In this day and age it is obvious that the world continues to experience both saints and devils among Muslims. However Islam’s predecessors (other religions that predate Islam) have had their own share of dark times where it seemed the evil of its devils was more prevalent then the good works of its saints.
Devils and Saints in Christianity
In Christianity the devils took the form of the instigators of the slave traffic. From the 15th to the 19th centuries over 10 million slaves were successfully transported around the world from Africa while about 2 million perished at sea. They were forcefully displaced from their homes in Africa and made to work and breed in other lands at the authority and pleasure of their new masters.
Beaten and scourged for the slightest hint of disobedience, while whole families were ripped apart on the plantation so slave owners could profit from selling off and selectively breeding them. They were treated savagely and sent to church to learn obedience to the slave master and not the loving teachings of Christ.
Yet even during this dark time their existed saintly men and women of God who preached the evil of slavery and work tirelessly to end the oppression that had been place upon the slave.
Devils and Saints in Islam
In Islam, much is mentioned in the media about the terrorist; their targets and recruitment. Apart from the peaceful teachings of Islam that states no woman children or elderly are to be killed in war evil men have used entire passenger filled planes to blow up high-rise buildings filled with people up to and including daycare centers. Believing by doing so they would attain a paradise filled with virgins and boys serving them.
More recently there were seven young men arrested in the US for training and planning terrorist activities abroad. Although these men have not been convicted and should therefore not be condemned, such actions represent young men who are impressionable and soul searching for a meaning to their existence. Men who have not learned enough about the world to intelligently discern between right and wrong acts. Men easily brainwashed into a course of action that is against their own religious beliefs.
Yet in the same week a saintly Episcopal Minister looks deeply into the Islamic faith and finds that there exist values in it as important and potent as the values in her own religion. Forced to leave her ministry due to her growing belief in Islam she struggles with her new found faith and realizes that she has sacrificed a lot in her pursuit of truth.
The Future of Religious Tolerance
As the human race evolves and leaves the residual influences of barbarism behind, three things will likely occur:
- More people will let their religious books and good common sense rules their existence as they endeavor to spread love and goodwill in every direction.
- The reason to hate another group of people because of difference in belief becomes an obsolete set of brain patterns.
- The only thing humanity will fail to tolerate will be barbarism in all its forms.
To look ahead also means looking back; looking back at the teachings of those who came so that ignorance would not prevail.
Prophet Moses came to eradicate the ignorance of Pharaoh; Jesus came to eradicate the ignorance of the ruling elite; Krishna came to teach Arjuna the eradication of spiritual ignorance, Buddha came to teach the eradication of ignorant beliefs, and Prophet Muhammad came to solidify the teachings of those who came before him.
Humanity can learn from these ancient ones and look forward to a day when the spiritual children of these ancient teachers cease the activities of the devils in their mist and eat from the same table of love.
Sources:
FactBox -Slavery, Reuters.com
Former Episcopalian Priest Lives as Both a Christian and a Muslim, abcnews.go.com
