As people who believe in God and follow His revelations, let
us rally to a common formula - "faith". Let's love God, Who
is our Creator and Lord, and follow His commands. And let us
pray God to lead us to an even straighter path. When Muslims,
Christians and Jews rally to a common formula this way; when
they understand that they are friends not enemies, when they
see that the real enemy is atheism and paganism, then the world
will become a very different place.
The fighting that has raged for ages, enmities, fears - and
terrorist attacks - will come to an end, and a new civilization
based on love, respect and peace will be established upon this
"common formula".
Although the divine religions contain different rules in the
light of the climate and conditions in which they were revealed,
they essentially offer the same model of belief and morality.
They have all offered the same fundamental truths regarding
such matters as the existence, oneness and attributes of God,
how He should be served, the kind of behaviour He finds pleasing,
how one should live and behave, the concepts of good and bad,
right and wrong, how people should order their lives in this
world, and how one can obtain eternal life .
Divine books revealed before the Qur'an are the Torah and the
Gospels. The Bible's two basic parts, the Old and the New Testaments,
are based on the Torah and the Gospels relatively, contain sections
that agree with the Qur'an. Both the Old and New Testaments
favor love, peace and tolerance, also prohibiting terror and
oppression. In this section, we'll consider how Jews and Christians
from all over the world must take action in light of these commands
to oppose terrorism.
It is a well-known fact that since the 1990s a number of commentators
have suggested that a clash between the West and Islam can be
expected in the near future. That is the main theme of Samuel
Huntington's thesis of the Clash of Civilisations. The truth
is that there can be no clash between Islamic and Western civilisation,
because the Judaeo-Christian belief that forms the basis of
Western civilisation is in harmony and alliance with Islam,
not in conflict with it.
Our hope is that all racist deviations will be abandoned, that
people will be able to live together in peace no matter what
their race or beliefs, and that a world in which there is respect
for everyone and in which everyone's rights will be observed
will be established. There is no question that the war on the
level of ideas to be waged together by believers against all
atheistic ideologies will bring about the peace and security
for which people have longed for so long. Allah issues the flowing
command in the Qur'an:
Those who are kafir are the friends and protectors of
one another. If you do not act in this way there will be
turmoil in the land and great corruption. (Surat al-Anfal:
73)
Recent years have seen a warm rapprochement between the revealed
religions, based on mutual sympathy and understanding.
An important picture begins to emerge when such activities aimed
at dialogue, which we have begun to hear about in newspapers
and on the television, are set out. Messages of peace and brotherhood
are being dent out to the whole world by means of joint seminars
and conferences that have been held on a regular basis since
the mid-1990s and which bring representatives of the different
revealed religions together.
It is most unfair to pass judgment on Islam and Muslims without
studying the Qur'an to learn whether a particular practice appears
in it. Examining the lifestyle of a single community only can
seriously mislead anyone who tries to understand Islam and form
opinions about it. First, what needs to be done is to learn
about Islam from its true source. Then, once the various models
in different parts of the world are considered in the light
of those criteria, many who only imagined they knew about Islam
will actually come to do so for the first time; and can free
themselves from the errors they have been laboring under so
far.
Jesus will return to the world for a second
time. He will unite all believers in God and bring peace to
mankind, as proclaimed by the Prophet Mohammad and revealed
in the Qur'an. The Qur'an acquaints us with some events from
the life of Jesus (as) which have not yet happened. Thus,
his second coming to earth is a prerequisite for these events
to happen. Furthermore, the Prophet Mohammed and those great
figures of Islam who interpreted his words have given an account
of the signs that will precede the coming of Jesus and have
indicated a specific period of time for that coming. Nearly
all of the signs have come to pass. The indicated time period
is the first half of the 21st century in which we are now
living.
The conference entitled 'RELIGIONS
DENOUNCE TERRORISM' has been successfully accomplished
in Istanbul on June 23, 2003. About 200 invited guests, all
prominent members of various religious communities and organizations,
from a a wide range of countries like Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria,
Israel, The United States, Italy or France was present at
the meeting. Several Turkish MP's and politicians were also
among the audience.
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