The religion of Mrecy, Wisdom, love and Interrelationship :
Our Friends,
Islam is a religion for all mankind. This is expressed in many Qur`anic verses addressed to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), such as: << We have not sent thee but as a universal (messenger) to men, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men understand not>> Sabaa – 28; and " We sent thee not, but as a mercy for all creatures" Anbiyaa – 107; and <<Now hath come unto you an Apostle from amongst your yourselves: it grieves him that ye should perish: ardently anxious is he over you: to believers is he most kind and merciful>>Tauba – 128.
Islam is also a religion of wisdom, as expressed in <<He granteth wisdom to whom he pleaseth, and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing, but not will grasp the message but men of understanding>> Baqara- 269, and is a religion of love, interrelationship, tolerance and brotherhood as expressed in the Prophet Tradition: << The believers in their mutual love and mercifulness resemble one body, when a part suffers, the entire boday will feel fever and restlessness>>. Holy Quran describes such interrelationship and brotherhood among Muslims by saying: << And hold fast, all together, by the rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves and remember with gratitude God's favor on you , for ye were enemies and he joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace, ye became brethren>> al`imran – 103.
This concept of mutual love and interrelationship among Muslims around the world has to be understood and respected by non-Muslims. Unified under the identity of Islam, we, Saudi and non-Saudi Muslims consider all Muslim territories as a homeland for every Muslim. So, our homeland does not mean Saudi Arabia only. It is Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir and those Muslim countries which were under Soviet control. We see your government supporting Israel which is discarding all international decisions issued by the Security Council, and see the Israeli violence and terrorism committed on a daily basis against the innocent and armless Palestinian citizens, the owners of Palestine. We see Israeli soldiers and machinery killing and destroying the Palestinian infrastructure and houses in towns, villages and rural areas. We see them destroying refugees camps and poor houses as well as land and farms.
Israel refuses to allow UN inspection to its military installations and total destruction weapons. All these savage actions happen openly without any action by your government, which implements two standers in its judgments. Iraq in the eyes of your government is dangerous because of violating one or two decisions taken by the United Nations Security Council. Iraq weapons must be immediately removed to avoid a military assault. For Israel, the situation is completely different. Such stands by your government are enraging us and all Muslims. It is difficult sometimes to suppress our anger and rage. We ask you to understand the negative influence of such inverted situations.
Repeating the story of this tragedy, we don’t intend or like to attract your sympathy, because we believe that our land which was taken by force will not be recovered without force. What we request you to do is to understand our issue and discuss it with your government in order to meet at midway if possible, in order to act on a peaceful remedy based on legal resolutions issued by the United Nations, because the situation in Palestine has arrived at a boiling point which cannot be stopped except through the implementation of international legality which we hope will be respected by your government. Sometimes, you can find intentional repetition in this document. By this, we intend to show you the strong relations of belief among all Muslims. You see also our care to clarify and define to you the strong interrelationship, friendliness and brotherhood among Muslims, despite our knowledge that you can read about that in Islamic books which may sometimes include some difference in definitions and wording. We hope also to have joint meetings which can be a more positive way for discussion in the future.
Dispute Management:
Let us go, our friends, to the subject of dispute management. We believe that the differences between our parties in this aspect are only literal. Our Arabic language is a rich once in including more than one sense in one word. So, when we say "stability" it should mean that "rights" and "freedom" are stable and included within such stability. But, when rights are extorted and freedoms violated, there will be no stability or security or calmness. This is the real case in Palestine, our friends.
As for your belief that rights and freedoms form the base of stability, we completely agree with you on this. But, it seems that the difference between us concerns the meaning of rights and freedoms. We see freedoms from a wide comprehensive perspective which includes all rights without any exclusion. Thus, the Palestinian rights in their occupied territories must be recovered and the depressed freedoms of individuals, groups and authorities in Palestine must be released in order to contribute to building and growth. But, to confine the meaning of rights and freedoms within the margine of civil rights, personal freedoms and expression, this is a point of difference between us. We believe it is a narrow concept on your part accompanied with an intentional abuse by you. In our language, we express such attitude by saying ( a word of right used for wrong ).
We, Islamic communities have a privacy in living, belief and other aspects of life. Our religion has dealt with all aspects of life in a wise manner which is satisfying us. The concept of absolute democracy which means that religion is for God and home country for people, cannot be entirely implemented in the Islamic World. However we like to implement the brilliant aspects of democracy, namely the calling for accounting, evaluation, selection and transparency. We, like you, hope that your Government adopt a more clean and steady stance in
Supporting a comprehensive concept of rights and freedoms to include the violated rights and freedoms in Palestine.
Repeatedly we say that the responsibility for 9/11 attacks and for the violence and terrorism committed by a disparate group of individuals should fall on all parties supporting Israel, particularly the United States. Therefore, we ask you to assist in stopping the killing of Palestinians in their homeland, and in freeing the great numbers of Palestinians who are now suffering in the Israeli jails. We ask you to assist in returning the Palestinian refugees who were driven away from their own land and homes. We ask you to assist in returning the extorted lands to their owners. After you do so, you can hold us responsible for any action of "terrorism" committed by any individual or group, because the struggle will stop when the extorted rights return to their legal owners. Can we expect you to assist? We hope that.
Conclusion Summary:
We wouldn’t like to have a vicious circle debate as it was before and after the 9/11 event. Your look toward us always lacks objectivity and recognition of Arab value. This attitude worsened and increased our dispute in the course of time.
Islam had a great role in refining ancient cultures which prevailed in the pre-Islamic period. It provided regulating rules for all aspects of life including worship, property rights, and peaceful treatment of non-Muslims , and called for charitable deeds for the interests of all needy individuals from any religion.
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the caliphs who followed him used to instruct the leaders of Islamic armies leaving to invite people to Islam, not to cut trees, or destroy water wells or hermitages and worship temples, or hurt old men or women or children or fight at night or enter towns secretly to surprise their dwellers. When the Caliph Omar was invited by the Christian religious leaders of Jerusalem to go to the City and receive its keys, he insisted to enter peacefully accompanied by a limited armless individuals. He instructed his leaders to respect and preserve churches and worship temples of all functions. He gave its people a written covenant not to be exposed to any harm in all aspects of their lives. The covenant, aging 14 centuries is still available as evidence to Islam tolerance and mercy.
As for your question about Islamic "taqwa", the term means "God-fearingness", piety and acting in accordance with the Holy Quran and Prophetic teachings. "Taqwa" is a tolerant and merciful way of dealing in life. It has no relation with violence and random killing. The term "qassass" which means punishment of criminals or murderers indicates Islam's care to protect soul, wealth and honor of all human beings, Muslims and non-Muslims. The more probable explanation for the role of Saudi individuals in 9/11 attack should be based on the continuous and accelerating actions of suppression, subjugation, killing and occupation committed by Israel against our Palestinian brothers as we have mentioned before. We must believe that violence is a generator of adverse violence. Therefore, not we alone are required to explain such action, but concerned parties are required to do so, particularly you and the political and socioeconomic departments of your government.
Regarding advice and direction, our leaders and cultured people are working seriously on clarifying that Islam is a tolerant religion, free of all extremist actions attributed to it.
Our Friends;
To conclude, let us continue working together for better understanding.