Whilst I was in Abu Dhabi for an International peace conference organised by Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, I met this Hindu religious leader from India. He told me that once during Ramadan he had slept in his local Mosque in order to reach out and show solidarity with the Muslim community against a rise in Islamophobia attacks, where Muslims had been attacked and Mosques vandalised. He told me that months later his temple was burnt down by extremists claiming to be Hindu, because he had displayed a public act of support for the Muslim community.
I asked him, despite receiving death threats and intimidation, what kept him strong and focused, knowing that he has a family to look after. His reply was:
"To achieve peace is not easy, and you have to make immense personal sacrifices. I will continue to support Muslims. If we sincerely care for people, and want to our communities thrive in respect of each other, then we have to be courageous by firefighting evil with goodness. This is the only way to defeat spiritual ugliness."
From FB page of Nadeem Ashfaq
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