Important news is not always coming in huge streaming packages accompanied with neon flashing headlines or through "live" reporters crackling microphones. Sometimes gold are found in tiny brooks, or as in this case - gems in a tiny book.
Headlines nearly every day present us groups using their religion as an excuse for war - or in other ways building walls of conflict between different inhabitants of our tiny planet. Yes we have many inhabitants among us who lay down a lot of work with best of intentions in the field of comparative religions.
Still even in the depth of these efforts lies the belief of each party that own religion is superior - however strong the belief is that other religions should be respected. The question must then be - will we ever be able to transcend this last border without anyone having to loose his or her own source path?
This is where a tiny book called "Beyond Diversities - Reflections on Revelations" comes in. A book written by Ali, Aliaa and Aisha Rafea - a brother and two sisters from a very significant family. Their father - Rafea Mohamed Rafea - was a Master of an important Sufi order, an position his son Ali Rafea today have taken over.
Ali Rafea's background is in Computer Sciences and his work is as a professor at the American University in Cairo and a Head of Agricultural Central Lab for Expert System. Aliaa Rafea is an Anthropologist and a professor at Ein Shams University in Cairo, who have shared her papers at several important international conferences. Aisha Rafea is a writer and journalist. Apart from writing books, she has been working with television productions and writes regular articles for prominent magazines. In short, three eminent persons within a strong Islamic tradition.
That in itself is maybe not unique, so rather listen to following extract from their book:
"Even though the core mission of all revelations, natural and prophetic, where to reveal to man the spiritual truths and guide him to live in accordance with them, alas these revelations themselves have been misunderstood, misused, misrepresented, distorted and overlooked. What is worse, history proves that some people have made of religions fallacious reasons for wars, shedding bloods, domination, exploitation, invasions and occupations of others' lands. Some groups of several religious affiliations see it as their religious duty to force all people convert to their own religion. And followers of each religion find seemingly logical reasons to show superiority over all others. Conflicts are overwhelming and they are not only on a state, societal, or individual level, they also exist on the level of a person with his own self..."
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