Allah says “Stand for justice…”
We are grateful to Allah, Highly Glorified is He, to have lived in the time of these persons who have been so important to our group determination. They were steady and direct to the task at hand, addressing the condition of those connected by the circumstances of oppression and the aims, hopes, and triumphs of justice.
Oppressed peoples should have an understanding and appreciation for each other, in our independent struggles, respectively, to search for and to protect what is held in common. We find in that common life, that we want and cherish for ourselves and all others, the promises of great societies past and present. To be respected for our created human dignity, to defy and fight forces that want to obstruct that, and to have opportunities to contribute to the many excellences of human progress in society is well-known and embraced by all peoples on every continent.
These great figures, two belonging to the the just struggle of the African-American Martin L. King Civil Rights tradition, and one belonging to the honored Mandela family standard of leadership integrity and the freedom movement of the oppressed in South Africa, also have a share in our Islamic view of the common human life and a claim on its view of the human destiny.
We believe G’d created us in excellence, and for excellence in every honorable, decent pursuit. We believe that G’d is Witness over humanity and its nations by the rule of truth and justice. We believe that G’d raises individuals and peoples as witnesses to Him in the great and universal causes that free man from ignorance, backwardness, injustice, and immorality.
These values are held in common by us Muslims in America and by our comrades in moral arms who are Christian, Jewish, or having other faith identities, or have even other political language and identity. G’d, the Lord and Creator, is the Eternal Judge of mankind. These persons, John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and Zindzi Mandela lived as witnesses for the just order He wants for human society.
We thank G’d for their lives and examples. We extend our sincere condolences to their families. We remember them solemnly, and in our hearts.