c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In the Disney film “Pocahontas,” the Native American princess falls in love with John Smith, and their love helps avert needless bloodshed between the Jamestown settlers and Pocahontas’ tribe. While the Disney version varies a bit from the real story, its message is noble nonetheless: If we take a step back and see the true nature of the “other,” we will realize that they are more like us than we originally thought.

Watching the film (obviously, I have kids) made me think of America and the Muslim world. Some of my fellow Americans tell me that Islam is a “wicked, violent religion.” They tell me, “All we ever hear about Muslims is blood, bombs and burkas. Never any good news.” Some of my fellow Muslims tell me America is the “Great Satan.” They tell me, “America is at war with Islam.”

With all this heated rhetoric, it seems that Islam and the West are headed for a needless and mutually destructive clash. Yet, it does not have to be so. If there could only be a bridge between the two, perhaps this clash could be averted. If there could only be a “Muslim Pocahontas,” perhaps America and Islam could live together in peace.

American Muslims can be that “Pocahontas,” and I want to be among their ranks. As Muslims, we understand the issues that burn in the Muslim world and the problem many Muslims have with aspects of American foreign policy. We understand terms used by Muslims the world over, such as “jihad,” and can help explain them to an American public that frequently does not understand them. We can point out when Muslims misconstrue the tenets of their faith and turn Islam into an instrument of terror.

As Americans, we know that America’s war is not with Islam, but suicidal militants, cloaked in the garb of Islam, who consider every American _ military and civilian, Muslim or otherwise _ to be legitimate targets in their illegitimate jihad against the West. We know that Americans are a fundamentally good people, with warm and generous hearts, and the vast majority of us do not bear ill will for Muslims and their faith.

Americans simply do not know enough about Islam and the things for which it stands.

Given this reality, Muslims can help explain to our fellow Americans that Islam is not at odds with Western civilization and values. We can help explain that jihad is not perpetual war with all non-Muslims. We can help explain that the Quran does not call for violence against the “infidel.” Indeed, there are Muslims who commit unspeakable atrocities in the name of Islam. We can help show how they defile Islam’s message and denigrate the letter and spirit of its law. The whole of Islam must never be judged by the sins of a few Muslims.

In the role of “Muslim Pocahontas,” American Muslims can acknowledge to their fellow Muslims that America has done many repugnant things throughout its relatively short history. America has not always lived up to its ideals of freedom, justice and democracy. But this is not _ we will tell our fellow Muslims _ the America we know. America has done many things wrong in the past, but no country is perfect. No country has a spotless record. The whole of America must never be judged by some of the sins of her past.

Furthermore, American Muslims must strive to show America that she needs to chart a more fair and balanced, i.e., more “American,” foreign policy. America has to practice what she most eloquently preaches. We also have to strive to remind our fellow Muslims that our faith has no place for senseless violence against the innocent, something which they already know to be true. We have to remind fellow Muslims that fighting injustice is morally upright; using murder and terror as tools in that fight is not. Period.

The gulf between America and the Muslim world is very large, and it seems to be growing by the hour. Each side seemingly wants to focus only on the negative aspects of the other, and trying to bridge the two is a daunting challenge. But it is one American Muslims must take up. It is perhaps the most important “jihad” for American Muslims in the 21st century.

(Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago physician and columnist for Beliefnet. His forthcoming book, the “Beliefnet Guide to Islam,” will be published by Doubleday in 2006. You can read his blog at: http://www.hassaballa.org.)

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