Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

67 WITNESSING MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION One in the heavens will have mercy on you.” The mercy of God’s Prophet, (PBUH) was known to be greater than his anger – in war he fought with courage but also pos- sessed great compassion. Whilst the idolaters were serious in their campaign to kill him, he was more merciful than them, calling on the Almighty who said: “OGod, forgive my people, for they know not what they do.” The creation of mercy in Islam represents the out- standing example of the moral aspect of the religion, whereas conventional creeds examine only human inter- actions on the whole, and tend towards self interest, evaluating human beings in terms of the worldly benefit they bring to others. Thus these creeds smooth away the moral aspect and degrade human values within their systems. They take advantage of humanity in the flesh and reject it in the bone. They value strength and crush weakness. They value wealth and ignore poverty. They value youth and reject the old. Islam, on the other hand, stands tall and great in its values. This is the decree of the Lord of Humankind, who does not consider life on earth as a purely material market, but rather as a life created for the dignity of humanity as it ought to be. Thus the prime aspect of religion is morality, which is of intrinsic and special importance as revealed in the various Qur’anic verses and Hadiths and the career of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his successors. In this context we understand the creation of mercy in Islam to be within the system of the religion’s values which reveals the extent of its interest in all categories of society regardless of their material profitability to society. Such profitability has no value in terms of morality. Human beings deserve mercy as long as they are human. However unfortunate a human being is in terms of strength and wealth, he is the first in line for mercy. Religion does not hire out morality as do the conventional creeds which give humankind as much as they take from it – or more, when the expected return is considered a just reward and an essential aspect of the consideration of human beings. Islam’s view of mercy is distinct from that of other terres- trial creeds which consider a merciful person to be more cultured than other people and assume that such merci- ful people should benefit materially or otherwise morally from exercising mercy on such people. By contrast, in Islam such a person expects something from his Lord in the hereafter and not from such people in this world. Therefore it does not matter if the person is thanked or not, since the aim is to please the Lord God Almighty. His Excellency Dr. Ibrahim Bin Adbul Aziz Al-Zaid Dr. Al-Zaid is special adviser to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daawah and Guid- ance, and a member of the KAICIID Advisory Forum. He obtained a PhD in Arabic studies from Riyadh, where he was appointed as dean of the Arabic College at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University. In 2001, he was appointed vice director of the Muslim World League’s Islamic Cultural Centre in Belgium, where he supported its mission to serve the Belgian Muslim community through open communication and thought exchange within a safe environment. In 2002, Dr. Al-Zaid moved to Madrid, Spain, where he became director at the Islamic Cultural Centre. In 2012, he was appointed as Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Saudi Arabia. Currently, in addition to his position in the Saudi gov- ernment, he holds several positions, including professor of scientific authority and chair of the dialogue of civ- ilizations at Paris-Sorbonne University, and UNESCO chair for intercultural and interreligious dialogue at the Imam University in Riyadh.