob” which, the Sun claimed, vandalised a house near Windsor to stop British soldiers renting the house (Channel 4 Dispatches).

This kind of poisonous drivel is making Britain increasingly insecure where attacks on Muslims are carried out in a way reminiscent of the McCarthy era in the USA.

PETER SMITH Woodside Avenue Swindon