Reaching Out To Muslims

Buried amidst all the folderol about mortgage modification plans, 787 billion dollar bailouts, and unfortunate cartoons in the “New York Post”, some of us may have missed the references to reaching out to our Muslim friends.
Supposedly our new Secretary of State is off on such a mission; the president has spoken about doing it—and somehow all of this will make for a safer, pleasanter world. I have nothing particularly against this idea—so long as the reaching out types are aware of certain realities.
It is honestly not difficult to befriend Arabs and other Muslims. Show them that you are aware that the Islamic world lies somewhere east of Ireland, that you know a few facts about the Crusades and that they are unhappy about American firepower being exercised in their world—and they are likely to give you a devastating smile and start talking quite candidly to you.
This happened to me just a few weeks ago at a Mall kiosk, where the proprietor was a native Jordanian. We talked for twenty minutes or so and, the next time I walked past, he was waving and grinning as if I were his dearest friend.
Throughout my life I have had several Islamic friends, male and female. I cannot recall one that I did not really like. As a very bright American girlfriend of mine once said, “They are totally chauvinistic, but so charming about it.” And God knows the sons of Ishmael are loaded with charm.
Their food is to die for. They also know how to throw a fantastic wedding reception. And, without moving, they can look at you with a steady, blank gaze that can put a chill up your spine like nothing I’ve ever experienced in the worst and most violent American slums.
Don’t be fooled. Symbolic to me of the chasm that lies between us is an enduring image from forty years ago. A friend of mine—a White House attorney—accompanied me to a marvelous Syrian restaurant in Washington, where almost no English was spoken.
They served beer and wine to the Americans and my friend decided he wanted a martini. They allowed him to stand at the bar and try to teach them. He, speaking no Arabic, the old woman at the bar, speaking no English, made a delightful pair to watch as he tried—eventually without avail—to show her how to make this mysterious American concoction. My wife, his date and I could not stop laughing.
At bottom, however charming, obliging or friendly, we are divided by a gulf between two religions that are intrinsically hostile to one another. If the one is true, the other cannot be—and that’s just the beginning of the dichotomy that splits us.
I hope Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama know this. One of this administration’s mantras seems to be, “We all worship the same God.” No. Christians worship Jesus Christ, a person within a divine trinity. To Islam this is all but unforgiveable blasphemy.
Nor does one get kudos in the Muslim world for being an atheist or a religious liberal. Nor, should a Christian convert to Hinduism or Islam, is his family bound by religious law to kill him. Nor do Christians affirm such Muslim rights as beheading an unfaithful wife or stoning her.
Since religion informs life in the Muslim world, we are left with a simple choice if we really want to get along in that world. Convert or defend ourselves. We are infidels. Liberals, atheists, orthodox Christians—all are an offense to Allah and his followers.
Over the past millennium and a half, Islam has already conquered about two thirds of the once Christian world. All of North Africa, the Near East and much of the Middle East, once all Christian, conquered by fire and sword. Already Muslims speak confidently of the day when Europe—with its huge immigration from Muslim countries—with be completely Islamic.
It’s not that different from the Cold War. No matter how cooperative the Soviets could be on this or that issue—or how much they might cheer American athletes and musicians—it remained the Soviet mission to make all the rest of us communists.
(Americans are pretty good at that themselves—Bush seems to have been fairly sincere about wanting to bomb the Iraqis into becoming good democrats. The urge to proselytize seems universal. Did you ever meet a Chevy salesman who was truly happy you drove a Ford?)
Do not imagine that the folks who attend the mosque down the street plan to remain a contented American minority forever. They will allow you to remain Christian if you insist (we do barely qualify as fellow monotheists) , but you will pay extra taxes and your rights will be severely circumscribed.
Reach out. Be friendly. Eat the food. Be charmed. But remain aware of how they see the world and your place in it as non-Muslims. “Peaceful co-existence”, as we used to call it during the Cold War, is only a momentary tactic.
Christians sometimes still sing, “Christ shall have dominion over land and sea; Earth’s remotest regions shall his empire be … .” Muslims see all lands and peoples as eventually belonging to Allah. Find some wiggle room in that. Reach out—just don’t lose your hand in the process.