Hope in the Face of Terror?

 

One would pray for much hope in the face of worldwide terrorism, and we find it if we look.  The problem stems from the fact that we have to look for it when it should be slapping us in the face as soundly as the terrorism it would contradict.

"Hundreds of Norwegian Muslims have formed a human shield around a Synagogue in the country’s capital as a symbol of solidarity with the city’s Jewish community.

Over 1,000 Muslims chanted “No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia” as they formed what they called a “ring of peace” around the Jewish place of worship."

Not many have heard this story from February of 2015.  Go to this link, Ring of Peace, and educate yourself.

I have had the distasteful pleasure of confronting two gentlemen of late, one I know quite well and the other a total stranger.  Both have an attitude toward Islam that the only good Muslim is a dead one.  I would like to hand each of them a machete and a five year old Muslim child.  I will stand there with a pistol and wait for them to strike, at which time I will shoot them, per their beliefs, for becoming what they fear most.  Would they understand why they, also, would have to be shot?  When do we cross the line from civilized, to being as bad, or worse, as what we fight against?

Iman Siddiqi is a second year political science major student at University of California, Irvine.  This is an excerpt from his article in the campus newspaper New University.  You can read the entire article at this link, and I do hope you will:  A message of Hope in the Face of Terror.

"Islam emphasizes the importance of human life. The Qur’an equates killing a single person to killing all of mankind. Muslim jurists throughout the world consider the violation of public safety to be a violation of God’s right (Haq Allah), which is a severe crime under Islamic principles of justice.

In September 2014, Muslim scholars from around the world gathered to publish a detailed open letter to ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi and his followers condemning the actions of the militant group and refuting the group’s entire ideology, with extensive citations from the Qur’an, the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and Islamic history. The letter did not receive mainstream media coverage, but can be downloaded in several languages online."

We are but human animals.  You can educate us, ordain us, steep us in peaceful religious faiths and spiritual philosophies, and still we find the capacity to destroy that which we build.  What other creature on this world has the capacity to feel lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride, and actually justify feeling them - all at the same time?  We can, and it is not something to brag about.  

So how do we bring ourselves to justify hatred against our fellow man?  Muhammad Asad wrote, Origins of Poisoning of the Western Mind Against Islam.  In his opening paragraph he asks, "When it comes to Islam – Western equanimity is almost invariably disturbed by an emotional bias. Is it perhaps, I sometimes wonder, because the values of Islam are close enough to those of the West to constitute a potential challenge to many Western concepts of spiritual and social life?"  

I don't think so.  But I do think his short discussion on the origins of this poisoning of our minds against Islam has some merit.  I have included the link, above, for those wishing to read his page long article.

Is there hope, for us, in the face of this terror?  Is there hope for Islam to rise with us against the enemy at our gates?  Each of us needs to reacquaint ourselves with morality.  Each of us needs to look deep into the eyes on the face of innocence and ask if we are truly capable of some heinous, bloody, act of insane violence against a small defenseless child.  Does our God, does Allah, really excuse these acts of violence against the innocence and beauty in the world our God created for us?  If, sadly, your answer is yes, we will probably meet you on a future field of battle.  

We have met the enemy, and it is us. 

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."