We all know the famous words immortalized in time “Do unto others as you would have done unto you“ attributed to Jesus the Son of Mary, peace and blessings of God be upon him. However, this moral code of conduct was not something new in his time but has been a part of every culture and religion through out time. Nonetheless, it makes it no less important.  In fact it has many variations that all lead us as human beings to reach a very high moral character.  Nearly every Prophet we know of, philosophy or culture has the same teaching, grant it in some variation in the wording.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, taught it as well and repeated in several of his traditions.  He, peace be upon him, was recorded as saying “None of you truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself”.  In another narration “None of you truly believe until you love for people what you love for yourself”.  And in his final sermon while on his final pilrgimage to Mecca, there is this excerpt, “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you”.

When I read these words, I find a lump in my throat and I can feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes.  I have true certainty in the Messengers and Prophets of God. Among their attributes there are four that are necessary for them to be true prophets or messengers of God.  Any true messenger of God must have these four following attributes: 1. They are truthful – that is they never lie, their words are true, and I mean TRUE.  2.  They are trustworthy in their mission of guidance and delivering the message given to them, if they were given one to deliver.  3.  They deliver the entire message sent with them, holding nothing back or hiding any of it.  And 4.  They are intelligent and consciously aware, that is they are not heedless of God at any moment and can’t be fooled.  So when I read their words I hold them in high regard and take them to heart and put them to practice as best as I can.

As I grew up I came across many instances when someone would do something to me that I most definitely did not like and in fact sometimes found the action quite abhorrent. When those situations would occur, I would make a deep mental note not to do the same in return to that person or to anyone else.  I hope that following such a path has made me a better person, and a better believer.

When I think about the possible consequences of putting those teachings into practice on a global level I shudder.  The awe that overcomes me when I think that we could live in harmony with each other by simply doing good to each other is sometimes to great.

I want to be respected for who I am.  Is it that hard to do the same to everyone else?  I want to feel safe in my home, my city, my country.  Is it so hard that we can’t extend that feeling to everyone, everywhere?  I do not like getting hurt.  Is it that hard to restrain my hands or my tongue from hurting others?  You only have to put yourself in another’s shoes and ask if you yourself – would I like it if what I am about to do to this other person is something that I would like done to me?  If we asked ourselves this question I think we could bring this world to a very peaceful state.  The difficult part is not in acting thusly, but it is in being conscience people about our actions and reflecting about the consequences of our actions before we do them.

And I know the criticisms that have come up about the golden rule and its “loop holes”.  I don’t want to entertain those as they are the words of critics and critics rarely have anything good to say about anything.  To them their life and to me my own.  I know… that if this golden rule is the guidance of those Beacons of Light sent to us by The Most Merciful, The Compassionate, then it is one of the greatest mercies that this world has ever seen and it is worthy of following it, no matter what.

True Colors

True Colors

Till Tomorrow, Peace.