Riot police look on as fire rages through a building in Tottenham, north London.

Picture: AP

Outward expressions of violence and rioting are symptoms of inner diseases of the heart. As Imam Ali, may God bless him, highlighted, egoism is the “foundation of vice and the linings of disobedience”. No matter what our condition, whatever our suffering, human beings are not sanctioned to commit indiscriminate acts of rebellion and violence against their brothers and sisters in our human family, as a consequence of which the victims are deprived of their health, homes, businesses, property and perhaps even their lives… Such actions cannot be supported by any person with even a modicum of ethical or moral principles, whatever their religious or philosophical beliefs.

People should stand together, working for the betterment of everyone, not destroying or terrorising their own communities. I appeal to the rioters to reconsider what you are doing; you will have to live with what you are doing now for the rest of your lives, among the people you have injured and the communities you have terrorised. What goes around comes around, we will receive the same in return as that which we have done unto others, as Saint Paul once wrote, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). You may think you’re profiting from your actions, but look at what happened to those who did the same before you… Did they have a happy ending?