This article is mostly based on the book of the Spanish historian and paleontologist, Ignacio Olagüe, La Revolución Islámica en Occidente (The Islamic Revolution in the West), also translated into French as Les arabes n’ont jamais envahi l’Espagne (The Arabs Never Invaded Spain), which portrays some of the ideas of the historian and philologist Americo Castro, especially known for his writings about convivencia.

According to the way that history is taught in most Spanish schools, the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD. Here, the following question can be asked: Who did the Moors invade? In order to understand this, it is important to give a background of the inhabitants of Hispania at the time. The Iberian Peninsula was populated by Celts, Iberians, Sephardic Jews, Romans and Visigoths. The majority of Visigoths were Unitarian, meaning that they believed in only one God and were waiting the coming of the Messiah. They also saw Jesus as a Prophet. The rulers of Hispania in 711 AD were Visigoths as well. However, it was a civilization that constantly used force as a means of controlling the citizens of the peninsula, which resulted incessant instability. It was at this time that the Arabs, according to many historians, invaded Hispania.

De la Guardia² states that “in no way were the newcomers all Arabs.”³ The leaders came from Damascus, but they were only a few, and the majority that arrived in Hispania were Muslim Berbers. She later added, as well as Dr. Francisco Layna, author and professor of Harvard University: “Everybody that studies history at any university is aware that there was not an Arab invasion in 711 AD. The Gibraltar Canal that separates Morocco from Spain has always been known as a tool for merchants to trade on both the Spanish and Moroccan Coast. Hence, this was not the first time that the Berbers had visited Spain.”4

We can also ask if the Arabs were in a condition to invade Spain in 711 AD or not. In the middle of the eighth century the Berbers brought the Arabs’ progress to a halt twice and this suspended the conquest of Northern Africa for another fifty years. Hence, the Arabs that came to Northern Africa were weak and few and therefore could never have invaded Hispania.

Olagüe adds that people never take the time to think how the “invaders” of North Africa crossed the Gibraltar Canal in a blink of an eye. In other words, how were they able to conquer 544,192 km2, the most mountainous region in Europe, in three years? Even more astonishing is how the 7,000 men of General Tariq, were enough in number, to defeat Rodrigo and his people in the Battle of Guadalete. Olagüe continues: “If our math is right, each of the 25,000 Arabs was responsible for 23 km2. Since this was too easy for them, they ran to traverse the Pyrenees to dominate France.”⁵ How could a person cover 23 km2 especially in those harsh and mountainous conditions? Olagüe writes that “even if these soldiers conquered Hispania in these conditions, they would each have had 23 km2 of land and therefore would be like a needle in a haystack, compared to the other populations.”⁶ Due to these reasons, we can conclude that an Arab invasion never took place. Furthermore, if natives of the Iberian Peninsula would have resented these newcomers, Hispania would have never been Muslim, would have never planted the seeds for the Renaissance in Europe, and would have not had scientific and artistic advancements that later influenced Europe and the American continent. If it were an invasion, the natives would have forced them to leave Hispania as it occurred when Napoleon in 1807 tried to seize Spain and asked permission of the Catholic Spanish Monarchy for his French troops to pass through Spain in order to invade Portugal. However, once in Spanish territory, Napoleon declared himself Emperor of Spain. It was at this point that the Spanish population resisted and with the help of sticks and stones drove the French out of the country. This was never the case when the Muslims arrived in Spain. Actually, the natives from the Iberian Peninsula welcomed them and were happy to see someone that respected their faith and their traditions and had similar beliefs as the majority of the natives of Hispania were Unitarian Christians. They believed in only one God, saw Jesus as a Prophet and awaited the Messiah, exactly as Muslims. The following treaty was signed in 713 CE-within two years after the first organized entry of Muslims into Spain from the south under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad-between the Arab commander Abdal-Aziz and Theodomir, the Visigothic prince of Murcia, is a proof of the freedoms the natives of Hispania enjoyed after the Arab conquests.

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. This is the text that Abd al Aziz ibn Musa presented to Teodomiro ibn Gandaris, in virtue in which it is agreed that in the territory will be in peace by the promising it to God, His Prophets and His Messengers that this territory will be protected by God y the protection of His Messenger Muhammad- peace be upon him. Nobody will be forced, nothing will be taken away from you; Nobody will be slaves; you will not be separated from your wife or children; you lives will be respected; you will not be killed and your churches will not be burned down. You will be free to practice your own religion. (Text of the Treaty of the Visigoth Ruler of Murcia, Teodomiro and Abd Al Aziz).⁷

“In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate. This is a document [granted] by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Musá ibn Nusair to Tudmir, son of Ghabdush, establishing a treaty of peace and the promise and protection of God and his Prophet) may God bless him and grant him peace). We [‘Abd al-‘Aziz] will not set special conditions for him or for any among his men, nor harass him, nor remove him from power. His followers will not be killed or taken prisoner, nor will they be separated from their women and children. They will not be coerced in matters of religion, their churches will not be burned, nor will sacred objects be taken from the realm, [so long as] he [Tudmir] remains sincere and fulfills the [following] conditions that we have set for him. He has reached a settlement concerning seven towns: Orihuela, Valentilla, Alicante, Mula, Bigastro, Ello, and Lorca. He will not give shelter to fugitives, nor to our enemies, nor encourage any protected person to fear us, nor conceal news of our enemies. He and [each of] his men shall [also] pay one dinar every year, together with four measures of wheat, four measures of barley, four liquid measures of concentrated fruit juice, four liquid meastures of vinegar, four of honey, and four of olive oil. Slaves must each pay half of this amount. {Names of four witnesses follow, and the document is dated from the Muslim month of Rajab, in the year 94 of the Hijra (April 713).} “The Treaty of Tudmir” in Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World. ed. Barbara H. Rosenwein. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006, p. 92.

Although there were other capitulation agreements with the same nature dating from 711, this one signed on the surrender of the city of Orihuela has survived to this date. The inhabitants of the conquered territories of Spain were suitably impressed by the tolerance which the Muslims offered them once active resistance had ceased. It is these earlier agreements and their successful implementation that prompted Theodomir and the population of Orihuela to agree to sign the treaty.⁸

If the people that arrived were not Arabs in majority, why are they referred to Arabs in Spain and why was Arabic spoken and even carved in some of their architectural beauties such as the Al-hambra in Granada? Guardia clearly states “they were not Arabs, even when the majority of Spain was Muslim. However, they adopted Arabic as their language.”? Arabic was the language of scholars and Latin was the language of soldiers. Little by little, the natives of the Iberian Peninsula adopted Arabic as their own language, even people from other faiths. In the ninth century, a Bishop of Cordoba wrote: “Many of my colleagues read poems and stories; they study their philosophies as well as the Muslim theologians in Arabic, not to refute them, but to learn how to express themselves in Arabic more correctly and elegantly.”¹⁰

Olagüe states that it took 300 years for the natives of the Iberian Peninsula to adopt and utilize the Arabic language. We can see a wonderful fusion of the jarchas, or poetry from Al-Andalus or Muslim Spain, where it can easily be seen how Arabic and Latin fused. These were love poems that were written in Arabic, and ended in Latin.

Poetry is only one of the many examples of the advances Spain experienced during this era. When in many cities of Europe people walked in streets of mud, people in Hispania walked on pavement, had a drainage and sewage system. Cordoba, once the capital of Al-Andalus, was famous for its scientific advances in medicine. Andalusians had stomach operations and very specialized cataract operations. Some specific instruments that were used at that time in medicine are still used today in the same field.

The first university in the West was founded in Cordoba, Spain. Scholars from all over the world came to gain knowledge in all the natural and social sciences such as medicine, technology for agriculture, astronomy, literature, and jurisprudence to name a few. The city of Toledo is another example of intercultural exchange, where the School of Translation efficiently contributed to the culture of mutual understanding.

Among many inventions Andalusians developed was the astrolabe which was used to determine the latitude of a ship at sea by measuring the noon altitude of the Sun or the meridian altitude of a star of known declination.¹¹ It was with the help of this astrolabe that Christopher Columbus was able to travel to the American continent in 1492.

This intercultural and multicultural convivencia between Jews, Christians and Muslims in Al-Andalus was key to the development of different sciences that later contributed to give birth to the Renaissance in Italy. When the inhabitants of Al-Andalus put emphasis on their spirituality, this was also the time when their scientific and technological advances were strongest, also influencing Catholics in later times.

Towards the last century of Muslim Spain, the Christians had adopted the majority of Muslim traditions as well as the scientific discoveries and advances that they had accomplished during more than 800 years in the Iberian Peninsula.

In conclusion, the Arab invasion is only a myth and Al Andalus was in its majority composed of natives of the Iberian Peninsula and not Arabs. This civilization that spanned across eight centuries was a unique model of respect for other cultures and religions, a model that we can learn a lot from in our times.
Islamic Caligraphy at the Alhambra Palace in Granada,Spain.

Karin de Villa is a Spanish Professor at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX.

Notes

1. The Spanish Word for coexistence, also referred sometimes by Americo Castro as Las Tres Culturas or The Three Cultures: Jews, Christians and Muslims living together in peace during the Muslim rule.
2. One of the contemporary famous Historians and Chair of the University Autónoma de Madrid.
3. De La Guardia, Carmen. Lecture: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Spain and Latin America. Middlebury College: Spain, Madrid, 2006.
4. Lecture: Don Quijote, Spain: Madrid, 2006.
5. Olagüe, Ignacio. La Revolucion Islamica en Occidente. Espana: Cordoba, 2004. 36.
6. Ibid.
7. Historia de Espana, vol. 3. Historia 16 extra XV Madrid, 1980.
8. The Treaty of Orihuela. The Surrender of Orihuela, Spain, 713 C.E. http://cyberistan.org/islamic/treaty713.html.
9. De La Guardia, Carmen. Lecture: Jews, Jews, Christians and Muslims in Spain and Latin America. Middlebury College: Spain, Madrid, 2006.
10. Alvarez, Fe Bajo & Pecharroman, Julio Gil. Historia de Espana. Sociedad General Espanola de Libreria. S.A. de Alcobendas: Madrid, 1998. 48.
11. Morrison, J. The Mariner’s Astrolabe. http://www.astrolabes.org/mariner.htm. 2002.

Every language spoken in the world represents a special culture, melody, color, and asset and to everyone the mother language is certainly one of the most precious treasures in our lives. It’s a duty and responsibility to preserve it and pass it down from generation to generation. Whether we are urged by necessity or because of other reasons, learning another language brings a lot of advantages in our life. A new language opens a new window in our world view and makes us more aware, open-minded, and respectful to other cultures, lifestyles, customs and beliefs. Moreover, knowing another language has been proven to contribute to helping us understand our mother tongue better. However, much research indicates that most children eventually learn a second, or even more, languages to a native-like fluency level, what immigrant families are not often aware of is that many of their children are at risk of losing their mother tongue.

Mother language for emotional and mental growth

Mother language has a very powerful impact in the formation of the individual. Our first language, the beautiful sounds of which one hears and gets familiar with before being born while in the womb, has such an important role in shaping our thoughts and emotions. A child’s psychological and personality development will depend upon what has been conveyed through the mother tongue. With this in mind, as psychologists say, it matters tremendously that language expressions and vocabulary are chosen with care when we talk to children. A child’s first comprehension of the world around him, the learning of concepts and skills, and his perception of existence, starts with the language that is first taught to him, his mother tongue. In the same manner, a child expresses his first feelings, his happiness, fears, and his first words through his mother tongue. Mother language has such an important role in framing our thinking, emotions and spiritual world, because the most important stage of our life, childhood, is spent in its imprints. A strong bond between a child and his parents (especially mother) is established by virtue of love, compassion, body language, and also through the most important one, which is the verbal language. When a person speaks their mother tongue, a direct connection establishes between heart, brain and tongue. Our personality, character, modesty, shyness, defects, our skills, and all other hidden characteristics become truly revealed through the mother tongue because the sound of the mother tongue in the ear and its meaning in the heart give us trust and confidence. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart,” says Nelson Mandela. I came across an interesting article in support of the above. A study was carried out on fifteen Italian interpreters who were working for the European Union and translating in English and Italian. The interpreters were all extremely fluent in English. The study revealed surprising differences in brain activity when the subjects were shown words in their native language versus in other languages they spoke. About 170 milliseconds after a word was shown, the researchers recorded a peak in electrical activity in the left side of the brain, in an area that recognizes letters as part of words before their meaning is interpreted. These brain waves had much higher amplitude when the word was in Italian, the language the interpreters had learned before age five. “The findings show how differently the brain absorbs and recalls languages learned in early childhood and later in life,” said Alice Mado Proverbio, a professor of cognitive electrophysiology at the Milano-Bicocca University in Milan. Proverbio attributed the differences to the fact that the brain absorbs the mother tongue at a time when it is also storing early visual, acoustic, emotional and other nonlinguistic knowledge. This means that the native language triggers a series of associations within the brain that show up as increased electrical activity. “Our mother tongue is the language we use to think, dream and feel emotion,” Proverbio said.

Mother tongue is an indicator of cultural identity

A child connects to his parents, family, relatives, culture, history, identity and religion through his mother tongue. Native language links the child with the culture of the society the child comes from and shapes his identity. A lot of children from immigrant families, who don’t know their native language well, are at a crossroads of identity crisis. When a child doesn’t know his language well we cannot say that he will be nurtured with his culture properly for the fact that the relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted. Mother tongue is one of the most powerful tools used to preserve and convey culture and cultural ties. Children who are unaware of their culture, their language, and their history will lose confidence in themselves, the family, society and the nation to which they belong and will have no other option then seeking an alternate identity. A child will identify himself with the language and culture he knows best. For this reason, the attitudes and beliefs of immigrant parents are so important in this aspect. If they want to prevent this from happening they should find ways to help their children maintain and improve their mother language without neglecting to give affirmative messages and keeping positive attitudes about other cultures. We must not also forget that we live in a multicultural society and we should teach our children to learn about other cultures and respect them as well.

Mother tongue provides the basis for learning another language

Jim Cummins also underscores the importance of preserving mother tongue: “Children who come to school with a strong foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the language used at school. When parents or caregivers are able to spend time with their children and tell stories or discuss issues with them in a way that develops their mother tongue vocabulary and concepts, children come to school well prepared to learn the language of their immigrant country and succeed educationally.”

The ability to converse in a language is developed through the mother tongue. The child will get familiarized with the nuances of a language, how to learn it and use it, and this will enable him or her to learn other languages as well. A strong foundation in their first language will contribute to learning another language and help them develop stronger literacy skills in the school language, because children’s literacy knowledge and abilities transfer across languages from mother tongue to the language the child is learning at school. When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout their primary school years they gain a deeper understanding of language and gradually acquire knowledge about how it can be manipulated and applied in different ways. They explore the similarities and differences between languages. Unfortunately, for many bilingual children who have little mother tongue support at home, once they start school their mother tongue is gradually replaced by the majority or dominantly used language, especially in the early school years. Some parents and educators believe that in order for children to learn a second language quickly and succeed at school children should use the majority language not only at school, but even at home. In fact the opposite is true. Children can learn two or more languages at the same time. We know children who learn to speak fluently two or three languages in some countries where more than one language are spoken. Researches show that children from immigrant families learn the social majority language in the early years at school very quickly, although it takes longer to learn academic language, and can lose their ability to use their mother tongues easily. They can lose it even in the home context if the mother language is not used constantly at home or among peers of the same community. They may retain comprehension, but will use the majority language with siblings, friends, and parents. Unfortunately, I often see kids from the same minority community speak the majority language instead of their mother tongue among themselves, even when they are outside school. Preferring second language to first language most often occurs because children do not know how to express themselves fluently in their mother tongue in certain contexts and situations. They lack vocabulary and literal expressions in the mother tongue and find it easier to express themselves in the majority language. As children grow up, parents see the linguistic gap between them and their children has widened and leading to an emotional disconnection.

How to promote mother tongue

Keeping mother tongue in a foreign country does not happen spontaneously. Instead, it is an achievement that requires commitment and determination, especially from the family. Parents must establish a strong home language policy and make consistent efforts to help their children develop good literacy skills in their first language.

Here are some ideas about how parents can promote learning mother tongue:

-The first step parents should take is make children love mother tongue by finding ways that motivate and encourage its learning.

-Leave second language to the outside world and speak to children only in your mother tongue at home.

-Devote time each day to reading and writing in mother tongue with children until they become able to read and write it independently.

-Tell stories and discuss interesting topics such as your childhood-children love to hear about parents’ childhoods-your home country celebrations, because this will develop both their oral and vocabulary skills.

-Have books and multimedia for children in the home language.

– Provide a reward system and make learning mother language competitive among children.

-Watch TV series or favorite cartoons with them in the target language.

-Listen to songs in mother tongue.

-Send children to centers that offer courses and other types of learning in your language.

-Provide contexts where children can use home language such as visits to country of origin, organize picnics, cultural events, or celebrations with families from the same community.

-Have them keep journals in home language.

-Communicate your expectations about your home language to your child’s teachers. As professionals, they can encourage and support your child in keeping and developing their home language in many ways.

Hurisa Guvercin is an ESL and Special Education Teacher, currently living in New Jersey.

References

Cummins, Jim. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue Why Is It Important for Education? Available at http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm. Accessed in June 2009.

International Herald Tribune, May 23, 2008. Brain Activity Reveals Mother Tongue. Available at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/23/europe/EU-FEA-GEN-Italy-Language-Of-Thoughts.php

Note

1. “Brain activity reveals mother tongue” published on March 23, 2008 in the International Herald Tribune.

The creation of evil is in no way evil, it is the committing of evil that is evil. Man is endowed with free will and God enables man’s willed actions. Therefore, it is man’s willing and committing evil that is evil and ugly, not God’s giving objective existence to evil. If God were not to create what man wills, then human free will would be annulled.

Secondly, none of God’s creations are merely one-dimensional, they pertain to the whole universe; therefore any creation should be evaluated according to its aggregate results, not merely to the act itself. To give an example, the results of rain falling are manifold, almost all being useful to mankind. If some people sustain damage from the rain due to their own miscalculation, it is not possible for them to argue that the creation of rain is not a blessing, nor can they claim that its creation is evil. Perhaps rain seems evil to them due to their personal experience. Similarly, there are numerous benefits for mankind in the creation of fire. If some people are harmed by fire due to their failure to use it appropriately they cannot say that the creation of fire is evil. Fire was not created to burn only their hands; perhaps they brought their hands too close to the fire while cooking and made a thing that normally serves us bring them harm.

As a result, a lesser evil is acceptable for the greater good. If an evil which will lead to a greater good is abandoned so that the lesser evil is eliminated, a greater evil will then have been perpetrated. For example, there is certainly some minor material and physical harm and discomfort in the drafting of soldiers to create an army to defend one’s homeland, but in this there is a greater benefit in that the whole country is saved from invasion. If the defense of a country is abandoned in order to avoid such minor discomforts then the greater benefit will be lost and a greater evil will follow. This is most definitely a mistake. Likewise, to amputate a finger that is gangrenous is good and right, although it is ostensibly evil. Yet, if the finger is not amputated then the entire hand will be lost; this is a greater evil.

Thus, the making and the creation of evil, harm, trouble, devils, and other harmful things is not evil or bad; these have been created in order to obtain many important results. For example, devils are not allowed to pester the angels and the angels can therefore not make any advance. Their ranks, although high, are fixed and can never change. Animals cannot make progress either, for the same reason; they maintain their low rank throughout their lives. On the other hand, for human beings there is no end to the ranks to which they can attain, in both directions, high or low. There are countless levels for humans to progress through, from the ranks of the Nimrods and the Pharaohs to the ranks of the saints and the prophets.

Therefore, in order to differentiate and separate those souls which are like coal in their deficiency from those that are like diamonds in being distinguished, an arena of trial, examination, strife, and competition has been established, using the creation of the devils, and the assigning of prophets, thus making humanity accountable for its actions. Were there no struggle and no competition, the coal-like and diamond-like aptitudes in mankind’s disposition would have remained equal. The soul of Abu Bakr the Veracious, who was the highest of the high, would have remained level with that of Abu Jahl, the lowest of the low. As a result, the creation of the devils and evil is neither evil nor ugly as it pertains to grand and cumulative results. Evil and ugly results that arise from individual acts, and perhaps from miscalculations and abuses, should be attributed to man’s acquisition, not to Divine creation.

The following question may come to mind: The majority of humanity has become disbelievers due to the existence of Satan, and hence suffer harm, despite the fact that prophets have been sent. If we judge the state of affairs according to the situation of the majority we must then conclude that the creation of evil is evil as the majority of people are suffering due its existence. We may even be drawn to the conclusion that the sending of prophets was not a blessing after all. Is this not so?

The first thing to say in answer to this question is, quantity is of no significance; we must look at quality. The true majority lies in those of quality. For example, if there are a hundred date-palm seeds that are planted, but not watered and hence they cannot undergo the necessary chemical transformations and demonstrate the struggle for life, then we only have a hundred seeds that have virtually no value. But if instead these seeds are watered and they then partake in the struggle for life, but still eighty out of the hundred rot due to the imperfections inherent in their nature, with only twenty becoming fruit-bearing trees, can we then claim that “watering the seeds was evil because most of them rotted”? Of course we cannot do so, for those twenty seeds will yield twenty thousand more seeds. Therefore, what has caused a loss of eighty and a profit of twenty thousand is not harmful and cannot be called evil.

To give another example, consider a peahen that lays a hundred eggs, each being worth five dollars. If the hen were to incubate those hundred eggs and eighty were to spoil, that would mean that twenty hatch into adults. Can we say that there was a high loss caused by a harmful process, and that therefore incubating is bad by its very nature? No, on the contrary, it is profitable, for these birds lost eighty eggs, worth five dollars each, but gained twenty peacocks worth eighty dollars.

It is in just this way that mankind, by being raised up by the prophets, and by fighting against Satan and their evil-commanding souls, have lost the animal-like members of their race, the disbelievers and hypocrites, who are greater in number but poorer in quality, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of prophets, millions of saints, and billions of men of wisdom and sincerity, who are the suns, moons, and stars of the human world.

Another question that one might want to ask, is that God Almighty sends catastrophes and inflicts us with trials and tribulations; is this not unfair, particularly toward the innocent, even the animals?

The answer to this question is, the sovereignty is His; therefore He reigns over this creation of His as He wishes. Here is a simple example in order to better understand this statement: Imagine that a skilful craftsman hires you as a model. He has you put on a beautiful garment that he has made and in order to demonstrate his skills on it he starts cutting, trimming, shortening, lengthening it and making you sit down or stand as he wishes. Can you tell him that he is making the garment that looks so beautiful on you appear ugly, or that he is tiring you out by making you move all the time? Of course not, he has hired you. Likewise your Maker, All-Glorious, has you put on this fine looking body of yours, which is ornamented with senses, such as hearing, seeing, speaking, etc., and in order to demonstrate the gilding of His various names, He sometimes makes you ill, hungry, thirsty, worried, or sometimes he satisfies you; your life revolves around different states like these. In order to strengthen the essence of life and display the manifestation of His Names, He makes you journey through numerous such conditions. If you say: “Why do you inflict these calamities on me?”, there are several instances of wisdom that will silence you, as in the above analogy.

Another point is that tranquility, stillness, idleness, and monotony are forms of non-existence, and thus are not good states. Action and constant change on the other hand are signs of existence; therefore these are good states. Life finds its perfection through action and it evolves through tribulations. Life encounters various actions through the manifestations of Divine Names and so it becomes purified and fortified; this is how it evolves, expands and becomes the pen with which the determination of its own fate is written, and so deserves to be rewarded in the afterlife.

The ways Christians and Muslims relate to each other in the 21st century will have a profound impact on both communities and the world. Clearly, global interdependence requires more than tolerance in the midst of diversity. Economic, ecological, and military dangers underscore the need for mutual understanding and cooperation across religious and cultural boundaries. Unfortunately, the large majority of Christians and Muslims tend to view the other through the lens of misinformation and stereotypes. This problem is made worse by the media’s tendency to focus on the most violent and sensational events.

Knowing very little about Islam, most Christians in the U.S. shape their views in response to stories about terrorists blowing up the World Trade Center, a zealot’s call for Holy War, hostage takers, or the sharp rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan. While these images are rooted in the behavior of small groups of Muslims, they are hardly representative of the more than one billion Muslims, the overwhelming majority of whom are horrified by violent extremism. Consider the following facts:

– Minister Farrakhan’s supporters represent less than 20% of the African-American Muslim community. Some Muslims consider this movement to be another religion. The large majority are following traditional Islamic teachings out of camera range.

– The largest Islamic country is not in the Middle East. It is Indonesia with more than 160 million Muslims. There are more than 100 million Muslims in each of the following countries: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. China has over 30 million Muslims, more than any Middle Eastern country except Egypt.

Why should Western Christians base their images of Islam on the behavior of extremist elements rather than the hundreds of millions of people who are not behaving violently?

Turn the image around and the problem comes into focus. Imagine that you are a Muslim living in Tunisia. You know very little about Christianity. But, you see and hear strange stories on the TV and radio: David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX; the scandals of Jim and Tammy Bakker; bombings by the IRA in Ireland; more than 20,000 documented cases of rape or murder of Bosnian Muslim women and children; or, a recent media frenzy over the group known as Heaven’s Gate. If your image of Christianity were shaped largely by media attention to these violent and sensational stories, how accurate would it be?

In addition to pragmatic needs for cooperation, the Bible challenges Christians to examine relationships with others: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16); Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:19); and If it is possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with everyone (Romans 12:18).

How is it possible to avoid bearing false witness against or to love one’s neighbor, or to live together in peace if we know so little about our neighbor? Even worse, how is it possible to live in faithfulness to these biblical imperatives when much of what we think we know is incorrect?

Most Christians and Muslims have similar views on God’s revelatory activity through Prophets. The Bible and the Qur’an convey similar things about angels and devils, the last judgment, heaven and hell. They also differ at crucial points, most notably the understandings about God’s activity in and through Jesus. The differences are real and profound.

For Christians, the similarities and differences with Muslims have important consequences for mission and witness, as well as for dialogue and cooperation on common concerns. However one approaches these concerns, the prospects for constructive encounter is linked directly to a better and more accurate understanding. Now, perhaps more than ever, people of faith and goodwill need to make concerted efforts toward such understanding. The road is not blocked, and there are ways to move forward.

A good place to begin is with study programs in churches and intentional dialogues with local Muslims. Such efforts can help to correct stereotypes and begin to put a human face on others with whom we share this increasingly fragile planet.