Communication Between Cultures

natural process. According to 2 Samuel 14:14,“We must all die; we are like water spilt on

the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.”

An important aspect of Jewish notions regarding death is the role of family,

friends, and community. While the funeral takes place as soon as possible, the actual

mourning practices are elongated, extensive, and marked by a great deal of ritual. The

mourning, which usually lasts seven days, and the rituals that follow have two basic

purposes: to honor the dead and to bring comfort to the family of the deceased. After

the conclusion of the private rituals at the cemetery, most of the comforting takes

place when a larger numbers of guests are invited to take part in a social gathering

and to have refreshments and share stories about the deceased.

Islam

We begin our analysis of Islam with this assertion: For a host of reasons, a large per-

centage of non-Muslims do not fully understand the Islamic faith. Prothero reaffirms

our assertion in the following:

Most Europeans and North Americans have never met a Muslim, so for them, Islam begins

in the imagination, more specifically in that corner of the imagination colonized by fear.

They see Islam through a veil hung over their eyes centuries ago by Christian Crusaders

intent on denouncing Islam as a religion prone to violence, its founder, Muhammad, as a

man of the sword, and its holy book, the Quran, as a text of wrath.^122

These generalized perceptions took on a new dimension on September 11, 2001.

That new element was violence, as we observed how an undeclared war and terrorism

could claim thousands of lives. And since 9/11, the vast majority of victims have been

civilians.^123 This violence has been accompanied by a wave of hysteria and a blanket

condemnation of the entire Islamic faith.We contend that such a sweeping denuncia-

tion of all Muslims is misguided on two counts. First, granted that there are some Mus-

lims who perceive the West as evil and engage in violent acts, it is both disingenuous

and naïve to assume that all those who follow the Islamic faith are terrorists and seek the

complete annihilation of the West. It would be as if the entire world believed that the

Christian church in West Virginia that uses rattlesnakes to perform miracles in its wor-

ship services represents all Christian churches. Second, the statistical and demographic

impact of Islam throughout the world demands that we learn more about what Belt calls

the“most misunderstood religion on earth.”^124 Islam is the fastest growing of all reli-

gions, with approximately 1.6 billion followers scattered throughout the world. Muslims

currently represent over 23 percent of the world’s population, and their numbers are

expected to increase to 26 percent of the world’s projected population of 8.3 billion by

2030.^125 We used the word“scattered”as a way of pointing out that the largest share of
Muslims live in places other than Arab lands. In fact, Muslims now form the majority in
forty-nine countries and a significant minority in many others.^126
Because of immigration and birthrates, a substantial portion of that percentage lives
in the United States. In fact, with a projected growth rate of 67 percent, Islam will soon
be the second most commonly practiced
religion in the United States.^127 All these
numbers imply that whether on the inter-
national level, in your neighborhood, or
on college campuses, contact with Muslims
has become a fact of life.

REMEMBER THIS

The fundamental declaration of Islam is that there is only one

God.

Cultural Expressions of Judaism 129

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