The day before the shootings in San Bernadino, California, a friend of mine, who is a distinguished journalist, sent the following note to me from Belgium:

“Salaams, I have been in Belgium for a few days now. The Muslim community here is in serious trouble and they know it. You could feel the weight of their helplessness from the look in their eyes. It is either pain, sorrow or frustration… or all. Really sad. Western Europe is about to close its doors on Muslims. Here, sole politicians are talking about sending the army into Molenbeek and searching every home. That’s almost 90,000 people… almost all of them Muslims. Twenty-two unregulated Mosques… many fronts for Sharia4Belgium guys. Trying to recruit young boys for war in Syria as young as thirteen. The choice it appears is between a life as a petty criminal or a big criminal… a terrorist in the name of God. What has gone wrong.”

A lot has gone wrong. For one thing, unless America intended to destabilize or destroy vast swaths of the Muslim world, our foreign policy has gone drastically wrong. We created the Jihad movement to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, and after the withdrawal of the Soviet military from that country, an event some hailed as the CIA’s “finest hour,” we walked away as the remnants of the anti-Soviet Jihad morphed into what would become Al-Qaeda. We invaded and then occupied Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, or any terrorist attacks against America, and then proceeded to create the hellish conditions that gave rise to ISIS. We orchestrated the overthrow of Qaddafi and now watch as the vacuum created by his fall is filled by groups like Al-Qaeda in the Magrib and Boko Haram. We have created the devils that now dog us.

We can continue in this vein, however, as Muslims, we have to look at something else that has gone terribly wrong -in our very religion. We have allowed the slow growth of a death cult that has consumed far too many of our youth. For many alienated youth, lacking self-worth, lacking a clear identity, whose respective societies have offered them nothing to live for, this cult offers them something to kill and to die for. Its call is brutally clear. Namely, your Muslim brothers and sisters are being oppressed and you have an obligation to assist them. Non-Muslim lives have no value, and if you kill them to avenge your dead coreligionists, you have performed a virtuous act. If you die in the process you are a martyr -even if your death is by suicide. Furthermore, their propagandists claim, the time has arrived for an apocalyptic finale to world affairs, and that finale will witness the defining victory of Islam.

For many, this toxic brew of distorted teachings has had a macabre appeal. We must destroy it. I say to our youth, you have something to live for; you have something to hope for; you have something to truly die for. Live to love and do not allow hatred to consume your life. Love for your brother what you love for yourself -safety, security, well-being, and peace. Did not our Prophet, peace upon him, teach all of these? Hope for a future that will not see an apocalyptic end in your lifetime, rather, a world of concerned people working together to address the problems that affect us all, as well as our children. Surely, Doomsday will bring an end to this world, however, if our Prophet, peace upon him, denied knowing when it would occur, what gives anyone today the ability to claim that it is imminent. Keep working, plant your seedling, and hope that you will see it grow. If you want a noble cause to die for, be willing to give your life working to end the plague of war; be willing to give your life trying to end global hunger; be willing to give your life striving to end the obscene inequalities in wealth distribution that feed the discontent helping to fuel the cycles of violence. It is easy to incite fear and hatred, however, in this difficult time we need peacemakers. It is easy to perpetuate a morbid status quo, however, now is the time for the advocates of change.

It is easy to hide, to find a safe place wherein to weather the storm, however, now is the time for courageous souls who will step forward to assume the role of the hero and the statesman. There is no denying that we have been dealt a difficult hand, however, that is the hand we must play, and we must play it well. The times we live in give us little margin for error. May God watch over us as we proceed.