The two great prophets/messengers of God, Jesus and Muhammad are the sources of the two largest religions on earth, Christianity and Islam. Major forces in history including the Crusades, the conquest of Muslim Spain by Christian Spain, the division of the Ottoman Empire by France and England after World War I, the founding of the state of Israel after World War II,
the Cold War and its ending in 1989, have lead to new conception for world diplomacy. Today the Cold War has been replaced by a new East - West War. The new enemy for Western Civilization is the Middle East terrorist, a Muslim native from one of the 55 or so Muslim states of the world. One of the major sources of Western Civilization is the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the resulting Christian religion. The life and teachings of Muhammad and the resulting religion of Islam is similarly a major source for Middle Eastern Civilization and all other Islamic nations.
Jesus and Muhammad, the two most influential prophets on earth both preached love and worship of the One God, service of one's fellow man including the poor and the oppressed, and an egalitarian society where no one is in need goods are shared equally with all. They would certainly have fought against the recent Cold War and present-day East - West War. From an economic point of view this East - West War can be clearly seen as a War between the have-nots,
generally the Third World nations, and the haves, generally the First World Nations.
This editorial column will focus on a comparison between the lives and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad. Identifying their advocacy of universal spiritual principles, and stressing the inclusiveness and ecological spirit in their lives, will perhaps assist readers in broadening their global awareness and serve to diminish the destructiveness of either/or, we/them (enemy)
thinking.
The ultimate goal of this column is disarmament and a final ahimsa (harmlessness) in thought, word and deed. In 1995, after the end of the Cold War, the Middle East had the largest concentration of defense spending on earth (40% of total). Saudi Arabia $13 billion, Israel $9 billion, Kuwait and Iraq each $3 billion, and Iran, Egypt, Syria, and Libya each $2 billion. In a nutshell the West is arming the East with Western produced weapons, and is also obtaining Eastern oil to run Western industry and technology. This process, if it continues without major changes, will ultimately destroy civilization as we know it.
May study of the life and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad help each of us to understand our roles in the disarmament process as it applies to our families, our communities, our studies, and ultimately the world itself.
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