Thank God, I am alive today - its' a new Ramadan experience for me

THANK GOD, I AM ALIVE TODAY - ITS NEW LEASE ON MY LIFE 

On Tuesday morning, the Farmers Branch paramedics team responded to my 911 call, and within 30 minutes they had me on the ER table, and the good doctors unclogged the artery and placed a stent to keep the blood flowing. Doctor Siddiqi said another 30 minutes would have been too late, and I would have gone!

It was the severe chest pain coupled with sweating that got me alarmed. I didn't want to call any one that early, but texted my friend Adil,  he was driving out of town and thanks to him for suggesting to call 911, and after debating within, I reluctantly made the call,  it was the right thing to do. If you or your loved ones were in a similar situation, please don't hesitate to call 911. 

Father Daughter

God willing, I will be active in a few days, meanwhile I ask you to strengthen your existing relationships with your loved ones. Don't know who is going to go when. Let�s be good to fellow beings and live a regret free life, at least from here forwards. I request you to forgive my shortcomings and excesses.

Thank you for your friendship.

PERSONAL SIDE

Continued: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/07/thank-god-i-am-alive-today-new.html

Thanks to Yasmeen for her persistent push for me to lose weight, indeed, I owe her a big thank you for getting me down from 215# to 190#, at one time I had gone down to 179#, today I'm 189. She has set a goal of 175# for me, and I will listen to her dutifully now, and enjoy the dieted delicious foods she will be fixing for me.

One of the best things that has happened to me is the time I am getting to spend with my grown up daughter, son, daughter in law and my 15 day old grand baby Jayden. Mina, my daughter is with me for the last four days, and will be with me for another week. I did not realize she is so caring, loving and responsible to keep me on tract from medicine to food to driving me around. I am looking forward to two weeks of heaven with my kids; this is one of the biggest joys of my life. Then I will be heading to Yasmeen and spend another week or two with her before I get back to normal working, speaking and writing. 

Thanks to Dr. Amer Shakil for treating me some five years ago, and then Dr. Asifa Ijaz. I wish I had listened to them, and continued with the medication they had prescribed. If you are like me, don't act like me, please listen to your doctor.  

On Tuesday morning on July 9, cold sweat flipped me upside down.  I got up earlier than I had planned on getting up for my first suhoor (early meal to commence fasting) of Ramadan due to massive chest pain, it was early in the morning and did not want to call anyone, and I thought it would go away from aspirin... It did not. So, I reluctantly called 911.

While waiting for the ambulance, an old scene returned to my mind, way back in mid sixties, I had fallen from a tree and had recited a few verses from Qur�an (Ayatul Kursi, Fatiha, and Ikhlas) thrice in less than thirty seconds while I was unconscious (my friends told me that).  Even though I consider myself a rationalist, I still cannot figure out how I was able to recite all that in such a short period of time. Once again, on Tuesday morning, I repeated that recitation while waiting for the paramedics. 

At 11:13 PM on Monday night, I "started" the 1st day of Ramadan note and posted at www.ramadandaily.com, this would have been the 4th year of writing about Ramadan, everything you wanted to know about Ramadan.  Thank God, I have been able to visit every mosque of every denomination during Ramadan with a determined purpose of learning and sharing the uniqueness of each tradition with the other without prejudice. The more we know about the other, the lesser biased we would be, and subsequently free ourselves from the evil of prejudice. 

I urge every religious person of every faith, particularly the ones who are biased towards others, or the ones hung up with others to make an effort to enjoy true freedom and liberation from hate and ill will by learning about the other, until you find good positive information. 

My first Iftaar (breaking of fast) was going to be with Dr. Imam Yusuf Zia Kavakci at the Richardson Mosque. Dr Kavakci is a man I greatly respect and have consistently mentioned and written about him for the great qualities of a Muslim he is blessed with. The last time we met was about two weeks ago at Zahra Khan's funeral (my friend Adil's 19 year old angel, who is considered Shaheed, God's favorite person as she died with cancer) a week ago, Dr. Kavakci gave me a special hug, a very affectionate one like my father, and said a lot of nice things in public prior to the prayer, it meant a lot to me.  

This is my first RAMADAN in four years; I won't be able to do anything. However,  if you have an interest in learning about the spirituality, traditions and politics of Ramadan, please visit www.RamadanDaily.com. Even though I won't be fasting and visiting mosques this season, I'll still continue to write about different aspects of Ramadan. 

Thru the grace of God, I am alive today with a renewed mission to follow the teachings of my mentors; Prophet Muhammad, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. 

I am committed to do the following to the best of my ability;

1. To be the Amin - the truthful, trustworthy and an instrument of safeness to fellow Americans. 

2. To be a conflict mitigater and a goodwill nurturer 

3. To be �just" in every aspect of life 

4. To live with an open heart and an open mind towards fellow beings, 

5. To Stand up for others.

6. To work on fixing the ill practices of individuals within my religion; Islam

7. To work on fixing the ill practices of individuals within my Party; GOP

May Allah guide me to remain on the path and I appreciate your support in moving forward. Thank God, I have no religious, political or national walls between me and another individual, and it's good to be free.

The Spiritual freedom is indeed the greatest achievement in one�s life and it sticks to you. Those of us, who can free ourselves from ill-will, malice, hate, tension, pain, anxiety, apprehension, hostility, stress, strain and conflicts, are showered with blessings of peace and joy.  It is good to be free. 

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Mike Ghouse

www.mikeghouse.net 

Mike

(214) 325-1916

----

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work and social settings. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show and the O'Reilly Factor on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him. 

Ramadan day 2 Richardson Mosque

Experiencing Ramadan

Please note that the Ramadan diary is written for our Muslim and non-Muslims friends alike, hence the language is un-typical. We will do our best to weave through references that our Christian, Hindu, Jewish and other friends can relate with. By the way, we have been talking (Radio) and writing about the essence of major festivities of all religions so we can understand each other. It is a call from God to learn about each other and know each other, when we do that, myths about others disappear, we open up to friendships without reserve or fear.

SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2012 
Dallas Central Mosque, 840 Abrams Road, 
Richardson, TX 75081
Website: www.Iant.com

• URL for this column:  http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-2-richardson-mosque.html

• This Blog: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/
• 25 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157630689409990/show/
• 2012 Ramadan Iftaar Schedule
  http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-iftaar-schedule.html

Tonight is the 2^nd day of Ramadan, and I went to the Richardson Mosque, my home Mosque (below) and the standard bearer for North Texas Mosques.  A majority of the Mosques (Sunni tradition) more or less follow the traditions followed here. This is the first �major� Mosque in North Texas and almost every Muslim who has been in Dallas prior to turn of the century has been a part of this Mosque. Of course we have over 35 Mosques and several Musallas (Mini-Mosques) in North Texas; we have enough people to have one for every denomination.

The euphoria of Ramadan lends to the fellowship (Ramadan day 1) that we all desire and look forward to. It generates the same good feeling of kindness and piety that Christians feel during Christmas and Hindus during Navaratri, Jews during Rosh Hashanah and others during their festivals.

The best way to enjoy Ramadan is to go early to the Mosque, and I went way too early which lend me to talk with key people and of course, take pictures of the sanctuary for my friends. For my Muslim friends, I highlight the uniqueness of each denomination, much of which is cultural.

Click to enlarge 25 pics in the link

My first visit was with our Imam, Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci (more about him in the links below) who and I have worked together on different occasions for almost 20 years from the Asian News days; he has been on my Radio show several times in the Mid-Nineties. Our conversation is usually about intra-faith and interfaith issues. In some of the most critical moments of my public life, he and Imam Zia Shaikh of Irving have been great guides. There was a situation in 1996 and again in 2005 at the Unity Day where we handled it fairly well.  From time to time, he has appreciated my approach that is free from the back-home-baggage.

Richardson Mosque has been a home Mosque to me, although I do not go there frequently, it feels home.  For those living outside the United States, you may find this as a news item that almost every Muslim (both male and female) drives to the mosque; there are no separate residential areas where people of any religion live exclusively.  Even though there is a trend for developing smaller neighborhoods around the Mosques, it will not become the life style. In the long haul integration (not assimilation) is essential for the overall good of individual communities and nation as a whole.

Click to enlarge 25 pics in the link

As I was walking out of Imam Kavakci�s office, I ran into my friend Brother Muhammad Suleman, he was the past president of the Islamic Center and president during the 9/11 crisis, he was also featured in High Profile in Dallas Morning News, a great honor for our community. He and I have worked on many projects together including two years on my Radio show, wisdom of religion (all the religions), where he and I spent two years on Radio talking about Islam on every Friday morning for an hour.  Please say your get well prayers for Mrs. Suleman who is in hospital today.

900, yes, Nine Hundred people were in the community hall waiting for the Adhan (prayer call) to signify the time to break the fast. In Jerusalem, they fire a gun into air to signify end of Suhoor (pre dawn meal) as well as Iftaar. I was held at the check point for Masjid Al-Aqsa by an Israeli guard, that is another story.   In smaller mosques, people gather around as a groups and there will a personal announcement (refer to day 1) to break the fast.

Take a look at the plates on the tables, a piece of Banana, three dates, a piece of water melon, a glass of milk and water.  The plates were all set up for people to pick one and take their seat at the tables. Once again, that is 5 billion dates consumption across the world, today! Why dates? That is another story, I have written two years ago, but will re-incorporate when I see dates are flooded in some mosque this month. Each Mosque has evolved into its own practice.

After breaking the fast, the next call you hear is Aqama, fairly similar to the Adhan right before the congregational prayers. Anyone can lead the prayer, even though Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci is the imam (pastor, pundit, rabbi, shaman, clergy, minister), he designates one of his students from his academy to lead the prayers, and he has 60 Huffaz (plural for Hafiz, the one who memorizes the whole Quraan) in Dallas, and one of them is the world renowned one: Rashad Hussain the US Ambassador to OIC.

Click to enlarge 25 pics in the link

We were back to the community hall for dinner, a large open building that accommodates nearly 1000 seated in theater style. The hall is used for basket ball and other community activities including interfaith dinners. Nearly five years ago, my late wife  Najma�s  funeral prayers were held here, the Fire Marshall did not allow more than 2200 people, the capacity for the standing room, that�s how Muslim funeral prayers are conducted; in  standing posture. She left in peace and thanks to our friends from every faith for participating in the prayers.

Click to enlarge 25 pics in the link

Serving dinner for 900 people is not easy! Mr. Waqar Qazi runs the Silver Spoon restaurant and has become quite adept in handling catering to large gatherings.  There are a few pictures of the kitchen where the volunteers formed an assembly line that beats Henry Ford�s assembly line; they placed the food on the plate consisting of Salad, Rice, lentil-veggies, and Chicken curry in healthy portions. About 6 plates were placed on a tray and put on the counter... the volunteers grabbed the tray and walked to each table, and delivered the food�. All in 20 minutes! Yes 20 Minutes! That is amazing accuracy!

Click to enlarge 25 pics in the link

There was a senior citizen, who did not want to be pictured or named, but the people in Richardson know him, he is probably in his seventies, but has the energy of a young man and was managing the food serving and delivery very effectively. He was literally running all over the place to ensure everything ran smoothly. Thanks to this unknown soldier.

The other lead volunteer (forgive me if there was another one) was Amir Omar, the Richardson City Councilman (pictured with a tray in his hand, clean shaven head). He is one of the four or five who made the trips from the counter to the tables delivering all that food in 20 minutes.

Click to enlarge  pic -25 pics in  link

Today, he is one of the most popular council men in North Texas, because he is there with every community volunteering his time generously. He is an example of how to be a fully participating and contributing member of the society. He is a true representative of Richardsonians. He is on facebook as well, tag him and show you support.   

 Yunus Anthony, announced a gathering of new converts, and I regret not making it to that corner, but did talk to him, who was also at the Carrollton Mosque yesterday. I hope he and his group will serve as volunteers for the Unity Day event on Tuesday, September 11, 2012. God willing, I will be visiting Churches, Temples, Synagogues and other places of worship to find volunteer to represent every race, ethnicity and faith to be present at the Unity Day. www.UnitydayUSA.com

By the way years ago, Richardson Mosque started a Medical clinic to serve the people who do not have insurance, it is for everyone, and people from all faiths and traditions visit this clinic for care.  I am proud of this clinic, where Muslims are contributing to the well being of the overall society. Of course, there are other initiatives and other clinics, and that will be expressed in a different context.  

Indeed, Richardson Mosque is an example of being a part of the society, serving the society. I believe that is the purpose of a Mosque, a community center. More about the Mosque at www.Iant.com 

Coming up;  the Islamic village http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7bjh56GU-0&feature=player_embedded#! 

Here are a few pieces I have written about Dr. Kavakci and others issues, I need to put together the work we did through MRRT, the Muslim Rapid Response Team in 2003 in responding to baseless allegations that the local media levied on the Imam and this Mosque. Thanks to Dallas Morning News for publishing it. 

v Honoring Imam Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci today
http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/04/honoring-imam-dr-yusuf-zia-kavakci.html

v There is only one Islam
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/04/there-is-only-one-islam.html

v Are Muslims a part of the American society? http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/10/are-muslims-part-of-american-story.html

v A call from God to know each other
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/01/mission-of-world-muslim-congress.html

v Dallas Interfaith Imams
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/07/dallas-interfaith-imams-and-ramadan.html

v Ramadan day 1, 2011
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-1-of-ramadan-2011.html

v A challenge to Muslims, are we fit to be Americans
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-challenge-to-muslims-are-we-fit-to.html

v Sharia Issues
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/07/sharia-issues-in-2012-and-solutions.html

v   Facebook - You are welcome to visit my my facebook page: www.facebook.com/SpeakerMikeGhouse  the others has reached the maximum of 5000 friends -  -  

Mike Ghouse is committed to doing his individual share of building cohesive societies and invites you to the 8th Annual Unity Day USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2012. Details at www.UnitydayUSA.com, it�s an event that builds bridges and uplifts every American. Watch the trailer of the upcoming film - Americans Together, building a cohesive America at www.AmericaTogetherFoundation.com 

Ramadan day 1 - Carrollton Mosque

DAY 1 - CARROLLTON MOSQUE, FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2012 
URL: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-1-carrollton-mosque.html

Experiencing Ramadan

This is an effort to document and record the Iftaar experience with every Muslim denomination, it is a journal of how each tradition within Islam, and a sub sect within each practices Ramadan. The biggest idea that jumps out is seeing the differences and understanding that they are cultural and not religious.

Much is written in this blog, but the focus will be today�s experience. Over the years, I have been visiting different Mosques for Friday prayers, and today, it was the Frisco Mosque (picture below), a temporary Mosque in down town Frisco, as the construction for the new Mosque is about to start.

First Iftaar of Ramadan at Carrollton Mosque

Carrollton Islamic Center, 1901 Kelly Blvd, Carrollton, TX 75006

Nearly 150 people attended the Iftaar, possibly because of the invitation to witness the ground breaking ceremony to expand the Mosque.  www.carrolltonmasjid.org 

Click the picture to enlarge 

There is one thing that I have been missing in the mosques; fellowship.

However, it was a beautiful experience tonight at the Carrollton Mosque.  The weather was remarkably pleasant and the fellowship was perfect. Usually people dash in and out, but this evening all of us had an opportunity to sit down and socialize and wait for the sunset.

The Christian Church has a formal structure to encourage fellowship. Almost every Church I speak at, has a follow up gathering in the fellowship hall for visiting with each other. I had always longed for that environment in a Mosque, it is not common, nor is it conducive for Muslims now, as they  have to go back to work after the Friday congregational prayers. However, the original Mosques were  community centers for people to come together. My references is strictly the United States, and India, where I am from. I have no idea how they do in Muslim majority nations where Friday is a holiday for them. I hope someone shares that.

I really enjoyed the Iftaar, everyone got to sit down and chat up with each other, and one Sheikh was asked to give a short talk, he was good, and did give a short talk in the few minutes left to do the Iftaar.  Apparently he is from Morocco.

So when the sun�s last ray disappeared, the Amir  (by the way his name is Aamir, but pronounced differently) announced that it was time to break the fast. Traditionally it starts with a bite  of the Dates * and  in some traditions it is the water.   Can you imagine the consumption of  nearly 5 billion dates tonight across the world to break the fast? 

Each mosque has a little different tradition, for instance, in Madinah Masjid (Carrollton)  the Imam recites the Iftaar prayer, and the group repeats after him before they break the fast, however, it is little different in Shia tradition, and Ahmadiyya tradition is identical with the Sunni tradition. Insha Allah, I will document the differences to understand and respect them as cultural practices rather than religious ones. 

19 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157630675003498/show/

Iftaar was followed by the Maghrib (dusk) prayers, there is very little difference in traditions, but there is some. Thank God, arrogance has no place in my heart to say which one is standard, it is what is in one's heart that matters. 

The next thing was the ground breaking ceremony, each one in the leadership got a shovel and a hard hat, and started filling the hole with the dugged out dirt. It should have been the other way around.  They even got a silver shovel for the Amir - the leader: Dr. Amir Shakil.  Glad to see the women taking their turn and even the kids got to throw up some dirt with excitement.

Dinner was healthy and good, the Arabic puffed up bread was fantastic, one of my favorites.  I just wanted to say to my wife that I ate only half the bread watching my cholesterol.  The beans were excellent! Good choice of food!

It was a pleasure to meet some of the friends after a long time.  I remembered 20+ names but there were several more I could not.  I just cannot get the names out, so I will not list any. I don�t want to hurt the feelings of those few whose name is blocked in my mind.  About ten years ago, I could call on every name in most gatherings, I just cannot do it it now, the mind blanks out. Dear God, help me out the names!

It was a beautiful Iftaar and the evening.

Ramadan day 2 - Richardson MosqueSchedule: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-iftaar-schedule.html

Mosque in Frisco, one of the fastest growing cities in America.

Something to think about

Two years ago, I was intrigued by a tafseer/ exegesis that I read in this Mosque, the book was printed in Madinah, about what idolatry meant. It was a beautiful writing and I wanted to read that again and perhaps copy (iphone pic), but have not found the book again. It had the broadest meaning and would have been perfect to talk about in the interfaith gatherings. Indeed, I had a similar conversation with Michael Wolfe prior to release of his film "The message". I will have to go back and check again where this wonderful book is.

I was early, so I read Sura Baqra- the second chapter in Urdu, the translation was done by Dr. Tahir-ul Qadiri. The flow was much better than some of the other translations.  I did not get to read the whole chapter, but a few verses made me stop and think .

2:212, (Qadiri translation) starts with, "life for the Kafirs was set up for the worldly pleasures."  The word Kafir was used as though there is a community of people out there, who are called Kafirs. Kafir is a generic word for those who hide the truth, deny the truth or pretend the truth to be different, and it is an individual attribute rather than a group label. I will have to study and read Asad�s translation. Although it has the simplest meaning, it has acquired a derogatory status to ridicule other people.

2:222 (Qadiri Translation) - talks about avoiding intimacy with wife until she is pure or clean again. I have severe difficulty with that translation. It gives the impression that a woman is unclean or impure. Instead, if the translation had said, �avoid intimacy with wife until she is through with the menstruation,� it would have meant a natural process. Dr. Qadiris�s translation falls in the same pit as the other ones before.    I will have to check Dr. Laila Bakhtiar�s or Edip Yuskel's translation on that.  


Even the translation of 2:223 does not meet the civility prophet Muhammad taught. Please remember, Quraan is divine and God's word, and it is always about justice, fairness and for goodness of the humanity. The issues we are having are with translations, even the Arabic writers have mis-intepreted it. The burden of finding the truth falls squarely on us, after all, no one but us is responsible for our actions on the Day of Judgment. 

An individual asked me if will be back tomorrow,  and I said probably two weeks from now. As a reason, I explained to him that I visit a mosque a day of different denominations during Ramadan. He jumped the gun and asked if I went to the Shia Mosque, which is an yes. He was too eager to say they were wrong. He told me that the Prophet in his last sermon was clear; he was leaving his Sunna and the book to the people, but they add his family to it. I said, that is correct, those are the two different versions, he said, but they are wrong - I said, they are wrong to you, but not to them.  He was silently staring at me to understand that, which I appreciated.

I continued, "they think the Sunnis are wrong." He held back, and I am glad he did. The best thing is to accept the different interpretations, but not agree as a matter of principle. He countered it is the same Hadith, how can they say otherwise. It took me a while to keep his innocence intact, yet make the point.  I said I have no problem with what they believe; I don�t believe what they believe, and they don�t believe what I believe� I am not superior to them, nor they are superior to me. I am right in my way, as they are right in their ways....I asked him if he can guess where my analogy comes from? He guessed it right and I hope you do too. 

Mike Ghouse is committed to doing his individual share of building cohesive societies  and invites you to the 8th Annual Unity Day USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2012. Details at www.UnitydayUSA.com, its an event that builds bridges and uplifts every American.