by Issam Raad | Staff Writer

Throughout history, multiple religions, from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintō and others; populations were divided into groups. Ever since we started dwelling on earth, we forcefully bowed to fate by belonging to religions and sects the moment we were born, because either our families or our environments embrace particular beliefs. Each group practiced worshiping through different rituals, traditions, and ceremonies— believing themselves the right and original doctrine that needed to change others and bring them on board. And over time, “others” who did not come aboard became perceived as strangers, enemies, or spiritually lost. Eventually, we fought wars and sacrificed prey in the name of God almighty, assuming that our creator seeks a uniform world. But guess what? We failed. And we will continue failing for two reasons: We cannot paint the globe with a one-color palette, and the Creator never commanded us to do so. 

“Religions are like rivers; they all flow into the same sea.” as said by Shams Al-Tabrizi. This is not a cliché perspective but rather one built from experience, because after waking up, I came to realize that religions differ linguistically, but deep down, they concur spiritually. Groups might perform and practice prayers and rituals differently, but when I look with my third eye, I can see something mesmerizing: All religions are obliviously united under the realm of light to fight the darkness. Religions, deep down, are one, and complete each other because they seek the same thing: doing good in the world, peace, love, and freedom. It doesn’t matter if these notions get manifested distinctly as long as they exist. Sailors need to understand that their journey might differ, but they all sail toward the light. Hence, fighting across the sea will attract disguised lifeboats that bring ships down, which endanger the journey. 

Darkness has its followers, and they work in a clever way by manipulating others: they incite sailors of light to create hatred and fanaticism among them, then act as lifeboats and freely weave the globe with evil. Unfortunately, they often succeed, and darkness prevails. I perceive religions and diversity as a color palette with which the world is being painted. God has the paintbrush, and we’re here to protect the painting from darkness, not to decrease colors. The painting might alter, with colors decreasing or dominating others because of informal interferers who seek the ownership of the artwork, but the original paintbrush will always be in God’s acquisition. In the end, there will come a time, when we wake up from our coma and expose the interferers acting as lifeboats and led by the pyramid eye.