VIEWS - Karen Armstrong in her book Muhammad

At the end of her book Muhammad, Karen Armstong wrote:
The reality is that Islam & the West share a common tradition from the time of prophet Muhammad.Muslims have recognized this but the west cannot accept it.today some muslims are beginning to turn against the cultures of the people of the book,which have humiliated & despised them.They have even began to islamize their new hatred.The beloved figure of prophet became central to one of the latest clashes between islam & the west during the Salman Rushdie affair. If Muslims need to understand our western traditions & institutions more thoroughly today,we in the west need to divert ourselves of some of our old prejudiceperhaps one place to start is with the figure of Muhammad"a complex passionate man who sometimes did thingsnthat it is difficult for us to accept,but who has genius of a profound order & founded a religion & a cultural tradition that was not based on the sword - despite the western myth and whose name'Islam'signifies peaceand reconciliation.