I received an interesting letter a few days ago from a young Iranian Muslim. Commenting on a recent article I had written, he wrote: "Please don't use the word 'Radical Islam', because we have just one Islam."

If true, these words should make people question whether dialog can avert a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West.

The letter was received just a few days after a 22 year old Iranian immigrant at the University of North Carolina hired an SUV and deliberately drove it into a number of fellow students, injuring nine in the process. He said he wanted "to punish the United States for its actions around the world." In his mind, America is killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, so he wanted to kill Americans.

This particular incident led to the coining of a new expression "Sudden Jihad Syndrome", "whereby normal appearing Muslims abruptly become violent," writes Daniel Pipes in his New York Sun article: "The Quiet Spoken Muslims who Turn to Terror" (http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3450 ).

As Pipes pointed out, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, the perpetrator of the university campus atrocity, is not unique. Rather, "he fits into a widespread pattern of Muslims who lead quiet lives before turning to terrorism. Their number includes the hijackers responsible for the attacks of September 11th, the London transport bombers, and the Intel engineer arrested before he could join the Taliban in Afghanistan, Maher Hawash."

If the expression "radical Islam" is not appropriate when writing about this violent element, then what expression can be used? "Fundamentalists" is not accurate and is also misleading. In Christianity, "fundamentalists" are people who believe the Bible is the literal word of God. All Muslims claim the Koran contains the inspired words of Allah. Therefore, all Muslims are fundamentalists. Are all Muslims also "radical"? Based on the comments made in the letter I received, the answer is quite disturbing.

It does, however, help us understand why there are so few "moderate" Islamic voices out there, condemning the violence and upheaval going on throughout the Islamic world.

The demonstrations over the Danish cartoons have shown the world that anti-western sentiment is not confined to a vocal minority, but rather reflects majority opinion.

Christians and people in the secular West believe that all men desire peace and that dialog is the only way to avoid conflict. But what if others do not believe this?

"In 632 Mohammed made his last visit to Mecca, and his speech there has been recorded in the traditional writings as the final statement of his message: "know that every Muslim is a Muslim's brother, and that the Muslims are brethren; fighting between them should be avoided…. Muslims should fight all men until they say, 'There is no god but Allah'" (A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani, 1991, page 19).

Jesus Christ did not call for His followers to "fight all men" until they become Christians. Rather, He told His followers: "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44). He also said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight…" (John 18:36).

Clearly, these statements show a marked difference between Islam and Christianity, making dialog between the two highly problematic.

Because the West has been influenced by biblical teachings, there is an assumption that all religions want peace, but clearly that is not true where Islam is concerned. There is also a belief in the West that religious beliefs are not very important, that religion comes way down the list of priorities in a person's life. Again, this does not appear to be the case in Islam, where religious practice cannot be separated from other aspects of life.

Failure on both sides to understand and appreciate these differences has led to a dialog of the deaf, with the opposing sides failing to understand the viewpoint of the other.

Where might a total failure of meaningful dialog between the realm of Islamic beliefs and the realm of Western ideals lead us? To better understand the immensely high stakes in the continuing a dialog of the deaf, request or download now your free copy of our booklet, Are We Living in the Time of the End?