OCTOBER 7, ONE YEAR LATER

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It is not easy to remain “balanced” (wasat) in the face of the “calamity” that has hit the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and then Lebanon in these 12 months of authentic “madness”. Thoughts and resentment shake us here and there, making our blood rise to the brain, and we are ready to explode in judgments and evaluations about what is happening, with the finger pointing at this or that one…

It is the same for all of us. It is our humanity, always liable to be dragged even unconsciously into the game of Shayṭān, into a spiral of anger and venom that takes possession of our heart and mind, of our soul and body, clouding our ability of judgement.

In order not to fall into bad feelings, the only way is to “hold on to the cord of Allāh” (Sūrat ‘Āli ‘Imrān, 3:103). His message to the muʾminīn was clear: “O you who believe… do not let hatred for a people prevent you from being just” (Sūrat al-Mā’ida, 5-8).

So now, on the day when such a wave of unprecedented suffering and destruction for Muslims and non-Muslims started, we commemorate all the Palestinian and Lebanese victims, both the dead and the living, Alḥamdulillāh, and we strongly condemn the blind desire for revenge that, as we have seen, only brings further injustice and darkness. A year later, there is no end in sight in the tunnel, not even remotely. Was it worth it?

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