Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

56 WITNESSING MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION would first like to start by thanking all of those who contributed to and organized this inspiring symposium, including KAI- CIID, and the Adyan Foundation for giving us the opportunity. We are very proud to be sharing with you our experience with the Adyan Interfaith Families Network. I am a Lebanese Muslim, who was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I lived there for around 12 years with my family during the civil war in Lebanon. Throughout that time, my family raised me on the prin- ciple that all Muslims are one and that we should respect all religions. In 1992, we moved to Lebanon when I was 12 years old. Until then, my only friends were Muslims and we all had the notion that we were all the same. Not until I moved to Lebanon did I learn that Islam has sects where the differences are emphasised by some people. When I attended a Lebanese school, I encountered people of different religions and sects and faced ideas that I never had to deal with before that time. It started when people would ask for my full name or my village. At first I thought that they wanted to get to know me better but then I realised it was because they wanted to know my religion and sect. My name is somewhat confusing, because the family name, Saad, in Lebanon includes people who are Christian and Muslim. How- ever, at the time, I was wearing a head veil so they knew I was a Muslim but still did not know if I was a Sunni or a Shiite. So, then people would start to ask me where I came from or, in other words, about my village. This was all in an attempt to know my sect while all that time I thought that it was their way of socialising. In time, I realised why people asked me such questions and I started asking my parents about the differences and why people were always eager to know. My parents were against such differences and always emphasised that all Muslims are one and that we are expected to respect all religions. Though my parents tried not to emphasise the differ- ences and to help us feel the same as everyone else, I still felt it with people, how they reacted and how they were eager to know. I guess it was all related to the aftermath of the civil war which was still fresh in everyone’s mind. Later, when I attended university, I felt the differences even more. I attended the American University of Beirut which is known for its diversity and for welcoming all students regardless of their religion or any other differ- ence. Though at the university my class was diverse and I had friends from various religions, the closest friends were always those of the same religion. So, I felt that, although we did not speak about such differences or come to admit them, we lived and acted those differences in the sense that classmates of the same religion would stay together, do activities together and celebrate their holidays together. But this is not how I wanted to live or how I wanted to raise my children. I felt that something was missing, that I needed to change. Mercy, as we all concluded on the previous day, is found and called for by all religions. In the Muslim reli- gion, it is one of the Holy names of God and even the most common one mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. But as one of the panellists said yesterday, the full practice of being merciful is achieved only through its practice among all religions and not just among members of our religion. In other words, one must be merciful with those of the other religion as much as you would with those of your own, and this was exactly what I felt was missing. I believe it was by a wish of God that I was introduced Sara Saad and Wissam Nahas I Sara Saad (second left) and Wissam Nahas (right) with Dalia Al-Mokdad (left), Mirna Abi Saab (centre), and Adel Mobarak (second right)