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When he spoke of "body blows" against Islam, Seyyed Hossein Nasr listed the tragedy of 9/11 and World War II, when Muslims thought they would be free from colonial rule, only to find the United States backing certain regimes. He also mentioned the Lebanese Civil War, the invasion of Iraq, and others.

"If someone punches you in the stomach you have a tendency of tightening your muscles or punching back," said Nasr, the author of 50 books on religion and spirituality and founder of the Islamic Studies Department at George Washington University, during a lecture at Guilford College. "In the second case we have terrorists, and in the first case we have modern Muslims.

"The problem is that in the world today the body of Islam is receiving very, very strong blows and so it responds, and many people tend to identify Islam with the response of (some in) that body."

Nasr, whose lecture was part of Guilford's Religion Emphasis Week, used the description as a way of helping those outside the faith see how Muslims have historically responded.

Nasr's topic is a popular one, as people of different faiths want to learn more about Islam and how to get along.

At 4 p.m. on Sunday, Fasih Ahmed, an N.C. A&T sociology professor and former United Nations consultant to Pakistan, will discuss "Islam: History, Traditions and Practices," at the Greensboro Public Library's Benjamin Branch.

Nasr, a native of Iran, says many people identify Islam with the ugliness that comes from the actions of some. But he is quick to differentiate between the "heart and soul" of a religion and its ardent followers.

"Don't judge Islam from the battlefield," he said, adding that Islam isn't alone in having extremists.

"Muslims don't have the right to identify Christianity with the burning of witches in Salem or St. Joan of Arc in northern France, or the Crusades," he said. "No more than Christians should identify Islam with heinous acts ... especially occurring today based on very powerful military, economic and social forces."

It is essential to understand how Islam views other religions, Nasr said.
As one of the Abrahamic religions — the others, who also see Abraham as a biblical patriarch, are Christianity and Judaism — Islam shares a lot of the same values. Like the others, he said, the heart of its faith is oneness with a monotheistic God. To love God and love thy neighbor is an important element of that relationship with God.

"Ignorance," he said, "prevents mutual understanding."

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin
@news-record.com