This gradual widening of the magic carpet of inclusion has created a new sense of self among those believers in a Divine Creator whose spoken words are captured in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. The dialogue between Christians and Jews owed much to that common sharing of the Hebrew text in spite of the differences of interpretations within Christianity and between Christianity and Judaism.

The other striking thing about the American ethnic and religious experience is the fact that America is the graveyard of foreign languages.

One fact that is too obvious is the identification of many Christian sects in the United States of America with an area of the world were one's branch of Christianity originated or is connected to a particular language at a particular time in history.

The migration of these sects have led not only to their integration into the larger Christian community, but they have also been lumped together in the white world. This is particularly significant when one explores some of the religions some scholars generally called "American inventions." What is meant by this is the fact that the founding fathers of these religious movements were native-born Americans and their teachings grew out of the American experience. The Mormons are just one of many new religious movements that populated the American religious landscape over the last two hundred years.

How does a Muslim scholar relate to the Mormon experience? There are some parallels and some significant differences. The parallels have created points of convergence between Muslims and Mormons and in the very limited areas of collaboration, there is some attempt at mutual understanding. This is at least at the level of research and scholarship.

Let me begin by saying that Mormonism is fundamentally different from Islam in the sense that its teachings put forth a radical continuation of the Christian experience from Palestinian into the American experience before and after Columbus. This is one of the most difficult points that puzzled the Muslims as well as the other groups that now call themselves Abrahamic. Although Islam came after Christianity and Judaism, Muslim narrative about Islam does not have anything that parallels the American teachings of the Mormons. There are many others which will continue to be peculiarities of the different religions living together in the United States of America.

In looking for a point of convergence one finds the community of suffering which envelopes Mormons and Muslims in the larger historical narratives about religious minorities in the country. Both groups have encountered setbacks and open discrimination in their attempts to belong to and become part and parcel of America. Although the Mormons have made tremendous progress over the last one hundred and seventy- five years, and the evidence of their success is too visible to be denied,there is still residual bigotry against them. In many ways their wounds have healed, but those of their Muslim fellow citizens have just become publicly noticeable.

9/11 will always be used as the great marker for Muslims. The Mormons had their own memories in Utah and beyond in the American West.

In assessing the Mormons in the American experience, one should remember what was writing in the nineteenth century to measure our societal progress in the gradual elimination of bigotry. Many young Mormons today may not be aware of the writings of anti-Mormon Americans who saw their religion as an extension of Turkish and Islamic infiltration in America. One Muslim scholar, Anouar Majid, who has recently written a paper on Islamic Studies in the USA, quoted some American writers as saying that the Mormon migration was a Hijrah, Utah, the Holy Land and Salt Lake City, a new Mecca.

And Joseph Smith was "the Yankee "Mahomet" and his Book of Mormons was dubbed "the new Quran." Majid also found in these old texts Bring ham Young described as "The New World Mohammed." In fact, in her book, the Women of Mormonism (1882), Frances Willard, the President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, saw Utah as nothing less than Turkey in America.

To conclude this brief response to the question, I have five points to make.

First, the Mormons are here to stay and they have made valuable contributions to the religious, cultural and intellectual development of American society. The state of Utah and beyond provide the proof and both Americans and others from elsewhere in the world have come to acknowledge this transformation in American life and thought.

Secondly, the Mormons provide an example to any minority American religious group how to withstand suffering and how best to cultivate the challenges and threats of the past into future benefits and advantages.

Thirdly, the Mormon has a record of flexibility that allowed its leaders to shepherd their flock to safer and greener pastures. Once upon a time, racism was as precious item in their logic and doctrines. Over the last thirty years they have resolved that problem at least at the theological level.

The fourth point to make about the Mormons lies in their attempt to develop some understanding with the Muslim World. This is at an elementary stage. It will take a great deal of energy and hard work to build trust and initiate effective intellectual discourse. The Mormon encounter with the writings of Imam al-Ghazzali is a good beginning.

Last, as a former president and chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Interfaith Conference, I have had the opportunity to work faithfully and joyously with Mormon partners in interfaith dialogue. Throughout my encounters, they reveal the human spirit and share their milk of human kindness.