Take on the challenge to find understanding through interfaith events
Making the decision to join an interfaith network is a big deal. Individuals must be willing to step outside their comfort zone to embrace the uncanny. In this network, members pray for the well-being and salvation of others who think and believe differently than themselves. Embracing the interfaith community means accepting a multitude of cultures and religious identities.
To all the brave souls that embark on this path, which is the path of the prophets, I say: “Welcome to the resistance.” It is the resistance to the idea that a clash of civilizations is inevitable. In fact, interfaith networking is the antithesis of Samuel Huntington’s theory that “people’s cultural and religious identities will be a primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.”
Conflicts between people have almost always been about securing and controlling land or other resources. In ancient times, the prophets brokered peace between conflicting parties. Jonah, a monotheistic prophet, for example, was commissioned to address the Assyrians who worshiped Ishtar, the goddess of war. In addition to being fierce warriors, they were also the sworn enemies of Jonah’s people, the Hebrews. By traveling to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, the prophet delivered his divine message and couched peace between two nations with different religions and cultures.
Of course, making peace was not easy. According to various accounts of Jonah’s story either he initially opposed his commission, or the Assyrians were resistant to it. Whichever is the case, he fulfilled his mission without imposing his way upon people. In the Quranic narrative of the story, the Assyrians were saved by embracing Jonah. The Quran (10:99) also states, regarding this story: “If your Lord had willed, all the people on the Earth would have come to believe; so will you compel people into believing?” The rhetorical question here implies that no matter how passionate individuals are about their beliefs it cannot be forced on others, but it can be shared with them.
In the same spirit of the Quran, 2 Chronicles 36:15 states: “The LORD God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence.” Meaning that it is through compassion and mercy, not force, that humanity can find peace and harmony with each other. This, however, requires individuals and servants of goodwill to emulate divine will and compassion. Such is the ethos of the prophets, as indicated in 2 Chronicles, and in the Quran (21:107): “We have not sent you [Muhammad] except as a mercy to all the worlds.”
The idea that compassion and mercy can bridge the divide between human beings is not exclusive to the Abrahamic faiths. Others have said:
Having abandoned the taking of life, refraining from killing, we dwell without violence, with the knife laid down, scrupulous, full of mercy, trembling with compassion for all sentient beings (azquotes.com). — Buddha
Not feeling compassion for a stranger is like not feeling when one’s foot has caught fire (ibid). — Confucius
To fill the human heart with compassion, mercy and universal love, which should radiate to all countries, nations, and peoples of the world… This is the way to peace on earth (ibid). — Kirpal Singh
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty (ibid). — Albert Einstein
Anyone and everyone interested in peace and the future of humanity should become an ambassador of mercy. It really is a big deal!