lost heart of asia

quotations from colin thurbron - the lost heart of asia: an intimate portrait of uzbekistan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, kazakhstan, and kirghizstan, the five central asian republics

"I found myself launching a plea for tolerance. Why should one religion hold a monopoly on truth, I asked? Faith was a matter of private conscience... My evangelism for tolerance began to sound fanatic."

"'Islam is the last revelation... Fist came the Jews' book, then the Christians' book, and fainlly the Koran. The Koran is the last word of God. It was right at the time for Jews and Christians to believe as they did. They had nothing else. But now it is our way which his right...'
"I said pedantically: 'The Communist doctrine came later than Islam, but didn't disprove it. The last book isn't necessarily the right one. Your own Traditions come later than the Koran, but they don't superseded it... The Jews believe that the first is best... because it's the original.'"

both from page 74