Common ancestry is shared by many

IN APRIL this year, there was a religious collaboration among the various faiths in South Africa that was akin to an exceedingly rare planetary alignment.

Hindus observed the festival of Kavady, the significance of which lies in repentance, Jews celebrated their freedom from slavery with Passover; Christians commemorated Easter remembering the crucifixion of Christ and his rising from the dead; while Muslims were in the midst of the holy month of Ramadaan, a period of fasting and spiritual cleansing.

One of the beauties of living in South Africa is that our Constitution guarantees religious freedom. This is unlike many other countries.

The history books tell us that close to 900 people were massacred in the 1992 Bombay riots in India due to an escalation of hostilities after largescale protests by Muslims in reaction to the demolition of the Babri Masjid Mosque.

In the 2007/08 religious uprisings in Kandhamal, India, hundreds of churches were burnt to the ground, many killed and thousands displaced. Blood-thirsty animosity among Hindus and Muslims remains rife in India and Pakistan.

In the Middle Eastern countries, religious minorities live in constant fear. Of more recent and still freshly etched in our memories is the April 2019 Sri Lankan Easter Sunday bombings in which 269 people were killed when three churches came under attack from Islamic militants. The bombings were thought to be revenge for the March attack on mosque worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, by Australian Brenton Tarrant, who went on a killing spree, ruthlessly mowing down 51 mosque worshippers.

What the world needs is religious tolerance and universal peace. Let’s look at Jerusalem, one of the greatest cities in the world. It is the only city in the world where the three great monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam meet. It is also one of the great sticking points of the Middle East but also one of the keys to any solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. It is home to the Temple Mount. Sacred to the Jews, it is the place where King David had thrown the Jebusites out of an otherwise inconsequential city. Sacred to the Christians, it is the place where the saviour had been crucified and buried. Sacred to the Muslims, it is the place where Muhammad had ascended to heaven from the Dome of Rock.

Christ did not believe that one man’s faith and culture was better than another’s. The Prophet, Muhammad, was also a man of great tolerance and justice. But there is a similarity here in that all three faiths serve one father, Abraham.

Often, we behave like a bad family over who and what we think belongs to us.

Like all good fathers, Abraham has been all of those things to all of his children.

Therefore, is it not true that Jews, Muslims and Christians share a common ancestry through Abraham?

Through all the suffering that is ravaging our world – war, famine, poverty, disease, supernatural disasters, unstable economies and corrupt politicians – the one unifying factor could be religious tolerance.

KEVIN GOVENDER | Silverglen