Happy 4th - Muslims are an integral part of American Heritage

Happy 4th - Muslims are an integral part of American Heritage
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2015/07/happy-4th-muslims-are-integral-part-of.html

Upon declaration of our independence on July 4, 1776, two of the first three heads of states who recognized the sovereignty of the United States were Muslims and one of them was a Muslim from India.

Americans, Indians and Muslims have a connection since the very beginning of our independence. We were all opposed to colonial rule, and fought them and chased the British out of America, but they continued to rule India through divide and conquer for another 150 years.

Morocco was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States of America, signing the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, the first of its kind. Friesland, one of the seven United Provinces of the Dutch Republic, was the next to recognize American independence (February 26, 1782) and Tippu Sultan, the King of Mysore State (India) was the third. According to Dr. Range Gowda, Tippu Sultan's historiographer, the congratulatory letter to America is preserved in a French Library. Tippu celebrated America's independence by bursting fire crackers in Srirangapatna.

What does July 4th mean to Muslims and Indians?

It means everything and the biggest thing is freedom. Islam is indeed about freedom of conscience, justice and liberty.

The Pledge of Allegiance is one of the most cherished statements for Muslims, "One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." There are several verses in the Quran that assert those values, so it's like coming home for Muslims.

The concept of equality is etched and nurtured in the Muslim psyche in every ritual and spiritual practice of Islam. Prophet Muhammad delivered the following words in his last sermon, "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over white except by piety and good action." Muslims hold this declaration close to their hearts and as American Muslims, "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

The raging battle among Americans to keep the state and church apart resonates with Muslims living in America as the Quran speaks out to them, 49:13- "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in the sight of God, is the best in conduct. God Knows and is Aware." Indeed, knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to acceptance of the otherness of others and appreciate a different point of view without having to agree with it.

Honoring merit appeals to Muslims: you can be who you want to be and Muslims bpast about their ability to rise on the basis of their merit. The Prophet tells his own daughter that she will not get a free pass to paradise because she is a daughter of the prophet; she has to earn it on her own through good deeds to fellow beings, such is the emphasis placed on merit and individual responsibility. That is what capitalism, democracy and America are all about.

Every immigrant in general and a Muslim in particular loves the idea that you are innocent until proven guilty. They see the wholesomeness of justice in America and they love America for it. An observant Muslim recites at least 17 times a day that God alone is the judge and we must refrain from judging others.

On July 4, 2015 we will be celebrating the 239^th birthday of America. It is time to reflect upon our journey from the historic declaration of independence on July 4^th, 1776 to July 4^th, 2015.

Our Founding Fathers had a vision and laid the ground work for a sustainable cohesive America for centuries to come, " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We have come a long way, and still have miles to go to realize the above truths, and to fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Indeed, the last two months have packed an incredible amount of events in our history. The pulling down of the confederate Flag in several states after the tragic events in Charleston, South Carolina gives us a lot of hope, the Supreme court's landmark decision to make same sex marriage legal brings freedom to the GLBT community; yet another decision by the Supreme Court brought freedom to those who were vulnerable, the sick and the poor Americans. Thanks to President Obama for making health care a reality for all Americans. The affordable care Act is the law of the land now.

First, I pray for the spirit of that freedom to be born again, again and again every year, for eternity. Indeed, we are the land of the free and the brave. The whole world looks up to America with admiration, although we still have a few more milestones to achieve.

Donald Sterling, the basketball billionaire and Don Imus, the popular American Radio host and several others faced severe retribution for racial slurs. Rick Sanchez and countless Senators and Congress persons were taken to task for making Anti-Semitic comments. Now thank God for the Supreme Court, no one will dare abuse the freedom of these three communities: African Americans, Jews and the LGBT community.

Two more communities, among many need such freedom; women are still not getting equal pay, and I hope the Republicans will join the Democrats and pass that bill.

Who is left behind? Hispanic Immigrants and Muslims!

In 1986, President Reagan brought relief to 3 million undocumented aliens through his amnesty program. Now President Obama is working on freeing 11 million aliens from the tension of separation with their family members. As a nation we need to collectively reflect on the issue and do the right thing; legalize those here with agreed upon conditions.

In recent years, American Muslims have become an easy target for abuse without any consequence. Some US presidential candidates top the list for bigotry, having said that they would not hire a Muslim in their cabinet.

The problem is two-sided: we the Muslims are not connected enough with mainstream society for a vast majority of Americans to stand up for us, empathize with us, or even understand the truth about us that we are no different than them in our endeavors and aspirations of life. We need to get out of our shells and be part of American society.

We must however express our gratitude to the millions of Americans who have stood up for us, compelled by their sense of justness and fair play after 9/11 and as recently as the Phoenix and Garland rallies.

As Muslims we are making serious efforts to be fully participating and contributing members of American society for the security, peace and prosperity of our homeland. We have unequivocally stood up for free speech.

As American Muslims we uphold, protect, defend and celebrate the values enshrined in the U.S. constitution. Our faith reinforces the creed of "One Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all."

We at America Together Foundation, will take bold congenial steps on behalf of Muslims to get ourselves on a par with the other communities who had previously endured abuse, and with the support of all Americans, we will shame them for their bigotry.

I urge every Muslim to reach out to their fellow Americans to share the joy of July 4^th God willing, Muslims will be celebrating July 4^th2016 en masse all over the nation. We are going to be unfurling big plans soon. The more integrated we are, the safer it is for every one of the 318 million plus Americans.

What does July 4^th mean to me?

The very first step on American soil puts a smile on an immigrant's face; if not you, it has happened to your parents, grand or great grandparents. It's the exuberance you witness on a baby's face when she stands up for the first time, it is the exhilaration you see when a toddler eats the food on his own for the first time, or the relief written all over the face of a student when he or she graduates. Indeed, it is an expression of freedom I felt upon arrival in New York some thirty five years ago. My journey continues as I get ready to celebrate another July 4^th.

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, writer, pluralist, TV-Radio commentator and a human rights activist committed to building cohesive societies and offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His info is in 63 links at MikeGhouse.net -- Mike is also president of America Together Foundation.

Hannity, Fox, Graham, police & Mt. Vernon

Sean Hannity, Rev. Franklin Graham and Police, what an exciting day!

Friday, April 23, 2010. I got the call from the Sean Hannity Radio show to be on the air with Gabriella Bridgette and Sean to talk about Rev. Franklin Graham’s statement. Rev. Graham made some uncouth remarks about another religion.

I pulled over in Mt. Vernon, Texas and could not find a Starbucks to check on the internet and prepare my talking points. Howver, driving through the town, I found the public library and walked in and talked with the receptionist about my need for a room to be on the radio show, she was excited to hear Sean Hannity and suggested me to use the room upstairs, there was no one up there. During the show, strange things happened at the Library and I have summarized it in the funny side of the story below.

Link: http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2010/04/hannity-fox-graham-police-mt-vernon.html

At the appointed time, they called me in and I was on the air at 1:00 PM CST. As usual Gabriella was on the air with her shrill voice and creating the hype about Muslims and Islam. Sean was throwing Rev. Graham’s comments, which I agreed partially and affirmed the condemnation of bad acts by anyone. We need to condemn oppression of women in Muslim countries, and oppression of women in every place. Sean attempted to twist my words, “are you saying you can justify mistreatment of women “I turned around and said, you did not hear my condemnation, condemnation was first and then I said, we need to stand against oppression of women in all societies.

Education is critical and singling out the wrong doers and punishing them appropriately is the key to solving the problems. Sean asked how would I educate the terrorists who are looking for the hooris in the paradise. I gave the Mumbai terrorist example where the Muslims did not give them space in their cemetery to bury them, sending a clear message to the terrorists that they will not even get a burial place let alone the cooked up promises of hooris for the terrorists, as it is not in Qur’aan.

My point was if I threaten to murder someone, it’s me whose ass needs to be hauled off and bring justice. Blaming my City Carrollton or my religion Islam is dumb and pointless as you cannot do anything to change Carrollton or Islam, you cannot change Christianity for the wrongs of Crusades, inquisitions, Holocaust etc. neither can you hang a religion, city or the nation, they are intangibles.

The same law applies to the Americans who are incarcerated as the law abiding citizens in the ratios of 1:99, then does it mean All Americans are bad people? That is their logic, when that 1/10th of 1% of Muslims do wrong, blame them not their religion stupid.

I have no disagreement with Rev. Graham or Bridgette condemning oppression, but condemning religion for the bad acts of the people was wrong. Rev Graham should have shown grace and leadership when he was disinvited at the pentagon.

I expect Rev. Graham to be a man of integrity, someone who speaks the truth. He needs to substantiate his words, anyone can say anything, the mouth is free to assemble the words, but to stand the test of truth is what matters. Rev. Graham fails on that. Here is a prayer from a friend Vanja Krupa from face book, and I do hope Rev. Graham makes it a part of his daily morning prayers, ""God, please help me to keep my mouth shut, until I know what I am talking about"

I do hope he revisits his arrogance – about learning and not shooting his mouth off without knowing about Islam. He did not learn a thing from Jesus and I hope he meditates and learns to be a responsible minister. Jesus is about love and inclusiveness; he gave us one of the greatest models of pluralism and inclusiveness.

Several months ago, Glen Beck had called on me, and I refused to go on the show, if he did not give me the time to answer his question and keep interrupting. At least with Sean, he gives the moment to respond, I will give him credit for that. He is determined to drive his point of view and may not want to see another point of view, as that would weaken the strength of his show for his right winger audience.

Critical thinking is required, Rev. Graham is a minister and he needs to be honest. If he calls a religion evil, he better have the facts and not non-sense rhetoric. No religion teaches hatred. It sounds like a drunk babbling with assembling and reassembling a few words. He is a respected member of the community and he needs to consider spreading peace and not hate. Would Jesus approve his actions?

I will make an attempt to reach him and see if he can at least see another point of view like Jesus, if he can, he can marshal his masses to do a lot of good in the world.

May we learn to be inclusive and not push people to dig in their heels, including the terrorists.

NOW THE FUNNY SIDE OF THE STORY

I had things to talk, our show was for one hour and we had to cut it off due to disturbance at the place I was on phone with; the Franklin county Library in Down town Mt. Vernon.

I was attempting to match the shrill voice of Gabriella over the phone and was talking about Terrorism, and in no time the staff of the library stood across me, either they were scared to see this odd looking man wearing a Aussie hat and talking about terrorism with this big black bag and spread out phone and charger paraphernalia or simply the voice in the library. They were telling me to cut off and get off… I told them that I had the permission from the receptionist, and I was on the radio. They were telling me to cut it out. I lost my coherency on the radio with so many disturbances, as the police officer approached me upon their call in. I got off the phone.

We laughed it off, as the police officer had heard me on the radio and I had apologized the staff
members and told them what happened. I took the pictures of the officer and the library to share it on my blog.

WRONG BOOKS

While I was updating on the facebook about the incident, the man next to me was reading the history Encyclopedia of the world and he was on the page about India. He looked at me and I looked at the picture of King Ashoka, my first words were OMG, they had the Turkish head gear on Ashoka. God help the historians and book publishers to at least verify what they are writing.

I was doing a Radio show of my own several years ago, and was looking at the internet for historical information about the Highway built in India from Calcutta to Lahore; it was called the Grand Trunk road built by Sher Shah Suri in around the 10th century. There were several sites out there that claimed it was built by British or someone else. I routinely find mis-information about Hinduism and Islam in books out there in the market.

HOW THE RADIO SHOWS ARE PRODUCED

While I was on the road to Louisville, I had Sean Hannity people called me back again to be on the evening show and they wanted me in a studio, and they were searching for a studio in Texarkana, as I was about 50 miles away on Interstate 30 but found one in Shreveport and I had two hours to get there and per him it was 71 miles and I had 121 Miles to go, there was no way I could have made it in two hours with the unknown rush hour traffic in Shreveport, furthermore, it was going away from my route to Louisville.

A television station called me up to be on their evening news and they were setting up a place in Little Rock , Arkansas and the issue was same – I had two and a half hours to get there and had 180 miles to go. They may reschedule me on Wednesday this week.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN;

I enjoy Willie Nelson’s number on the road again, so was I, and reached Yasmeen’s house in Louisville at 3:00 AM. Drove the 450 Miles stretch straight, thinking about life and the need for people to be divisive. What is the need to hype and for what?

If Rev. Graham spends his energy on peacemaking, he probably can add significantly than lying about other faiths for possible gains of money, as there is no truth in his words. If Gabriella can put the same efforts in creating a better world, she probably can add some good to the world rather than create more clashes. What is their motivation?

Do they understand that they are doing the opposite of their intentions of creating a better world?

When I am with them again, I will talk about this and several other issues.

Mike Ghouse is a frequent guest at the media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. He is a thinker, writer, speaker, optimist and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Co-existence, Peace, Islam, India and Civil Societies. He Presides the Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim Congress and Co-Chairs the Center for Interfaith inquiry. He is a board member of the Dallas Peace Center and Memnosyne Foundation and a former commissioner at the City of Carrollton. Mike is a Dallasite for three decades and Carrollton is his home town.

His life mission is to open people's hearts and minds towards fellow beings by mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. He is a peace maker and an educator with two Masters degrees and working on his doctorate in Psychology. He has two books on the horizon; Pluralism 101, it is all about respecting the otherness of other and Basic Islam- everything you wanted to know about Islam. He has authored over 800 articles on the subjects, many of them are published in the newspapers and magazines around the world. His work is reflected at 3 Websites & 22 Blogs listed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157623803170989/

Bad Fatwa by Muslim-American body against airport body scanners

New Note: The media has shamefully mis-represented the statement by the American Muslim organizations, a new press release is in the making. - Mike Ghouse

Bad Fatwa by Muslim-American body against airport body scanners

Speak up Muslims

The word "Fatwa" is wrongfully associated with "death threats", it may be wise for us, until we educate the public that it is merely an opinion, and instead use the word "Opinion". The word Fatwa carries a negative perception and until it is removed, it is not wise to use the word in this context. After all, we are using the English language to communicate and let the language be in English.

Furthermore, this "Fatwa" will be wrongfully propagated as Anti-American... continued: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/02/bad-fatwa-by-muslim-american-body-about.html

That Jew - American Muslims Condemn Bigotry

AMERICAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN BIGOTRY

A Republican Senate challenger in Arkansas called Sen. Chuck Schumer "that Jew" at a campaign event and has spent a week backtracking, apologizing, and digging himself in deeper.

This kind of bigotry must be condemned. The senator needs to apologize and promise never to say anything like that ever again. Inclusion is the hallmark of civil societies and we need to let the world know we are a civilized people and a civilized nation. As American Muslims, we condemn this bigotry.

Continue: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2009/05/kim-hendren-calls-chuck-schumer-that.html

Americans are religiously tolerant

AMERICANS ARE RELIGIOUSLY TOLERANT - POLL

Americans are Religiously Tolerant, Poll Says
Mike Ghouse

The following survey (below) filed under Nations News is indeed reflective of the average American, no matter how you pigeon hole him or her. The “survey finds most Americans don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life — even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise." Indeed, if we can learn to accept and respect every which way people worship the divine, conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

I believe a majority of people are moderates and only a fringe of us, – no more than 1% any group of us; be it Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Bahai, Wicca, Jain, Wicca or other traditions are extreme fundamentalists and of that 1/10th of them, i.e., 1/10th of 1% of each group are extremists. We need to do serious research on this to prove it.

The extremists are broadly classified as the Neocons*

Continued at: http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2008/06/americans-tolerant-of-religions.html

Religion and One God

Religion and One God
Mike Ghouse

Oneness of God is also expressed as oneness of the creation, oneness of the humanity and oneness of the people.

The phrase like God is one; the world is one or Vasudeva Kutabam express Unity of the universe referred to as numerical number “one”. It is a large embrace of diverse people to live together without conflict, when you do that, you have embraced them all and a sense of oneness surfaces. A conflictless world can be described as one world, where one God has acted out.

The guardians of the faith have a vested interest in promoting the idea that their faith is the best, and others are deficient, or even inferior or illegitimate. This protects their interests, but spritually they are wrong, a majority of the people believe otherwise, the majority simply wants to get along with others and do not believe for a moment that, their good friends who follow another faith will go to hell, they instinctively know that God will not cheat them.

Continued at: http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2008/07/religion-and-oneness-of-god.html

Praying Passenger Removed

Praying passenger removed from S.F.-bound flight at JFK

NEW YORK - A passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, ignoring flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by an airport security guard, a witness and the airline said.

The religious man, who wore a full beard, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.

When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends, who were seated, tried to tell the attendants that the man couldn't stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

THE STORY HAS A FEW SURPRISES, PLEASE CONTINUE - CLICK THE LINK
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/04/praying-passenger-removed.html

American Muslims & the Pope

Five articles on the subject:

I can understand the reluctance of Muslims to meet His holiness Pope Benedict. It is based on three mis-spokes within the last year. His words were not mitigators but provocateur of conflicts and Muslims were not clear about his intentions, they did not want to invite themselves unless they were invited.

To be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker, one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; life and mater. Indeed, that is the purpose of religion, any religion.

Mother Teresa once said, “If you want to make peace, you go talk with your enemies, you don’t make peace with your friends”. God bless her soul for such wisdom.

I am glad CAIR is attending the event, if I had the invite, I would have been there too. We are all human and I would expect his Holiness will choose his words to nurture goodwill. For peace, we have to put things behind us. As a Muslim, I believe the best in people.

Continued at: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/04/muslims-and-pope.html