Among all the names and attributes of God, chapters of our revealed scripture begin by referring to Him as the Compassionate and the Merciful.

This is a religion that unequivocally recognizes the belief in all divine messengers as the defining essence of faith, and calls upon followers of all divine religions and doctrines to rally around two fundamentally shared principles, namely monotheism (the injunction that we all worship none but the True God and associate no partners with him) as well as human emancipation and freedom (the command to erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than the True God- Chapter 3: verse 64).

The Prophet of this religion regarded it as his mission to fully develop sublime ethical values. Imam Ali, the exemplary follower of this Prophet, instructed his appointed governor of Egypt to nurture, as a principle of good governance, compassion and empathy for all of God’s creation. He emphasized the essential inter-dependence and oneness, not simply intersection and clash, of humanity and their religious fraternity. How is it at all possible for this religion to be a doctrine of violence?

We should not charge Islam with acrimonious atrocities that may have happened in history. Islam is predicated upon compassion and empathy, calls for justice, and safe-guards human dignity. Even in comparison, the historical record of the deeds of those who claim to follow other religions is darker than that of Muslims. Historically, Muslim societies have offered more grounds for amicable coexistence, toleration and cooperation among various religions and identity-groups with different predilections.

Those who perpetrate violence in the name of religion –Islam, Christianity or any other religion- commit two atrocities: one is violence itself, and the other is perpetrating it in the name of creeds and doctrines which in essence call for tolerance, compassion and peaceful coexistence.