Prof. Dr. Hamid AL-RIFAIE sending a letter to H. E. President George W. Bush
Your
Excellency,
May
peace be upon you, the friendly people of America and all people are everywhere.
You
may be well aware that on February 15, 2003 my colleague Archbishop Michael
Fitzgerald, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in
the Vatican and myself sent a joint letter to Your Excellency, regarding the
Iraqi issue. Then I also sent another letter to Your Excellency regarding the
same issue on March 04, 2003.
Recently,
I read with great interest your venerable address that was published in ( the
International Herald Tribune on Saturday-Sunday, March 20-21, 2004 ); on the
occasion of one year after the start of the war in Iraq ( please find attached a
copy of it ).
Truly,
I found myself in full agreement with Your Excellency when you said:
·
We will never bow to the violence of a few
·
We will
face this mortal danger, and we will overcome it
together
·
It is
the interest of every country and the duty of every government to fight and
destroy this threat
·
There
is a dividing line in our world, not between nations, and not between religions
or cultures
But
after a long contemplation, I found myself hesitating to agree with Your
Excellency when you said:
·
But a
dividing line separating two visions of justice and the value of life.
The
reason of my hesitation regarding this expression is the following: As Your
Excellency knows justice and life are two divine values and there is no
religious, cultural and political controversy in the world regarding their
sacredness.
Hence,
I do not see any interest in indicating or confessing that there are two
different visions regarding justice and life in the world. This is important
with a view to prevent a few terrorists to interpret this expression in favour
of their mortal approaches when they say:
that the war today is decided
between two camps. A camp of Good and a camp of Evil I hope that Your
Excellency would kindly clarify this expression which may open the way to
dangerous interpretations.
On
the other hand - as Your Excellency knows the world is living today a
general case of anger due to the expansion of injustice among human communities.
This anger is expressed in different forms of violence and extremism everywhere.
Therefore is a need for an urgent and strategic vision, as well as serious
collective efforts to resolve all cases of international injustice and to
establish the values of justice among human communities.
Your
Excellency,
One
of the motivations that incites me to write this letter to You is the
overwhelming desire of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue to
contribute with the worlds wise leaders in crystallizing a world charter of
values, tackling the case of injustice in the world, establishing deep rooted
standards of justice among communities and founding the culture of peace among
human generations.
Also,
one of the reasons that encourages us in going on this direction is the positive
meeting held in Jeddah on the 21st of July 2003 with H. E. Mr. Lorne
Craner, Assistant U.S Secretary of State , H. E. Mr. Robort Jordan, U.S.
Ambassador in Riyadh at that time, H. E. Ms. Gina Abercrombie, U.S. Consul
General in Jeddah and the attendant delegation. Truly, we felt that both sides
share a big common ground that motivates us to continue our consultation and
cooperation in order to achieve the best of our peoples and the safe coexistence
among the international communities.
Prof. Dr. Hamid Bin Ahmad Al-Rifaie