Dear friends,
Salamun alaykum/Greetings of peace,
I am deeply shocked to learn of the attack on the St Mark's Cathedral, of the Coptic Church in Egypt, during a Sunday service.
We offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims. Our prayers are for the injured to make a swift recovery.
The fact that this appalling incident occurred in a sacred place devoted to God and at a time when the faithful were praying to God profoundly affects us all. To attack a religious person or sacred places devoted to God is to attack the Divine message of love, peace and harmony.
Such evil and barbaric acts of terror are appalling and we continue to strongly condemn them. Any claim of committing acts of violence in the name of any faith is illegitimate. Such acts of brutality and cold blooded murder are barbaric, abominable and are definitely contradicting the pristine teachings of religion of Islam.
In these challenging moments it is urgent now, as they were, to continue promoting interfaith understanding and building relationships amongst our communities. These mass murderers want to divide our society and pit people against each other. We must deny them this goal at every conceivable opportunity. As communities we must continue to reach out to our sisters and brothers, of all faiths and of no faith, and to work in solidarity against the spread of hate and fear.
Let us all stand firm with compassion and solidarity and continue to work towards establishing peace and harmony in the community.
We continue to pray for all those who suffer for their faith in different regions especially the peoples of the Middle East and for all those ravaged by war and conflict.
12th December, 2016.
For more information, contact:
Sheikh Fazle Abbas Datoo
Imam of the Al Mahdi Wessex Jamaat Community.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.almahdi.org.uk