CLASS OF CIVILIZATIONS - 2003-05-07

Toronto.Recent global events have been framed as a ''clash of civilizations'' -- between the Muslim world and the Judeo-Christian West. This thesis is constructed on a faulty premise, one that sees ''Islam'' and ''the West'' as somehow having developed in isolation. To talk about a such a clash is to make the fundamental mistake of forgetting the common bases of Western and Muslim civilizations. Ottawa's new inquiry into relations with the Muslim world is an opportunity to study that world's diversity, and offer our own ideas on pluralism, says NAZEER AZIZ LADHAN