“Oh you who believe, be upholders of justice...

“Oh you who believe, be upholders of justice - witnesses for Allah, even though against (the interest of) your selves or the parents, and the kinsmen. One may be rich or poor, Allah is better caretaker of both. So do not follow desires, lest you should swerve. If you twist or avoid (the evidence), then, Allah is all-aware of what you do.” Qur’an, 4:135

Islam is a religion of submitting to the will of God. It seeks to empower man to fulfil the purpose of his creation, and through a divine connection, raise his ability to display his finest features. It is always useful to reflect how God fashioned man by his own hand, and as such the creation, has a wonderful way to really excel and display some unprecedented and truly blessed traits.

In these times though its easy to forget this, as we see far too much of mankind displaying the worst of themselves. The assault on Palestine today is a crime on humanity, it is a shame on every living soul that the world has watched a fully equipped military deploy heavy weaponry on a civilian population. The countries that speak of human rights, ironically are the ones that have armed the aggressor and watched on calling for peace on both sides. As one commentator put it, they have been asking the rape victim to be careful not to slap the rapist as they are violated, and unquestionably the country hiding behind the iron dome, armed to the teeth by Europe and America, enjoys its position on top.

However, despite the frightening behavior of the Israeli forces, that protect extremists seeking to storm the Al Aqsa mosque and Israeli house hunters, who seek to disposes Palestinians from their homes, with the logic if they do not, others will, some of the most horrific behavior actually comes from some of the faith leaders. We see a combination of silence and support from select parts of the faith hierarchy in the Judeo-Christian tradition. We have to ask why? How hard is it to call for human life and dignity to be protected? How hard is it to ask military personnel to fear God in their attacks of women and children even in a cease-fire, even in a mosque? How hard is it to ask politicians to have restraint in their rhetoric that leads to mob attacks on innocent civilians?

The reality is its hard, as seemingly there is a double standard. Palestinian, and I would argue, Muslim, blood seems to be worth less than that of our cousins. This is something which is heard from the silence of too many of the most senior faith leaders, even when the houses of God are violated. With the positions and trimmings of office, we would hope to see more leadership and the spirit of their traditions to call for calm, but we do not and it is why we all need to really consider how these men should be considered in this time. Are they truly faith leaders or are they post holders keeping their supporters sweet?

This week we saw the Israel machine mock a verse from the Qu’ran calling on God’s punishment. The fact even this was not something that would warrant a comment from those occupying the highest positions of religious authority should really make us consider who we look to for solutions? If a man seeking to represent his faith, cannot find the integrity to speak about the scripture of another being mocked, should we really have any expectation or weight for what he will speak on? How can these people call to the rights of their people when they are minorities, yet have nothing to say when the dispossessed of another tradition are annihilated? Furthermore, we must ask, how we should consider what they do have to say when they do speak? All in all, the question for the faithful is, should their most senior representatives be held to account in a more meaningful way than simply the constraints of an elected term?

As a Muslim, and someone engaged in civil society engagement, I often find myself discussing how come we are yet to establish a Grand Mufti position or a Chief of Islamic affairs role? Its always something that I have seen great value of emerging, but through this current crisis I can see a blessing in this role not being constituted in the UK today and to be honest in most Western countries.

Yesterday, I spent time discussing the situation of the Holy Lands with Rabbis and priests, and in all truth its my experience with them that encourages me to write on this, today, our blessed Friday. These were people from the grassroots, serving real communities, and I can categorically say, they felt the pain of Gaza, Palestine and the Holy Lands as a whole. They hated their traditions to be seen as aggressors, and genuinely wanted to see peace. Jewish representatives undoubtedly also wanted to see the end of rocket fire into Israel, but also recognized the reality of occupation and a heavy military response creating an unparalleled devastation to ordinary men, women and children. From my experience yesterday, I promise you, Muslims, Christians and Jewish people are more aligned than the powers that be, would let us believe. All feeling conflicted, all feeling pain, all wanting an end to the bloodshed.

My message today is, be positive and look to better days.

Tomorrow belongs to a new generation who in all truth are not concerned by religious structures, ceremony and the tradition of hierarchies. They have God in their heart and their faith on their sleeves and want to see their spirituality bring peace to the world. I believe this generation needs to connect, and community faith leaders need to open their doors to one another and ensure a new generation of faithful emerge, that will put the tenants of their faith over hate. A generation that will use democratic privileges to challenge the structures that ensure violence and persecution prevail and the filthiest trade of all; the arms trade, is brought into check. A generation that is unwilling for their taxes to subsidise the killing of innocent people and or accept that to be done in their name.

I pray for a tomorrow in which the next generation of my faith fight an Abrahamic jihad against hatred. A braver people uniting with people of other religious traditions to kill hate and join ranks with their fellow man, to see a world in which everyone can live a life faithfully to their beliefs, building an exemplary society that benefits humanity.

#Killhate. #divestfromhatred