KAREN Armstrong, the renowned British scholar of comparative religion, who has also written several books about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), has done another commendable job through her article, ‘Museum show: a journey to the heart of Islam’ (Dawn, Jan 24).

She has endeavoured to dispel some western misunderstandings about Islam, notably about its being a violent religion, as also ignorance about its relationship to the other two Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity.

Some citations from the write-up would serve to illustrate. One, that beginning with the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were engaged in holy wars against the Muslims in the Middle East, western citizenry often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant religion. She underscores the fact that even though when this prejudice took root, Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity.

According to her, while recent terrorist acts have only strengthened this received idea, but, to ensure a peaceful world, the West needs a more balanced view because the ‘battle for hearts and minds’ can’t be won unless what lies inside them is known. Muslims shouldn’t be expected to esteem liberal western values if they see the West succumb unquestioningly to a mediaeval prejudice born during a period of extreme Christian belligerence.

Armstrong notes that like Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Sikhs and secularists, some Muslims have undoubtedly been violent, but the new exhibition at the British Museum in London -- Haj: Journey to the heart of Islam -- is a reminder that this isn’t the whole story.

The writer also notes that Haj predates Islam and used to be performed even by Christian Arabs, and many Arabs thought Allah was the God worshipped by the people of the book (Jews and Christians). Like Prophet Abraham, who had not belonged to a closed-off cult, the Muslims took no pride in an established institution and, as Abraham had done, focus only on the worship of God.

Finally, Armstrong exhorts the western people to follow Socrates, the founder of western rational tradition, where he taught that the exercise of reason required them to constantly and stringently question received ideas and entrenched certainties by applying these to perceptions about Islam.

This reminds me of an incident. Once, while visiting the US many years ago, I was requested on a cold winter evening outside a post office by an old American lady to help her by writing out the addresses on many Christmas cards, as also a letter to her son. I readily obliged her. Then she asked me where I was from and what religion I belonged to.

I told her I was from Pakistan but she had no idea about its location. However, the mention of Islam made her comment that I must be one of the descendents of Ishmael, son of Abraham. Following that she passed an insensitive remark which showed her ignorance about historical reality and hurt my feelings. Anyway, I ignored it but realised the strongneed for educating such people.

To sum up, the OIC or those Muslim countries endowed with ample financial or academic resources must get eminent scholars and intellectuals to write suitable articles or make documentaries for dissemination in the West so that the misunderstanding and mistrust can be removed.

KHALID CHAUDHRYKarachi