By: Muslimah

Last nights discussion on spirituality and universal love was highlighted by two wonderful speakers-Imam Nazim Mangera and speaker Othman Shibly. Imam Nazim spoke about spiritual purification and how we should become more humble and loving. He gave an example of the Pope that was chosen. Pope Francis said the reason why he doesn’t give so much importance to the needy or charity is because one must have spirituality in our hearts. Once that is established, everything else falls into place and that’s when your heart decides what deeds are best. We should in fact go out of our way to donate to causes, being stingy should not be a factor. Whoever is stingy, is in fact stingy with themselves. One way we can all benefit from is to reduce our spending. This will increase our universal love in maximizing the amount we give and help eachother with.

Imam Nazim spoke of the qualities that God loves, a few being:   

Those who have mercy in their hearts for humans
Those who honor their community members
Those who have pure hearts
Those who stand together and firm in times of hardship
Those who act justly
Those who side with the truth
Those who have good faith in God and his Signs

Speaker Othman Shibly spoke of reality and ended profoundly with love. Did you know that every 14 minutes a person commits suicide? And 10% of the American population lives in severe stress? Othman reminded us that God Almighty loves the doers of good deeds, and does not love the corrupters. We must do things with sincere positive intentions if we want to spread smiles & joy. The word ‘love’ in Arabic is ‘Houb’ حب. The letter ‘Ha’ is the first alphabet that comes from your throat and the letter ‘Ba’ is the last letter that makes a sound on your lips. Think about it. Everything in between must encompass the word ‘Houb’ (love). Now this interfaith event was one that not only opened hearts but also opened our minds. With the knowledge that I gained from it, I will continue to seek more and learn how we all can spread awareness in our communities with love and spirituality.