Today the world needs peace, friendship, and solidarity more than ever. The conflicts that defined the twentieth century still persist, and innocent people all around the world continue to suffer. There is an urgent need for solidarity and cooperation between people of good conscience from Christians, Jews and Muslims, as they are capable of preventing the scourges of our day when they unite. This is not difficult considering the common ground between the Islamic civilization and the Judeo-Christian culture that constitutes the fundamentals of the Western civilization.
Today, hundreds and thousands of children, women and men are being killed, displaced, or persecuted due to hostility, hatred and anger instilled in people through anti-religious sentiments. In other words, the lifeblood - faith in God- was cut off from people, and the world turned into a scene of madness with new terrorist attacks and killings every other day.
This plague of unbelief is hurting all people of the world. The only way to end to this tyranny is the alliance of devout people of Abrahamic religions as only such unity can help build societies of peace, happiness, and safety. In essence, Muslims, Christians, and Jews have common principles of faith, worship, and moral values. The followers of these faiths believe that God created the universe from nothingness and sustains all matter with His Endless Power; that God created all life forms in a miraculous way; and that man has a soul given by God; that God sent Prophets to humanity throughout history, like the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), and the Prophets Jesus, Moses (peace be upon them) along with the Prophets Noah, David, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph (peace be upon them all); and they love them all; that God created our lives according to destiny; and they all believe in the Resurrection, Hell, Heaven, and the existence of the angels. Not only in matters of faith, the followers of Abrahamic religions also have common values about morality such as the importance of honor, chastity, modesty, selflessness, honesty, compassion, mercy, and unconditional love.
Although Jews and Christians were given a different Law than the Muslims, all sincere believers are required to submit wholeheartedly to God, do what is good, and compete in doing good deeds. All of them who believe in the existence of God and the Hereafter and do good deeds are, in reality, following the true religion our Lord revealed to the Prophet Abraham (pbuh). In the Qur’an God reveals that the religion of Abraham (pbuh) was a haneef religion. The word haneef means: one who surrenders to God’s Will, not compromising in any way on His Religion, and being devout. In one verse, God commands the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) to abide by the haneef religion of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh): “Then We revealed to you: ‘Follow the religion of Abraham, a man of pure natural belief. He was not one of the idolaters.’” (Surat An-Nahl: 123)
The Prophet Abraham’s (pbuh) devout descendants all abided by his haneef religion. In the Qur’an this truth is revealed as follows: “Who would deliberately renounce the religion of Abraham, except someone who reveals himself to be a fool? We chose him in this world, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the righteous. When his Lord said to him: ‘Become a Muslim!’ he said: ‘I am a Muslim who has submitted to the Lord of all the worlds.’ Abraham directed his sons to this, as did Jacob: ‘My sons. God has chosen this religion for you, so do not die except as Muslims.’ Or were you present when death came to Jacob and he said to his sons: ‘What will you worship when I have gone?’ They said: ‘We will worship your God, the God of your forefathers, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac – One God. We are Muslims submitted to Him.’” (Surat Al-Baqara: 130-133)
The religion followed by the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) represents the common ground among Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Love, faith, and respect for the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) are just as important to Muslims as they are for Christians and Jews. Essentially, all Prophets have invited their nations to believe in and worship God and to abide by the limits He has established for humanity. All nations are expected to follow God’s will without fail and to do good deeds in order to earn His reward. So, Muslims, Jews and Christians, people believing in God and obeying His revelation, should unite in this common premise of the haneef religion which commands all to love and obey God, our Creator and our Lord, and pray to Him to lead us to a truer path.
When Muslims, Christians, and Jews unite under these premises, when they realize that they are allies and not enemies in their intellectual efforts against irreligious ideologies, the world will become an altogether different place. The pure religion of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) who submitted himself to God is the path that will guide them to unity and peace. When this great task of unity is achieved, pains and suffering will be replaced by peace, happiness, wealth and good fortune for entire humanity.
Every step to bring faithful Jews, Christians and Muslims together, will be another step towards ending the darkness that is afflicting our world. Faithful believers should not even miss a second to start working on this crucial mission and seek to be a means to provide peace and security for all the downtrodden, who ask for salvation from our Lord.
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