Editorial

New Year, Hopes and Successes
Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation
Dear Readers,
Last year, despite terrible death of refugees and civil people in the war fields and terrors, mainly committed by the suicide bombers of the ISIS, by the grace of the Almighty God, had a breaking point; the decisive defeat of the ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Today global war against terror is not a fight between religions or peoples. But it is between moderates of all faiths and communities, against extremists whose faith is hate and violence.
Still we need to reject misinformation that some groups promote about Islam (or any other faith). We need to take away the waves and the Internet from the voices of hatred - those who have victimized our world, not only with bombs and terror, but with ignorance and lies.
Much of what is heard today about religion is all about what separates people of the world, mainly through what different groups do not know about others. The ideologies of hate distort the word of God to stir up conflict and justify crimes and terror. We need to take these dangers seriously. But they should not take us away from the truth- that faith should draw humanity together.
It is faith that brings us the Golden Commandments, held in common by multiple world religions - to love God and the good, and love our neighbor, etc. It is faith that allows us to prosper and thrive, bringing together different civilizations and cultures around the common principles of humanity.
Where did human diversity begin? God Almighty says in the Holy Quran, “O’People! We created you from a single pair of male and female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. The most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you.”
To understand each other and our common humanity… to act righteously in the sight of God… This is the faith we teach our children; the faith shared by 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, a quarter of humanity. This is traditional, tolerant, plural, and common-based Islam - dedicated to the love of God; following the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon he & his family); and seeking to live in virtue and treat others with justice and kindness.
Every day we start our activities with the names of God: “the Compassionate, the All-Merciful”. We hear the greeting, Assalam - alaikum - the blessing of peace be on you. It is a Muslim’s duty to defend the poor and help those in need. Every day, we teach others Muslim heritage that is promoting ‘Understanding and Moderation’. Indeed, we are working globally for dialogue and peace. It was wisely said, the world is one family. However different our countries and our peoples are, we have a common responsibility - to each other, as well as to the future.
The holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon he & his family, said: “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself.” Compassion, mercy, tolerance - these are values that are shared by billions of Muslims and non-Muslims around the world. And these values require us to act for our common future. We need to make sure young people learn the true values of our religions. And let us teach them to honor our common civilization.
We have continued this line of moderation inspired by the holy Quran and the words of the infallible people of the House of the Prophet in this volume, and our scholar writers have provided insightful points about the Divine Justice, Divine Will and the Man’s efforts, Educational thoughts of Imam Ali (p.b.u.h) and other subjects about the holy life and teachings of the blessed infallible Family of the holy Last Prophet.
We are very grateful and happy to draw our congratulations to our readers, all Muslims, and those people who respect the values of humanity, on the occasion of anniversary of birth of Imam amir al- Momenin ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (A.S.).