\As-salamu Alaykum / Peace be upon you all,

The Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) condemns in the strongest terms the terror attacks in Sri Lanka.  Our condolences go to the victims and their families.  We pray that they find strength and solace in the face of such a calamity.

The global Faith Community has barely recovered from the terror attacks on worshippers in Christchurch New Zealand and now we are faced with these terror attacks on worshippers in Sri Lanka.  I would like to repeat a credo that many from the interfaith community told our community after the Christchurch attacks: “an attack on one religious community is an attack on all religious communities.”  The Muslim community stands and grieves with the Christian community as we try and make sense of these vile acts in Sri Lanka.

It is unconscionable to think that peaceful worshippers, who have gathered in the sanctity of churches on the holy day of Easter, could face such terror.  This is pure evil.  Whatever their intentions were, the terrorists who committed these acts will never divide us.  They will never dampen our resolve for a peaceful and just world built on love, compassion and mercy – a world built upon the message of Jesus (peace be upon him):

He replied, “So will it be! Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me. And so will We make him (Jesus) a sign for humanity and a mercy from Us.’ It is a matter already decreed.” [Qur’an 19:21]

Hyder Ali

MAPS President