What brings us together
Some thirty years ago I came across a powerful message inviting to peace and universal unity. It has since stuck with me — God brings us together and humans pull us apart.
When we talk about God alone we walk on common ground. But when we dwell on Jesus or Muhammad or other godly people, we lose sight of God and the true message of those good men.
This is the message that sparked my reflection.
“… As expected from the Creator’s final message, one of the prominent themes in the Quran is the call for unity among all believers, and the repeated prohibition of making any distinction among God’s messengers. If the object of worship is one and the same, there will be absolute unity among all believers. It is the human factor, i.e., devotion and prejudice to such powerless humans as Jesus, Muhammad, and the saints that causes division, hatred, and bitter wars among the misguided believers. A guided believer is devoted to God ALONE, and rejoices in seeing any other believer who is devoted to God ALONE, regardless of the name such a believer calls his or her religion.” ~Rashad Khalifa, in Introduction to Quran the Final Testament.
Surely, those who believe,
those who are Jewish, the Christians,
and the converts;
anyone who
(1) believes in God,
(2) believes in the Last Day, and
(3) leads a righteous life,
will receive their recompense from their Lord;
they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. [2:62, 5:69]
I leave you with these questions. When you talk about God with your friends, how do you feel? What about when you talk about Muhammad or Jesus? Can it be that simple?
