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Date: March 25, 2008 at 07:56:45
From: Prof Charles Mercieca, [ool-457a093f.dyn.optonline.net]
Subject: Message of Peace from Prophet Jesus & Prophet Muhammad


Message of Peace from Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad

A Paper Presented at "The Message of Peace Conference" At The Islamic Centre of England On The Auspicious Occasion Of The Birth Anniversary of Prophet Muhammad Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a.s.)

On Sunday, 23rd March, 2008
By

Professor Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
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The sacred books of two of the leading religions in the world, the Bible and the Koran, speak reverently and highly of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Bible we find several references to Jesus whose presence on Earth, as the promised Messiah, was predicted for a number of centuries. References to His Blessed Mother Mary are also found since the early days of creation.1


Jesus in Perspective

On the other hand, the Koran spends a number of pages speaking of Jesus as a great prophet who was miraculously conceived by His mother without the intervention of an earthly father. Jesus is acknowledged to be conceived through direct intervention of God, as announced by Angel Gabriel. He emerged as a great prophet who meant to save not only the Jews but also the Gentiles who represent the rest of the world. The New Testament tells us that Jesus grew up in grace and was respectful to his parents, Mary and Joseph, His Foster Father.2

Jesus was so well versed in Holy Scriptures that at the age of twelve he was in the one of the Temples raising intelligent questions to the religious leaders of the Jewish faith. When at the age of 30 He started His preaching mission, He proved to be very critical of anyone who distorted Holy Scriptures, who twisted the words of God, and who thereby conveyed a misconception of God the Father from whom everything that ever existed had originated. This explains why He did not hesitate to call the Pharisees hypocrites, by which he meant deceivers.3

The affinity that Jesus had with God cannot be taken lightly. He always referred to God as His Heavenly Father. He always viewed Himself as the one who could understand the nature of God best. In fact, he warned the Pharisees saying: "The God you preach is not the God I know; you preach a God of hatred and revenge. The God I know is a God of love and mercy. He is a God that when you strike him on the cheek, He will not only refrain from striking back but He will rather let you strike Him on the other cheek as well."

Hence, Jesus was a living example of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. He condemned violence of any kind. He never justified it in no way whatsoever. One of these Commandments says: "You should not kill." So war is never justified in any circumstances. During the year 2007, Pope Benedict XVI emerged to become the first Pope in centuries who said that "war is not justified under any circumstance whatsoever." To this end, Jesus did not hesitate to warn His apostle Peter, who tried to
defend Him, saying: "Put the sword away for he who kills by the sword will die by the sword."4


Genuine Peace through True Love

If we were to analyze the words and actions of Jesus we may fully realize and understand why Jesus has been viewed over the last two thousand years as the perfect image of God the Father on Earth. As already stated, Jesus observed with perfection all of the Commandments, like "Honor your father and your mother." The Holy Scriptures says that Jesus grew up in God's grace and was obedient to his parents. Another Commandment says: "You should not say any lies." Jesus was so truthful that when Pontius Pilot asked Him to explain who He was, Jesus simply replied: "Ego sum Veritas - I am the Truth."

In addition to observing well the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, He proceeded to reveal great love and mercy for all sinners. He knew that God was full of mercy and compassion and that God exercised infinite love for all of His children, good and bad alike. We recall, for example, that when a young woman, who was caught up in adultery, was brought to Jesus He was asked to condemn her to death by stoning in accordance with the law. He realized immediately that these were all wicked and malicious people, that they were all sinners themselves.5

In view of this, He simply stated: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." They all left one by one because they were all sinners. They were all vindictive who were void of love, mercy and compassion. Then Jesus said to the young woman with love, mercy and compassion to simply go back home, sin no more and to live in peace. The first of the
Ten Commandments says that we should reveal great love and respect for God our Father because He loves us more than anything else. In fact, many ascetical writers tell us that Jesus took upon himself the burden of sins of the whole world and went to suffer a cruel and atrocious death as atonement for the sins of us. No wonder why we find that when Jesus was with John the Baptist in Jordan to be baptized a voice was heard from heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus was here a living example of a true Son of God.

In view of what has been stated, we may comprehend that Jesus' message of peace was one of love and mercy, one that we should constantly exercise toward all of the children of God, good and bad alike. God loves the good children of His in no lesser way than He loves His bad children. The only difference, as far as God is concerned, is this that He feels consoled and happy when He sees His children practicing such virtues for each other as love, mercy, compassion, humility, honesty, prudence, kindness, and forgiveness. On the other hand, God feels frustrated and sad when He sees His children resorting with each other to hatred, revenge, pride, dishonesty, arrogance, cruelty and vindictiveness with each other.6


Peaceful Messengers of God

Perhaps one of the best exhortations of Jesus for us to become peaceful messengers of God was when He insisted that we "should do to others as we would want others to do to us." Do we really want to be loved and respected everywhere? If that is the case, then we should do likewise with all the people we come across in life. Also, we need to keep in mind that while human beings tend to view others by the nationality they carry, the gender they belong to, and the culture they come from, God, on the other hand, tends to view us merely by our virtues or lack of them. For Him we are just good or bad, kind or cruel, patient or impatient, and truthful or deceitful in the way we deal with each other.

As we know, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was deeply respected all over the world for her complete dedication to the poorest of the poor and to people who even disrespected her in a number of ways. When she was asked as to why she chose to serve these types of people, she simply replied: "These are all children of God who need attention, love, kindness, and mercy." God was indeed working within herself to give His beloved children all the assistance they needed. In brief, the Message of Jesus for peace is very clear. We all need to feel responsible for the welfare of all people of all nations without exception.7

To this end, we should not hesitate to assume jobs of responsibility that would enable us to reach more people as to provide them with all their basic needs of life. We should implore God constantly to provide us with people everywhere that would never resort to violence to help solve the manifold problems that this world is facing. We should cultivate in our children love and respect for all people everywhere. In fact, we should see the diversity of people in terms of race, culture, language, religion, age, gender, and nationality merely as a proof of God's greatness to make us all different. This diversity has enabled us to create a colorful world that we must cherish and enjoy. We may proceed now to learn about Prophet Muhammad's message of peace.

There is no doubt whatsoever that one of the greatest spiritual inspirers of all times was Prophet Muhammad. His dedication to God's service was quite obvious as revealed in his effort to unify all the various factions that existed during his lifetime. The greatness of Prophet Muhammad is not to be sought in his appearance but in his virtues especially those of goodness, kindness, patience, humility, tolerance, and perseverance, in addition to the many other tributes his character possessed. His love and dedication to the One True God of the Universe is revealed in his continued dependence, devotion and respect for this compassionate, forgivable, lovable and almighty Father of all of us.


Unity Among All People

One of the greatest desires of Prophet Muhammad was to see Jews, Muslims and Christians living together like one big family. He viewed all of these as direct descendants of Abraham, as children of the same beloved God. He understood thoroughly that the best way to please God and to pay Him great homage is to love and respect all of His children, regardless of their nationality, culture, and religion. The idea of the jihad, that is, of waging a holy in God's name, was intended to be a war against our passions, our vices, our iniquities by turning hatred into love, selfishness into generosity, revenge into forgiveness, and indifference for others into dedication to our neighbors.8

If Prophet Muhammad were with us today he would not hesitate to tell us that our love for God, commonly known as Allah, cannot be demonstrated when we try to hurt our neighbor, especially through maiming and killing. Regardless of our intentions, each time we wage a war against the other children of God, we are, in essence, offending, insulting and displeasing God unnecessarily. Ascetical writers have told us over the centuries that if God dealt with us like we deal with each other, the entire world would have been exterminated a long time ago. We are still here enjoying life and each other because God revealed to be for us a continuous compassionate and lovable Father.

Although Jesus and Prophet Muhammad lived at different times and they had different backgrounds and cultures, both brought to the world a good message of peace. Jesus, who was viewed as the Master Teacher, was greatly respected by Prophet Muhammad who taught nothing that went against any of the teachings of Christ. Also, Prophet Muhammad, like Jesus, had great respect for the Virgin Mary whom he viewed as great examples for womankind. This explains, partly, why the Koran imparts great respect for women, who share equal rights with men and who are capable of achieving almost anything in life, should they so choose. It also explains why generally Muslim women are very proud of their Islamic heritage and why many others seek to convert to Islam.9

We need to keep in mind here, that all religions are different paths that lead people in the same direction, that is, to our great merciful and lovable God. Only the means are different. For example, if we were to take a trip from London to Rome to participate in a peace conference, some may choose to take a plane and fly. Others may choose to take a train and go overland, while yet others may prefer to travel in their own car or their own motorcycle. Still, others may prefer to cruise to Rome by ship. Athletes might simply cross to France and then proceed with their trip to Rome on bicycle. The importance does not lie in the means taken. The importance lies in the fact that we arrive in Rome on time to participate in the stated peace conference.


Various Means of Reaching God

Needless to say, relative to such means, there are those who may wish to make changes on the way by shifting from a train to a bus or a car or even an airplane. Even here, as long as they arrive in Rome on time for the conference, we should always respect their personal preferences. It is not appropriate for us on to expect others to automatically choose our ways; and the same applies with regard to religion. Some may be born and brought up in one religion and then, at some time or another, they feel inspired to join another religion. If God respects their choice, then we must do likewise. After all, God is certainly wiser than all of us and in this respect we may learn from His wisdom.

Ascetical writers always tell us that God guides each one of us in mysterious ways. Genuine love for God is not revealed in the particular religion we adhere to, but in our ability to observe the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. We need to respect and love God above anything else. We are expected to honor our parents and be dedicated to all members of our families. We should demonstrate great respect for life since God is its author. Hence, the hurting and the killing of God's children would never be justified. Honesty in our dealings with each other, while practicing love and tolerance rather than promoting deceit, hate and revenge, are prerequisites for contented communities.10

Beside the aforementioned, we should never abuse any human being nor exhibit jealousy concerning whatever others may possess. Prophet Muhammad knew that the observance of God's Ten Commandments was the assured way to genuine inner peace. The teachings of Prophet Muhammad are not geared only to Muslims. They apply also to all human beings of all religions, same way as the teachings of Jesus. Prophet Muhammad's ultimate goal was to bring true peace into the hearts of all human beings via positive observance of the said Ten Commandments, for which the Prophet had great respect.

When St. Thomas Aquinas was asked by his students to share with them the secret of his wisdom, he was at first taken by surprise. But after a little thought he replied saying: "If you want to acquire the wisdom that you say I have, then you have to do something I have been doing since I was a young man. When you hear a statement, never ask: 'Who' made the statement? You should only ask: 'What" does the statement say? If it is good, if it is conducive to the welfare of all people without exception, then proceed to follow it even if it comes from a garbage man. If it is not good or it is conducive to the welfare of some but to the exclusion of others, then reject it even it comes from the king."11


Development of Individual Respect

Nowadays we have in the world well over one billion Christians and well over one billion Moslems. They have plenty of things in common that may be viewed both positive and negative, both constructive and destructive. For example, both have numerous divisions or sects that often make the adherents forget the message of peace emanating from the very leader they claim to follow. This is certainly degrading to both Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. There is no need for us to go through the numerous times that Catholics fought Protestants on one hand and Shiites fought Sunnis on the other. Such wars were, and will always remain, literally a source of pain to both Jesus and Prophet Muhammad.

Both Jesus and Prophet Muhammad viewed God with great love and respect. Both taught us God to be the Master of the Universe and that everything that exists, originates from God. They also taught us that God is the source of all our good inspirations and that God guides us through angels, to use right means to reach Him. We should take this fact seriously and always try to respect the various routes human beings choose to reach God, as long as they do not violate the Ten Commandments. We should accept people the way they are religiously and culturally. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, are just a few of the many diverse paths trodden by mankind in their journey toward God.

In conclusion, we must respect all humans even if they chose to convert from one religion to another. God understands our individual needs more than we do ourselves. We must praise all good actions that people perform and condemn all of their bad actions. Also, we need to obliterate all misconceptions about other religions, properly preserving their constructive contributions. Regardless of our preferred path to God, we should peacefully demand an end to all aggression, violence and war. The messages of peace of both Jesus and Prophet Muhammad should be implemented as soon as possible, especially by changing the role of the military, from one of destruction to one of construction, from one that wages wars to one that implements peace in God's name.


References:

1. Genesis, Holy Bible, King James Version, American Bible Society, 1611

2. A Simple Koran, Center for the Study of Political Islam and CSPI,
2006

3. New Testament, Holy Bible, King James Version, 1611

4. Ibid.

5. New Testament, Holy Bible, The Gideons International, Nashville, TN,
1980

6. Ibid.

7. Susan Conroy, Mother Teresa's Lessons of Love and Secrets of
Sanctity, Our Sunday Visitor, 2007

8. The Noble Qur'an, King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy
Qur'an, Medinah, K.S.A., 1999

9. Ibid.

10. Joan Carroll Cruz, Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles in the Lives of
Saints, Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., Rockford, Illinois, 1997

11. Josef Pieper, Guide to Thomas Aquinas, Ignatius Press, 1995

Related Bibliography

Brown, Michael H. The Day Will Come: Answers to Your Questions about
Mystics, Prophecies, & Miracles, Charis Servant Publications, Ann Arbor,
MI 48107, 1996

Charlesworth, James H. (Edited by), Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls,
Doubleday, New York, NY 10036, 1992

Dyer, Wayne W., There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, Harper
Collins Publisher, New York, NY 10022, 2001

Layton, Bentley, The Gnostic Scriptures: Ancient Wisdom for New Age,
Doubleday, New York, NY 10036, 1987

Mother Teresa, A Simple Path, Compiled by Lucinda Vardale, Ballantine
Books, New York, NY 10022, 1995

Nimer, Mohamed (Edited by), Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes
and Remedies, Amana Publications, Beltsville, MD 20705, 2007

Petrisko, Thomas W. Calls of the Ages: The Apparitions and Revelations
of the Virgin Mary Foretell the Coming Fall of Evil and an Era of Peace,
Queenship Publishing Company, Santa Barbara, CA 42028, 1995

Walsch, Neale Donald, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God,
Atria Books, New York, NY 10020, 2002

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