Originally Published in “The Middletown Press”
By Miyan Zahir Muhammad Mannan
As an Ahmadiyya Muslim American, I wholeheartedly extend my prayers, condolences, solidarity and support to my Jewish brothers and sisters amid rising anti-Semitism and another condemnable attack.
The despicable onslaught on the Jewish community has this time come in the heartbreaking form of destruction and vandalism of over 100 tombstones in a Jewish Cemetery in Philadelphia. I’m deeply upset about this and stand ready to defend Jews everywhere, their synagogues “wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated” (Quran 22:41), properties and right to practice their faith freely. In fact, my Ahmadiyya Muslim community had already deployed a team to the cemetery to offer this service with our very lives as is taught by Allah in the Holy Quran and demonstrated by my Prophet Muhammad and Promised Messiah Ahmad. My worldwide spiritual leader, the Khalifa of Islam, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has exhaustively urged that justice must exist on all levels as a foundation for humanity to have a pragmatic path to peace.
Our God is one, our parents Adam and Eve are one, our noble patriarchs and messengers like Abraham are one, and our faiths are intertwined. I hope to keep working with Jews and all others in dialogue and education until we magnify “love for all, hatred for none” together. Let’s build bridges of understanding to eradicate ignorance, extremism and hate in all forms.
Regards of peace and blessings.
