Peace Building and Love: A Silver Lining after World Emerges from COVID-19
By Sheher Bano
Peace builders from various faith communities, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, termed COVID-19 a great opportunity to break bread and build bridges, for a world where, love, tolerance, mutual respect and coexistence will replace hate, bigotry and discrimination, to create an inclusive society.
They were speaking at a digital webinar arranged by American Muslim Women’s Empowerment Council (AMWEC) which is a Pakistan women-led multi-faith women’s organization that advocates for peace and inclusion. AMWEC’s president, Anila Ali, and their co-host Sacha Dratwa, from the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM), gathered speakers from the US State Department, the UN, Republicans and Democrats to celebrate the friendship of a Muslim and a Jew.
AMWEC and CAM celebrated the friendship of renowned Pakistani scholar, Dr Akbar S. Ahmed and Judea Pearl, the father of slain journalist, Daniel Pearl.
“We are honored to bring these meaningful encounters to show you our commitment to rebuilding a common destiny for the whole humanity. Today, we unite in saluting the efforts of two compassionate visionaries who turned hate into love- adversity into opportunity and tragedy into compassion. Judea Pearl and Ambassador Akbar Ahmed -we salute you. Let it be known that Daniel Pearl will not be forgotten and we pray that MAY his memory be a blessing. Ameen,” said Anila Ali, a Pakistani educator and faith leader.
The high profile panelists included the co-host and a great friend of the Pakistani community in America, Rabbi Gersh Zylberman of Temple Bat Yahm; Dr Maya Soetoro Ng (former President Obama’s sister); Ellie Cohanim, US State Department's Special Envoy to Combat AntiSemitism; United Nation’s MrAhmed Shaheed; UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religions and Beliefs, Senator Jackie Rosen; United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback; US Secretary of State for Transportation, Honorable Elaine Chao; National Education Association’s Shelly M. Krajacic; Bahraini Ambassador Houda Nonoo and others who forcefully emphasized the need for different ethnic and religious groups to come together to address hatred and promote mutual understanding.
“Now more than ever, people of all faiths must unite in collective action to seek out commonalities and work towards mutual understanding,” said Anila Ali, President of Amwec.
In his opening remarks, Imam Qazwini, quoted a prayer of Hadhrat Musa (AS) from the Holy Qur’an (Chapter 28, verse 24): “So he watered [their flocks] for them; then he went back to the shade and said, ‘My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.’"
He said the word used here is “faqr,” an Arabic word meaning poverty. The Prophet Hadhrat Musa who was raised in royalty, taken care of as a leader, was protected, sheltered and watched over by Allah Almighty right from his childhood, turned to God while he was in the desperate need, as shown in that ayat of the Holy Qur’an. While Pharaoh in that spectrum didn’t feel the need of a God as he considered himself a god.”
Imam Qazwini said there are two voices that speak to us, one is the voice of ego and the other is the voice of conscience. Voice of ego, tyrannical and dictatorial in nature, leads us to the path of self-righteousness, which develops into supremacy, supremacy destroys love, and love is the glue that binds us all together, while the voice of conscience is quiet and peaceful. “Every day we have a choice to listen to either of the voices.”
Ambassador Akbar S Ahmed, a Pakistani-American Muslim scholar whose efforts are aimed at turning hate into love, while recalling his journey to interfaith harmony, said: “Three decades ago when I was asked to be the Muslim Commissioner on the first ever Commission on Antisemitism in London, two things dawned on me that how little I know about Jewish community and how sympathetic their history and culture was and how similar to Muslims they are and secondly, the kind of challenges they were facing really emanate from ignorance, stupidity and certain bias, and it is upto those who had become friends and allies to help explain Jewish history and culture. I took that road and along the journey on that road, I met many wonderful people including Judea Pearl.”
Akbar S Ahmed was probably the first Muslim to speak in the Holocaust Museum: “Those were great moving moments for me. There are a couple of lessons we can learn from Corona virus. In terms of our collective interests, we need to quickly help the world understand how connected we are as in this pandemic; we are no longer Jews or Muslims. Secondly, how dangerous it is to be ignorant, without knowledge we are already in deep trouble and how our plight is also linked to the issues like climate change or poverty -- the greater issues which we have ignored so far but these hit people around the globe equally. Only love and compassion are going to drive us as human beings irrespective of our culture and religions.”
Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, termed his son the shine of truth, humor and humanity, a bridge builder who gave voice to millions of voiceless Muslims in ME and North Africa, a journalist who unveiled to millions of readers in the West the human face behind the news. “’I am Jewish,’ the last words of Daniel Pearl, became an iconic reminder to millions of people around the world at the current wave of terror, violence, and hatred, that are aimed at the very fabric of civilized society. These words symbolize the freedom of every individual, to see his faith, heritage or identity, or think of the magical capacity of the human spirit, to embed the dignity of being different within the oneness of mankind.” He said universal humanity and tolerance for diversity comes from personal empathy and personal empathy emanates not from personal experience but collective experience. Personal experience is not rich enough to cope with the complexity of life. Collective memory is what we need today.”
United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback pointed out that Corona virus has put the world on a time out and made all of us to go to our home, thank, pray, and reflect what it all means to be in the COVID-19 era. It has transformed people’s thinking patterns for a better world where people work together to solve problems. “Ant-Semitism or any religious bigotry takes its toll on all of us if we fail to tolerate each other. We should respect each other’s religious views. Everyone should have religious freedom to practice their faith peacefully, without any fear and they should be protected regardless of their faith. The message of the moment is that we all should work together and have tolerance at the level of respect and mutual care. It is for the religious leaders to rise to the moment and have respect for each other’s religion and work together. Faith is a tool of peace and not a tool of war. It has been used as a tool of war way many times, way to many places. Let’s use it as a tool of peace.”
Commander David J Kowalski from LAPD Counter Terrorism Wing vowed to continue his department’s efforts and priorities to help communities combat hate, reduce its effect, and make an impact to make people’s life comfortable.
Ambassador Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo was the first Jew and the third woman to be appointed ambassador of Bahrain to the United States in 2008, a role that also included responsibility over Bahraini diplomatic representation to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina (non-resident). She was the first Jewish ambassador of any Middle Eastern Arab country. While speaking on the occasion she said that Bahrain, despite being a Muslim country, has created an environment where it respects religious differences and all religious minorities including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians enjoy full freedom of worship. “Today, next to mosques, Bahrain is home to 19 churches, Hindu, Sikh and Bahai temples and many other places of worship.”
Nonoo, as ambassador to the US, held important religious dialogues and events and changed embassy iftar from all-male gatherings to mixed-gender events with lectures on Islam and also introduced an interfaith reunion with local imams, rabbis and Christian clergy as guests.
“Bahrain Jewish community comprises only 34 of us, but we have made our mark in Bahraini society. Living in Bahrain I went to a Catholic school, was taught by nuns, my friends were from different religions and backgrounds, and we grew up respecting each other’s differences. It is indeed hard to find such an experience in a Muslim-majority country now, but this made me to play an active role towards religious co-existence.”
Senator Jacky Rosen, an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Nevada since 2019, said increasing hate crimes in America makes it important more than ever that all faith communities, especially Jews and Muslims, stand together and turn back the tide of bigotry. “Values like caring of each other and importance of families, and sense of togetherness, bring families and communities together.”
Mr Ahmed Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom or Religions and Beliefs, said that we are living in unusual times, where the collective dimension to worship, which is so crucial to religious existence and communal life, is being restrained by a global pandemic. It is now more important, to cherish the values that are the essence of our religious communities, and reach out to each other in our shared humanity. “Today, entrepreneurs of hatred go over time to incite hatred towards others, scapegoating of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Bahais and others have been furthered by the act of violence and harm. We have to push back against this hatred, not with hate but with the love.”
He said that the UN has developed a framework to promote interfaith exchanges and dialogues. This includes a process led by the USA, Canada, UK, Turkey and Pakistan, and UN’s own Global Alliance on Civilizations, through which faith leaders will be engaged to combat religious hatred and devise practical guidance on engaging an interfaith initiative. Already some activities are taking place at this front. This is an opportunity for and obligation on faith communities to promote friendship and empathy amongst each other.”
Ellie Cohanim, US State Department’s Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, who was born in a pre-Islamic revolution Iran of 1979, recalled her childhood experience in an Islamic country. She was named Elhaam which is the Persian version of an Arabic word Ilham, meaning prophecy. “This image of a Jewish Iranian family with home in Tehran in 1970s, is hard pressed to imagine in 2020. We were a community living in harmony and peace with Jewish and Muslim neighbors. Jewish in Iran are one of the most ancient communities in the world, with most of us tracing back our lineage in ancient Persia. Our community was indigenous to the region, and our presence in the region predates to rise of Christianity and later Islam. Persian Jews like the Jews of Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, had lived with complete religious harmony, becoming fabric of the society and endorsed apex of anti-Semitism. They contributed to the advancement of the societies. Unfortunately, the 20th century saw the dispersal of one million Jews from their ancient homelands, throughout the Middle East and N. Africa, Today, there are hopeful trends, realignments and shift in the region, which bode well for achieving true peace.
Dr Maya Soetoro-Ng, an Indonesian-American maternal half-sister of the former US President, Barack Obama, an interfaith educator, peace maker, and author, read a poem by Dr Akbar S. Ahmed. She talked about the inherent quality of every human being of being a peace builder regardless of their faith and profession. “It is simply about claiming that identity. This is an important time to begin giving people in every educational space the tools, skills and mandate for peacebuilding leadership, at every age. We all should be explorer where we must face the fear of the unknown in COVID 19 and other things like conflicts, inadequacies, struggles and sufferings, not just with courage but also with a sense of wonder and curiosity and grapple with solitude mind our own interiors in order to care for ourselves and for the environment around us with love for each one other.”
Karen Parkin Barrell, from a powerful Global women’s organization, Hadassah, who represents 300,000 members all over the country and combats anti-Semitism through education, opined: “We pursued ‘the Never again Holocaust Education Act’ and got it passed in the house, in January this year. Last week, while the entire world was under lockdown due to COVID-19, we got the Act passed by the Senate. Now it is awaiting presidential approval and hopefully will be signed within next 10 days. The bill has bipartisan support of both Republicans and Democrats. The bill is not only about anti-Semitism but also teaching about anti-hate and about more tolerant society. After the passage of the bill we will work on grassroots level with schoolteachers and to make sure that they are applying for a federal fund under the Act which will help teachers to arrange programs, materials and visits of children to US holocaust museum or inviting speakers from there.”
Rabi Simon Jacobson, the author of the best-selling book “Toward A Meaningful Life”, said his whole life is one story, which is building bridges and respect religious freedom. He said he doesn't believe in labelling people with their religious identifications. “Labels are for clothing and not for human beings.,” he declared.
He said the world is going through a historical moment of disruption, where we have a historical opportunity to have a potential to create a true paradigm shift. “Mystically speaking every shift from one reality to another you need to go through some disruption. We hope that it should be with the least amount of pain and aggravation and deaths, God forbid. A chick cannot come out until there is a crack in the egg. Are we going to focus on the egg or on the new life? This we have to decide. Disruption comes very rarely in human life. We don’t have any control over what is going on outside, but we definitely are in control of what we are going to do with our spirit and with our love. This love is a microcosm, if we magnify it, it will have a ripple effect, a butterfly act, that can affect seven and a half billion and counting human beings on this planet. Each one of us is an indispensable musical note, in a large composition, where we need each other. It’s the wake-up call in the true sense of words. We need to create a true pandemic of goodness and kindness in this corona pandemic.”
US Secretary of Transportation, Elaine L Chao, joining the interfaith Iftar on video, said that during these challenging times, breaking bread together can help break down barriers and replace those barriers with mutual respect and tolerance. “Global crises like this pandemic afflict people of every gender, nationality, and belief. Standing together, with a sense of unity and mutual respect can help us confront even the toughest problems. Division tends to make the problems, worse.”
Richard S. Hirschhaut, Regional Director, American Jewish Community (AJC) Los Angeles, said we need to seize upon this enormous opportunity to restart the world to reimagine the kind of world that we can live in a post-COVID19 new normal and new reality.
He said the “No Hate Act” bill has been passed out of the US House of Representatives just last week and now is awaiting Conservative leader McConnell and US Senate to be signed. With the passage of this act, we will see our communities, incentivized to teach and train particularly the law enforcement community what hate crimes are so that all communities and all our neighbors are aware and can recognize the signs of biased crimes. American society has seen both angels of humanity and also the troubling spike in episode 4 of hate and incidents of bias throughout the COVID-19 crises but this cannot be acceptable or part of new normal, as the country emerges from COVID-19 crises. COVID-19 has revealed tremendous structural inequities across the board and revealed the terrible chronic problems of access to health, unfair treatment of migrant populations and asylum seekers and problems of homelessness in Los Angeles, and many other large cities. Now we have a golden opportunity to reimagine what our world would look like. This is the proverbial silver lining out of the depth of this terrible crisis.”
Pakistani American business leader, Vice President Amwec, Faryal Khan while quoting former US President Barack Obama, termed the COVID-19 era a moment of spiritual renewal which reminds us of our duty towards our fellow human beings to serve one another and lift up the less fortunate.
Others who spoke on the occasion included AMWEC’s other Pakistani women leaders Bushra Mateen, Dr Farhat Zubair, and from Greek Orthodox faith, Ms Anastasia Selberis, Dinah Frieden from the Jewish faith, Deborah Cunningham Skurnik from the Christian faith.
Priest Zarir Bhandara from the Zoroastrian community and Bollywood artist Charanjeet Singh also joined the interfaith event to showcase a unity of faith-leaders in America.
Raahim Khan Afzal adds: The Olive Tree Initiative is an organization created to bring religions together and promote peace. Especially at a time when there is a lot of chaos and hate around the world, this is the best time we should all be supporting each other. Having an open dialogue and loving relationship with our fellow Christians and Jews is the first major step to solving our problems and erasing the hate and stereotypes in the world.
This past weekend the organization held an interfaith panel webinar to discuss the effects of the coronavirus on all our communities and what we can do to make the best of this serious situation. Members from the Christian community, the Jewish community, and the Muslim community all shared their experiences on how the lockdown has impacted their community physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. Present in this webinar was Bushra Mateen, Board Member of AMWEC (American Women Empowerment Council), as she gave an insight into the impact the coronavirus had on Muslims. "
shehbanu, please check who said this?
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