Louisville Eid Celebrations, Prayers, Misogyny, Urdu and the film.

www.TheGhouseDiary.com
URL - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2014/07/louisville-eid-celebrations-prayers.html

Despite the problems in the world, life should go on!  Our kids need to see the problems but must be taught to move on in life and learn to create a better world through such experiences. 

Perhaps, we can cherish what we have done in raising our kids to be friendly with fellow kids regardless of their religion, race, ethnicity or other uniqueness. Indeed, that is the very first model of citizenship that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) initiated; he was called Amin, a sum total  of many qualities among them are the truth teller, honest, unbiased, non-judgmental,  trustworthy, caring and respectful of his neighbors; Jews, Christians, Pagans and others at that time.  Very few of us want our kids to be bigots, and almost all of us want our kids to grow up with an open mind and an open heart. Thank God for that.

Most Parents want their kids to have a better life, and they fix them up with material things. I hope they fix them with things that will make them a better and caring human as well. 

At this time, I am concerned about the ugliness of a few Jewish and Palestinian parents who teach hatred towards the other. Man, they are messing up their kids, when they grow up they will have difficulty in working and relating with normal people. I hope it becomes a norm with the Jewish and the Palestinian parents in the conflict zones to teach their children about the suffering, and I pray that the Jewish and Muslim parents don�t screw up their kid�s life by injecting hatred for each other and I pray that the kids will reject their parents hatred for the other. Parents may have had a bad time, should they make it bad for their children too? I pray not. 

Indeed, life is a gift of God and we have to do everything to preserve it, and express our gratitude for what we have, and pray for those who lost the loved ones and all their life time�s love of labor in the ongoing conflicts, wars, massacres and genocides.  

This Ramadan has been a blessing, none of the Mosques I have been to in the last 30 days, none, not one of them preached hatred towards any, and they simply prayed for the victims. I hope the same is true in our churches, synagogues and other places, as I intend to visit them and hope to find goodness in the places of worship..  Article at Oped News  

Now coming to this Eid - I have lost the desire to take pictures; I just took a few even though camera was with me in the car or on the shelf at home.  But it was good to see every one appreciate the blessings of Ramadan while praying for the well beings of the victims of the conflicts.

CELEBRATIONS

It was good to visit a few friends� homes for the Eid, a beautiful tradition that most of us have brought forward. We also stopped by at the River Road Mosque; it was good to see families gather there on a social basis. Eid is a time to catch up with most people. Great food everywhere, and finally we had our family gathering at home, and Yasmeen cooked some of the most fabulous dishes. 

MISOGYNY

I am sensitive to bias, prejudices, misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Hinduism, homophobia and other evils of the society. My antennas pick up the tiniest vibrations and I speak out.  Check out Ramadan�s Pluralism Message. 

The convention center was a great place to accommodate the Muslims of Greater Louisville and loved the open hall - with no wall separating men and women although they were in two different sections. I did not take pictures, but the arrangement was good. 

The Imam who delivered the sermon at the convention center was good, but for the insensitive misogynistic comment. He began his talk by addressing the women, asking them to quit talking and control their kids�. That is awful! Only women talk? Where does he live? Men gossip and chatter as much as women do in our society, and children are equally managed by either parent; it�s just not the mothers.  

I talked to the Imam after the prayers, and asked him not to be misogynistic in the future. He can always address the noise makers, whoever they are, but not point to a group of people; in this case women � that is stereotyping.  By the way, this is the men thing, and men from every faith, race and ethnicity are guilty of it, and I visit every place of worship from Aztecs to Zoroastrians and every one in between, the story is the same. All we can do is take corrective steps. Indeed, Islam teaches us to give dignity to every woman and a child, and we must.  We need a sensitivity training for men.

APPKI

Someday, when I have a little time, I would like to know more about APPKI, an organization that I have come to admire. I just found out that Dr. Aftab Ahmed was also one of the founders of the APPKI. You guys and gals are blessed ones to have open hearts and minds, keep it up. Indeed, it was Jinnah�s dream to have a Pakistan or its representation to be inclusive of ever Pakistani regardless of his or her faith or ethnicity and you guys have done it. This note is an update to the article I wrote about APPKI at Huffington post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/the-pakistani-american-do_b_5323434.html 

URDU

I am pleased to commence a monthly or bi-monthly informal gathering to exchange poetry and literature in Urdu and Hindi languages. The first session would be at Yasmeen�s house on Wednesday 7-8:30, tea and light refreshments will be served and we can rotate this in different homes. It will be intellectually refreshing to have a gathering like this. But please RSVP by texting me at (214) 325-1916, I don�t want to have 50 friends over and not be ready for it.

THE FILM � FLAMES OF PASSION

Produced by America Together Foundation, a non-profit organization. 


The Film is based on a successful real life event about ordinary people effecting extraordinary changes. It is a story about skillfully managing conflicting issues of safety of Americans overseas, upholding freedom of speech, improving perceptions about Islam and preserving sanctity of religions.

The film depicts human fears, apprehensions; thrill seeking, suspense, drama, romance, disappointments and the role of justice during the attempted Quran burning event in Mulberry, Florida.

It is an epitome of nonviolent conflict mitigation and goodwill nurturance based on the teachings of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Hopefully the world will see a new paradigm in making; what Muslims ought to be, and how they will respond to future incidents of Quran Burning, criticism of Islam, and cartoons of the Prophet. It will be good for Muslims and good for the world. Indeed, blessed are the peacemakers.Tax deductible Donations of $1000, $5000, $10,000 or greater can be made at: http://americatogetherfoundation.com/donate/

THE ONLY PICTURES I TOOK THIS TIME

Mike
(214) 325-1916
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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean 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 all his work through many links.
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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

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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.