- Rev. Terry Jones (left) looks at Imam Muhammad Musri speak.
By Robin Sam
GREETINGS in the name of Jesus Christ who asked us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them who despitefully use us, and persecute us.
In Act 3, scene 1 of ‘The Merchant of Venice’, one of William Shakespeare’s timeless classics, Shylock makes a stirring speech. In the monologue Shylock, the Jew who has suffered discrimination at the hands of his enemy, Antonio, essentially asks why he should not be allowed to exact his revenge.
“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?”
Though Shylock was itching to get even with his enemy, his observations are worth pondering over. Consider for a moment that a Muslim or a Christian or a Hindu or a Buddhist is making this speech in the presence of his oppressor. Does it make sense to you? I am not for a moment advocating avenging our oppressors who deny us of our fundamental, social, political and human rights.
I was reminded of this powerful speech written centuries ago by Shakespeare when a fringe group of Christians in the US threatened to get together and burn copies of Koran to protest Muslim’s decision to build a mosque near Ground Zero – the site of 9/11 attacks. ‘Hath not a Muslim eyes? Hath not a Muslim hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions…?’ I wanted to ask the man, Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida, who issued the Koran-burning threat. His action and words were not dovish in the least. I am glad good sense prevailed and he called off the despicable stunt.
Now don’t get any ideas about my allegiance. I condemn terrorism in all its forms. My heart goes out to those 2,977 people who lost their lives in the suicide attacks launched by al Qaeda. But should that make me hate Muslims en masse? If hate is the overwhelming emotion that’s in my heart when I think of a particular person or a community or a race, then am I still a child of God. I am afraid not! If we are still ruled by our emotions, then we are no better than those who oppress us.
In 16 years of my career, I have worked with some wonderful bosses but the one who is dear to my heart is a Muslim. This man fasts during Ramadan, religiously goes to the mosque on Fridays and am sure he can recite verses from the Koran even in his sleep. Yet in all the 12 years I have known him, I have never once known him as a religious bigot. I have often marveled at his sense of fairness. Even on occasions when he had been wronged, he has gone out of the way to help his detractors. And, I have never seen him hold a grudge or gloat over the downfall of others. To me those are virtues of Christ, the One who called you and me from darkness to light. We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13,14).
Salt not only seasons things from rotting but also adds taste to whatever it is spread on. Light does not discriminate between the good and the bad. It simply shines. We cannot make disciples of the nation if we are to act and react the same way the world does.
We are called to be the light of the world to reflect the glory of God, the Father (Matthew 5:16). We are called to have salt in ourselves for our own good – to live in peace with others (Mark 9:50). If you are still not convinced about being the light of the world, you may do well to read up 1 John 2:9. I rest my case.
Robin Sam is the founding editor of The Christian Messenger newspaper. A journalist with 16 years of experience, he has worked with The Indian Express, Sify.com and Yahoo! besides several other publications. He quit his job in 2008 to get into full-time media ministry. You can contact him at editor [at] christianmessenger [dot] in or christianmessenger [dot] in [at] gmail [dot] com
