BY ROSE HAMID
Correspondent, Charlotte Observer
I’m having a hard time believing people who professed to follow the faith I follow were capable of perpetrating the shootings in San Bernardino. I want there to be some other explanation.
So many details of the shooting just don’t make sense. How can a seemingly well-adjusted person, who didn’t have any record of problems in the workplace, and his wife, the mother of an infant, have committed such atrocities? How could they have hidden such a large-scale secret agenda from their close-knit family? How can people do such things?
It seems that some want to explain the shooters’ actions based solely on the fact that they were Muslim. As if to say, ‘Oh, that’s how those people are.” But what happened in San Bernardino is contrary to the teachings of Islam.
Islam provides guidance for proper conduct. Even in times of war it’s prohibited to kill women, children, the elderly, monks, people in places of worship or any non-combatants. Destruction of dwellings, trees, crops and livestock is also prohibited.
There is absolutely no justification for harming those who are not fighting you. The Quran says “Whoever slays a person unjustly, it shall be as if he slew all of mankind” (5:32). All Muslims should know these things. The shootings, and all actions based on radicalized ideologies, are unfathomable to me.
It’s also unfathomable to me that in Charleston, Dylann Roof sat in a Bible study class with his victims for an hour before opening fire on them. How can people do such things?
We want to know what causes people to do horrific things in the hopes of preventing future attacks and being safe. But no amount of security measures can protect us from people who have something wrong with the minds, their hearts and their souls.
We can’t control or predict the actions of others, but in a way, we can prepare ourselves. I am reminded of the Columbine shooting, where a student was asked if she believed in God. We have to ask ourselves, how strongly do we believe in God? How are we living our faith?
The 14th Dalai Lama is quoted as saying, “Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people’s suffering. On these lines every religion has more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal.”
These ideas are expressed in the Golden Rule of many religions. To name a few:
Judaism: “What is hateful to you; do not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” (Talmud, Shabbat 31a)
Christianity: “Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the law and the Prophets are all about. (Matthew 7:12)
Islam: “None of you have faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself” (Prophet Muhammad)
Imagine a world where all people follow the teachings of their faith, instead of listening to radicalized self-proclaimed leaders/pundits with ulterior motives.
As we start the New Year, let’s make a resolution to follow the Golden Rule of our faiths. Treat all people with the dignity and respect you would like to be treated with.
In doing so, we may change the hearts and minds of those who are unbalanced, which may be our best weapon against the madness that drives so many mass shootings.
If we live our faith and death does come to us (be it by an accident, a lightning strike or by the hand of a deranged person) we will die knowing that God is pleased with how we lived our lives.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article53499150.html#storylink=cpy