"I have thought a lot about my final Ramadan post. I am so angry and saddened on a level that I have only felt a few times in my life. The attacks on the US, Lebanon, Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, have truly broken my heart and some of the images, like in Orlando, Instanbul and Iraq will haunt me all the days of my life.
   My goal this Ramadan was to try and seek out peace and understanding, and achieve a closer relationship with Allah and my fellow human beings. Allah taught me much this Holy Ramadan but the most important lesson He taught me was that I am not responsible for the evil actions or the hatred in the hearts of others. I am absolutely responsible for my own evil action and the hatred in my own heart.
   I am already trying to incorporate this new understanding into the behaviors and language that I use with others. As I told a dear friend tonight, if I allow the actions of others to make me set aside my beliefs and emulate those I believe are evil, then I have chosen to make them the winners in this fight.
    Nothing that they can do, no matter how evil or vicious an act they perpetrate, can defeat us, unless we allow ourselves to set aside our basic human decency and begin to behave in such a foul and despicable manner as they do.
    I truly believe this. On my day of judgement, I cannot say, I did evil because so and so did evil. I cannot say that I oppressed or dehumanized another human being because so and so did such and such. I will be judged on my actions alone.
    This is not to say that I do not wish for the evil that is daesh to be utterly destroyed and prevented from harming another innocent soul, because I do. But I will not hate them. I will not celebrate their destruction. I will not become like them in the battle to defeat them. Quite the opposite. I will pray for their forgiveness. I will feel remorse that they chose evil over good. And I will try to forgive them in my own heart.
    I am so sorry for all of the victims of daesh and to my brothers and sisters in Islam for having our Holy season desecrated in this manner. I also am very sorry for the victims of Islamic hatred and bigotry who have suffered for the actions of people they are not only not a part of, but are obviously the greatest enemies of. Please know that your suffering and your pain is seen by Allah and He loves you even more for your sacrifices.
    I pray for a day when such needless violence and suffering is no longer a part of our world and our lives. Ramadan Mubarak to all of my brothers and sisters in Islam. God bless all decent and good people of every faith, and of no faiths. May we never forget the differences between us and those who do evil in this world. When brother Bob Marley was asked how he could perform only hours after he and his wife were shot in a failed assassination attempt, he turned to the reporter as he was stepping onstage and said "Those who wish to do evil in this world do not take days off, how can I?" "