SIR – In 1933 the Nazi Party gained control of Germany. It proceeded to establish a fascist totalitarian state within which non-Aryans were to be eliminated, and individuals who disagreed with the prevailing ideology were to be killed. The aim of the state was to expand the Fatherland by violent and military means across Europe, and eventually to conquer the world. Disillusioned and deluded German citizens played their part in the rise of fascism by tacitly or explicitly endorsing its ideology, and as such were sleepwalking to their doom.

Try the following exercise: in the paragraph above, replace – ‘1933’ with ‘2014’; ‘Nazi Party’ with ‘Islamic State’; ‘Germany’ with ‘land in Iraq and Syria’; ‘a fascist’ with ‘an Islamist’; ‘non-Aryans’ with ‘non-Muslims’; ‘Fatherland’ with ‘Caliphate’; ‘Europe’ with ‘the Middle East’.

I objected to the Gulf wars of Bushes senior and junior to the extent that I organised letters of objection at my place of work. But any necessary means, military or otherwise, may be needed to counter the spread of Islamic State in the Middle East. Totalitarianism such as this equates to fascism by another name, and I cannot understand why any Muslim would give it any kind of support. Islam is one of the world’s great religions and should be something for Muslims (and others) to celebrate, not used as a tool to conquer and to kill.

Digby Stalman, Shirley Street, Shipley