will we let this hatred continue?

Last night Sr. Martha Ann invited us to join her at a Ramadan Iftar, the evening meal by which Muslims break their day-long fast.  She had been invited to speak about her peacebuilding mission to Iraq to a group of interfaith leaders from San Antonio.

The evening began with a beautiful prayer from the Qur'an and a welcome from the Imam (like the priest in Catholicism).  Then he introduced sister Sarwat, the leader of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  A graceful Pakistani woman, her Islamic dress was red and white with a beautiful scarf wrapping her head.  She smiled from the podium, but her eyes reflected a deep sadness as she began. 

"I could talk about the celebration of Ramadan," she said.  "But none of us are really in the mood for celebration."

She continued on to share, instead, her insights and frustrations with perceptions and attitudes toward Muslims in the United States.  She spoke of the anger that so many people feel toward the building of mosques and community centers, and reminded us of a taxi driver who was stabbed only days ago because he is Muslim.  She pointed out that each day, we hear and see in the media more negative stories of Muslims.  She calmly but passionately explained the ignorance of that attitude. 

"Every religion has extremists and radicals," she told us.  "Why is it that all Muslims are expected to take responsibility for the actions of some fundamentalists who are not practicing the true teachings of Islam anyway?  We condemned 9-1-1.  We are not happy about the war, either.  When I hear about the drone attacks in Pakistan it breaks my heart; I cry myself to sleep.  Will we let this hatred continue?"

She showed a slide reporting the religious affiliations claimed by U.S. citizens -- this percent Christian, this percent Muslim, this percent non-believers, etc.  "But who cares?" she said.  "We are one people.  Will we let ourselves be defined and segregated by our religious affiliations?"

I am no expert on Islam.  I am no expert on American-Islamic relations.  I do know that the rhetoric coming from many voices in our country is driven not by the desire for peace but by fear, hatred, or ignorance.  I also see how our wars are perpetuating that message.  War does not bring real peace.  It breeds hatred.

I will conclude with a passage that was quoted from the Qur'an, a holy book of Islam.  It teaches the same messages of love of neighbor and self taught by Christian scriptures.  I believe more now than ever that we worship one God, we just know that God by different names:

“If anyone kills a person it would be as if he killed the whole humanity: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity" (5:32).

Let us be instruments of peace.

*I took a bit of liberty in quoting Sarwat.  This is how I remember what she said.