Chiara Lubich – Imam W.D. Mohammed

In the face of such a great tragedy and absurdity, beyond our understanding, we are in search of meaning. What is the answer to so much fear and anguish?

« As I watched those towers crumbling, hardly believing my eyes, and thought of this appalling tragedy, the shock of a superpower that suddenly discovers its vulnerability and personally experiences the crumbling of many certainties, as well as the threat of a war with unpredictable consequences, it was like reliving in Trent beneath the bombings of World War II. Everything was crumbling then and we felt impelled to ask ourselves if there was anything that no bomb could destroy. The answer was: Yes, there is. It is God. God whom we discovered as Love. It was a luminous discovery that gave us the certainty that he cannot abandon us, that he is never absent from history. On the contrary, he is able to direct the course of anything that happens towards good. I personally lived this experience in a surprising way.

And I asked myself: couldn’t it be that right now, at the beginning of this twenty-first century, God wants to repeat this great lesson and to give us the opportunity to put him in the first place in our lives, compelling us to put everything else in second place? This thought gives me hope for the future.»

But we can’t deny that there is also a growing anti-Islamic sentiment. What can be done to avoid these sentiments which criminalize the whole Muslim world?

«For some time now in our Movement – but not only in our Movement – we have established a profound unity in God with Muslims, and precisely in the United States with a vast African American Muslim Movement. I learned that in this moment they feel greatly helped by the fact that they are united with us Christians in the commitment to bring universal brotherhood in the world.

We must recognize one another as brothers and sisters, Christians and Muslims. We are all children of God. So we Christians must act accordingly.»

How can there be, in your opinion, so much hate on the part of some Muslim fundamentalists? What can we do?

« In my opinion, we are dealing here with Evil with a capital E. This is why I feel one thing very deeply, which is perhaps a little original: now people are mobilizing all the forces, on the political level, heads of State, and so on. But the religious world must also be mobilized for the sake of good. All the forces of good must unite. This is already being done. For example, last Sunday the Holy Father spoke very forcefully – and I saw that all the newspapers reported it – asking America not to allow itself to be tempted by hatred. He continually repeats his appeals for peace.

Our own Movement, in its more political expression, the “Movement for Unity in Politics,” promotes this idea of brotherhood, which is the harbinger of peace, through municipalities, through parliaments, in many parts of the world.»