A Call for Three Months of Prayer To Prevent War

We need to come together to prevent war in the Middle East and World War III

The typical period of mourning in Islamic culture is three days. Now that there is a war in Israel, which threatens to spread across the Middle East and the rest of the world, I hope that Muslims, Jews, Christians, and followers of other faiths can come together in peaceful prayer for the next three months.

This message is primarily meant for people in the Middle East, but if you’re reading this in the United States, Europe, Russia, Asia, or elsewhere, your prayers will make an enormous difference too.

Pray outside with your fellow citizens, or alone in your room, or with your family or friends, or at a place of worship. Fight back against the shouting, threats, and violence with peaceful but forceful prayer.

Instead of violence, choose love. Listen to and pray for your perceived enemies. Realize that in the end, they are your fellow brothers and sisters. Hatred only means swallowing poison yourself.

Mourn the dead Israelis and Palestinians. Pray for the hostages trapped in tunnels from dozens of countries, including Israel and the United States, and the Palestinians who can’t find clean drinking water and who have nowhere to go if they leave their homes.

Mourn Qasem Soleimani. Mourn Muammar Gaddafi. Mourn Saddam Hussein.

Mourn the dead Iraqis, Afghans, and Americans from the United States’ occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Mourn the dead Syrians from the Syrian Civil War. Mourn the dead Yemenis from Yemen’s civil war. Mourn the people that ISIS beheaded.

Pray for the people of the Middle East to gain the civil rights and personal safety that they deserve, to be able to express themselves and have true freedom of choice.

Pray for the cycle of violence to end.

When the cycle of violence spirals out of control, it can be nearly impossible to stop.

So it is absolutely critical to nip the cycle of violence in the bud, right now. With a show of force in the streets, in our homes, in our places of worship. With peaceful prayer.

Pray for peace, freedom, faith, hope, and love. (See 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 5-7.)

Amen.

Postscript:

Songs for peace:

Ofra Haza - Jerusalem of Gold
Hatikvah (The Hope) - Israel’s national anthem (I like the recording from the soundtrack to the 2005 movie Munich, as composed and conducted by John Williams)
Khaled - Aicha
Arash - One Day (feat. Helena)
Arash - Pure Love (feat. Helena)