asianlayleaders.com – June is a holy month for our Islamic sisters and brothers because we celebrate Eid Al Adah on the 29th of this month. Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice is the second and the largest of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam. Eid Al Adah honors the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail) as an act of obedience to God’s command. However, before Abraham could sacrifice his son in the name of God, and because of his willingness to do so, God provided him with a lamb to sacrifice in his son’s place. Does this also remind you of a similar story that we come across in the book of Genesis? Where God commands Abraham to “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori’ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” This passage itself gives us an insight into how interconnected connected Islam and Christianity are. Christianity and Islam both accept Abraham as a faithful follower of the one true Creator God. And especially during Eid al-Adha, the faith and actions of Abraham are a focal point of Islamic life; For us Christians, we can join in the conversation about Abraham’s faith to shed light on the biblical truth God intended which ultimately points to Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God slain for sinful mankind.
Another astonishing event that takes place during this month is ‘Hajj’. For Muslims, Hajj is a mandatory religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime. Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. The Hajj attracts 2.2 million Islamic faithful on average every year making it the largest pilgrimage of people in the world.
In all of this, if you are wondering, what is the message we need to seek? We must indeed seek to foster kinship with our Islamic Sisters and Brothers in our tragically Islamophobic world. Pope Francis in 2019 signed a beautiful document along with the The Grand Imam of Al-Azha, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb during his apostolic visit to the UAE. This document on ‘Human Fraternity For World Peace And Living Together’ otherwise known as the Abu Dhabi Document expresses that “Faith leads a believer to see in the other a brother or sister to be supported and loved. Through faith in God, who has created the universe, creatures, and all human beings (equal on account of his mercy), believers are called to express this human fraternity by safeguarding creation and the entire universe and supporting all persons, especially the poorest and those most in need.” This document invites us to uphold and indulge in the practice of “human fraternity to unite and work together so that it may serve as a guide for future generations to advance a culture of mutual respect in the awareness of the great divine grace that makes all human beings brothers and sisters”.
As we reflect on this month’s edition of the E-Newsletter lets us denounce the hate speech against Muslims which arises without any basis in our Countries and join hands in Solidarity with our Muslim Sisters and Brothers in spreading the true message of Peace and Harmony by embracing our Islamic Kinship.