Wikimedia Commons | Nachiuz | CC BY-SA 4.0
Fazal Ahmad, London, UK
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Belief: Buddhism
Era: 1966 CE
If you are going to build a Peace Pagoda anywhere in the world, there would be few more appropriate locations than in Hiroshima, Japan.
The small city is known worldwide, due to the appalling detonation of an atomic bomb by the United States on the 6th of August, 1945. Just three days later, the United States dropped a similar bomb on the city of Nagasaki. It is estimated that over 100,000 people were killed instantly. In the generations that followed, the inhabitants and their progeny suffered very high levels of cancer and birth defects. It was the most brutal and deadly bomb ever deployed on a civilian population.
The Pagoda (a temple, typically multi-tiered) was built under the auspices of the Nipponzan-Myohoji Buddhist monks in 1966, led by Nichidatsu Fujii. At the end of hostilities, with his focus on non-violence, Fujii instructed that the first Peace Pagoda be built in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1954. This was followed by similar structures across Asia, Europe and the USA, and there are around 80 such Peace Pagodas around the world.
This Pagoda was partially built with steel, and sits atop the 139 metre-high Mount Futaba, with great views across the city. The temple was built as a prayer for everlasting peace and as a tribute to the innocent souls who lost their lives in the bombing. Inside the Pagoda, tens of thousands of small memorial stones bear the prayers of the city’s residents.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aba), the Worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, visited Japan in November 2015 and commented on the tragedy on the 70th anniversary of the bombing. He also visited the city and the museum of Hiroshima and saw the terrible effects of the bombing. He has been calling for peace for many years. In an address in Tokyo on 23 November 2015, he said:
‘Your nation of Japan had to contend with the most horrific devastation and grief imaginable when hundreds of thousands of your citizens were mercilessly killed and two of your cities were demolished and destroyed in nuclear attacks that shamed humanity.’
He continued:
‘You are the people who truly understand the horrific and destructive consequences of nuclear warfare. You are the people who know that the repercussions and after-effects of such weapons are not limited to one generation but continue for generations to come. You are the people who can testify to the unprecedented evil of nuclear weapons. Therefore, perhaps no country knows better the value of peace and security than the Japanese people.’
The spirit behind the Peace Pagoda is needed now more than ever. May mankind seek peace and prevent similar nuclear assaults from ever happening again, Ameen.
References:
Peace Pagoda, Get Hiroshima: https://gethiroshima.com/museums-attractions/peace-pagoda/
The Review of Religions, https://www.reviewofreligions.org/37861/personal-moments-with-his-holiness-worldwide-head-of-the-ahmadiyya-muslim-community-discussing-the-current-state-of-the-world/
Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community delivers historic address in Tokyo, Japan, November 25, 2015: https://www.pressahmadiyya.com/press-releases/2015/11/head-of-ahmadiyya-muslim-community-delivers-historic-address-in-tokyo-japan/
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