Peace, the Eternal Tie between Islam and Christianity | ||
Peace, the Eternal Tie between Islam and Christianity Translated by: Nayyereh Towhidi Imam Musa Sadr’s Cultural Research Institute, issued on 22/12/1977 , Imam Musa Sadr’s message titled “Peace the eternal tie between Islam and Christianity” on the occasion of the coincidence of the Ashura [the day of martyrdom of Imam Hussein(AS)] with the birthday of Prophet Jesus Christ(AS), emphasizing the peace in the two historic events. While commemorating the memory of Imam Musa Sadr, that great man of God, here we present an English version of the text to our dear readers. “O, the Lebanese people! 1337 years ago, on such a day, Imam Hussein(AS), the son of Imam Ali(AS) and of Fatima(SA) and the grandson of the Holy Prophet(PBUH) of Islam- together with his dear ones and faithful followers, welcomed death in the way of Allah and were martyred. Their crushed bodies were left on the hot desert sands and exposed to the burning winds of Karbala, while their children and other family members, having been taken as captives and put in most painful conditions, were being dragged towards far away cities. Later on, in that very place and on such days, mighty revolutionary flags were hoisted, crushing the tyrants’ rules, causing their thrones to shake and wiping them out of the earth and the history. The Revolution thus originating in Karbala and spreading to both nearby and faraway lands was but one among the many reviving effects and results of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein(AS) and just a ray from the ever-illuminating torch lit by Imam Hussein(AS) in the second half of the first Hijrah century. The battle-field in which the Ashura combat took place was in fact the very field of human values which are inseparable from true faith (Iman) and of which the dimensions will continue to coexist with man and his life in every land and every time, crushing the bars of the jail of man’s carnal self, creating ties between him and his fellow human beings and making a strong, elevated being out of him, thus gaining a personality lifted far above limitations of time and place and much moiré powerful than ordinary men. Truly, Imam Hussein(AS) safeguarded humane values through his own martyrdom, reviving humanity via his own death and engraving Divine values on the forehead of history, making such sublime values penetrate into the depths of human beings’ hearts and awakened the minds from the sleep of negligence through his profoundly tragic martyrdom. As a matter of fact, Imam Hussein(AS)’s contemporary people were leading most deviant lives, the pervasive deviation having begun with the deviation of governments, then polluting the whole societies and eventually penetrating souls and consciences, making them submit to the possessors of wealth and power. By then, the devout and responsible caliphate had turned into a hereditary monarchy, which ruled despotically. Under such conditions, Jihad which is in fact a door of the doors to paradise had been transformed into profiteering adventures, the public possessions had been transferred from the Muslims’ public treasury(Beitul-Mal) to the despotic rulers’ treasuries significant positions had been taken away from the worthy and put into dishonest, treacherous hands, human life, freedom and dignity had come to be regarded as of no value and the one with whom the tyrannical ruler was displeased would either be brutally killed, or unjustly exiled or had his character attacked by the mercenaries who through forging Ahadith would make attempts at character assassination. And all such evil trends and all other vices would repeatedly occur without their perpetrators facing any obstacle or punishment or even a trial. And it was Imam Hussein (AS) who overthrew the pervasive tyrannical domination and revived humane values through his unforgettable self-sacrifice. As for our time and the situation in Lebanon, it must be said that this year, that great occasion is to be viewed as having gained new dimensions. This phenomenon is due to the fact that history and geography have certain cooperation with each other when it comes to events and matters which are tied to humans’ social, public life. Really, after that civil sedition which threatened to ruin human values, the very values revived through Hussein (AS)’s martyrdom, we need to strengthen our resolution to continue to live by and be in- spired by that magnificent memory and example and the concepts flowing from that life-giving spring, and of course we need to take into account the universal dimensions to the event too. This year the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hussein (AS) coincides, with the birth anniversary of Prophet Jesus Christ(AS). Both Hussein (AS) and Jesus (AS) brought about the promotion of Divine values inspite of facing material obstacles; they both aimed at Peace and Compassion and thus the day of commemorating their memory is the day of peace and love. And this coincidence seems to mark a new history for Lebanon which is overflowing with the pure blood of martyrs and celebrating the birth of peace, love and Divine grace. In such a blessed atmosphere, we can remove resentments from ourselves, hough the resentments had got severe due to humane values having been trampled upon in our land, due to having witnessed our dear ones suffering fatal wounds and drenching in their blood for no sin and due to recent agitating developments pointing to the disputes among world powers and their cold war in this place. To help theevil goals behind the cold war be fulfilled, the world arrogant powers tried to create fightings all over Arab lands, the parties to which fightings are unequal in terms of arms, equipments and organization. The occurrence of such fightings can also be regarded as one of the unfavourable results of internal disputes. And now on the eve of those glorious occasions, it seems that our Gracious Creator, Who sent Messengers and Divine faiths for us is in a particular way, reminding us of how to remove such alamities, how to heal our wounds, how to unite our ranks and how to take stands in the face of the events in the region. Divine Commands and teachings offer solutions to each and every detail, we need for planning, for defence and even for forgoing our personal or group interests in order to revive the ivine human values once again. No doubt, it is just these values that make human life worthy, elevated and eternal, and it is though returning to such values that human beings can witness the rebirth of peace in the world and the revival of humanity as a whole. Peace is the historical and inevitable meeting point of Christians and Muslims. Now more than ever before in human history, Muslims and Christians need to get closer to each other, in particular in the face of the attacks by the Zionism, showing it’s poisonous teeth and stretching it’s bloody clutches towards our lands, for not only igniting the fire of religious disputes in our country and region, but also for dividing the region into small states serving the interests of Zionists who aim at destroying the illuminous face of Islam, Christianity and even Judaism, of which the Prophet is revered by both Muslims and Christians and attempt to ridicule the heritage, civilization, culture and sublime values of Islam and Christianity, this time in a different way. That is, if in the past, Zionists used to assault our heritage through their individual agents or institutes, now their player at the scene is a state who has employed hosts of stray individuals and institutes and put to use all it’s previous experiences. Yet this year’s auspicious occasions, present in Lebanon particularly a Divine tiding which announces Christians to be the closest of peoples to Muslims and the Zionists and polytheists to be those who are the farthest from them. Divine teachings urge us to pave the ground for peace, love, compassion and the flourishing of human values through self-sacrifice, forgiveness and tolerance, thus becoming able to guard our land, our region, all our belongings against all threats and to defend and support our brothers who just desire a just, honorable peace and refuse to submit to the suspicious Israeli peace. In conclusion, at this critical time I would like to urge the brothers who aim at the liberation of the occupied lands and are committed to our region’s rightful cause, which is struggle against Israel to devote themselves whole-heartedly to the goal of the liberation of the occupied lands and that crucial cause, and to never neglect this great ideal. We pray for our bothers and offer our cordial love as well as the products of our efforts and meditations to them. Brothers! Move towards peace,national solidarity, the rise of Lebanon and resistance in the face of everything which threatens to distort or stop your sacred cause. | ||
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