Images of Islam matter a great deal in US culture and in US–Middle East relations. Unquestionably, modern film, television, news media, literature and visual culture all offer perceptions of the Middle East. The images they produce are varied although it is clear that the history of representing Islam is hardly salutary. After 9/11 the intensity of American fascination with Islam increased dramatically, as did the number – and the diversity – of US representations. One simple but fundamental argument of this essay is that these media images do not operate in simple or one-dimensional fashion. We cannot understand the impact of the media by cataloguing stereotypes or by assessing how many “negative” or “positive” images appear in the media. Instead, we can learn more about the role of culture when we ask how perceptions of Islam work in the United States, for whom and to what end.

There is not, of course, just one “Western” culture, just as there is no one Islam and no single set of images that can capture the diversity of the Muslim World. Even if we just focus on the United States, as I will in this essay, we are immediately confronted with the reality that there are multiple communities with quite different investments—from Hollywood filmmakers to small town preachers to news show pundits to undergraduate majors in Middle Eastern studies. In recent years Muslim Americans have become self-consciously involved in attempting to shape perceptions, producing literature and scholarship and commenting in the news media.

Since 9/11 considerable ink has been spilt in trying to explicate the roots of Islam–West tensions. Hundreds of books have been published, numerous academic conferences have been organized and the global media has reported on this subject ad nauseam. Seizing on the importance of this theme for international relations, President Obama, during the first year of his presidency, gave several important interviews and delivered two major speeches from Muslim capitals that sought to reduce conflict between the United States and the Muslim World. The topic of Islam–West relations, however, is an old one. It far predates the terror attacks on 9/11 and the ensuing rupturing of relations which the Pew Research Centre in a major 2006 survey called “The Great Divide.” All of this begs the question: what new information can one bring to the topic that is both substantive and can add a fresh perspective to this troubled relationship?

Following 9/11 a substantial body of influential opinion believed that at root the conflict between Islam and the West was due to a fundamental clash of values. President George W. Bush famously asked, “Why do they hate us?” The answer he came up with was that “they hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.”

Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 Muslims living in the West have found their loyalties to their states questioned and have endured greatly increased suspicion and occasionally outright hostility. Their very presence has become a political issue. Not only have their legal rights as citizens been questioned but their collective ability and willingness to integrate into various Western societies is also being doubted. This paper analyzes this state of affairs, the response to the loyalty question by intellectuals operating within Islamic theological traditions, and attempts by various arts organizations to illustrate more sympathetic treatments of Islamic culture to Western audiences. While intellectual rejoinders and arts diplomacy have their place in this debate, neither provides vehicles for illustrating the complex ways that Muslim minorities actually live their lives. The essay concludes by examining research on empathy as a model for dispelling prejudice and argues for more empathetic accounts in the public sphere representing the varieties of Muslim minority life; for such representations could also expand the notions of what citizenship means and the ways it is practiced in Western liberal democracies today.

At a town hall meeting held during the 2008 presidential race in the United States, Republican candidate John McCain was repeatedly harangued by his audience for the respect he had been showing Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Amid cries of people yelling “liar” and “terrorist” in reference to Obama, one man bluntly told McCain that he's “scared” of an Obama presidency. Another McCain supporter, Gayle Quinnel, offered her trepidations, “I can't trust Obama,” she said. (“I got ya,” McCain replied.) “I have read about him, and he's not, he's not … he's an Arab.” McCain began shaking his head. “No ma'am. No ma'am,” he replied. “He's a decent family man, [a]citizen.”

The media has a fundamental role in shaping and directing public opinion and is the most influential means of communication available to individuals. In light of the importance of this role, all countries and political and social forces are directly dependent on the media to deliver their message and ideas to the public.

Since the nature of human life is based on interaction between people and among nations, the media readily contributes to such exchange due to its relatively low financial cost and the ability of many people to obtain technology that allows them to receive media broadcasts. The enormous technological progress in modern communications in general, and the Internet in particular, has made the media available round the clock and allows people to follow up on what is happening in the world moment by moment. Therefore, the great powers that enjoy influence in the world, and those that seek to have influence on world public opinion, realized very early on the importance of the media in achieving their goals. Those countries have targeted certain areas to broadcast what they deem as useful in order to achieve their policy aims. In the Arab region, for example, we find that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has operated its Arabic section since 1938. The BBC broadcasts in the languages of many Muslim nations including Farsi, Pashto, Somali, Hausa, Uzbek, among others. Not only the British, but also the German Nazis were keen to make their voice heard in the Arab World through their Radio Berlin service. Later during the Cold War foreign media characterized the international scene for four decades (1945–1990) through Radio Free Europe, established by the United States.

Relations between Islam and the West are often described as a series of conflicts interspersed by periods of tense peace, but such a description glosses over those moments of genuine interaction and coexistence that actually have not been unusual throughout history. Unfortunately historians tend to write more about battles than times of peace and a look at the past can reveal fascinating periods when in fact humanity prevailed. Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán addresses this aspect and examines the Andalusian Civilization as an example. A reexamination of Andalusia offers the means to strengthen efforts of rapprochement between Islamic societies of the East and Christian societies of the West through the adoption of historical patterns of coexistence, interaction and cultural cross-fertilization, and thereby raise the hope of finding a possible model that will stimulate dialogue between the two civilizations. The Andalusian Civilization flourished on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula centuries ago one should take advantage of its most pertinent and accessible aspects. There is the belief that the Andalusian example can be employed in several ways, including formulating the theoretical and practical framework of fundamental principles, content and aims of such a dialogue. There is no doubt that the atmosphere of tolerance and peaceful coexistence that characterized the political experience and social development in Spain – during what was a relatively long period of time – sheds light on a civilized human behavior that has not lost its symbolism and energy as an incentive to recognize the importance of the lessons of the past in today's world.

Analysis of the concepts, means and points of convergence and diversion when discussing co-existence between nations and societies, particularly between the Islamic World and the West, is not new for academics, philosophers and political leaders. It is a result of the intellectual and cultural phenomena that have pervaded societies throughout human history where the latest influence has been globalization, which has brought together the old and the new through rapid scientific advancement and telecommunications technology in the developed world. The effects of globalization can be felt in political, social, economic, cultural and even moral circles. Globalization has influenced individual lifestyles and communities and also constitutes an inexhaustible intellectual source for thought, philosophy and vision in the academic and cultural arena. These discussions sometimes lead to agreement but usually become points of dispute, provoking controversy and skepticism over all what has been agreed upon when what is needed is translation into tangible results in society. Globalization has not stopped at cultural and scientific exchange but has also extended to the imposition of influence and hegemony, denial of privacy and impacting the social, intellectual and cultural stability on a society's foundations and its national and ideological identity.

Discussing the controversy over perception and reaction to problems of co-existence between Islam and the West requires additional effort to decipher cultural, social and political symbols that indicate identity, vision, philosophy and contribution to human civilization. This study is a multi-angled presentation free from hard-line views and in compliance with academic accuracy and neutrality based on the actual facts of the Islamic World and its dealings with Western civilization as recognized by intellectuals and historians on both sides.

The discussion about Islam and the West is not one that only emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, but is actually an old issue going back to the spread of Islam more than 14 centuries ago around the shores of the Mediterranean after the fall of the Roman Empire. Moreover, the conflict between the East and the West is older still; it goes back to the aggression between the Persians and the Romans; the conquests of Alexander the Great in the heart of Asia; the conflict throughout the Mediterranean between the European northern and African southern shores during the Classical Graeco-Roman era; the Christian–Islam period; and lastly the modern colonialism–liberation stage. This historical legacy and cultural accumulation have made the two shores of the Mediterranean akin to two combating knights with neither dominating the other throughout history, while a love–hate relationship and exchange of influences between the two shores—often referred to in current literature as “Islam and the West”. It is a civilization opposing a geographical area or more correctly two civilizations in opposition— Islamic and Western civilizations. It can also be called an opposition between two geographical areas – the West and the East – or Western and Eastern influences, or between departing and incoming influences. Therefore, dialogue between the North and South, the Arabs and the Europeans and all attempts at establishing Middle Eastern or Mediterranean civilizations have faltered, not only because of the “Zionist Entity” – which can be seen as the West in the East – but also because of this long historical legacy.

This paper addresses the means to strengthen efforts of rapprochement between Islamic societies of the East and Christian societies of the West through the adoption of historical patterns of coexistence, interaction and cultural cross-fertilization, and thereby raise the hope of finding a possible model that will stimulate dialogue between the two civilizations. The best example of such patterns is the Andalusian Civilization that flourished on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula centuries ago, and we should take advantage of its most pertinent and accessible aspects. There is the belief that the Andalusian example can be employed in several ways, including formulating the theoretical and practical framework of fundamental principles, content and aims of such a dialogue. There is no doubt that the atmosphere of tolerance and peaceful coexistence that characterized the political experience and social development in Spain – during what was a relatively long period of time – sheds light on a civilized human behavior that has not lost its symbolism and energy as an incentive to recognize the importance of the lessons of the past in today's world.

Of course, the issue includes many dialectical elements since the “true image” of the “three civilizations” in Andalusia still raises various arguments and debates in Spain and Europe alike. Some groups skeptical about this civilized religious convergence push to deprive such an important era of its Eastern influence in order to create a European identity. Such groups still denounce the “Andalusian legend”, which – in their view – is persistently fabricated for dubious purposes in order to justify a pointless cultural and religious dialogue.

The notion of a dichotomy or even an antagonism between “the West” and “the Orient” has a long history. However, after 9/11 it became dominant in shaping contemporary political debates and the perception of global power structures both in the media and in the cultural field. Since then, media representations, political debates and academic work on 9/11 and its repercussions are characterized by their focus on Muslims and Islam which – even if connected to a well-meaning awareness for stereotyping and discrimination – excludes a range of issues and leaves blank spaces.

The decade following 2001 has been shaped by a paradigm shift: immigrants in Western European countries were increasingly perceived and debated as Muslims. The trend to discuss immigrants as Muslims has been followed also by a shift from xenophobia to anti-Muslim sentiments, as has been documented by a set of quantitative studies. Even in North America, Australia and New Zealand, where Muslims are far from making up a large part of the immigrant population, a new awareness has been given to Muslim residents. However, 9/11 is merely strengthening this shift in perception and serves as a subsequent legitimation. For Western Europe, at least, this new awareness has been described before 2000.

The unity of the Muslim World has remained a prominent issue in Islamic thought and of great concern to Muslims since the first split at the end of the Righteous Caliphs. Despite the agreement among Muslims on the need for unity, it has faced serious challenges since Muslims divided into factions and groups within different political entities, the most important of which was the Ottoman Empire. Attempts to restore the caliphate, or to gather Muslim countries into one international organization, or even to hold a meeting between the leaders of Islamic countries to discuss issues of Islamic unity, had not succeeded until the fire of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969. Given the importance of Islamic unity, which has become an ideology advocated by many Muslim intellectuals today, Muslim views of foreign powers' attitudes toward this sensitive issue have been an important factor in shaping Islamic opinion. This is particularly so with regard to the West, which exceeded other foreign powers in its depth of interaction with the Muslim World, whether such interactions were ones of cooperation or conflict.

This paper discusses the impact of Muslim views on Western attitudes to Islamic unity by analyzing four perceptions of the West in the minds of many Muslims. These perceptions are linked to specific important stages in the historical interaction between Muslims and the West.

The interaction between the Muslim World and the West stretches back centuries and although the points of conflict are well known, the exchange of knowledge and cultural awareness cannot be under-estimated and their impact on both civilizations is palpable. Recent historical events have once again focused attention on perceived points of conflict and their associated negative connotations. The advent of accessible communications technology has only served to perpetuate these viewpoints around the world at an incredible speed and global leaders have had to realize the importance of using the same technology to either correct or at least offer the opposing viewpoint to criticisms and stereotypes of the West and Islam in general.

By reaching back to the past we can sometimes find a way to pursue a more peaceful future, and past examples of cooperation and co-existence between the West and the Muslim World – if the historical context and perspective of these periods is taken into account – can offer a path to mutual understanding and respect. If we take the positive from the past and promote what we hold in common today, then the noise of extremism will always be held at bay.

In order to examine these issues and provide an in-depth overview of the relationship between the West and the Muslim World, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) held a Symposium under the title “Islam and the West: A Civilized Dialogue,” on May 16–17, 2011 in Abu Dhabi, hosting a group of distinguished experts from various academic, political and educational backgrounds in conjunction with the School of Policy and International Affairs at the University of Maine, United States.