Islam, the religion of peace!

Islam is the religion of peace. That is a simple declarative assertion that Muslims should feel confident in making. It is not to be confused with 'Islam is the religion of peace' sarcasm made by its enemies who add it onto the end of any discussion about Muslims' alleged transgressions, especially anything "Islamic" in the post-911 era. A cottage industry has developed which seeks to portray Islam as a world evil equivalent to communism and societies are urged to build entire industries around destroying or at least containing this ideology. Massive amounts of countries budgets have been spent developing an industry designed to protect citizens from the Muslim menace. Institutes, think-tanks, websites, committees have been formed to explain to an ignorant populace the perils of "Islam"; a new vocabulary has been devised to explain just who and what is this enemy.


September 11th was the catalyst this hate industry needed to launch its assault upon the minds of the people of the world. Fingers were immediately pointed at a worldwide Muslim population held hostage and guilty for the supposed sins of a rag tag group of Muslims led by a mysterious former ally of the United States and supported by one of the poorest nations of the world. It didn't matter that Muslims the world over condemned with one voice the murder that took place in New York city that fateful day in 2001. The condemnation occurred in a vacuum; there were no ears to hear it, no eyes to read it, and more importantly no media outlet that would broadcast it. The perceived absence on the part of the greater world community toward Islam's indifference to their suffering gave rise to hatred and disgust with Islam and its faithful practitioners.

In the last half of 2007 a group of Muslim scholars have made a peace initiative which again has fallen on deaf ears. A statement by 138 Muslim scholars has sought to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam and adopted a proactive stance of propagating the mainstream Islamic position of respecting the Christian scripture while calling Christians to be more, not less, faithful to it. This statement was in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address of September 13^th 2006, with which the Muslim scholars took issue. Speaking in one voice those who signed this document assert

Muslims can and should live peacefully with their neighbors. 'And if they incline to peace, do thou incline to it; and put thy trust in God' (al-Anfal 8:61). However, this does not exclude legitimate self-defense and maintenance of sovereignty.

Concluding this section of their document on holy war they say

If some have disregarded a long and well-established tradition in favor of utopian dreams where the end justifies the means, they have done so of their own accord and without the sanction of God,His Prophet, or the learned tradition.God says in the Holy Qur’an: Let not hatred of any people seduce you into being unjust. Be just, that is nearer to piety (al-Ma’idah5:8).

It is not surprising that such a well written document has gone the route of other positive declarative statements made by Muslim scholars about Islam. Ignored!

Positive actions have been made by Muslim scholars to get the point across that their religion is one of peace and at this time of year two sterling examples of that are worth noting. First comes the Christmas greeting by the same Muslim scholars who

pray, during these blessed days, which have coincided with the Muslim feast of the Hajj or Pilgrimage, which commemorates the faith of the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), that the New Year may bring healing and peace to our suffering world.

Next comes news from Iraq

Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Catholic Church and Iraq's first cardinal, celebrated Mass before about 2,000 people in the Mar Eliya Church the capital's eastern New Baghdad neighborhood.

"Iraq is a bouquet of flowers of different colors, each color represents a religion or ethnicity but all of them have the same scent," the 80-year-old Delly told the congregation.

Muslim clerics — both Sunni and Shiite — also attended the service in a sign of unity.

"May Iraq be safe every year, and may our Christian brothers be safe every year," Shiite cleric Hadi al-Jazail told AP Television News outside the church. "We came to celebrate with them and to reassure them."

This last news item highlights the desire, and the need for people of different faiths within a society to get along with one another and to cooperate with one another. They have realized, despite their differences in faith, that social cohesion is a cornerstone for a prosperous country and that religious bigotry and animus threaten that prosperity not enhance it. I applaud their efforts at rebuilding their society, as well as those who have consistently fought against religious intolerance and divisiveness.

However one thing this writer has observed over the many years that Islam has been cast as the "enemy". No matter how virulent the coverage or image of Islam, it continues to attract followers across racial, national and linguistic lines.



Peace on Earth, good will towards men and women of good will!