'We now make a prayer for a future that is replete with peace and love for all.' The Holy Quran teaches us that "Whoever kills a human being, for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it is as if He has killed all mankind: and if he saves a human life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all mankind" Quran 5:32.
There can be few things as antithetical to religion, particularly my religion of Islam, as the wanton violence wreaked by the recent attacks in London. It is at times like these that the responsibility falls again on us, those of a truly humane spiritual nature, to speak out against the violence, and to console those who have suffered from it.
It is also at times like these that we again have to appropriate the misuse of religion from the hands of fanatical men whose sole purpose is to rouse the masses and beget further violence. It must be stated for the record that all religions have the same relative value with respect to the high goals we reach as people and the same lack of value of when they fail to call forth the love of God. This alone is the uniform standard of value in the assessment of religion.
As before, today our voices are raised together to proclaim support for our English sisters and brothers who have experienced loss and to recognize the unity of God and to bring human kind together. We now make a prayer for a future that is replete with peace and love for all of our sisters and brothers across the world, and for a future that is far far different from the tumultuous, hateful times that we live in now.
May God Almighty bless the departed souls and shelter them in his compassion and admit them into his acceptance and paradise and let the blessings of their lives continue to be showered upon their families, friends and loved ones.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
ASMA - American Society for Muslim Advancement
There can be few things as antithetical to religion, particularly my religion of Islam, as the wanton violence wreaked by the recent attacks in London. It is at times like these that the responsibility falls again on us, those of a truly humane spiritual nature, to speak out against the violence, and to console those who have suffered from it.
It is also at times like these that we again have to appropriate the misuse of religion from the hands of fanatical men whose sole purpose is to rouse the masses and beget further violence. It must be stated for the record that all religions have the same relative value with respect to the high goals we reach as people and the same lack of value of when they fail to call forth the love of God. This alone is the uniform standard of value in the assessment of religion.
As before, today our voices are raised together to proclaim support for our English sisters and brothers who have experienced loss and to recognize the unity of God and to bring human kind together. We now make a prayer for a future that is replete with peace and love for all of our sisters and brothers across the world, and for a future that is far far different from the tumultuous, hateful times that we live in now.
May God Almighty bless the departed souls and shelter them in his compassion and admit them into his acceptance and paradise and let the blessings of their lives continue to be showered upon their families, friends and loved ones.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
ASMA - American Society for Muslim Advancement
Source: www.beliefnet.com
Tag:Islam
yea... i had a semi-crossfire of words with my father last night while watching the news.
ReplyDeleteHey Rubaiat,
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. i was just wondering, r u involved in IT sector in BD? seems i heard ur name somewhere. I was techincal editor in Computer Tomorrow (also had a troubleshooting column called Doctor Tomorrow) and later, executive editor in Technology Today.
I was also a writer in Prothom Alo Computer page and Daily Ittefaq ITPage. that's why i was just wondering...
by the way, what kinda crossfire of words u had with ur father? who was on which side? :D
it would nice to share.. so we could add our thoughts as well.
Amen! You stated it very well!
ReplyDelete"Whoever kills a human being, for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it is as if He has killed all mankind: and if he saves a human life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all mankind" Quran 5:32.
ReplyDeleteyou know I've heard this saying before, but I forgot where or who said it? I've never read the Quran before and I can see that I should get me a copy and read for myself and learn what it says. Beautiful words!
My heart goes out for the victims of London too!
Dear Katt,
ReplyDeleteGod bless u. Surely u will find a lot of questions answered in Quran which church struggle and ultimately fils to answer. The only reason church fails to answer many of the important questions is because they mixed up man made doctrine with the holy message of the Messiah Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).
CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) is giving away free copy of Quran (full story here, http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005-06-01-koran_x.htm). U just have to fillup a form and submit.
here is the link,
http://www.cair-net.org/explorethequran/
also from online u can read the entire quran from here,
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran
Thanks again, and may God enlighten ur soul with the widom of the Final Testament, the Holy Quran.
What once was sacred started being humanized, forgetting that humans should tend to devote to the sacred meaning of Islam and not make it like a plate of soup served on a table. something it is not.
ReplyDeleteLove always in Allah,
maryam