Dear Pastors and Priests
Messages From Peace-Loving Muslim Families: The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant
by
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“Dear Pastors and Priests” draws a vision and outlines a plan of action to assist peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews to inspire God’s peace on Earth. Only the three main Abrahamic faiths are addressed because they have many shared beliefs, virtues, and values and their followers constitute more than 50% of the world’s population and are involved in most conflicts today. This book is only one step in a long journey to inspire world peace.
Message 1:
Because a vision can only be built on solid common ground, this message highlights shared Christian, Muslim, and Jewish beliefs, virtues, and values. Distinguishing beliefs from rituals is key to see the common ground. This message also challenges our faith leaders by asking them a tough question about their attitudes. Positiveness, optimism, leadership, and compassion are the attitudes necessary to champion world peace.
Message 2:
Just like Christians and Jews, Muslims believe in the power of prayer. Muslim prayer, however, is more than a sincere petition to God. “Salat” is a ritual, culture, and phenomenon that unites the hearts and souls of the worldwide Muslim community (Ummah). The unparalleled ritual is one reason why current and future American and European Muslim generations will most likely feel human despair and suffering anywhere in the world. US and European nations should get ready to champion global peace causes and build a just world order.
Messages 3 & 4:
The root cause of the current rift between the two camps is clarified in Messages 3 and 4 and Appendix B (Critical Muslim-Western Ideals and Perceptions Gap). Hundreds of millions of peace- and God-loving families and individuals in the Muslim mainland are deprived of freedom—cornered between repressive authoritarian regimes, militant religious organizations, and foreign interventions and invasions. Victims of the century-old "Great Repression" are counted in the tens of millions. The violence is trickling into Western nations and radicalization is now an international concern. As a result, many peace-loving Christian and Jewish families feel an insecurity at home that has turned them against peace-loving Muslim families.
The solution to the current rift is obvious, within the reach of peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the USA and Europe, economically rewarding, and can begin to take effect in few months. Amazing but true. The solution is in practicing what we preach and in our commitment to the values of democracy, human rights, freedom, and Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions and moral codes.
Message 5:
This message outlines a vision, strategy, and a plan of action for faith leaders to guide peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews to world peace.
The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant (JCIC) is a new grassroots, faith-leader-lead, world peace initiative. The objective is to overcome the continuing threat of violence, radicalization and terrorism and to end the victimization of innocent humans in the name of God or country in both the Western and the Muslim worlds. This initiative complements other global human rights and peace organizations. The following are initiative highlights:
- Prior to developing JCIC, critical success factors were collected or identified. The following are the main requirements:
- Must be consistent with strict and liberal interpretations of the Torah, Bible, and Quran and the views of conservative and liberal Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
- Keep Christian, Muslim, and Jewish crowds largely segregated. No multifaith worship services.
- Nonpolitical.
- Must be grassroots.
- Do not limit missionary work.
- Must be scalable: start local and grow global.
- An overwhelming majority of mainstream Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders are peace-loving and oppose all forms of violence, particularly when children and other innocent civilians are hurt. Faith leaders on all sides, however, are not sufficiently outspoken in their opposition to violence because of the horrendous acts that many Muslims, Jews, and Christians are silent about on the opposing side. Moreover, media bias makes it seem as if mainstream faith leaders on all sides do not oppose the violence.
- The vision empowers all Abrahamic faith leaders to stand united in consistent application of the ethical principles that all of the Abrahamic faiths espouse, to condemn all violence and oppression against innocents. The proposed initiatives and the overall current state of world affairs present a historic opportunity for free, peace-loving faith leaders in the USA and Europe to play a major role in inspiring God’s peace on earth. This is opportunity knocking: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few." (Luke10:2) Will you be one of them?
- Primary vision challenges are education in the Western World and political repression in the Muslim mainland.
The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant (JCIC)
The voice of Conscience and Innocent Victims
The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant, Inc. is an envisioned international peace organization based in the United States. Its members are Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders who span the globe and have made a covenant before God, their congregations, and all nations to inspire God’s transcendent peace. Their mission is to bring an end to the victimization of the innocents of all faiths, all nations, all races, all skin colors, and all ethnicities, whether violated in the name of God or Country. Building on the principles of shared Abrahamic beliefs, values, and virtues, this emerging partnership of faith leaders from across the religious spectrum--conservative, moderate, and liberal--and of all denominations sign a covenant to inspire common causes in their respective congregations and denominations. The peace-making partners will network, coordinate, and communicate via the Internet to publish covenant articles (pledges and common causes), negotiated objectives, and report on independently verified achievements. To strengthen this partnership, participating churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world will be paired with counterparts in the other faith groups, even including partnerships between the Vatican, Grand Mosque in Mecca, and various holy shrines in Jerusalem. Faith leaders inspire potentially billions of followers by appearing hand-in-hand before local, national, and international audiences to affirm their anti-violence stance and solidarity with all innocent victims, whom they mention by name. Faith leaders offer community inclusion to the followers of other faiths in their locales by reading intercongregation messages in the name of The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant and by participating in Covenant Sanctuary Peace Drills and Peace Maker Month campaigns. This partnership will provide a context for the cause of world peace. The JCIC organization will restructure and open invitations to other faiths once major milestones in grassroots Jewish, Christian, and Muslim relations are achieved. This venture complements other peace initiatives on the global stage (e.g., Charter for Compassion, interfaith, etc.). Initially, faith leaders can endorse the covenant on www.CovenantCentury.org (or www.jcic.org). JCIC will be open for membership when enough endorsements are collected.
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About the Book
A heartfelt and urgent appeal to faith leaders in the Western world, written by a devoted Muslim author with an unwavering commitment to fostering peace and mutual understanding. This book seeks to bridge two worlds by offering profound insights into shared beliefs, values, and opportunities for peacebuilding and collaboration between Muslims and Christians.
Dedicated to the innocent victims of violence worldwide, both past and present, the book begins with a powerful declaration: “Pastors, Priests, Imams, and Rabbis in the USA and Europe CAN help save millions of children and other innocent victims, and champion world peace.”
Through five compelling messages, the author explores:
- Common Ground: The opening chapter highlights the shared theological foundations that unite Muslims and Christians. It encourages faith leaders to view the similarities between the two traditions as evidence of God’s design and challenges them to ask: Do they see the glass as half full or half empty?
- Muslim Rituals and Christian Glorification of God: This message demonstrates how Salat (Muslim prayers) profoundly shapes Muslim culture, traditions, and unity. It provides Christian leaders with a deeper understanding of Islamic spirituality, drawing parallels to Christian practices of worship and devotion, and underscoring a shared commitment to glorifying God.
- Root Causes of Muslim-Christian Conflicts: From a Muslim perspective, this chapter examines the historical roots of tensions between the West and Muslim nations. It highlights the despair caused by prolonged military interventions, support for authoritarian regimes, and perceived double standards in foreign policies. As we step into a new millennium, the author urges Western nations to embrace strategies that uphold the universal principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all peoples. The leadership of predominantly Christian nations offers a historic opportunity to demonstrate their core values and serve as a model for the rest of the world.
- The Palestinian Catastrophe: Through personal narratives, this chapter sheds light on the decades-long suffering of Palestinians. It calls on Christian leaders to take advantage of this opportunity to live out the Gospel by demonstrating indiscriminate love and compassion for all—regardless of faith, race, or nationality—and actively engaging in peacemaking and reconciliation among all conflicting parties.
- A Vision for Faith-Inspired Peace: The final chapter presents a visionary roadmap for faith leaders from both traditions to use common causes as foundational blocks for peacebuilding. It empowers them to engage proactively, collaborate, foster trust, and champion faith-based peace initiatives on both local and global scales. The Vision, continually refined at handshake4peace.org, provides a platform for leaders to demonstrate the transformative power of divine compassion. By working together across religious boundaries, these leaders have a unique opportunity to inspire global audiences and redefine the narrative surrounding the terms 'God' and 'religion'—elevating them from sources of division to enduring symbols of hope. The Vision also calls on faith leaders to lead by example, stepping forward as moral heroes to fill the critical void of role models desperately needed by today’s youth. This chapter further introduces the Dallas-based Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant (JCIC), which serves as the custodian of a global agreement among Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders. The Covenant outlines mutually agreed-upon common causes and commitments, with details published on www.jcic.org (under construction). Notably, faith leaders who engage in, endorse, or support ongoing aggression or military occupations are excluded from participating in the Covenant because their presence defeats the purpose of this initiative.
This timely and transformative book is both a call to action and a vision for a brighter future—one in which faith leaders rise above theological differences to serve as proactive peacemakers in a divided and hurting world.
About the Author
Ayman Alhasan is father, project manager, author, and internationalist. He believes in the good nature of the overwhelming majority of all people, in the golden rule, that the sanctity of human life is absolute, and that all human beings are equal. Ayman has dedicated the rest of his life to pursuing his dreams.
Ayman Alhasan’s book, Dear Pastors and Priests marks his debut in the literary and peace making worlds. Ayman's vision, strategy, and step-by-step plans to make the voice of peace louder than the noise of fanaticism and violence, are featured in his book.
Mr. Alhasan is a citizen of the world, having lived half of his life in the US and the other half in various Arab and Muslim countries. He feels he belongs to multiple Muslim and Western cultures.
Ayman communicates and writes cross-cultural messages and content based on a methodology he developed.
Mr. Alhasan currently lives in Texas. He is a devoted family man, and a loving father to four children, two sons and two daughters. Moreover, he’s the proud grandfather of both a granddaughter and a grandson.
Ayman loves to hear from readers, please visit handshake4peace.com and leave him a message on his contact page.