Daily Times

When Jesus

Peace and blessings be upon him

Announced

The commandment to

“Love one another”

He never meant

Only love

Black or white or brown people

Or Jews only

The prophet of Islam

Peace and blessings be upon him

Was called “a mercy unto mankind”

He was a mercy not for one

Or other

Race or religion

But for all mankind

And

As the Bible proclaimed

Man was made in God’s image

The Quran declared

Man is the

“Deputy of God”

A unique status

For a unique creation

On a unique planet

How have wetreated

The deputyof God?

In Pittsburgh we have killed the deputy

in a synagogue

In Christchurch in a mosque

And

In Sri Lanka

In several churches

Jews, Muslims, Christians

No one was spared

We have spared

No one

We have ignored

The wise rabbis

Who said

Tikkun ulam

Heal a fractured world

We have mocked

And rejected God

We have thereby

Blocked our path

To the mercy of God

Yet

We recall

On the cruel cross

In intense agony

Jesus sighed

Forgive them

For they know not

What they do

And when Hind

Committed acts of barbarity

To torture the Prophet

He still forgave her

And when the woman

Who threw garbage

On him daily

Fell ill

He visited her

With gifts and good wishes

Every life you take

He warned

Is like killing the

Entire Universe

Others too

The great

Men and women of God

Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh

Preached love and compassion

We can still remind God

That we are part of God

And God is part of us

That God has called Himself

The Beneficient

The Merciful

We can

Pray that the light of God

That shines in the hearts

Of the good and pious,

Will evoke

God’s compassion.

The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, and author of Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity