THE cool weather in Turkey at the end of April 1980 failed to chill the thoughts of Mohammad Natsir. As President of the World Muslim League, Natsir, who was presiding over a session on the ethnic conflict between Greece and Turkey in Cyprus, had suddenly fallen ill. Yet the doctor who treated him could find no suspicious symptoms on this 72-year-old man.

Apparently, Natsir was worrying about the political situation back home. “I was upset by