Over the past few weeks I have been reading about and listening to arguments over Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses.

I confess I haven't read it either so I only know what it says from hearsay like most others. I do know that it has caused a great controversy that seems to center around two major poles.

The Judeo-Christian West argues from the point of view that this is simply a case of Freedom of Speech and press, and are outraged by the Shi'i Moslem reaction. I have heard condemnations of the whole of Islam for the acts of some within the faith.

Unfortunately, these condemners don't seem to differentiate that in Islam -- like their own religions -- there are sects that don't always agree. Not all Moslems have called for, or support the death threat against Rushdie. Many like myself are appalled by it.

This is not the way of Islam. Islam is the most tolerant of all the monotheistic faiths.

I do however understand the point of view of those who have called for Mr. Rushdie's death which brings me to the Moslem side of the issue.

This book may be, as Salman Rushdie has claimed, simply a fictitious story about the struggle between good and evil, but it is a very thinly veiled insult to the basic tenants of Islam. The main characters are clearly figures from the foundation of Islam who by Rushdie's work have been perverted to a point of deep insult.

Rushdie, a Moslem himself, can't hide behind the veil of ignorance. He knew what he was saying and doing was blasphemy. Here is a difference between the cultures.

The term blasphemy is used differently in Islam than in the Judeo-Christian culture. It has a similar meaning, but is much deeper in it's coverage of what constitutes blasphemy.

Since I don't have the space here to go into it fully I call your readers attention to an article in the Feb. 23 issue of The New York Times on page A15, which will better describe the Islamic point of view on blasphemy.

Again it is a difference in culture that allows Ayatollah Khomeini to sentence to death a man who has renounced his faith by such a treacherous act as this book represents.

It is with deeper understanding that you the reader must reevaluate your condemnation of Khomeini's act. I don't ask you to not feel repulsed by it, or now accept it, but to understand why he has done it.

This book will be printed -- of that there is no doubt. It will be a fantastic best seller for some time then die away like so many others.

The basic problem is that after the furor has died and the Islamic world has a chance to write its own book to counter the devastating negative effect of the The Satanic Verses, will their book even get the chance to be printed in the West? Will any effort to rationally defend their faith be given half the press or billing that this attack against it receives?

I realize that the actions of the Ayatollah Khomeini do nothing but fuel the fire of publicity for this book and add to the already negatively prejudiced feelings against Islam held by many Westerners.

I ask readers to try just for a moment to understand the deep hurt this book inflicts on the already injured psyche of the Moslem world.

In its recent past persecuted and militarily dominated by the Judeo/Christian West, and only since the end of WWII has there been any effort to allow these people to rule themselves. Their nations are still "aided" by Western multinational corporations, and not allowed to develop economically on their own initiative.

In the past few weeks on campus, we have been torn by the protests of some of our fellow students about injuries to them on racial grounds. Many of you understand and sympathize with these students for the hurt done to them.

Can you not extend that same understanding, and sympathy to the great hurt done by this book to other of your fellow students as well as fellow humans?