Speech

Remarks by Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli, Iftar Dinner

U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh
October 19, 2006

Assalaamu-alaikum.  Good evening.  My wife Sharon and I wish you a warm welcome to the U.S. Embassy for tonight's Iftar celebration.  Ahlan Wasahlan.

Tonight we honor the traditions of a great faith by hosting this Iftar.  Iftar during Ramadan is often done as a community, with Muslims gathering to break their fast together.  But in the Koran, in the 73rd Sura, we are reminded that, “God is the Lord of the East and the West (73:9).” What can this mean except that God embraces the entire earth.  He is the God of All, of Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and even atheists.  And he is the God of Cambodia in the East and America in the West.  So it is appropriate that the community we have gathered here tonight is made of people who practice many faiths, but who are all bound together by friendship and respect.

During my nearly 26 years in the Foreign Service, I have learned that Ramadan is about more than fasting.  It is also a month set aside for reflection and prayer.  So every Ramadan, even though I am a Christian, I look through the Koran and try to reflect on some of its insights.

This year as I read through some of the Suras, I noticed something I had never noticed before.  I think it was so obvious it was hard for me to see it.  As I read the Suras, I reflected on what are the characteristics of God, what qualities define God as God.  I started with the three I was taught as a little boy.  First, that He is omnipotent.  All Powerful.  That whatever He wills He does.  Indeed, that for God there is no difference between will and action.

The second quality is omniscient.  All Knowing.  He that knows our deepest thoughts, our darkest acts.  He knows the past, the present, and the future.  And the third quality, omnipresent.  God as infinite, as embracing all that there is.

And then, as I read each Sura, I noticed something different.  They do not begin by declaring “God, the All Powerful, the All Knowing.”  Instead, many of the Suras begin with the phrase, “"God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”  And I wondered, why do the Suras repeat these characteristics which are not even unique to God alone.  And as I reflected on it I thought maybe that phrase “the Merciful, the Compassionate” is both an assurance to us and an instruction to us.

It gives us assurance because what could be more frightening than having to confront something that is All Powerful and All Knowing?  How does one deal with such an entity unless it is also merciful and compassionate?  How would we cope knowing how flawed we are, if it weren’t for this reassurance about God’s nature.

And it is also an instruction to us.  If God, the All Powerful and All Knowing, chooses as His most common description “The Merciful, the Compassionate,” then perhaps that is the very essence of power and knowledge.  Perhaps the more perfect our knowledge and the more legitimate our power, the more mercy and compassion will define us as children of God.  Perhaps it is these qualities that we too often think are the virtues of the weak and ignorant that are the essence of humanity as well as God.

The world increasingly seems engulfed in hate, anger, and a thirst for revenge.  May Ramadan be a time in which we all strive for these greatest of God-like qualities, and find within ourselves the strength to be compassionate and merciful to our enemies, to each other, and to ourselves.

The Prophet once said: "For the person who is fasting, there are two moments of happiness and rejoicing: when breaking the fast, and when meeting his/her Lord."  Thank you very much for letting me share one of these moments of happiness with you tonight.

Ramadan Kareem.