Create channels of peace
People of faith must work together honorably in overcoming their enmity and hatred. They must work hard in creating new channels of peace, not new weapons of destruction; compete in the absolute good for humanity, for the better in every field in this life and in the moral system. They must compete in building humans who will adopt the example of the earliest son of Adam, Abel — who reacted righteously to the invitation of violence. The Quran teaches us to strive hard to such high values when we read: “And who could be better of speech than he who calls his fellow men unto God, and does what is just and right, and says: Verily, I am of those who have surrendered themselves to God. However, since good and evil cannot be equal, repel evil with something that is better and lo! He between whom and yourself was enmity may then become as though he had always been close unto you, a true friend! Yet to achieve this is not given to any but those who are want to be patient in adversity: it is not given to any but those endowed with the greatest good fortune.”
Subdue enemies with love
True success comes when we subdue the hearts of our enemies by the language of love and compassion and not when we break their necks by our power and weapons. Hearts have a special language that does not abide by the language of violence; hearts surrender completely to the power of love, giving, preference, and mercy. Now the hope is coming from all those who believe in such languages to stand up and act. Prophet Jesus (pbuh) preached to love your enemy. Muhammad set all his enemy of Mecca free when he had the power over them, as many apostles of God did. The perfect man is not an illusion, but a reality many people of faith are seeking. He is there in the divine manual to humanity, the Holy Scriptures in our hand but we do not follow.
From my perspective as an imam, let me share some reflection on our recent days. Few people realize the danger of nuclear weapons and the race to develop them. These weapons could destroy all the beautiful life on our marvelous planet. We must plant high ethics and morals in the minds and hearts of our new generation…
Imam Mohamad Jamal Daoudi
Originally published on Sunday, Aug 29th in the Omaha World-Herald