My New Life with UPF
Dr. A. Abdul Santoe
European Representative, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at-Lahore, The Netherlands

It all started in Berlin at one of the most authentic Moghul-style mosques. As European representative of the worldwide Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, I often visit this Islamic Center where I also occasionally deliver the Friday sermon. After one of my sermons in the summer of 2005 on peace and tolerance in Islam, Mr. Fritz Piepenburg and Mr. Frank Friederich of the local IIFWP contacted me and asked me to make a presentation on those subjects to their interfaith group that same Friday evening.

In my presentation, I attempted to show that Islam in its essence and philosophy has nothing to do with violence or terrorism. This image of about one fifth of the world population is based only on political and social struggles in today’s world. I have—in my opinion—convincingly proven from the holy Qur’an that the religion of Islam is open towards other faiths such as Christianity and Judaism. Wars and terrorism as practiced by radical Muslims have no base whatsover in the holy Book of Islam. Also, contrary to the general opinion, Jihad has nothing to do with violence but more with the concept of compassion for fellow human being. Islam was not founded fourteen centuries ago by a prophet named Muhammad (PBUH) but rather this faith was a continuation and perfection of existing religions coming from one and the same God for all of mankind.

Happy that the presentation seemed to fit seamlessly in an interfaith group such as the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), I was unexpectedly offered the certificate of Ambassador of World Peace. It would appear later that I was the first person from Holland granted this title. However, until then prejudiced against the so-called Moon sect, I accepted this honor with some reluctance.

Although the IIFWP group had regularly sent our Ahmadiyya Center in the rather posh Wilmersdorf area in Berlin invitations for conferences, etc., we never had responded positively. To me, there was always a prejudice against everything connected with the Moon sect and the image of sect leaders living in extravagant style and controlling the lives of their members or subjects.

My experience with IIFWP’s Mr. Piepenburg and Mr. Friederich was completely different. Constructively and in very pleasurable way, they laid a bridge towards our Muslim community in Berlin. Their explanation about the goals and methods of their organisation impressed me. Mr. Friederich suggested that I join the Dutch branch of the IIFWP in Amsterdam. For this purpose he contacted Mr. Wim Koetsier, who is the Secretary General here, and I soon received invitations for meetings in Holland.

Probably in his desire to know me better, Mr. Friederich roamed the Internet for my name and surprisingly found an article in which the honorable title of Knighthood in the Order of House of Orange was extended to me by the Queen’s Major of Rotterdam a year or so earlier. Besides my more than forty-six years of government service in Surinam and Holland, special mention was made on my life-long volunteer activities for the community at large.

The more I came to be acqainted with IIFWP, the more I noticed one rather big difference from other sectarian movements in the world of which the sect leaders live extravagant lives on account of personal financial sacrifices from the part of the members. With the IIFWP it seems quite otherwise.

Born in Korea, Dr. Sun Myung Moon, now reaching the respectable age of 87, not only founded a Christian association, but he also laid the foundation for dialogue with other religious societies in the world. Out of the IIFWP, the UPF (Universal Peace Federation) has evolved. With this, Father Moon—as he is often referred to by his adherents—has reached out the hand to all nations in the world to come to a meaningful peace in the world. It is essential to mention that the association under no circumstances imposes its own principles of the Church to others. All actors in the peace process, mostly as appointed Ambassadors for Peace, participate out of their own conviction.

I experienced the influence of the worldwide peace family at the IIFWP conference at Jerusalem in September 2005 and at the conference I attended in Geneva not long afterwards. In the stately but colossal conference hall, thousands of Ambassadors for Peace from all over Europe were listening to the 87-year-old apostle of peace, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who spoke for more than four hours in a resolute and convincing way about the importance of peace. He also put forward the main condition to reach this purpose: the family as cornerstone for peaceful co-existence in the world. I became more and more impressed by the charisma and the convincing power of this old warrior for peace. But my ultimate impression with the grand family and her leader came after my participation at the International Peace Conference in Seoul, Korea, June 10-14, 2006.

Hundreds of Ambassadors for Peace along with political and religious leaders from close to 200 nations assembled there to discuss the theme of “Peacebuilding and Human Development.” As a Muslim, I was elated to meet religious as well as political Muslim leaders from around the world who came there also to contribute to the great cause. I was particularly happy to meet, among others, the Vice President of the Afghan Republic, His Excellency Karim Khalili, with whom I had a long chat during one of the coffee breaks.

The summit of this summit of world peace was the opening of the Peace Palace erected high up in the mountains east of Seoul. Embarking in one of the hundreds buses inching its way up the mountainous landscape, I saw thousands upon thousands of Korean citizens in white clothes, walking the spiral paths up to the location of the grand peace event. Sitting in the air-conditioned coach and watching the white lines of believers moving up the mountain, my thoughts immediately called up biblical scenes from the New Testament’s Sermon on the Mount.

Parades, cultural and traditional events splendored the five-hour occasion where Father and Mother Moon officially opened the Peace Palace dedicated to a realm of lasting peace and unification. Although I personally felt lost in the massiveness of the celebrations, I nevertheless took pride in presenting one of the crowns of peace to Mother and Father Moon. Here also in a presentation line of nearly 200 pairs from countries the around the world, my contribution seemed so futile within the greatness of the white marble peace palace resembling the architecture of the White House in Washington. The Peace Palace in the Hague, The Netherlands, is a court where conflicts are sorted out, ultimately leading to peace, but the Peace Palace in Korea is an earthly abode of peace erected as a symbol of ultimate peace among the nations of mankind.

From the start of my experience with the peace federation in Berlin, I aimed to add my personal contribution towards world peace—nothwithstanding the humbleness of this—out of my own belief and conviction based to a greater extent upon Quranic invocations, the holy scripture in Islam, being the most misunderstood religion in the world today. During the past year I have given presentations on Islam and peace at interfaith conferences, often with Power Point presentations with quotes such as Chapter 49 verse 13 of the Qur’an: “O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and made you tribes and families that you may know each other.”

It is thus the difference in race, color and appearance that we may recognise and know (and respect) one another. If we look back into history of mankind we may find that majority of conflicts and wars have taken place within the races itself: The world wars within the European continent in the previous century, the disastrous conflicts involving the Japanese and Chinese race as well as the big human drama in the South Asian nation between Hindus and Muslims. Yet another example of “Cain killing Abel” is the mass genocide within the African continent in the past ten years. Can we now imagine what would be the fate of mankind if God Almighty had made all human beings into one race, color or breed? I am personally convinced that mankind would long ago have been extinct.

Another Quranic invocation on which I also make my theme is verse 62 from Chapter 2: “Surely, rhose who believe (Muslims) and those who are Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the last day and does good, they have their reward with their Lord and there is no fear for them nor shall they grieve.”

Where else can one find recognition of all religions of man named by its proper names (Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sabians) or not (whoever believes in God) than here in the holy Book of Islam? This is indeed one of the verses and principles of the holy Qur’an which has inspired me to approach other religions to enter the forum of interfaith for mutual understanding towards peace of mankind.

Besides the Holy Qur’an, also the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) has given examples of pluralism and peaceful co-existence of mankind. Regarding the question to his companions what the rights are of one’s neighbors, he himself gave the following answer:

Help him when he asks for help.
Lend him something when he asks for it.
Console him when he is sad.
Congratulate him when something good happens to him.
When a disaster overcomes him, sympathize with him.
Do not overshadow his house by building yours higher without his permission.
Be always kind to him.

At a time when Jews, Christians, Muslims and others were living together in the city of Madina, this message from the Messanger of Islam must have been a meaningful call to better understanding of mankind. To this call now propagated by the UPF, I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life.