Christians defending a mosque
ELDER Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Christ of Latterday Saints recently visited Manila without fanfare, overseeing the handover of donations gathered by the church group’s humanitarian services to many Filipinos in need.
There was no sign he had come from the corporate world of the real estate industry. He had chosen this path of serving God and is dedicated to traveling the world to reach out to all of God’s children. He and his wife, Kathy, were on a nine-day ministry in the Philippines, helping the more than 860,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Philippines to live the Gospel of Christ, invite others to learn of His Gospel, and care for those in need.
Prior to my interview with him and his wife, Kathy, he kindly asked all photographers to leave the room, and instead, he asked me questions and thanked me for being a friend to the church.
He told me of the robust support for the Muslim community in the US, where they support mosques to be built. What a wonderful walking-the-talk example! I was captivated and humbled.
However, the interfaith community is not new to me. I shared at a recent dinner banquet hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ that I had been a member of the Movement for Muslim-Christian Dialogue since college. One of the basic reminders was the Chapter al-Baqarah in the Quran: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2.256). Religious freedom is cherished, and here stood someone who gave this message to all.
These tenets need action, and for me to see the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their outreach to others, such as the suffering Palestinians, is outstanding.
I am reminded by the Quran anew of how the right to life is upheld, the sanctity and absolute value of human life. Chapter 6: Al-An’am: 151: “Do not take any human being’s life (the life) which God has declared to be sacred — otherwise than in (the pursuit of) justice: this He has enjoined upon you so that you might use your reason.”
In Chapter 5: Al-Ma’idah: 32, the Quran points out that, in essence, the life of each individual is comparable to that of an entire community and, therefore, should be treated with the utmost care: “We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, it would be as if he slew the whole people: And if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.”
I was also reminded of dignity by the prestigious International Religion and Law symposium I attended at Brigham Young University (nearby Provo, Utah, the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ). Echoing such ideas, the right to respect is also cited in Chapter 17: Al-Isra’:70, the Quran: “Now, indeed, We have conferred dignity on the children of Adam.” Human beings are deemed worthy of esteem because of all creation, they alone choose to accept the “trust” of freedom of the will (Surah 33: Al-Ahzab: 72).
Human beings can exercise freedom of the will because they possess the rational faculty, which distinguishes them from all other creatures (Chapter 2: Al-Baqarah: 30-34). Though human beings can become “the lowest of the lowest,” the Quran declares that they have been made “in the best of molds” (Surah 95:
At-Tin: 4-6), having the ability to think, to have knowledge of right and wrong, to do the good and to avoid the evil.
Right to justice. The Quran puts great emphasis on the right to seek justice and the duty to do justice. In Surah 5: Al-Ma’idah: 8, it tells the believers:
“O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to
God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity, and never let hatred of anyone lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is the closest to being God-conscious.”
And again, in Chapter 4: AnNisa’:13, the Quran emphasizes the importance of upholding justice:
“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor, for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye serve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.”