Visit to Mecca, Discovery of Islam’s Heart

Dear Prof Abdul-Wahab Noor-Wali,

I have great gratitude to you for showing me that peace lies at the heart of Islam.

While news of the attack to a Christian Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve proliferated across every front-page in the world announcing the next episode in ‘the clash of civilizations’, you took me and Darren to visit Mecca, the compass of 1.5m people, 1/5 of the world population.

Even if Mecca is forbidden to non-Muslims – some of your people find such controls confirmed in the Koran – you took us to a place where 2/3 million people from all over the world gather every year to connect to God. You explained how ‘even the Prophet lived here with non-Muslims. So why not you. You want to understand Islam. So I took you here’.

It’s like like an oasis in the desert where you can find people of any colour and nationality living together in peace. No divisions of gender, age or class. They all pray, relax and chat with each other. You told me ‘Religion is joy’. Children proved it. They play wherever they want.

Thanks for giving me hope that global peace is possible.