It was in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks when an Ahmadiyya Muslim mosque in Meriden, Conn., was fired upon by an angry neighbor. Police apprehended the culprit, and discovered the hatred this young man harbored against Muslims and Islam from his Facebook posts and email messages to friends. Dr. Qureshi, president of that local Ahmadiyya chapter, expressed his thanks to God for having been spared any loss of life, but he also expressed extreme remorse for not befriending the neighbors surrounding the Baitul-Aman Mosque, House of Peace and Security.
A few months later, the neighbor himself expressed a desire to apologize to the Muslim community. Qureshi and a few others visited the young man on Good Friday, carrying with them chocolate Easter eggs as a gift and invited him to come to the mosque for a seminar on "True Islam and the Extremists." The young man came to the mosque with his wife and apologized for his action. There was an overwhelming response. This reminds me of the verse of the Holy Quran: "Good and evil are not alike. Repel evil with that which is best. And lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity will become as though he were a warm friend" (Chapter 41, verse 35).
Our Christian friends and neighbors around us are rightfully proud of this teaching of Jesus Christ -- which preceded the Quran by 600 years. We read in Matthew 5:39-44: "I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES and pray for those who persecute you."
When Jesus Christ was asked, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" he replied that believing in the absolute unity of God and loving that God with all our heart and all our soul is one half of 'the commandment.' The other half is to love our neighbor as we love our own selves. (Mark 12:29-31). Jesus did not qualify it to include only the co-religionist neighbors. The context clearly shows he was giving an overarching summary of religion.
Even the Merriam Webster dictionary gives two definitions for the word neighbor: 1. Someone living or located near another, and 2. Fellow man. Prophet Muhammad states this golden rule in a similar fashion -- religion has two parts, one pertaining to the rights of God and the other dealing with the rights of fellow man. Furthermore, the Holy Quran admonishes Muslims, "Worship Allah and associate naught with him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbor that is a kinsman and the neighbor that is a stranger, and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those who are your subordinates. Surely, Allah loves not the proud and the boastful" (Chapter 4, verse 37). Thus, the definition of neighbor is extended to any and every person with whom one is connected in some way.
The teachings of Jesus Christ, as well as Prophet Muhammad, seem counter-intuitive and against our emotional knee-jerk reaction. "Valiant is not the one who defeats his enemy in a duel, it certainly is the one who fully controls his anger when aroused," once said Prophet Muhammad. A quote often referred to Buddha -- who taught about 600 years before Jesus Christ, states -- "Hatred does not cease by hatred, hatred ceases by loving. And that is a universal law."
Those in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community of Meriden followed these teachings and witnessed the predicted results right in front of their eyes. According to the Hartford Courant, the remorseful perpetrator said, "As a neighbor, I did have fears, but fear is always when you don't know something. The unknown is what you are always afraid of. Going forward, I want to help bridge that gap and help someone else not make the same mistake I did." He said he was "so overwhelmed" by how graciously he was treated after what he had done. "The forgiveness was so genuine," he said. "I realized they were really good people, and the whole way they handled it was above and beyond."
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is spearheading a nationwide campaign, "True Islam and the Extremists." A seminar was arranged at the University of Arkansas recently, where Qasim Rashid, a lawyer, made a very interactive and interesting presentation. He is an internationally recognized voice on human rights and religious freedom and a visiting fellow at Harvard University's School of Islamic Studies. He is the author of Talk to Me: Changing the Narrative on Race, Religion, & Education (AyHa Publishing), a recently released memoir on how the power of dialogue can overcome racism, xenophobia, misogyny and violence. It is the real life story of how ordinary Americans are rising above the forces that seek to drive us apart, and instead, are finding paths to peace and understanding. Talk to Me demonstrates that our differences are not a source of discord and division -- they're a source of strength and recognition. Step out of your comfort zone and take the time to "talk to me."
NAN Religion on 05/21/2016