A letter to the religious leaders of my community #OurThreeWinners

I am going to write freely so please excuse what might come across as the midnight ramblings of an exhausted soul.

I am, as I’m sure you all are, tired of how cheap the human life has become. I am tired of waking up every morning to news of senseless killings, whether politically motivated, racially motivated, socioeconomically motivated or just simply pure hate…..killing is nothing but a sinister, premature ending of someone’s life on the hands of those who have no regard to the sanctity of life and peace.

Today’s news were especially shocking and they stirred me beyond just a condemnation and a prayer. My sister’s comments on the issue broke me down. She said “they are my children’s age”. My nephews are the same age of the three killed in North Carolina and I can’t help but think that they could have been the victims. What is keeping me up at night however is that this person was their neighbor and he killed them “execution style” and in cold blood. No dispute over parking space prompts someone, who ranted regularly on social media about his hate of religion, to kill others in that manner. He did it out of spite to their faith and others have done it in the name of their faith but we all know that no God decrees a faith on the basis of killing others.

What are we to do? I don’t want my children growing up in this environment. I don’t want this hate to seep into the hearts of our citizens. We preached, and we continue to preach, that God is love, God is mercy, God is compassion yet we continue to lose some of our own flock to hate. So what are we to do? Condemnation and prayer are not enough. You, as leaders of the various faiths that make up our beautiful city, need to do something collectively.

The thought of “interfaith solidarity” keeps popping in my head. How wonderful would it be for all of our congregants to see their faith leaders come together, embrace each other and pray together. All under the banner of “Not in my faith’s name” we show all the beauty that makes up our community and unite on the principles of love, mercy and compassion.

Again, I apologize for my rambling. I am simply exhausted and I am seeking your help. There are people out there who are fanning the flames of bigotry and hate. Wolves prying on our flock. We need to send a clear message to this community, and to be an example to all other communities, that we all stand united as beautiful pieces of the most exquisite mosaic.

I pray this email find you in peace and I pray that the God of mercy envelopes us all with His abundant love.

Your brother,

Ahmed
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