It's been almost two years since Daniel Pearl was murdered. His father, Judea, is in town to host a forum with Akbar Ahmed at the U of Penn. Here are commentaries by each of them.

First Mr. Pearl:

My son, Daniel, was a dialogue-maker. Talking to strangers was his hobby, vocation, mission and ideology. As a journalist, he talked to peasants and rulers, rabbis and mullahs, carpet weavers and pearl divers - he talked to strangers the world over and turned them into friends.

The last strangers he met knew no talking. Next month will cross the second anniversary of his murder at the hands of people who loathed all he represented: truth, humanity, humor, dialogue, respect for others and, of course, Jewishness.

Daniel's magic as a dialogue-maker continues to connect people today. The current series of public dialogues between my friend Akbar Ahmed and me is one manifestation of that magic.

Mr. Ahmed:

'How can you shake the hands of the rabbi whose hands are dripping with blood?"

So wrote a Muslim journalist to me when he learned I had agreed to take part in an interfaith dialogue organized by the Washington (D.C.) Hebrew Congregation. I wrote back to him that such stereotypes were not only inaccurate but plainly anti-Semitic. He accused me of sounding like a representative of the Israeli embassy.

Not an encouraging start for my first visit to a synagogue; however, the friendship and knowledge of the rabbi, whose hands were certainly not dripping with anyone's blood, made up for the discouraging note - discouraging, because the Jewish and Muslim communities in the United States now have a historic opportunity to lead the dialogue between their great faiths.

A Jewish-Muslim dialogue here can encourage one not only in the Middle East, but also elsewhere. And it is desperately needed in view of the anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in many countries such as France.

Read both. I for one believe in the pessimistic view, that one Muslim scholar with these views does not represent the majority of Islams scholars. There's too much hatred being taught in madrassas and mosques. Both are good reads, however.