"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me I can't  remember a single one of them. So I think I'm wasting my time . . . and the Imaam they  are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the dismay of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone  wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall what   the menu was for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be dead today."

No comments were made on the sermon contents anymore.

"The lips of the righteous nourish many . . ."