For spiritual inspiration, the Muslims study the holy Qur'an, which sets down the laws, and for temporal guidance they consult the Sunnah or the traditions of Prophet Muhammad, who is the best embodiment of those laws. The tradition of a male leading the prayers dates back to Prophet Muhammad. There are some practical reasons for it. Women are excused from prayers and fasting during their menstrual cycles. It would disrupt the functioning of a mosque to have the Imam absent for a few days every month.

While there is something to be said for providing Muslim women with the same, if not better facilities than men in the mosque, to think that a woman leading a mixed congregation prayer, with males and females worshipping side by side, is one way to achieve women's equality is misguided. A distinction must be made between the tenets of the faith and the misdeeds of some followers. For example, if a Muslim man abuses a Muslim woman, it is the flaw in the man's character, not Islam, which is responsible.

While it is reasonable, indeed commendable, to demand equal facilities for women at the mosques, to use that as a springboard for "reforming" Islam is sacrilegious. For over fourteen hundred years Islam has served about 25 per cent of peace-loving humanity very well. Just because Osama bin Laden and his fanatical maniacs have carried out terrorist acts in the name of Islam does not mean Islam needs to "reform". If the organisers of the March 18 event believe that changes must be made in Islam for it to be good enough for them, they are out of step with 1.3 billion followers of Islam spread over every continent on Earth.

Islam does recognise differences between men and women and assign them specific responsibilities. While each has advantages over the other in certain areas, neither is "superior." It was Islam that stopped the practice of burying the female child alive, allowed women to own and inherit property, receive education and divorce their husbands. Prophet Muhammad's first wife, Khadija, was a business woman who hired the prophet for his honesty. A woman (Khadija) was the first convert to Islam. In more recent times, over the last decade, five Muslim women have headed democratically-elected governments in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Men are providers and protectors of women in Islam. If a woman earns an income, she is not obligated to spend one cent of it for supporting the household; that is the husband's responsibility. Islam does advise women (and men) to dress modestly, and not to flaunt their beauty. Muslim men and women are instructed to confine their sexuality within the privacy of their homes.

Non-Muslims ask: if Islam is a religion of peace, how does it explain Osama bin Laden? That Muslims repudiate everything bin Laden stands for does not seem to register. Insinuations abound that there must be something in the religion itself which promotes terrorists like bin Laden. There is no such thing in Islam. The bin Ladens of the world practice what author Karen Armstrong calls "militant piety," which is not shared by the overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims.

Muslims complain that Judaism is never blamed for Israel's repression of the Palestinians, Hinduism is exonerated in India's suppression of the Kashmiris, and Christianity is never faulted for the genocide of the Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs in the 1990s or the continued Russian butchery of the Muslim Chechens. There is muted outrage when Muslims are under attack in Afghanistan, Iraq and several other places in the world; when Muslims fight back, the universal condemnation is vociferous!

Increasingly, there are innuendoes that Islam is the reason for the Muslim world's backwardness. It is true that after the two Golden Ages in the 7th and 13th centuries, Muslims have not led the world in human accomplishments. However, today's Muslims are no more backward than the Hindus of India, the Buddhists of the Far East or the non-Western Christians the world over; yet, the indictment is reserved solely for the Muslims.

Those who would like to make Islam "progressive" should be careful not to confuse rituals with the core tenets of the faith. They can do Muslims a great favour by demonstrating how the faith ought to be practiced according to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, instead of the distorted version some Muslims have embraced. Worship of one God, compassion for all of God's creations, non-compulsion in religion, sharing of wealth, and creation of a just society are the foundations of Islam.

Although absolutely vital, five daily prayers are not the only manifestation of what makes Islam unique. After questioning the dead about their faith, on the Day of Judgement, God will ask Muslims whether they have taken care of the orphans, the widows, the needy, and the oppressed. If they have not, there is little hope for paradise.