[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, Imam Yusuf Saleem, Resident Imam of Masjid 
Muhammad and National Educational Director for the Muslim American 
Society, offered the following prayer:
  With God's name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer. We 
seek Your guidance, Your mercy, and Your forgiveness, that this body of 
servants to God and this country will be blessed with hindsight, 
insight, and foresight as only You can provide. Supply this elected 
assembly, entrusted by our Nation's citizens to ultimately trust the 
Creator of us all. As defined by humans, these are delicate times, but 
still we know it is Your times. So let truth, excellence, justice, and 
service lead the intellect and souls of our Senate. Yes, God bless 
America. Yes, God has blessed America. Yes, God is still blessing 
America, a land of diversity in every imaginable way. For in the Holy 
Qur'an Guidance to humanity, it states: ``God has honored all of the 
children of Adam,'' and in America's Declaration of Independence, ``all 
men are created equal.'' So with resources--material, spiritual, and 
mental--we thank You, God, for engineering the tradition of this land 
to witness that life and liberty must be secured by submitting our 
wills to Your plan.
  Finally, we see the objective of life to nourish a world, a nation, a 
city, a neighborhood, a home, where the soul is at peace. The soul is 
not female or male, not rich or poor, nor African-American or 
Caucasian. As You have created us, aid us--really help us to struggle 
and realize, ``Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in 
Heaven,'' as stated in Your guidance to humans in the Bible.
  Help us use all our resources to preserve, maintain, and promote 
inherent freedom, not to be denied by the destiny of God until the 
world, Nation, city, neighborhood, and home cry out; one voice, one 
interest that life is sacred. Amen.

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