It is time to sit down and talk. I speak of dialogue. Of dialogue between Islam and, shall I say, Christianity? However, since Europe has rejected its ancient religious wealth, should I say, between Islam and Europe? But, since demographically Islam is not to be sneezed at in Europe, shall I say between Islam and the as yet unislamised part of the world?
Often, as I delve into history books I wonder which milestones in a generation's time will be etched in immortality. September 11 is one such painful landmark pock-marking the story of modern man. That scar shall never heal and its evil knows no bounds. Pity the fools who cheered as the twin towers crumpled, crushing life and sentient dream out of pathetic humanity. For, death begets death. How many innocent and peace-loving Muslims and their families paid for 9/11? And continue doing so, now, as we speak? And has not Islam - in reality a great religion - grown somewhat less sympathetic, more savage in most of our eyes?
Personally, I have always respected Islam - but in the aftermath of the great evil there were moments when the nebulous lens of my soul's eye misted over in red agonising hues. This, in spite of my reminding myself that it is individuals who make their respective civilisations clash and not civilisations themselves, as President Guido de Marco said at the official launch of my latest book. But, these moments pass and although I am a Christian - however weak - I acknowledge Islam as a great monotheistic religion with much to commend it for. I have even written and lectured about Islam's contribution to science and medicine and its valuable preservation of Greek knowledge while Europe shuddered in the dark ages.
The European Union, the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) are all - individually and with some cross-linkages - committed to dialogue with Islam. This is highly commendable. And, as I look objectively at Malta, I see a member of the EU, strategically and symbolically located between the world of Islam and Christianity, with a semitic language but a European culture, still a bastion of the Catholic Church, and with an increasingly wide angle view of its role in world politics. It is also a country especially close to the SMOM's heart. All are ideal qualities to help Malta foster leadership qualities in this precious dialogue. Such an initiative is indeed planned for 2008 with the SMOM as a unifying factor drawing EU funds and initiative and localising the initial action in our island.
Malta, has shed enough of its life's blood to deserve such an honour. Its victory over the half crescent in 1565 along with the victory at Lepanto in 1575 and the Turkish rout at Vienna in 1683 were determining factors in safeguarding Christian Europe from Islam. Today, with Europe increasingly secularised - which further weakens Christianity and, by default, strengthens Islam - and the Islamic population explosion within Europe, Islam is no longer the religion "outside" Europe. Nor, is it ad portas, as Hannibal's invasion used to be referred to in order to scare little naughty Roman children. For today, Islam is born and bred in the very hearts of Rome, Paris and London - Muslims are Italian and French and English - they are European.
The future favours European Islam over Christianity and even Christianity's replacement by various, powerful, secular and officially "apolitical" forces. Sheer numbers will see to that.
The evil of 9/11 has generated a poisonous miasma of chronic spiritual and emotive sepsis between Muslim and non-Muslim. A Pan-European-Christian-Islamic rapprochement via meaningful dialogue - with cultural, economic, political and philanthropic off-shoots - is urgently required to commence the healing.
And Malta may succour the seed of such a dialogue, fostering the strength for each side to rise over centuries-old complexes recently sniffed into life by freshly-spilt blood.
Let all with ears please listen well.
Dr Buttigieg is Malta's Ambassador to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and First Councillor to the Holy See.