Brussels

I no longer watch the news or read newspapers, but I know that if anything happens that I need to know, my guides and angels will ensure I learn about it.

Naturally, I heard about the attacks in Brussels and was just as horrified as everyone else.  But I had another underlying emotion which I had trouble identifying.  It felt a bit like anger, but had tinges of incredulity and disappointment, and a hint of despair.

I realised during a meditation, later in the week, that all of these emotions were directed towards those people who think that violence against anyone is a worthwhile means to their ends.  I knew that the ends that these people are hoping to establish are never likely to be achieved using such tactics.

During my meditation, I imagined myself face to face in one-on-one conversations with prospective Muslim terrorists and suicide bombers asking the following questions:

“Have you read the Qur’an?”

“Do you believe in Allah?”

“Do you believe that Allah is the creator of every person on this planet?

“Do you believe that Allah stands between a person and their heart?”

“Do you believe that Allah is closer to a person than their jugular vein?”

“Do you believe that Allah created some people in error?”

“If you answered ‘yes’ to the first 5 questions and ‘no’ to the last, how can you consider taking the lives of those beings where Allah resides?”

Many people believe that the Qur’an promotes violence, but the battles condoned in the Qur’an were against particular foes, in particular historical instances only.  Just like any religious text, or any book, probably, we could find extracts which, if taken out of context, can be used to justify violence.

Killing is forbidden in the Qur’an (6:151, 17:33) and the killing of one innocent person is considered as bad as slaying all of humanity (5:32).  Muslims are advised that they are not to take it upon themselves to judge others and in any judgements that they do make, they should be compassionate and merciful, just as Allah is.  However Allah is the only one who truly knows the hearts of humans, and the only one who is in a position to judge.

What they would understand if they sought a direct relationship with Allah, is that Allah really doesn’t judge anyone.

Even though, at the time of Muhammad, it was necessary to have a carrot and a stick, no person is really judged in the afterlife.  However, there are consequences to every action and the Qur’an tells us that: “In no way does Allah wrong people, but people wrong themselves” (10:44).  This is an indication of karma.  What goes around, comes around.  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  What you do to another, you do to yourself.

The Qur’an advises Muslims to “requite evil with good” (23:96), thus forever breaking the cycle of karma.

If I really did have a one-on-one conversation with prospective suicide bombers, I would tell them that, if they seek to be loyal jihadist for Allah, they should reconsider their tactics.  Any true jihadist for Allah (one who struggles for Allah) would seek to emulate Allah.  There is no doubt as to how to do that.  The Qur’an starts every surah with: “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”.  Any loyal jihadist for Allah must be compassionate and merciful.

“True servants of the Merciful are those who walk humbly on the earth and say: ‘Peace!’ to the ignorant who accost them.” (25:63)

Allah allows free will for all of his creation, so we have the right to choose how to be.  We can emulate Allah as compassionate and merciful, or we can act in accordance with the dictates of our egos.

Any Muslim with a strong connection to Allah would recognise the discrepancy between the actions of terrorists who are ruled by their egos, and the actions of those trying to emulate Allah in all that they think, say and do.

It is time for all those Muslims with a strong connection to Allah to speak up loudly whenever they hear the voices of men’s egos espoused as the voice of Allah.

God, Allah, is love, and only those speaking with love can profess to be speaking on behalf of Allah.

Any religion, theory, sect, or group, which wishes to divide people from each other, cannot offer the complete truth for any person.  For, as I have learned, we are all one.  All people are united by God’s love.

Dear Muslims, it is time for those of you, who know that Allah is love, to speak on behalf of Allah.  It is time to step up, and help to create Allah’s great Ummah, based not on any one religion, but based on the unity of Allah’s love.