From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought.

with a Muslim majority in some 44 countries and nearly a quarter of the globe's population, it should be evident that our world cannot be made up of identical people, sharing identical goals, motivations or interpretations of the Faith. It is a world in itself, vast and varied in its aspirations and in its concerns. Is there not something intellectually uncouth about those who choose to perceive one billion people of any faith as a standardised mass?

it must be made utterly clear that in so far as Islam is concerned, this violence is not a function of the Faith itself, as much as the media would have you believe. This is a misperception which has become rampant, but which should not be endowed with any validity, nor should it be accepted and given credibility. It is wrong and damaging.

There are powerful reasons that we cannot overlook, for which the West and the Muslim world must seek a better mutual understanding.

Today in the Occident, the Muslim world is deeply misunderstood by most. The West knows little about its diversity, about the religion or the principles which unite it, about its brilliant past or its recent trajectory through history. The Muslim world is noted in the West, North America and Europe, more for the violence of certain minorities than for the peacefulness of its faith and the vast majority of its people.

Never before has their been so much knowledge available about so many different people. Never before have we known more about the physical world in which we live. Never before, therefore, have there been opportunities greater to make a better life for more people around the globe.

His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV is the first Muslim baccalaureate speaker in Brown's history and I dare to say in the history of the entire Ivy League and all American universities. He embodies the great ecumenical spirit that links the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

He (Prince Karim Aga Khan) has become a major activist for civilized humanity and universal values. Not in words but in deeds. Not in one location but around the world.

Spirituality and architecture, together, become a force that can build bridges between people and communities, and empower them to build a more harmonious and humane future.

Have the Muslim civilizations of today lost the capability to produce great architecture?