Muslims also suffer the violence of Islamic extremists. But they are not true Muslims those who insitage violence. The Focolare Movement in the Arab countries strive to practice evangelical love, how are they dealing with the advance of ISIS? Answering that question for Adriana Masotti from Vatican Radio is Rita. In this situation love and unity are purified by the suffering you live through. We were totally shocked in the face of the latest tragedy when the terrorists went into villages in the north of Iraq and, from one day to the next, we saw thousands of people arriving here without anything. What great suffering! You wonder what is happening and if what we believe in is still true.But then again, this may be the moment to see whether or not it is still true. That was the certainty which urged us to go out of ourselves and reach out to these people. One of our families in Iraq, for example, welcomed 40 people into their home and the father had found a place for everyone to sleep discovered there was no place for himself, sos he slept in his car.  Forty people took refuge in the north of Iraq, where we have two or three families who opened their doors to them. Seeing their desparation the family gathered everyone and they prayed the Rosary. Now there are 60 people from the village who gather each evening to pray for peace, but also for the terrorists. Realising that some people were without blankets, they put some money together to buy a few things; but then more things were needed and Providence provided more money. . . They said: “The small sum of money that we gathered, even though it wasn’t much, drew more, then more and more, and that small sum seemed to neve end! I realize that this sincere love, distilled by love, makes us see that love is most powerful. Personally, I saw people without anything, who kept the faith and, feeling the support of others, rediscovered meaning in life, peace and faith. Indeed these are now the strongest witnesses. “I personally have seen people without anything who have kept the faith and, by supporting others, have rediscovered the meaning of life, of love, true peace and believing again. How are relations between Muslims and the Focolare communities you have visited? “It’s rather difficult in Iraq at the moment, because the sides are divided..In Christian areas there are very few Muslims. We don’t have many contacts. but the people love one another; they’ve always lived together. It’s this politics that comes to manipulate those relationships. In Jordan there is a group of Muslims who share our spirituality. Several fleeing Iraq families recounted what was happening in Iraq. There were also ten Muslims with a hundred of us there – and the first reaction was from the Muslims: “But this is impossible what is happening here: These are our brothers and sisters: let us open our homes to them!” They carry a great suffering inside because of what the extremists are doing. They didn’t dare to say it because they felt so ashamed, but they wanted us to realize that what the extremists are doing has nothing to do with their religion. This is expoiting religion for hatred and violence. We have very beautiful relationships with some of them, open and honest relationships. In fact, you feel that you have to be a better Christian if you want to have a relationship with a Muslim: there is no comprimise or confusion. Each one of us strives to be his best for the other, to be a true Christian; and the best of oneself for them means having the courage to allow anything that is not in favour of man, everything that is not love, which they call ‘mercy’.” Source: Vatican Radio  (Italian)