A radical militant fringe of Muslims leaves us with a media image of Islam as fanatical terrorists. Many Americans are surprised to learn that at the heart of Islam is the notion of peace through surrender. Etymologically the root of the word Islam is slm which mean peace. From this comes aslama, surrendered, submitted. Al-Islam is religion which brings peace to humanity when it commits itself to God and submits to God�s will.

Why submission? Muhammad was thunderstruck by his experience of God�s revelations and conveyed a clear sense that, after one experiences God, it is impossible to do anything but simply and totally surrender.

The transcendence of God is the dominant belief for a Muslim. This was Muhammad�s central message and is the first of the five pillars in Islam, a profession of faith called the shahadah: �There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.�

To emphasize God�s oneness and transcendence, no proper name is given to God. �llah in Arabic is not a proper name but simply means �the Divinity� and cannot be construed in any way to the proper names of pagan gods such as Zeus, Jupiter or Baal. To name God would be to place the Divinity in the power of us humans and reduce God to our measure and resemblance.

Muslims live out their surrender to Allah through the other four pillars: prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimmage. Surrender is the way of salvation. Every person must submit in body, mind and will in assent to God�s transcendence.

Muslims� place of worship and manner of praying reflects this. A mosque literally means �a place to prostrate.� The prayers offered are not so much petitions as declarations of praise and submission to Allah�s holy will. Allahu akbar (�God is great�) is repeated again and again in a time of prayer that begins with the fatiha, the first words of the first chapter (sura) of the Qur�an:

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being,
The All-merciful, the All-compassionate,
The Master of the Day of Judgement.
Thee only we serve, to Thee alone we pray for succor.

The postures of the body--kneeling, bowing, prostrating�also reflect the submission before the transcendence of God.

In her book, Islam Is . . . (NY: Lantern Books, 2003), Benedictine Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, who served several years as general secretary for the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, writes that when she is present for Muslim prayer (salaat) she feels as though she is back at home with her nuns in the monastery: �it�s the same God, the same praise, and the same bended knee.� And the �letting go� of what you are doing to honor the call to prayer is the same, too:

When the call to prayer is made, you have to stop what you are doing and go to chapel or the mosque. There is no fudging or promising to pray twice as hard later. You have to leave your computer, your hoe or basket. There is a higher power that rightfully claims your time, over and over again, commanding you to acknowledge your submission and allowing you to respond �yes� over and over again to that demand: �God is God and I obey (p. 41)."

One of her insights into Islam is that its origins in the vastness of a desert and the scarcity of water, food and shelter created an archetypal psyche that had to be tough enough to �make do�, to make sacrifices and defer comfort. The survival mentality encourages thinking ahead and using things in moderation. The desert is fierce and only the strong can negotiate it. From its origins this religion has the strength of the desert with built-in adaptation mechanisms for traveling fast and light.

There is no complex doctrinal baggage to carry along, no political superstructure or elaborate symbology. The faith system is direct, immediate, personal and specific. �There is no god but Allah . . . � Submit and obey.

Islam�s straightforward approach has demonstrated a capacity to initiate and sustain God-consciousness in persons and entire civilizations. Whether we are lay or religious, Christian or Muslim, Funk writes, �we cannot afford to delegate this dialogue to specialists, academics, politicians and military generals. We must bow our heads and bend our knees and, upon rising, extend our hands. We are friends.�

Thomas Ryan, CSP, directs the Paulist North American Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in New York City.