BROTHERHOOD - A LETTER TO ISLAM
I ask a question of any and all peoples around the world who adhere to the teachings of Islam: Who is your brother?
Life is a complex ordeal. No single person can know or understand all that there is, know of all that has been, nor prepare adequately for all that is to come. I speak now not of current events, but the timeless perplexity of the human condition. No man can stand alone. We rely on our parents, our family, to raise us, teach us, prepare us for adult life, for hope of life beyond. We rely on our community to nurture us and broaden our experiences, that we might relate peacefully and productively with our fellows, to become educated, to grow into a place in life where we might then be able to pass on the care and love and service we have received from our elders, to those who are yet in need, including the most innocent, the children. We rely on our nations to protect and defend our way of life, to secure our right to make our own peace with ourselves and with god, in the best ways that we are able to determine for ourselves. This is the struggle common to all peoples and nations, whatever else they may differ or disagree on.
Children are born into the world according to the choices and decision of their parents and forefathers. One might say that god's will chooses for us who will be our blood brothers and sisters. Yet as each person moves through life, pursuing survival, and beyond that, pursuing wisdom and a sense of purpose, there is a wider opportunity, a gift that I believe is granted unto us by god himself -- a chance to evaluate the character of the people we encounter, and to decide which of these that, of our own free will, we will choose to call brother and sister.
For brotherhood is not made of blood alone. Not even blood can bind brothers of the flesh if, in their hearts, their divisions rip them asunder. If brothers of one womb should quarrel, and depart from one another and not speak again, or to fight one another and for one to kill the other, what sort of brothers are these? And yet if a neighboring community comes to your community's or family's aid in a time of crisis, or offers you the shelter of their home and the food of their table as you travel, or if a stranger you meet entirely by chance stops to talk with you and trade stories or goods and help you with simple matters, such as carrying one of your burdens for a short while... are these people not your brothers?
What is brotherhood IF NOT a choice? Men must choose to be brothers. There is no other way.
Who, then, is a brother of Islam? That is a choice that you and your people make. Only you can choose.
We in the United States, we are a peace-loving people. We are not perfect. There are those among us, our brothers by blood, who make mistakes, out of ignorance, out of weakness, out of fear. There are some who do evil, and all of us are tempted to do evil. Much of the disagreement between our peoples (who include a great many of the Islamic faith, as well as many other faiths and beliefs) and the arabic states and other nations whose citizens include those of Islamic faith -- much of this disagreement is caused by people on both sides who hold extreme views and take extreme actions that are NOT representative of the people as a whole. This is a great tragedy, which has led to suffering.
I tell you openly that any of my fellow Americans who do evil, in the forms of murder, theft, rape, and other crimes as defined by the laws of god as well as the laws of man, these people are NOT my brothers. They are few, and scattered. We do not fear their hatreds in the United States, where they are allowed to speak their minds without threat of imprisonment or persecution. We do not judge their hearts and minds. That is for god to do. This is our way, and at times it is a difficult path, but above all we treasure freedom, that each man and each woman should have the right to their thoughts, their beliefs, their emotions, without the control of others, to pursue their interests and faith as they see fit, even if we do not agree with them. It is not hearts and souls that we judge, but action. We draw a line at action. Those who act on evil thoughts, who do evil and commit wrongs, must be brought to justice. Their ultimate justice is not for us to decide, but their fate in this world is tied inexorably to their actions. Criminal acts carry consequences, as it is the duty of nations, communities, and individual leaders to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to defend them against those who would harm them. So it is in your lands, and so it is in my land.
If your brother acts wrongly, if he chooses to do evil unto you or others and not repent of his sins, he places you in jeopardy. For if you stand with him, aid him, assist him in the commission of wrongful action, how will you be judged in god's eyes? Is your tie of blood to be allowed to exceed your devotion to what you believe is right? Yet it is a painful, difficult choice to turn him away, to turn your back on him, when you love him as your brother. Even more painful to turn him over to authorities, or to stand and do nothing as rightful and righteous justice calls him to task for his action.
Yet to whom does your duty lie? Who is your true brother? Only you can decide.
Personally, I cannot directly relate to your world. Your life, it may include hardships that I will never have to face, thanks to the great productivity of my people, my community, my nation. The USA economy is vibrant, sturdy -- our workers are effectively organized, highly skilled, often highly educated. We have worked hard over many decades. Hard work is greatly valued in America. We have had internal peace in our nation, except for one extremely bitter and brutal civil war, the lessons of which we have taken to heart. We do often quarrel here in my country -- loudly, with great passion and energy, and not always over the most worthy disputes. Some of our quarrels are petty. Some of them are mean and ugly. Yet we do not cross the line of renouncing our brotherhood. That is the great secret of American strength. It is why we have been able to build a strong economy, to forge mighty weapons with which to defend our lands and way of life. It is how we live. Not perfectly, not always righteously, but... as brothers to one another, we live together, in peace. Our brotherhood has enabled us to fend off aggressors, because we band together in times of need. It has been almost two centuries since we have suffered an act of war performed by an invader on the shores of our mainland. This extended period of peace or at least of security, has blessed us, spared us from the suffering of invasions, occupations, destruction. We have not had to spend our energies rebuilding and rebuilding, and as such, at times when other nations warred and destroyed one another, then spent years recovering lost ground, we have lost no ground. Instead we have continued to build, and build, and build.
We here do not understand why some profess to hate us. We understand full well that we are not perfect, and that some of our policies and activities incur results that other peoples do not find agreeable. That is part and parcel to the discourse of diplomacy, that nations try to settle their disputes peacefully. Our attention is divided many ways. In our position, we not only choose to have dealings with every nation on the earth, but we MUST have dealings with every nation. This is something about us that you may not fully appreciate. A smaller nation is concerned with its immediate neighbors, mainly. Most nations are also part of a wider family, such as in Europe, or lower Africa, or among the arabic states in the middle east. Yet you are perfectly free, for the most part, to remain detached from world affairs beyond that range, or at least you used to be -- this is slowly changing as technology and diplomacy bring all of the world closer and closer together. The United States has many more responsibilities, internationally. We have a huge number of allies, because we gladly extend the hand of friendship to any and all nations who would deal with us as brothers. All peaceful people are our brothers. Our entire nation is built of people who understand that brotherhood is, above all else, a commitment that arises from choice. We who have more religious, ethnic, racial, and historical differences among us, among our people, than any five other nations combined, we live with one another in peace, by choice. We understand brotherhood in great depth, so much so that other people around the world often mistake our pride in our brotherhood for arrogance and narcissism. But they are mistaken. We are not decadent, not evil, not weak and not corrupt. We are brothers. We stand united. And from this nature, this way of life, we have forged many bonds with other nations.
Our ingenuity in devloping the atomic bomb helped put an end to world wars. War became so terrible in that moment, nations no longer had the luxury of resorting to violence early and often as a means of resolving disputes. There was a time when we alone held this terrible power, yet we did not abuse it. We did not depart from our brotherhood with peace, our devotion to god, our duty to our children. Other nations now possess these terrible weapons. "Hot" wars for territorial acquisition and control among the great powers have passed from the earth. Every nation who has these terrible weapons has drawn lines beyond which they would be willing to use the weaponry to defend their lands or to retaliate if attacked. Knowing that certain acts of war would push another nation to strike back with nuclear arms, no nation will cross those lines. Wars perpetrated for the purpose of greed are unacceptable between the great powers. Leaders of the world understand this, and so the only wars that remain are taking place between smaller nations, or civil wars within divided nations.
Even the Cold War is over now, but that "war" between the United States and the former Soviet Union was played like a bit of a chess game, with possession and control of land as the goal, and other nations around the world used as pieces, or even as pawns. That the USA held certain policies and took certain actions involving nations in the middle east, these are complex matters, for which history has not yet had sufficient time to render a final judgement. That war was played ENTIRELY on the terms of the Soviets, as they grabbed control of eastern European nations in the wake of World War Two. These were lands their army occupied on its drive to Berlin, and they took possession of them quite nearly as spoils of war, which we found to be unjust. The United States felt we had no choice but to oppose them, in an effort to deter them from attacking other nations. Their rhetoric was confrontational and aggressive. Kruschev told us, "We will bury you." And not only did his empire-state hold tremendous conventional military power, they now also had nuclear arms (the technology stolen from us through espionage) and intercontinental delivery systems. Our FEAR of them led us to do many things of which we are not particularly proud, including actions in the middle east that are coming back now to haunt us. We were never entirely sure that the Soviets were rational and restrained enough not to try to attack. More so, we feared them, but it was a specific kind of fear. We did not fear their might, did not fear "losing" to them; rather we feared for their sanity, that they might perceive us as weak, and attempt a foolish attack or push their aggressions so far that we would be forced to respond. If that were to have happened, humanity itself would have been reduced worldwide back to the stone age, if not wiped out entirely. WE COULD NOT TAKE THE RISK. We had to present them a face of strength, that they would clearly understand where we were drawing the line, the things we simply would not tolerate. We strove to understand the same from them, and history now shows that they acted from the same sort of fear, felt the same need to present a face of strength, lest we attack them in the futile belief that we could "win". Thus, both sides were locked into a struggle, gripped by fear of what sort of foolishness the other side might engage if they were allowed to forge too far ahead. And in this fear, both sides took action that is regrettable. The United States did make mistakes.
Yes, we once supported the Shah of Iran, who was overthrown by his own people, who still carry a grudge against the USA. We once supported Saddam Hussein, in his war against Iran, but when he used chemical weapons against his nation's own citizens, we realized that he was NOT our brother after all. We once supported Osama bin Laden, and we once supported the Taliban in its effort to defend Afghan lands against Soviet invasion. Many of those whom we chose to support were NOT worthy to be our brothers, yet we supported them anyway, in pursuit of what (at the time, in each instance) we believed was the pursuit of greater good. That is the part that I do not believe is accounted for in the views and complaints against the United States by some of the peoples of Islam. Your grievances are legitimate, in some cases, and perhaps there will be some way we can resolve these matters through diplomacy, if you are willing to negotiate. But the people of the United States are not going to accept persecution and labels of "evil" and "the great Satan" when our activities have NOT been originating from hatred and arrogance. We may have made some poor choices, but any actions that turned out to be mistakes were honest mistakes. Often we had no good choices. Many nations were disorganized, with corrupt governments, anarchy, impoverished economic systems, and little hope for stability. We would, IN EVERY CASE, rather have set up or helped to create wholly democratic systems, peaceful and tolerant governments, rather than lend our support to a dictator. Too often, we didn't have that option, and so had to choose among undesirable options, to pick the one that, at the time, seemed the most stable. We endeavor to be wise in our foreign policy, but the Cold War WAS in fact a WAR, with the future of humanity at stake -- and when nations as powerful as the United States and Soviet Union are distrustful of the good judgement and even the SANITY of the other's leadership, the results are decisions made with survival in mind, which are not necessarily the most wise.
And even then, with the understanding that some of the anger directed at the USA by Islamic people arises from legitimate grievances and disagreements, still we DO NOT understand why any would hate us. Hate is not rational, it's not reasoned. Call it arrogance if you like, or naivete -- we simply have not taken seriously the rhetoric of groups and peoples around the world, telling us that they HATE us and want to see us destroyed. We hear that and believe that people are angry, yes, but we do not comprehend hatred.
I urge you to consider this. If the United States were to respond in kind to the attack we have suffered, to meet hatred with equal hatred, to meet murder with murder -- to take an eye for an eye and a hand for a hand -- we would have to blame Islam AS A WHOLE for our suffering, in the same way that our enemies blame America as a whole, and to randomly pick cities in Islamic nations around the world, fly our bombers to these cities and attack in force. Your town, your city could be a target, if we did this. And what could you do to stop us? Nothing. There is NOTHING you, nor anyone else, could do to stop us. If we were willing to die in the commission of hateful acts, as the perpetrators did in the attack against us, nothing could stop us. The Soviets could launch a full scale nuclear strike and wipe the United States off the face of the Earth, but NOT until it was too late to stop us from doing as much damage and murder and genocide as we please, including wiping out the Soviets, too, for attacking us. The United States holds in its hands the fate of all mankind. I do not speak of these things to intimidate you. I only describe what could happen if we were to act in the blind, undiscriminating, hateful, sinful manner by which our people have been attacked. We have at our disposal the means to commit the ultimate sin: to destroy all hope and future for the world, to end life on this planet. There is no limit to the evil that we could do, if we were in fact a people of evil.
This was not an attack on our military assets. It was a cold-blooded attack on defenseless civilians -- on Americans, yes, but also against thousands of international citizens, including hundreds of Pakistani people who are now missing and presumed dead in New York, just to name one nationality. Dozens of nations have lost citizens in this attack. New York is not just an American city, but a center of world commerce and world diplomacy. These international victims were persecuted for no reason other than they were in America, enjoying the shelter of our homes and offices, eating bread at our tables, conducting honest business and peaceful diplomacy here in our tents -- treated as our brothers, and slain right along with us.
Many of our brothers are of Islam. I speak not just internationally, but of America itself. We are a land of diverse faiths, and there are enough Islamic people in the United States to form a whole nation in another part of the world -- more Islamic Americans than Episcopalians, a major Christian denomination. You should be aware that many who died in the World Trade Center, murdered by deliberate acts, were of Islamic faith. The wrongness of this attack is self-evident.
I personally know a number of people who adhere to the teachings of Islam. That is not the defining issue of our relationships, though. They are, to me, not Islamic people, but Americans. They are my brothers and sisters, and I make no distinctions about them in comparison to other faiths. Most of our interactions differ not at all from those between myself and non-Islamic Americans. We are brothers, friends, neighbors, who engage in the normal activities of life: work, recreation, discussion. In point of fact, most of the Islamic believers I know are not of Persian or middle eastern descent -- although some are -- but of african descent, and a few are of european or mixed ethnicity. Islam is a holy teaching, not limited by race or nationality, just as America is a land of freedom and peace, not limited by race or religion.
Who then is your brother?
Is he your brother, who preaches hatred against entire nations of people? Is he your brother, who resolves his conflicts with the governments and policies of other nations by murdering thousands of its citizens at random, through cruel and deceitful surprise attacks? Is he your brother, who points to your sufferings and your persecution and misfortune and preaches you to seek revenge, to inflict these same on others rather than to obey god's commandments? Is he your brother who holds a knife to the throat of women? Who flies children into buildings? Who spends years training and planning and organizing, to commit wanton acts of murder on a horrific scale? Is this man your brother? I ask you.
Who is your brother? Who is a brother to Islam? Who is like unto you? Who is worthy to sit at your table and share bread? Is it the men of this false jihad? Or is it the men of the United States who rushed into burning buildings, who ran up flights of stairs to comfort, aid and rescue THEIR endangered, persecuted brothers and sisters? These men may not have known they would die, but they surely knew there was a great risk, yet they went anyway. They helped. They stepped up. They gave their lives for their brothers. Look at America and listen not to what others tell you about us, but what our actions tell you. Find the truth for yourself. Find it in the way that we treat one another, lining up by the thousands to give blood, to volunteer to help in any way possible. So many volunteers and gifts of aid, that the outpouring far and away exceeds the need. So many who turned out to help, they had to be turned away. Then look at our response on a national level. Are we lashing out blindly? Are we declaring that civilians are to be targetted the same as armies and operatives? No. Who is your brother? Is he the embittered, hopeless man who would pervert your faith into an instrument of evil? Or is it the men of the United States, everyday citizens on one of the doomed airplanes who, when informed via telephone of the fate of other hijacked flights, fought these terrorists and crashed that plane in a deserted field, knowingly giving their lives to thwart the hijackers' plans, to spare THEIR brothers on the ground, in Washington, from the same fate as those who suffered in New York?
Who is your brother?
The United States is coming to call on you now. Our emissaries are knocking on your door, ringing your telephone, asking to meet with you. We want to ask you, "Are you our brother?" All of our brothers, those who stand with us now, who help us in our time of need, we will not forget you. We will remember, and come to your aid in the future when you are in need. You will dine at our tables. You will sit in our tents. You will share our wine, and we will tell stories and break bread.
Those who are not our brothers, they should move off the road, move out of our path. We are coming through. We will not harm those who do us no harm, even those who are not our brother. But it will be up to them to move out of the way, or they may risk being trampled by our chariots as they ride through.
And those who are brother to our enemy, be afraid. Be very very afraid. We are coming for our enemy, to put him to justice. To protect our children, our women, our homes and way of life, from an enemy that we can only deal with at its source, to stop these attacks against which we have no defense, BEFORE they can be launched, to eliminate this threat to our innocents. Our enemy is ruthless, determined, innovative and skilled at crawling into holes to hide. He has proven to be clever, perhaps too clever, striking us at our most vulnerable point. We can no longer afford to engage him defensively. We must root him out, obliterate his operation, eradicate his infrastructure, cripple his ability to make war on us. We come. We come soon, and in force, to wherever our enemies may hide. Your brother, he has done evil and is unrepentent. Disavow him, cast him out. If you aid him, if you hide him in your home, if he eats at your table... you too will suffer with him when we come. His house is doomed to burn. If you have made your house into his house, your house will burn. But it need not be this way. We do not hate you, we do not want to hurt you. It is not too late for you. Choose now. Are you brother to the world, brother to peace, brother to justice? Or are you instead brother to men who hold knives at the throats of women and fly little children into buildings? Choose, and hurry.
Who is your brother?
- Sirian
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