Searching for Common Ground
By Lalit Bagai
Kalundborg
Denmark

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed (Islam and the West: Searching for Common Ground, PakistanLink, July 28 2006) recommends that all Americans and perhaps non-Muslims should study Islam. He assumes this will help in bridging differences and provide a healing touch. However there is a more than 50 % chance that understanding Islam will only reinforce prejudices against Islam and Muslims that exist at present.
A lot of people now have a working knowledge of Islam, and today there is almost an industry explaining Islamic views, Muslims, and their viewpoints. It has not helped much, has it?
In earlier times communists also advised that the nonbelievers should study Marx and Lenin to realize how flawed their own capitalistic system was. Soviet Russia provided huge amounts of cheap books on communism. But that did not help The results are clear.
I think its more necessary for Muslims to understand the Western way of life. Why is it that the Western model is creative and provides a fair and sound system of government? The West is also a much sought after destination for Muslims, young and old. The young seek its centers of learning, and the old just a safe and secure place.
There is hardly any Muslim who wishes to study or live in a Muslim country.
Only those who have to for survival, or the expatriates who want to earn a lot of money in a hurry.
My own gut feeling is that neither the West nor the Muslim world is ready for a detente. Let us get ready for a decade or two of hot summers.


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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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