We are all One

IslamiCity.com offers heartfelt thoughts and prayers to all who have suffered and those whose families or friends have suffered. We pray that may God grant patience to all who have lost friends and family in this tragedy. We pray that may our Lord guide all of us during these difficult times. And, we pray that all communities in America and world citizens of all faiths find peace and healing from within them selves and their prayers.  

Among the mix of emotions and questions, there is a sense of immense human tragedy... thousands of lives have perished in senseless violence, a sense of anger and frustration... Condemning those who carried out this violence is the easy part. Any rational human will consider this act reprehensible. But the bigger question still remains, why is all of this happening?  

The word of our Creator in the Quran is forcefully clear:  

Al-Ma'idah 5:32 ..... whosoever kills a human being other than (in punishment) for manslaughter or causing corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all humanity, and whoso saved the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all humanity.  

The events in America on 11th September 2001 cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives and ponder deeply upon the larger questions of life. There are two possible responses to what has occurred.  The first comes from compassion, the second from fear. If we come from fear we may panic and do things - as individuals and as nations - that could only cause further damage. If we come from compassion we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others.

We may seek to pinpoint blame, or to pinpoint cause.  Unless we take this time to earnestly reflect on this experience, it will be difficult to resolve the emotions within us. This may lead us to live in fear of retribution or seek retribution. If we let our selves be guided only by our emotions we will miss the most basic human lessons and be blind to the most basic human truths. The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one.

That is a message the human race has largely ignored.  Forgetting this truth is the cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember this is simple: through compassion and collective good for humanity.   If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response?  Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what then will be the outcome?  These are the questions that are placed before the human race today.  They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years.  Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all. 

To stop terror the world needs to unite behind a cohesive humanity, citizen-to-citizen, nation-to-nation, faith-to-faith, and seek a truly universal peace among all humankind.

What can you do TODAY . . . this very moment?   What you wish to experience, provide the same for another.   If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. 

"... If God had so willed, He would have made you a single Nation, but His Plan is to test you in what He has given you. So strive as in a race for good deeds. The return of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which you dispute.' (Quran, al-Ma'idah; 5:48)