www.kuftaro.

org the way to truth

sheikh ahmad kuftaro

the responsibility of man towards himself
global forum on environment and development for human survival moscow, u.s.s.r.
"formerly" january 15 - 19, 1990

in the name of god, the compassionate, the merciful, the lord of all mankind and
created beings.

i pray him to bless and grace all his prophets and holy messengers including the
last one muhammad, who says:
all the creation is god's dependents and he loves most whoever is the most
beneficial to them.
and who also has told us that god says:
i have created the creation so that they may benefit from me and not i from them.

i have the honor to speak, at this world conference, as the representative of the
spiritual leaders who stand for all revealed religions and wisdom, in regard to
development, survival and environmental concerns.

my brothers and sisters, allah, the creator of the universe and the maker of its
marvelous laws, destined man to live on this planet within glorious panoramic
surroundings of endless beauty and delightful treasures that endow mankind with
happiness and luxuriant welfare. he says, in the quran, the holy book of the
muslims:

it is allah who has subjected to you what the heavens and the earth contain; all
is from him. t.q., sura 45, bowing the knee, verse 13.

god made man and sent forth prophets and messengers with heavenly commissions,
judicious reason and wisdom for the sake of establishing a virtuous human society.
in building that society, each prophet laid a stone of the building until it was
completed except for the space of one brick, of which prophet muhammad said that
he was that brick.

muhammad with that single brick unified half of the world in half a century by
means of primitive resources. thus, half the world became one family, or one body,
so compact that if one member was diseased the whole body suffered in wakefulness
and vigilance. all lived in an environment of love, fraternity, international
cooperation. equality, justice and freedom were guaranteed for all human beings.

indeed it was an ideal, spiritual, literate, moral environment, free from all
sorts of pollution or stains that infest morals, spirit and learning. all of this
is a real historical fact and not a fanciful, poetic, utopian existence.

dear ladies and gentlemen, i believe that the essence of true religion lies in the
fraternity of the prophets. furthermore, i am quite certain that later prophets
made the laws and religious teachings of the earlier ones complete. i also believe
that all human beings are brethren, seeking truth everywhere and waging war
against myths, legends and all sorts of self-delusions and erroneous fancies,
wherever they exist.

i encourage activity for the sake of every beneficial good and fighting all sorts
of harmful evil. i stress the fact that learning should be fully developed for the
benefit of man's advancement and well-being. the wisdom of sagacious people should
be appreciated and utilized.

from the point of view of the oneness of religion, whose sole aim is to make
mankind happy through the brotherhood of the prophets and the fraternity of
humanity, i would like to illustrate and elucidate what i mean by development.

development:

the essence of all revealed religions and the core of the canonical laws of
abraham, moses, jesus, muhammad, buddha, and other prophets and philosophers, all
had one sole objective: to improve human existence from the state it was in, then
to bring it to an even higher level of well-being. each sought to promote mankind
from ignorance to enlightenment, from misery to happiness and from injustice, or
oppression, into justice, love and sympathy.

did not jesus christ say in his great commandment: . . . love thy fellow men as
thou love thyself. ? was prophet muhammad any less clear regarding the importance
of loving one's fellow man, when he said: men are brethren of each other, and none
of you has full belief unless he loves for his fellow men what he loves for
himself. ? abraham, moses and other prophets sought the same objective, as the
quran describes this joint heavenly goal as:

all this is written in earlier scriptures; the scriptures of abraham and moses.
t.q., sura 87, the most high, verse 19.

thus, the missionary work of buddha and all the philosophers and social reformers
of all ages and societies has, in truth, been a concerted movement, or evolution,
towards improving mankind's excellence and his circumstances, in pursuit of the
benefits of increased learning and wisdom. prophet muhammad says: a loser is the
man whose two consecutive days are equivalent; he suffers privation whose morrow
is not better than his previous day; who lacks increase is in deficiency; and
whoever is in deficiency is better be dead.

religion, in truth, is not only content to make the earth a heavenly paradise for
man, but seeks to design it in the light of commonsensical faith, wisdom, learning
and good deeds. this is confirmed in the quran:

be they men or women, those that embrace the faith and do what is right we will
surely grant a happy life; we shall reward them according to their noblest
actions. t.q., sura 16, the bee, verse 97.

god also says: good is the reward of those that do good works in this present
life; but far better is the reward of the life to come. blessed is the dwelling-
place of the righteous. t.q., sura 16, the bee, verse 30.

religion does not only guarantee for man a secure life on this planet. he is not
like animals, made up of dust and to dust they shall return. for faith and true
belief guarantees for man, in addition to the earthly paradise, an everlasting and
immortal heavenly paradise.

pollution:

therefore, in accordance with what i mentioned earlier, whosoever injures man or

kills him is doing this to all mankind. god says in the quran:

whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or other wicked
crimes, should be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind; and that
whoever saved a human life, should be regarded as though he had saved all mankind.
t.q., sura 5, the table spread, verse 32.

consequently, we can say that the world today is on the verge of committing
suicide and destroying itself, for certain groups of people have caused mischief
to the environment and polluted beautiful nature, when we are unaware. does
religion, or a free, conscious mind permit such a suicide?

our planet is like a spaceship, roving in the spacious universe, and all its
passengers are responsible for its safety and maintenance. what a beautiful image
the revealed religions depict through the prophet of islam regarding this issue.
prophet muhammad says in the parable: the heedful followers and observers of god's
laws and those who infringe them are like the passengers on the higher and on the
bottom decks of a ship respectively. those on the bottom want to make a hole in
order to get water without offending those above. muhammad goes on to say: if they
are left and allowed to do this, all the passengers on board will perish, but if
they are prevented, all will be safe.

we conclude from this that those who make holes in our planetary ship will harm
all those who dwell on it. therefore, all people must keep our ship safe from
danger. its preservation and our safety lie in not causing harm or injury to
nature and our environment, which the laws of the creator of this universe has
exquisitely accomplished and perfected. this universe is god's gift with which he
has entrusted us. should we not then be responsible and trustworthy? how can we be
helpful to one another, while trying hard to cause injury by piercing the ozone
layer and polluting our environment. likewise, we hurt ourselves, each other and
the planet we live on by immoral acts, by staining our souls and characters by
egotism, avarice, indifference to other people's adversity, or destiny, or fate,
by believing in superstitions and self-delusion, and by obscuring truth and
reason.

it is with utter ingratitude that man destroys the civilized society our noble
ancestors created in the past, under the leadership of god's prophets and
messengers. these leaders of earlier civilizations heralded the news of the
blessed advent of their successors, who completed their work. now, it is this work
that we are destroying today.

for the sake of peace, for achieving the happiness and ease of mankind, and in
order to preserve the beauty of nature from which we sustain our lives, we must
put an end to all wars, end the pollution of souls and minds, so as to stop the
pollution of the environment, desertification, and to resolve the population
crisis. such a condition of harmony that supports justice, charity and
benevolence, and which calls for brotherly cooperation between man, requires that
three forces should meet and collaborate. they are:

1- honest statesmen and politicians.

2- virtuous scientists and scholars.
3- regeneration of rational leaders for the revealed religions, and men of wisdom.

such eminent personalities should be aided in their work by all the media,
allowing the education of all people even those who live in the most remote areas
of the world. in this way, we can create a peaceful environment, a harmonious
coexistence and an international fraternity, conducting dialogues between science
and reason, on the one hand, and faith and religion on the other.

to sum up this humble speech, i have to say that the only danger man is exposed to
comes from man himself. there is no peace without the struggle to improve man and
his status. man can attain goodness only through his being restored to the essence
of religions and their true nature which agrees with mature minds and rational
mentalities. it is only when sincere and fair-minded persons realize that heavenly
missions came with god's revelation for the sake of man's best interests, bliss,
happiness and safety, that this can happen. collaboration is essential for
restoring to heavenly religious missions their pure nature and genuine quality,
which are scholarship, wisdom and the purification of the soul. when the internal
circumstances of the soul are purified under the guidance of reason, scientific
truths and of sublimity of the spirit, the external environment will be cleansed
and purged of all harmful elements. consequently, man will live thereafter in
circumstances of love and peace

finally, i express my thanks to the united nations and to its secretary general in
recognition of its taking this global forum under its auspices and patronage for
the sake of human survival. i also extend my thanks to all those who helped to
hold this conference as well as to the soviet union, the host country, under the
leadership of the regenerating revolutionary mikhail gorbachev, the patron of
peace, freedom and moral integrity.

thank you all and peace be upon you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

t.q. = translation of the holy quran

ding those above. muhammad goes on to say: if they are left and allowed to do
this, all the passengers on board will perish, but if they are prevented, all will
be safe.

we conclude from this that those who make holes in our planetary ship will harm
all those who dwell on it. therefore, all people must keep our ship safe from
danger. its preservation and our safety lie in not causing harm or injury to
nature and our environment, which the laws of the creator of this universe has
exquisitely accomplished and perfected. this universe is god's gift with which he
has entrusted us. should we not then be responsible and trustworthy? how can we be
helpful to one another, while trying hard to cause injury by piercing the ozone
layer and polluting our environment. likewise, we hurt ourselves, each other and
the planet we live on by immoral acts, by staining our souls and characters by
egotism, avarice, indifference to other people's adversity, or destiny, or fate,
by believing in superstitions and self-delusion, and by obscuring truth and
reason.

it is with utter ingratitude that man destroys the civilized society our noble
ancestors created in the past, un