A call for peace and solidarity: Papal Visit to Turkey

This week Turkey has been honored with the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis. Living through very difficult times with all the wars going on between people of different faiths - and even different sects of the same religion - we all acknowledge that this is a very important visit for all the believers of the world and is a sincere call for peace.

Not a day passes by that we do not read or watch news reports about people being killed because of their thoughts and beliefs. Although almost all these wars claim to have religious foundations, it is a universally acknowledged fact that violence has no place in religion; not in Islam, not in Christianity, not in Judaism.  Fanaticism, which in fact has nothing to do with the real sources of religions, is wreaking havoc in the world at the moment. Turkey, amidst all this turmoil, is very well aware of her historical responsibility to serve as a bridge between the West and the East, between different cultures and faiths. His Holiness Pope Francis also recognizes this responsibility and said,  “Turkey has a "great responsibility," because of its history and location bridging East and West, to help bring different communities together and promote the path to peace.” As very beautiful and wise statement by His Holiness puts it, Turkey has a very great responsibility to put an end to this hateful, violent course of events. Being a modern democracy and a historical bastion of tolerance and clemency, Turkey has undertaken a great role in prioritizing efforts for establishing unity and solidarity. That is because as his Holiness Pope Francis, said in the first day of his visit, "Fanaticism and fundamentalism, as well as irrational fears which foster misunderstanding and discrimination, need to be countered by the solidarity of all believers.”

Our efforts for bringing love and light into our world, to overcome the hatred and darkness instigated by the antichrist – dajjal - are making strides and we know that His Holiness, as a faithful believer in our Lord, is together with us in our sole purpose of turning this world into a place like Heaven to the guidance of God.  To do this, we need to unite with all the believers of the world in struggling against falsehood with science, intellect, knowledge, and with the good morality commanded to us all in the Holy Books. We will account for our deeds on the Day of Judgment.

It is all believers’ duty to protect the innocent, be they Muslim or Christian, especially in the Middle East where the region has been swamped in terror. We feel deeply for the Christian minorities living in the conflict zones just as much we feel for the entire population living under fire. We, as Muslims, assume the legacy of our Ottoman ancestors and accept our responsibility to protect the rights of Christians and Jews living in Islamic countries.

Therefore, we are very confident that our joint efforts can bring solutions to fight the extremism and terror afflicting our today’s world. We know that the love that exists in the hearts of sincere believers has the power to defeat any evil.

Our Lord is Almighty, All-Powerful and He is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. And God’s promise is absolute; the good who are on the side of our Lord will prevail on the Earth as promised in the Qur’an, the Gospel and the Torah.

In that respect, we join with all the believers of the world in our striving for righteousness to prevail and hope that the visit His Holiness Pope Francis is paying to Turkey will be a beautiful manifestation of this joint effort.

Adnan Oktar's piece on Urdu Times