There is a Hebrew word for loving kindness, hesed. Islamic scholars teach that Abraham our patriarch represented hesed and Ishmael comes from Abraham, therefore Islam represents hesed. In its inwardness, Islam is a religion of hesed, mercy and kindness. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The Abrahamic Religions offer us a most important teaching, to be merciful, kind and loving towards the dispossessed, the oppressed. Bishop Philip Huggins offers a reflection.
