Understanding Islam

Israelis and Palestinians have not discussed peace in seven years. But this week diplomats from 40 countries have assembled in Annapolis, Md. and Washington, D.C. to talk about reconciliation — and the Arab-Israeli conflict is a common topic of conversation among them.

America’s involvement in the peace talks is baffling to some. We’re not part of the Middle East, we aren’t a predominantly Muslim country. But others say we have been involved from the beginning, and we have the power to help. They say we help a few for the good of the entire world.

“When half the world’s population is fighting, you’re really dragging the rest of the world behind you,” Ambassador Akbar Ahmed said of the strife among Christians, Muslims and Jews. Ahmed, Pakistan's former high commissioner to the UK, spoke Tuesday evening at Washington and Lee University.

Ahmed focused on religion’s function in the Middle East, and he emphasized that Americans need to understand Islam before relations can improve.

“Religion is at the core of what’s happening in the Middle East,” Ahmed said. But in the Middle East, religion and politics and economics and social issues are undeniably intertwined.

Islam and Arab cultures have a bigger effect on the United States than many Americans may realize. Ahmed noted that the Muslim population worldwide is growing. Fifty-seven nations are predominantly Muslim, one is nuclear, and several others want to be. There are seven million Muslims in the United States.

And America is fighting a war on terror.

Ahmed said that at the time of 9/11, many Americans believed we were in a global clash of civilizations. They identified Islam as the enemy, and it was an easy answer. Now, attitudes about the war and the Middle East are a bit less clear.

“When we talk of the Middle East, we are ignoring the fact of the age in which we live,” said Ahmed. He’s talking about globalization. Information whizzes around the world in a matter of minutes.

Our education about other cultures and understanding of their traditions move a little bit slower. This is where we should start: Instead of focusing a country’s political alliances and war tactics, why don’t we first understand the people?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has widely publicized that fact that this week’s conference won’t end with any definitive answers. The goal is to simply get the conversation going.

Maybe that’s where we need to start on an individual level as well.

From the Battlefield to the Books

I talked with two students at Virginia Military Institute who are readjusting to life as college students after being deployed in Iraq.