Congratulations are in order, once again, for our beloved country, for the peaceful transition of power from one administration to the next. For centuries now, the United States of America and its Constitution have been a model for the rest of the world. On Jan. 20, 2021, the nation came up to the mark once again.
God has endowed certain inalienable rights to all humans, and no one should be deprived of those. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) declared in his Farewell Sermon that, "Allah has made you brethren one to another, so be not divided. An Arab has no preference over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; nor is a white one to be preferred to a dark one, nor a dark one to a white one."
We have seen in this country too much racial discord, overt and covert bias and discriminatory conduct, and religious and political strife leading to flagrant hate speech, violence and even murder.
President Biden, in his inaugural speech, has asked us to invest in unity, an elusive commodity these days. He said, "I ask every American to join me in this cause. Uniting to fight the common foes we face: Anger, resentment, hatred. Extremism, lawlessness, violence. Disease, joblessness, hopelessness. With unity we can do great things, important things."
In the Holy Qur'an, it is stated unequivocally that the authority vested in certain individuals to govern and care for a people is a "trust" which arises from the people. "Verily, Allah commands you to make over the trusts to those entitled to them, and that, when you judge between people, you judge with justice." [Holy Qur'an, Chapter 4, verse 59] As a nation we spoke and put our trust in President Biden and his team, and we did it with justice. Now, it is the responsibility of the new administration to establish justice in the land and through justice alleviate the suffering of its people.
Pursuit of happiness is another one of the inalienable rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. The state of happiness is achieved through attaining inner bliss and peace within. In the Holy Qur'an, this state of the self is depicted as the highest point of human existence, far above the moral self and the spiritual self. It is the self that is totally merged with the divine. Allah says, "And thou, O soul at peace! Return to thy Lord, well pleased with Him and He well pleased with thee. So, enter thou among My chosen servants, and enter thou My Garden."
For further reading on Islamic teachings to promote peace within and without, I recommend the book "World Crises and the Pathway to Peace" by Mirza Masroor APhmad, Khalifah of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Finally, I congratulate President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for being entrusted with this great responsibility and wish them every success.
Hameed Naseem is the Director of Outreach for the Tulsa Chapter of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA. He is also the faculty advisor of Al-Islam Students Association, a registered student organization at the University of Arkansas. Contact him at [email protected].