Akbar Ahmed, a professor of Islamic studies at American University in Washington D.C., has warned that there are two ways to drive Muslims into the arms of Osama bin Laden: by denigrating God or His prophet, Mohammed.

Ahmed, a former Pakistani High Commissioner to Great Britain, met in a dialogue session at UC-Santa Barbara on Sunday, Oct. 24, with Rabbi A. James Rudin, senior inter-religious adviser of the American Jewish Committee. Their discussion, moderated by the Rev. Anne Howard, associate rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, was aired Tuesday evening, Dec. 14, over UCSD television.

Rudin, agreeing, said it was important for both groups not to “trivialize one another” and that Jews and Muslims should seek to “validate” those from the other group who are trying to change the culture of mutual suspicion and hatred.

Both men called upon their communities to seek to move beyond dialogue to friendship.  Ahmed said it was important that Jews and Muslims read about each other, visit each other’s holy sites, and include each other in their social circles. 

With reading comes understanding, and from understanding, friendship can grow, said Ahmed.  “Once you are friends, you can talk about solutions.”

Rudin suggested that Jews, as well as Christians, should learn enough about Islam to know, at the very least, the answers to such basic questions as when and where the Prophet Mohammed was born, where he died, what the word “Islam” means, what country has the largest Islamic population and what are the five pillars of Islamic faith.

Later in the dialogue Rudin answered these questions: Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 and died there in 632.  “Islam” means “submission to God.”  The largest Islamic country is Indonesia.  The five pillars include the profession that "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet;" praying five times daily, the giving of charity, observing fast days of Ramadan, and, at least once in one’s life, making a pilgrimage to Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Ahmed suggested that there are two important building blocks in establishing better relations among Jews and Muslims.  First, he said, both religions are part of the Abrahamic tradition, which teaches that there is a single omnipotent, universal and invisible God.  Second, There were times in history when Jews and Muslims lived in harmony—particularly during what was known as the Golden Age of Spain during hundreds of years prior to their expulsion from that country in 1492. 

Rudin said key issues for Muslim-Jewish dialogue are how each side views the legitimacy and territorial integrity of Israel; looking beyond superficial similarities and differences of the two religions, and overcoming a mutual lack of knowledge.

The rabbi agreed that the common descent from Abraham and the experiences during Spain’s Golden Age were good starting points, but said in their mutual exploration of the subjects, Muslims and Jews should dig deeply into the issues. 

If we all are children of Abraham, “what does this really mean?”  Rudin asked.  What feelings and attitudes do Jews and Muslims have for Isaac and Ishmael, the two sons of Abraham from whom Jews and Muslims respectively claim spiritual descent?

Rudin noted that the Quran describes both “Jews and Christians as people of the Book.”  What does this mean? he inquired.  He suggested that in dialogue, such observations should be dug into more deeply.

Studying the Golden Age of Spain is instructive—but was the Golden Age always brilliant, or was it sometimes tarnished? Rudin asked.  That too should be a subject for common study.

Ahmed responded that there have been times that Muslims have fought among themselves, just as there were times that Muslims and Jews have had conflicts.  But these should not obscure the fact that there were periods of cooperation as well.

The former High Commissioner told of being asked after taking his academic post in Washington to give an introductory lecture to some fairly high-ranking government officials from Muslim countries about the United States . When he asked the visitors  if they knew who Benjamin Franklin was, one responded that Franklin was a Jew and had been a president—neither of which was true.

The UC Santa Barbara crowd of 700 chuckled before Ahmed came to the real punch line of the story.  How many Americans can name a Muslim who is considered the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson of his country, and who ascended to power through democratic processes? Who is this man who, far more than Osama bin Laden, ought to be considered as a leader of Muslim people?

He said this description fit Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of  Pakistan. 
                                                                                                  —Donald H. Harrison