Before you read this paper I feel I should warn you that it is completely, possibly brutally, honest. I considered this question very seriously and with a personal perspective. I am sure that my peers will explain their answer according to Christian values and while I understand that this is a Christian Justice class, the only way I can answer this question is from an Islamic perspective. My answer is completely honest and though I’ve never been in this situation, I feel I have accurately predicted what my reaction would be if I ever found myself in this position.
The final question Wiesenthal asks his readers to ask of themselves at the end of The Sunflower is “What would I have done?” He is asking his readers, if a dying SS solider asked them, on his death bed, to forgive him for the people he has killed, what would their response be? As a reader/listener, I felt empathy but also detachment. To really ask myself this question I had to think of this from a more personal perspective - if a dying U.S. solider from Iraq asked me to forgive him on behalf of all the innocent Muslims he killed, what would my answer be? The truth is, I’m not sure.
This question brings up so many other questions that need to be answered, but cannot be answered. Do you have the right to forgive if you were not the direct victim of this individual’s crimes? And do you have the right to not answer a dying man’s wish on his death bed? How do you answer these questions? If the crime of this individual did not directly affect me, I feel like I do not have the right to forgive him for the people he killed. They suffered for his actions, in a way that I have not and never hope to. Having not suffered at this man’s hands, I feel like I do not have the right to pardon him either.
At the same time, my natural human instincts cause me to feel pity for him. He is dying. He has committed crimes, yes, but he is clearly repenting. He wants to be forgiven by someone he feels is close, in some way, to the ones who suffered at his hands. Do I have the right to not console a dying man? Do I have the right to not fulfill a dying man’s wish? Again, I have no idea. Because even though he has realized his crimes and is apologizing for them now, he still committed those crimes. An apology should always count for something, but the fact also remains that regretful words will not undo the past. A remorseful heart will not undo the harm and pain that was caused. It all still happened. People still died.
I considered, when considering this question, lying. Telling a dying man he is forgiven but not meaning it, if only to console a dying man. It is lying, but would count as a horrible sin if it was done with good intention? But, this alternative grated against my nerves far too fiercely. Even though it would give him peace, and no one else would know, just thinking about this alternative made me cringe. I know I would feel as if all the people who suffered at this man’s hands were now shifting their accusing gazes at me. Besides that, lying to a dying man just seems awful. I cannot give a philosophical answer for any of this, it’s all human instinct. So this alternative is out of the question, which brings me back to square one.
I really do not know what my reaction will be if an actual event like this took place in my life. But, knowing myself, knowing my personality and personal convictions, here is the response I think I would most likely have: If a dying U.S. solider from Iraq asked me to forgive him for all the innocent Muslims he killed, I think my final response would be just this. I would tell him I don’t know. I would tell him that I can see he is sincerely sorry, and that I want to forgive him. But I can’t because I do not have the right to do so on behalf of all those who died. I would tell him I’m sorry his life took the course it did, and that I would pray for him. As a Muslims, I would call him to Islam and whether he converted or not, I would tell him that the God I believe in, and the God his victim’s believed in is just and merciful. And I would hope that the little I could offer would serve as some purpose to console him while he passed on.
-------What would your response have been?
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