New Messages from Americans

Dear Arabic Friends,

I have been reflecting a great deal about life this past week. It is such a gift and the majority of people just live every day and are never alive. How life is so beautiful. We get caught up in the menial tasks of the week that we forgot to be thankful to just be here. I know the conflict and pain will come to end. Our worlds are so different but yet the sun still rises for each of us every day. The sun is always selfless and giving. The sun provides us the light for our day but there is also light in this world that is filled with love and giving. Once we learn to light up the world and give we are then selfless like the sun. I realize that life is terribly complicated. I know this tension between us is devastating and seems impossible to fix. We must all remember to breathe when life, the world, the suffering, the political insanity, the war, and hate overwhelm us. With love noting is too much trouble and there is always enough time.

I am so thankful to share with you my thoughts. I hope that life brings you happiness and that you are able to give and love every day in your own way.  

Hannah

Hello to the friends I have not yet met,

My name is Melissa. I am 20 years old, and I am an American Jew. I love to write, study philosophy and make short films.

Growing up, I did not know many Muslim people or people from the Muslim world. Now that I am in college, I have met people from all over the world, who practice many different religions and who are from all races, ethnicities, and cultures. Some of my best friends are Muslim. I have become so close to those I was once taught to believe were so different from me. I have learned that beyond our different exterior is a wholly human interior. We all have hearts that both love and fear, brains that both think and dream, and eyes that have seen both peace and violence. I have many times forgotten these things, but I try to remind myself of our commonalities as often as possible. I believe that, one day, the whole world will realize our similarities, while not forgetting our beautiful and important differences, and we will live in unity and peace.

I have faith.

Love,

Mel

Messages from the Muslim World

Dear friend,

My name is Arash and I am 12 years old. I am in love with American movies and Tom Cruise is my favorite movie star.

I want to come to America and study there and talk to Tom Cruise.

I have started to study English. I want to learn English to make friends in America. We have war in Afghanistan now, but I hope the war ends soon.

I send you my heartedly greetings to all of the American kids.

I love you all
Arash
Afghanistan




To all Americans,

I don’t say there is distance between followers of different religions but I do admit that there are misconceptions that have developed as a result of lack of understanding of each other.

We are all the same. We are all people of this world, let’s get together and make this world beautiful.

The only way out of the current crisis is unity of all of the human being from all over the world. Let’s opt for this ladies and gentlemen.

Abdullah
Afghanistan




I have not been able to figure out why there is distance between people of different religions. I believe there are a few people who orchestrate this for their personal or political interests.

When I sit down with foreigners (followers of other religions), I don’t find anything that would make us distant. We drink and eat together and respect each other.

I believe people have forgotten the very nature and objective of religion, which is to create love, encourage toward coexistence and eliminate hatred. We have got to go back to our religious books and study them with a critical thinking, then we will find the truth about religions.


Hamed
Kabul, Afghanistan




Humanity is above all,

why would the human race think of differences? As we all are going and facing the same destiny. Black, white, Muslim, Jew, Christian are all brothers.

Blood is shed, houses destroyed, people homeless, all this because of wrong ambitions.

I believe in equity, in humanity and in justice.

Dialogue between civilizations, as a principle is the only way which would get us out of the current misunderstandings.


Regards
Parviz

August 12, 2010
Kabul, Afghanistan




God!

Create heat of love in our hearts, light of love in our eyes, words of love in our talks and signs of love in our actions.

Lord! Illuminate the light of love, peace, and reconciliation in our hearts, remove pain and sorrow from our hearts and kills hatred and violence in our souls so that we live with love and coexistence.


Mohammad Jan
Afghanistan




By Najib, Kabul, Afghanistan­­­_________________

Dear American Brothers and Sisters,

I have always believed that nothing can bind us stronger than the fact that we are all human beings with the same physical structure, the same organs, and the same body functions. I have got the experience myself. Some of my best friends are Christians, Jews, and atheists.

I used to ask myself sometimes, how come they became my best friends while I am a Muslim and they are followers of other religions or even no religion. I came to the realization and conclusion that the first value that connects us all is finding of the same human virtues that most of us are after. We see that we look the same way, we think the same way, and most of us suffer from the same problems since we live in the same world, and we are after the same objectives. Having the above facts in mind, there can be nothing that could separate us along other lines and we will not allow anyone to separate us.

When people ask me about my religion I tell them that I am a human being and I tell him/her that you are a human being too. In my experience, that works very well, what we need to do is to separate religion from our identity and replace it with the word human being. That will alleviate this problem by a large extent. The issue is that we were born human being rather than Jewish, Christian, or Muslim and we need to remain human beings.


Hashem
Afghanistan



We all should know and understand that religions are only for God; therefore, no one has the right to judge anybody. The message of all religions is peace, tranquility, and prosperity. That is what we all should focus on. Let us think about peace and how to approach it for the sake and the benefit of humanity. We should also understand that terrorism does not have a faith. Violence, injustice, and sometimes unfair politics promote the bizarre thinking. We as people should all stand up and say no for hatred and unfair judgments for the sake of our world and for better life for the new generations.

Sincerely,
Abdulaziz
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
9/11/2010





I am always impressed by such (a) project that make(s) our lives happier in this world.
--Omar E.
Tripoli/Libya



At first i say hello to my dear brothers and siters from all beleifs and ideologies....our world today suffers many problems and misunderstandings, and one of the most contravercial and most critical issues is Islam..muslim world is witnessing one of the most drastic campaigns against it, whether it was the severe strikes from people like Osama Ben Ladin and i am truly sorry for describing him as a human being, or from the media which i call "counter-islam" media, these are days where most of world can't defferentiate between reality and the illusion that some of the media enterprises have been feeding them all those years, but yet out of a million devils an angel rises, that someone who is willing to sacrifice their own time to help causes such as ours, causes that so many people may consider as the underdog but yet those angels grow more and more persisstant and i write double s because the second s stands for the stress they endure every single day to pump the blood into our cause and keep it alive....i don't want to keep you any longer than i already did but i just want to say that people like you Rebecca are the ones who makes those millions of muslims around the world hang on for another day, thank Allah for your existance and i wish that he keeps you long enough in this world for people to learn some thing from you.
Truly yours
C.J
Libya

Message from the Muslim World

We all should know and understand that religions are only for God; therefore, no one has the right to judge anybody. The message of all religions is peace, tranquility, and prosperity. That is what we all should focus on. Let us think about peace and how to approach it for the sake and the benefit of humanity. We should also understand that terrorism does not have a faith. Violence, injustice, and sometimes unfair politics promote the bizarre thinking. We as people should all stand up and say no for hatred and unfair judgments for the sake of our world and for better life for the new generations.

Sincerely,
Abdulaziz
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
9/11/2010

More Messages from the Muslim World

The Palestinian people say: All our wishes for the success of your project on peace, not just on paper but in reality.

Haitham



From the heart to all of you guys: “Love you all and wish all of us Peace.”
Mohammed
(Egypt)



To the People of America!

I believe that Religions came to spread Peace, love and respect.

So let us work for peace, love and respect.
I am a Syrian girl living in Denmark, and I see no reason for why we can’t coexist.
We are all human, and we are all capable to love.

So let us act as human beings.

Love from a Syrian!!
Haifaa



In the name of allah, the compassionate, the most merciful
& In the name of the father and son and saint spirit.

My Brother in Humanity

Peace of Jesus and Mohamad for you, Peace of Prophets and angels for you. Peace for you, with you and on you,

God loves us, we love him, then we should love each other. Because Jesus told us that God is love. And prophet Mohammad asked too. So let’s (LOVE).

Ghassan
Lebanon
12/7/2009



SALAH FROM SAUDI ARABIA 13 July 2009

FDCD Camp

Peace be with you, His blessings and mercy.

This is our greeting in Islam, and this is our message that calls for peace in the world. I am sure that there are lots of misconceptions about Islam and about the West (misconceptions about each other). For this reason and for many other reasons, we should communicate more, we are the ordinary people of different countries.



Dear American brothers and sisters in humanity,

May Allah bless you all. Allah is the Arabic word for “God”. So all Arabs (Muslims, Christians and Jews) call God “Allah”, and they all worship Allah.

I send you this message to tell you that we all worship the same God whether you call him Lord, God, or Allah. That is, what brings us together is our main goal of satisfying God, and that’s why we should all be in Love and harmony because we all walk the same talk, yet in different languages.

So, I say to all Americans, whether they believe in God or not, I love you all because you are my brothers and sisters in humanity, and I believe that God has created us all to love each other and live in harmony and peace, even when we are different in our beliefs, and even when some of us don’t even believe in God in the spirit of Whom I love you all.

Your sister from
Egypt
Mirahan



Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May Allah bless all of you.

A short prayer from
Your Egyptian Muslim
Sister: Shaymaa

Especially for the dearest Rebecca . . .

May the Holy Virgin bless you and all your work, noble and full of faith like you.


Shaymaa
Dhour Shoueir
Lebanon
10.07.09




Indeed, I’m not going to be talkative.

All Human being[s] must realize that we have One God. Thus we must seek about the National Unity to be all in

“One hand and One color”,
One hand toward Humanity,
One color toward Equality


Peaceful:
Ghadir
From Lebanon
13-7-2009



Why am I living? What is the greatest feeling I ever felt? Is there anything behind that blue carpet between clouds? I believe that the first human “thinker”, when he satisfied his basic needs, he started in some way asking these questions. That is exactly when god raised his voice with justice and equality, with religions that started growing in the hearts of prophets, people with a feeling of heavy responsibility on their shoulders. Generation after generation, wars have been killing many of us in the name of living, whereas politics (the person that shakes his hand with god and devil) is not directed toward humanity, but money and power of countries. Here it comes the question:

Can we go back to ourselves, putting our hands in our hearts, on each other[‘s] souls, and drink that cold water, love.

(When you listen to others’ hearts, you are listening to your pulses.)

Ahmed , Saudi Arabia
13/7/2009

More Messages from the Muslim World

1.
2.
My Friends, May God Preserve you.
We are a loving people. And we wish to convey a message of love and peace to you. We know that you are all good people. And we wish to close any gaps in understanding between us by means of these workshops. The day is not far, when we will all join together to work for a common peace.
--An Islamic school (madrasa) in Gwadar, Pakistan


3.
Dearest Little Kate,
We have received your message and are delighted to hear someone this young has such great thoughts. I also have a six year old daughter. She also awaits the end of these wars. We have great affection for you, as well as your beautiful thoughts. Please tell your parents that at least one Muslim Scholar has made a solemn prayer for the end to these wars. I also ask that you pray and struggle for their end.
-- Maulana Saleh , teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Quetta, Pakistan

4.
Dear Friends and American Brothers and Sisters,
What you have seen about us via the media does, I am sure, hurt your emotions. Us Pakistanis are definitely not what you hear. Our Prophet Muhammad’s message says that “Islam is a Religion of Peace, Security and Prosperity. And God has granted certain rights of Security and Prosperity to all human beings.” I, as a Muslim, would like to give a message of peace to you, and wish that the media would not give such a biased image of Muslims to you.
-- Syed Shabbir, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Yasin Division, Pakistan


5.
Our message to you is that we are a peace loving nation, and we want the prosperity of all people. We are adherents to a faith that does not permit conflict without cause against anyone that has not harmed us and provided grounds for us to be in conflict with.

--Pakistan


8.
In the name of the Most Exalted,
Having read your words has made me very happy. Across the globe, a few struggling powers are taking us toward mutual destruction. In order to prevent this from happening these types of programs and dialogues are necessary. Believe me when I say that the image the media is conveying of Muslims is not correct. Please try to understand us and our religious values.
--Abdul , Pakistan


9.
American Bretheren, may you stay forever happy,
Having heard your feelings has left me very pleased. The actions of your Government are not truly representative of the American People. Instead, the [Bush] Administration, in a fit to enhance its own self-interest, has tried to sow hatred against Muslims amongst your people. In Islam, there does exist a Freedom of Religion. And we ask that you, by means of your media, tell your leadership that Muslims are not happy with their policies, and conflict with Muslims is not a good a thing.
Was-salaam (salutations of peace),
--Hafiz Abdul-Qadir , teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Baluchistan, Pakistan


10.
“A Message to Western Scholars and Thinkers”
Islam is a vast, all-encompassing religion, and it sends a message of peace to the entire world. Western Propaganda is against Islam. The Prophet Muhammad is an excellent example of peace, as witnessed in his conduct during the Liberation of Mecca. He extended amnesty, even to people like Abu Sufyan, who had violently opposed him for years. And he overlooked the hostility of others. He announced that “I have granted security to all of you.” He turned toward the Holy Ka’aba and exclaimed that “the Sanctity of Human Life is more important than the Sanctity of this Holy Shrine.” Today, several Western Powers are seeking to defame Islam. Even though the Final Sermon of our Prophet is displayed in a place like Bradford, conveying forever to the world, a Message of Peace.--
--Qari Muhammad , rector at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan


11.
“An Address to Western Scholars.”
Our request is for all Western Scholars who love Humanity and Peace, to advise their leaders that Pakistan’s Islamic Schools are teaching love, brotherhood, tolerance, peace and loyalty between the world’s Religions. We hope that this is the aim of all People. We are working very hard on this effort.
- Abdul, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Qari Muhammad ,teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Mufti Aslam, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Qari Muhammad, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Qari Saif, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Abdul, manager at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- The Reverend Muhammad, manager of an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- Judge Aslam, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- The Reverend Muhammad, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan
- The Reverend Saif, teacher at an Islamic school (madrasa) in Karachi, Pakistan


12.
“To our Western Brethren”
I am a student of such a school where brotherhood, love, and unity are taught. Those elements that are creating hostility between our people have nothing to do with us. We wish that everyone see both sides of the picture. Where the media displays the harsh behavior and attitudes of Muslims, it should also take responsibility to show those madrassas that teach positive, optimistic thinking which instill charity and love for all of humanity in its students. Those that are sowing seeds of hatred between our people are but a few.
“Love is Life”
“Love is Prayer”
“Love is God”
- M. Khan, Pakistan


13.
Esteemed Brothers,
Peace be upon you,
Hearing your thoughts made me very happy. There is no doubt that the World desperately needs peace. We observe that there needs to an effort to bring the Children of Isaac and Ishmael together again. For this reason we are willing to work hand-in-hand with you to ensure that all of the Children of Abraham can live in peace and prosperity.
With good wishes.
- Abdul, Karachi, Pakistan


14.
“A Message to Our Christian and Muslim Brothers living in America and the Western World from the Religious Scholars of Karachi.”
We believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace, Love, Justice, Brotherhood, Tolerance and Equal Human Rights. And that it does not grant any Human Being the right to harm another in their Life, Property or Dignity. Those people that are involved in violence, fanaticism, extremism and hatred do not belong any Religion - they are simply terrorists. In order to combat this hatred, all peace-loving, moderate people should stand united in an optimistic, common struggle. And we should aim to establish justice and equity in our world. We understand that the world can no longer bear wars for Nationalism, Religion, or Ethnicity. For the preservation of Humanity and peaceful co-existence we need to work together.
- Maulana Muhammad and other Religious Scholars from Karachi

More Messages from the Muslim World

Dear all be it a christian a muslim a hindu a sikh a buddhist or a jew. We need to understand that all religions terminate at the one God we all believe in. How we address our God and believe in him and pray to him is our personal decision. No one has the right to judge another human being or question his or her beliefs. We need to learn to respect ourselves first and then the people around us. Islam today has been labelled as a terrorist religion, even though it is the most moderate peaceful and liberal religion of all which talks of equality between man and woman. It talks about forgiveness tolerance and love among all. Violence is not Islam. Neither is terrorism. We need to live and let live and stop interfering in each others affairs to a point where hatred and frustration become the focus of our relationship.
Saba
Pakistan


I don’t know which is the true religion in this world, but I know, there isn’t any false religion
Muhammad
Pakistan

More Messages From America

Alexandria, Egypt

You are a beautiful people. You have a wonderful God-given heritage. You have contributed so very much to the whole world. I appreciate very much your religious faith. Thank you for preserving so much of the world history in your libraries, museums, architecture, and thought. You are loved by America. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Always,
Jeffrey

(USA)


To My Friends in the Arab World,

I have been blessed to know many wonderful people in Egypt, Morocco and Palestine as well as Arabs from such places as Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel and more. I am so grateful for the friendship we share and the wonderful kindness, hospitality, humor and affection you showed me.
I am sad that relations have been worse in recent years. Too many people are willing to believe the worst about the other.
I pray for the day there is no war and conflict between our peoples. I pray for justice, fairness and trust.
I pray that your dreams will come true and that we will dream new dreams together.

Peace/Salam
Scott


As a Christian, I love all my neighbors, and that includes everyone around the world. I hope, as we continue to live on this earth, we learn to appreciate each other’s differences to create friendship and peace. My God loves all those who come to him. If you do love God, may he bless you with peace in your heart, mind and soul. God bless you all!


Hello. I’m a Japanese girl who study Conflict Resolution in here, the U.S. I have traveled some countries, and also from the experience of living (in a) foreign country, what I can see anywhere in common is people’s love and kindness. Regardless of what race, religion and culture you are in, everyone seeks peace and happiness. Let us live in peace, and I always pray for all of your happiness in life. Peace and love, Mutsuko