By Osman S. Sher, Toronto, Canada
The Rev. Canon Patrick P. Augustine, Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church Waynesboro, Virginia, begins his address in his ‘Let Hatred Not Win’ article in Pakistan Link of November 16 as follows: “Dear members of the Islamic faith!…On September 11, we saw hate in action, as devastation and destruction came to cities of the United States. The blood of the innocent and the dust and debris of steel, cement and ashes from the sacrifice of burnt human bodies in the inferno of fanatical terror ultimately engulfed all humanity. It was a sad day in human history when misguided zealots in the name of religion attacked innocent lives. The name of the God of Abraham, Moses, Muhammad and Jesus Christ was desecrated and used by these persons in vain…The perpetrator were incited to believe that it is a ‘holy war’ between Christians and Muslims.”
It is not understood how it could dawn upon the Reverend Augustine that those who have caused this ‘fanatical terror’ have done so out of ‘hatred’ for Christianity, and have waged a ‘holy war’ ‘in the name of religion’? Obviously, he has been swept away, like many others, by the broadcasts of western media and rhetoric of the western administration, who, by giving various turns and twists, have very subtly brought into fore the religion of Islam as the real culprit, thus distracting the world’s attention from focusing on their own political inequities perpetrated on the Middle East. Why immediately after September 11 a peace prayer meeting was arranged in Washington D.C., which was attended by the present and past Presidents of the United States and where religious leaders of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths were made to address and preach inter-faith harmony? Apparently, it was aimed at creating harmony among the faiths, when, in fact, no inter-religious dissonance seems to exist in the world these days. Whatever exasperation exists, it is political. It may be remembered that as long as political excesses are there, reactions will continue to crop up.
At a time when the messages of discord have been disseminated aplenty, more accusations on the ‘members of the Islamic faith’ for a crime that has nothing to do with religion do not seem appropriate. I may quote Albert Camus, the French writer: “Everyone insists on his innocence, at all costs, even if it means accusing the rest of the human race and heaven.”