EQUALITY

EQUALITY

Thursday, December 10, 2015

"I Only Fear Allah"

By: James H. Williams

“Taqwa” is Arabic for “Fear of Allah.”  Of late, a group of world citizens (meaning, we are all part of the global human society), has attempted to perverse one of the world’s oldest religions in the name of Islam and for their demented goals and gains.

There are reportedly 1.6 billion Muslims on a planet of 7 billion citizens, and we are connected whether you like or not! But there is a small minority trying to separate the human community through extreme violence and in the name of Allah. Let’s not forget Islam has always been a religion of peace.  The greeting “As-salaam Alaykum” translates to “Peace be upon you.”  As one who has study and researched Islam, I can say with certainty that as you practice your faith, the foundational belief  “I Only Fear Allah” evolve in your heart. You start to think, act and respond to live very differently.  Your inner strength increases dramatically. As a global humanity, we must speak out against tyranny in our midst, and press our elected officials to act accordingly: “Not in my name!” As Dr. Martin King stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We have a responsibility to “bear witness to the truth.”

Fortunately, voices are speaking to these issues. However, I’m afraid their voices are being drowned out by the jingoistic foreign policy of war, “retaliation,” and “an eye for an eye” which only leads to more of the violence and separation.

History has played a vital role in the state of where we are today.  In Vietnam, Iran, Soviet-Afgan war, Iraq, and Libya, all of these events and more were short-sighted and very disturbing to those who were and are affected the most, the casualty of Humanity.

We must never take unilateral action but work with our democratic allies around the world and with the U.N., aware that we're all in this together, acknowledging the history of our relations with the Islamic world in full intellectual and emotional view.

1 comment:

  1. Very good critical analysis and observation of history.

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