One day I was surfing some pages on Facebook when I came across a page of American conservatives. They had put a picture of President Ronald Reagan as a profile picture of their group. And they had put some slogans of theirs on the page. A status on the page caught my sight; it was "a strong America is a conservative America".
It occurred to me to tease the group by typing a comment that would outrage the members of the group. I typed: "a strong America is a liberal America".
A few days later, one of the members sent me offensive messages on Facebook, which brought about a discussion between us. The discussion was as follows:
C. B (I have opted for his name's intials in respect of his privacy):
you do realize that the liberalism you speak of, is literaly socialism/marxism, everything obama stands for is marxism, high tax, socialist healthcare, big government, many many many un-needed regulations, a socialist is the enemy of the free world, if you want communism, go to north korea, because us americans with common sense, love freedom, right to life,free enterprise, right to private property, the liberal way? oh well the liberal way is, State run buisness, State run healthcare, State run agriculture, and by State, i of course mean Federal Government, with a big capital S, for the big Sacks of Shit they are(they being the "liberal"( all actually socialists).
Then he sent another message, which was as follows:
C. B: oh but of course, your a muslim, i understand why you no nothing of freedom now, you were brainwashed into believing everything the sack of shit muslim barack hussien obama says, GO ISRAEL,GO JEWS,GO JESUS,GO CHRISTIANS.
My response:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your message. As you said, may be I don't know what freedom is, but do you really think that this is due to my faith?
In fact I wanted to learn from you about freedom, but unfortunately I have discovered that what you have learnt about Muslims is no more than hatred. Do you think that Muslim say: "GO JESUS,GO CHRISTIANS"?
Ok, then read what my Holy Book, Quran, says about Christians:
"And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. (82) When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses. (83) " (Surat Al Maeda)
And read what my Holy Book says about Jesus and his mother:
"And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, (16) And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. (17) She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing. (18) He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. (19) She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? (20) He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a Revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. (21) And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. (22) And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! (23) Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, (24) And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. (25) So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. (26) Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. (27) O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. (28) Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? (29) He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, (30) And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, (31) And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. (32) Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! (33) Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. (34)" (Surat Mariam)
As a Muslim, I love Jesus and his true followers. And I believe that Jesus's message to humanity is peace. And I believe that his enemies who claim to have crucified him are the enemies of peace.
This is my faith.
Stay blessed, and take good care of yourself.
After this message, my friend responded. And his message was as follows.
C. B: actually, i have no hatred for islam itself, i may not agree with it, but hatred i do not have, tho i do despise the radical extremist element that i believe the CIA and british MI6 actualy fueled, i appologize for the disrespect, but in all reality, peace is a mindset, because as physical beings, no peace as a whole will be seen until the day of judgement, im not sure how you feel about mixed cultures and all, but i believe in america, there should be only one culture, the american culture, weather you be of different religion or not, alot of people come to america and want to force their culture on us(not only muslim, but mexican culture as well) and the american culture to me means liberty, no government regulations as there are now, and a few less laws, please accept my humble appology, i only know of islam from what i hear on the horrible media system in the US, but real peace does not come through liberalism, peace can be sought through ones faith, but many battles must be fought to gain that peace.God bless you brother.
I sent him a response, which was as follows:
My response: Don't worry C. I accept your appology. And I believe that media have been playing a disrespectful role in staining Islam's reputation. I know that you don't have any idea about Islam and its Prophet. I join my voice to yours; I also despise radical extremism. However, I believe that this radical extremism has got many versions; and just as there is Islamic extremism, there are also Christian and Jewish versions of radical extremism. And just as Islamic radical extremism has nothing to do with the teachings of Muhammad, Christian radical extremism has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and Jewish extremism has nothing to do with the teachings of Prophet Moses.
Dear C.,
All God's messengers have got one words; Peace, and the belief in the One True God. Our enemy then is not each other. Our enemy is ignorance. And the more knowledgeable we get about our religions and our Creator, the more peaceful our co-existence gets.
Please listen to the voice of a woman I like and respect.
God bless you, brother.
The woman I was talking about is Rev. Deborah Lindsay. And I sent him the link to this sermon of hers:
My friend seems to decide to stop this discussion at this level, and sent me no response.
