Remarks and Prayers of Imam Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha, Chaplain, New York Police Department

Excerpted from the National Prayer Service held on Sunday, October 28, 2001.

(Imam Pasha begins with a series of prayers)

... the merciful redeemer. Oh, God, I beseech of you good by your knowledge, and acts of your power, out of that power, and I beg of you, for your great grace, for thou has power, and I have not the power, and thou knoweth, and I do not know. And thou are the great knower of all knowledge. We ask you, God, to bless us with words that will be comforting to the families gathered here today. And let them know that what we say, we mean only good by it.

We are gathered here with so many family members, dear God, and they represent the world community. We have here people who have lost loved ones of all the faiths on Planet Earth. We have people of the Jewish faith, Christian faith, the Muslim faith, and other faiths who have lost life here who were innocent.

Dear God, we stand today asking for guidance, asking for your strength, to guide us to better days and to give us the will, and the strength as your people, as your creation, to find ways to address our differences better than the ways we have in the past.

God, you have made us all, and truly we of your creation, and you have created us all in goodness, and we should have no differences. But our differences should be the beauty of our faces and our cultures, the beauty of our ways of worship of you. They should not lead us destruction of each other. Without your help, surely, mankind will go astray. We will pursue a destiny that will bring harm and hurt to more innocent people. God, this day, comfort these family members, that you will usher in a peace that no man can break, that there will be peace on Earth as it is in heaven and that your will, will be done.

We ask you, God, to protect us against our errors, to protect us against ignorance and stupidity, to guide us in our hearts to what is right and just, and in the pursuit of justice, let us not hate, for what hate has got us in this circumstance we find today.

Let us as people of faith, believers in the many ways we believe, stand upon goodness. Let goodness be our guide. Let goodness be on the rise. Let us stand firm in what is right and just. Let us be the best human beings that we can be, and not let those who would use these things turn us against one another. We are neighbors. We are family members. We are family members, we are friends, and we hurt as human beings do.

War is not something that any human being wants. But in defense of ourselves, we must fight. But God, let us fight for peace. Let us not deviate from establishing peace. Let us have peace today. Let us bring peace to these family members. Let their hearts be comforted with all the words that be will said today.

I conclude by saying a ... from the Holy Koran, the holy book of Muslims. In that ... , that chapter, called the table spread, and it says: "Oh ye who believe, stand out firmly. For God has witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve, to wrong and depart from justice. Be just, that is next to pity and fear God. For God is well acquainted with all that we do.

Let there be no compulsion in religion. Religion stands out firm. It is truth and all of us here of the many faiths, the messengers of God who came to all of us were one brotherhood. And messages came to great women of faith, the mother of Musa (ph), Moses, the mother of Christ Jesus, Mary, peace be upon them. Let us stand together in faith and not let our faiths be used in such ways.

History shows that our faiths have been used by wrong-doers, by wicked people. They cannot use our faiths and do these terrible things. Let us as religious leaders stand firm together, and not let the differences split us apart. We are one human family. We are one message from God and all of his messengers were one brothers together. The did not fight one another. So where do we find justification for such behavior?

We believe in God. We trust in God and we call God by all the wonderful names. Let God today hear our plea in this great city and this great country and let us bring freedom and peace to America, and to the world. Amen.