In the fifth chapter of Yesoday Hatorah [Laws of the Foundations of the Torah], in his book Mishneh Torah, Maimonides defines three levels of transgressing commandments in the Torah that are essentially a desecration of God's name. One of these relates to a person who seems to want to anger God. If a person fails to walk the straight and narrow path, he does not necessary violate God: If it was a simple human mistake he or she can still repent and correct it. If, however, the person acted purposefully and is a willful wrongdoer, that person has desecrated God. Setting fire to a mosque falls into this category. The person who committed this arson not only angered Muslims. First and foremost, the perpetrator angered us Jews. For four years, I held a senior position at Israel's embassy in Mauritania, an Islamic republic. One of my greatest sources of pride was that I represented a country in which there was respect for religion: for every religion. It was actually a major advantage over some of my colleagues, who represented shady Arab regimes and had a negative attitude toward any Jew as to any Israeli. One of the most important imams in Mauritania would attend the Israel Independence Day celebration at the embassy. He would tell his friends stories about how he and the Israeli ambassador actually shared the same God. He tried to convince radicals in his society that the Jewish religion is not invalid. He had no problem whatsoever praying on a small rug in the room just next door while we were commemorating Israel's Independence Day. Under one roof, for a short while, we shared the same God. We had many differences of opinion, but only political, not religious. Only in this way will societies be built on faith and hope. Specifically in these frantic days, when extremists marginalized by society seek center stage, perhaps we should remind ourselves that Muslims, like Jews, are forbidden from making graven images and sculptures, for fear of idolatry. The Muslim prohibition is, actually, even more severe than that of the Jews. Thus the classic approach, according to rules set by Maimonides, was that Islam is a legitimate way for non-Jews to worship God because they share this commandment. This is also how the great Rabbi Menahem Hameiri, one of the wisest men of Spain, viewed Muslims as well. The great Arab poet, Al Sa'id Ibn Sina Maluch, wrote of Maimonides that "his knowledge brought him recognition as the doctor of the generation because he knew how to assuage the pain of ignorance." Maimonides, where are you today-
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