Sometimes the East is presented as separate from the West, Islam is presented as a separate civilization from that of Christianity but that is the vision and paradigm of those who will divide and rule. The unifying paradigm is that of understanding the three great monotheistic religions as the Abrahmic faiths or the faiths of his two great sons Isaac and Ishmael. When the prophet Muhammadsaw had only a handful of followers in Makkah and they were bitterly persecuted by the polytheist Makkans the king to give them shelter was no other than the Christian King Negus of Ethiopia. When Europe was slumbering in the dark ages who educated the founding fathers of Renaissance? It was the Muslim Universities of Spain and Baghdad. The history of these three religions is for ever intertwined with each other. One can hope that our better days as monotheists and as a species are ahead of us as the globe changes into an international village. The ever increasing closeness and proximity of human race can be seen in the person of Senator Barack Hussein Obama. A proud Christian with a Muslim name, born in USA, grew up in Indonesia and his paternal grand mother still living in Kenya.
The first commandment to the first of the three great Abrahmic faiths was, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2) The Christian version of this commandment is, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29) After this fundamental commandment, the New Testament tells us, “The second most important commandment is: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)
In this era of space travel, the term neighbour has taken a global dimension. So the human compassion does not know any religious or national boundaries. Most Christian and Muslim philosophers will agree that the concept of ‘Loving your neighbour’ in this day and age needs to be extended to the whole of humanity.
The Holy Quran highlights the service to fellow humans at numerous occasions, “Slacken not in serving your fellow beings.” (4:105) Again, “Indeed, Allah is with those who are righteous and those who do good to others.” (16:129) Yet again, “Surely, the mercy of Allah is near those who do good to others.” (7:57)
If we try to live the first commandment without living up to the second most important commandment we fail miserably, in all dimensions. As is the saying:
I sought my soul,
But could not see,
I sought my God,
But He eluded me,
I sought my brother,
and found all three.
As St. John tells us so pithily, “If some one says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, ‘He who loves God must love his brother also’.” (1 John 4:20-21)
It was deemed that we not only need to be service minded in general but even just and fair to our enemies. Jesus Christ said and it is recorded in the New Testament, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” And again, “You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If some one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-39)
The ideals mentioned in this regard in the Holy Quran are, “Let not the enmity of a people in that they hindered you from the Sacred Mosque (violated your religious freedom), incite you to transgress. Assist one another in piety and rectitude, and assist not one another in sin and transgression; and be mindful of your duty to Allah.” (5:3) And again, “O ye who believe, be steadfast in the cause of Allah, bearing witness in equity. Let not a people‘s enmity towards you incite you to act contrary to justice; be always just, that is closest to righteousness. Be mindful of your duty to Allah; surely, Allah is aware of all that you do.” (5:9) Islam will not be unfair to even its enemies, it could not certainly condone taking of innocent lives for any reason what so ever.
A natural ramification of these teachings is that self interest and national security do not trump justice. If they did humans from different nations will be in constant conflict with each other. What may be self interest for one nation will be destructive for the other nation. The only common ground between different parts of humanity is that we need to be just to each other. So how did we come up with this possible notion that all is fair in the name of national security?
- Source: Al Islam eGazzette April 2008 Issue
