Thank you Mother, I am grateful to you!

THANK YOU MOTHER

My Mother taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life; tie the loose ends of life regularly, and to achieve that, she said, forgive and seek forgiveness, don't carry ill-will beyond a minute, and express your gratitude before you lose the chance to do it. Her life was an example! She took her last breath 13 years ago today.

The best accomplishment of my life was telling her that I loved her and that whatever I am today is because of her, and that I am grateful to her - just a day before she took her last breath.

The second best thing I have done was to sit next to her on my last few visits, and listen to her without interrupting... and without arguing, and that is all she wanted! She was in hog heavens and pushed me out to go and do other things!

Her comments that have stuck to me are - on the day of accountability (Qayamat in Islamic tradition) each one is on his or her own, and solely responsible for his actions. Only the good deeds you have done will gracefully save you. Then she said, whoever controls his own self, has won the world ( It took me 20 years to understand what she meant) and the Verse from Quran that says "to you is your way of life and to me is my way of life", let's respectfully accept each other as the way we are.

She was Pluralistic in her approach - She had friends from every walk of life. There was the Jain neighbor lady, Hindu friends, Swaran Latha, the Christian Lady and the Parsi-amma Mrs. Bahramjee and of course Muslim ladies too. She had no barriers between her and people around her.

Every religious tradition has elevated mother to nearly the status of God, because she possess many a qualities of God; kind, merciful, beneficent and caring among thousand other qualities. Mother is the reason for our existence; sustenance, nurturance and shaping who we are. I applaud those who have grown up without a mother; it takes a lot to be a beautiful being without the nurturance from a mother.

Every time I think of my parents, I realize they have passed on the "Pluralism" gene to me, my sister and brothers and my family. When I talk with my sister, I feel I have not improved much in the last 40 years- I am right with her with all that education and experience.

Well, I sat up this morning thinking about her and appreciating her, did my Prayers to thank her and I feel refreshed.

Now I ask you to consider tying the loose ends of your life, its nirvana! Mukti, Moksha, Nijaat and Salvation.

Thank you Mother.

More at http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/05/mother-my-story-happy-mothers-day.html

The clash between the religious rights and civil rights is nothing new in the United States. We have come a long way in splitting hair and have been successful in dissecting civil rights out of religious rights. We are struggling with same sex marriage, gender equality, contraceptives, abortion and other issues. The First Amendment may eventually be reduced to just preventing establishment of, or hindrance in the free exercise of religion, but may give room to wean civil and criminal issues into the civil jurisdiction like the death penalty.

Texas Faith: Did United Nations report on Catholic Church go too far?

By Rudolph Bush
rbush@dallasnews.com
11:35 am on February 11, 2014

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a stinging report Wednesday that first and foremost called on the Roman Catholic Church to remove all child abusers from its ranks and to open its archives to the committee for independent review of crimes and concealment.

The report went beyond that though to criticize the Church for its stance on abortion, homosexuality and contraception among other things.

The Vatican responded that certain elements of the report were “an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom. ”

The Catholic Association issued a statement calling the report “a stunning and misguided attackon the Vatican. The responsible committee appears to have overlooked the last decade, in which the Church has taken serious measures to protect children.”

In simple terms, should the committee have limited its comment to the issue of child sexual abuse or was it right to raise broader questions about the church’s teachings on social issues? In a broader sense, what is illuminated by this conflict between a secular institution and a religious one? How should a person of faith respond when someone or something questions their sacred teachings?


MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith matters, Dallas


The call from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Roman Catholic Church to remove all child abusers from its ranks and to open its archives to the committee for independent review of crimes and concealment is within its charter.

The United Nations’ declaration on religious intolerance in its Article 1 (3) states, “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.”

The United Nations or its committees do not have the authority to demand accountability or execute any of their decisions. However, most nations are signatories to its charter on religious freedom and human rights.

This particular issue has opened up a can of worms, and may lead us into redefining the boundaries between religion and civil society beyond a nation’s border.

The clash between the religious rights and civil rights is nothing new in the United States. We have come a long way in splitting hair and have been successful in dissecting civil rights out of religious rights. We are struggling with same sex marriage, gender equality, contraceptives, abortion and other issues. The First Amendment may eventually be reduced to just preventing establishment of, or hindrance in the free exercise of religion, but may give room to wean civil and criminal issues into the civil jurisdiction like the death penalty.

However, other nations like Saudi Arabia (beheading), Pakistan (blasphemy laws), Iran (stoning adulterer to death), India (anti-conversion laws), Israel (Orthodoxy-settlements), Uganda (death for homosexuality) may vigorously defend their right to keep it under a religious wrap. Of course we still have the death penalty in practice and needs to be done with.

Thanks to Pope Francis, in less than a year, he has been able to see all the infractions within the Catholic Church and taken the initiatives to fix them, and it will take a few more years or longer to stabilize. However, knowing the Pope for the last eleven months, I believe he is on the side of the victims, and indeed he is a mercy to mankind and will do the right thing.

Society at large has a responsibility to protect the unprotected and punish the abuser. Religions do not have a system to petition with religious authorities to redress fallacious laws. As a Muslim, I have seeded that change in Fixing Sharia.

A few decades from now, will most of the religious laws transition into civil laws as societies become increasingly diverse?

To read from other panelists, go to Dallas Morning News at - http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/texas-faith-did-united-nations-report-on-catholic-church-go-too-far.html/

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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 Hannity show 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.

Fox New - Mike Ghouse on Hannity with Brigitte Gabriel tonight

TONIGHT ON FOX NEWS - MIKE GHOUSE WITH SEAN HANNITY AND BRIGITTE GABRIELL - 9PM CST ON FOX - ITS GETTING CLOSE TO 100 APPEARANCES.

 

Chickenhawk Hannity Demands We Threaten To Attack Iranian Warships

http://www.newshounds.us/chickenhawk_hannity_demands_we_threaten_to_attack_iranian_warships_02112014

 

Brigitte Gabriel: Iran Emboldened by Weak American President (4:07)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J98MiINeN8Q 

 

Delhi Government will fall if Lokpal bill is not passed - Kejriwal

Mahatma Gandhi, MLK, Mandela and others... have re-established the fact that when you are committed to serve with no personal gain, you will succeed.

Arvind Kejriwal will succeed, I have faith in his commitment, he has nothing to gain personally, but do good for Indians, the Aam Aadmi. 

The Lokpal bill will be introduced in the Assembly on 13th and will pass on 15th, and it requires 36 votes - with the original congress backing, it should pass. It may be a good idea for a few in BJP to cross the line to vote and let it pass with a super majority.

If it does not, then the Delhi Government will fall. Arvind says he is not in to be the CM or run the Government; he is in for the change and kill the Brhashtachar that has harmed our country and the common man on the street.  

I am concerned about Kejriwal and Modi - they are one man operations, without each one of them, neither AAP nor BJP will rise. Congress has a good functional system, if not Rahul there are plenty others. But again, all good things have started small and Kejriwal has a lot more to offer India - a stable society, I wish and hope he can do that in the few months he has left.  Kejriwal would be good if he can focus on developing systems... 

May be Delhi Government should fall, it will give a boost to Kejriwal to go national, but it is not in the interest of either BJP or Congress to fail Delhi.

God bless India.

I will quit if Jan Lokpal is not passed: Arvind Kejriwal to NDTV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il6wSbiohCg

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) Intrafaith-Interfaith Naatia Mushaera – Poetry Session in Richardson on Friday, February 21, 2014.

URL- http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/02/prophet-muhammads-pbuh-intrafaith.html

February 8, 2014 - Dallas, Texas: The World Muslim Congress, a think tank of Muslims in Dallas announces a poetry session honoring Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), known as Naatia Mushaera.

"This is a purposeful event with three clear goals; to share Prophet’s work with fellow Americans, to focus on how Muslims can adopt his teachings to benefit the society at large, and to bring Muslims of different denominations together for the common purpose– celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday”- said Mike Ghouse, president of the organization.
 
The program is set to start at 8:00 PM and end at mid night on Friday, February 21, 2014 at Richardson Civic Center in Richardson, Texas. (Link).

The evening is divided into two sessions. The first segment will highlight the Intrafaith and interfaith aspects of the program. Muslims of different denominations including Ahmadiyya, Bohra, Ismaili, Shia, Sunni, WD Muhammad others will share a Naat (poetry singing) each from their community. Then our friends from other faiths will also share their Poetry about the Prophet.

Women and Men will be reciting the Naats together for the first time.

The second segment after the tea break is assigned to our poets and they will recite the purposeful poetry to reflect on Prophet’s work and how we can make that meaningful in our day to day life.  

“Throughout the program, we will be highlighting the inclusive teachings of the Prophet’s wisdom.  The values embedded in the Madinah constitution will be shared, where the prophet signed a declaration with Jews, Christians, Pagans and others. Each member of community was guaranteed the freedom to practice his or her faith freely. Furthermore, In his last sermon, the Prophet declared that all men are created equal, and respecting each human is the right thing to do. Like the people of all faiths, Muslims need to go back to the inclusive values taught by the prophet.” added Mike Ghouse.

Refreshments, tea, and snacks will be served in addition to the special treat – the king of desserts; Laddu.

Shazia Khan will be the master of the ceremonies, and the event will be chaired by a mystery guest of honor, and special guest OS Modgil with host Mike Ghouse. You are invited to, the event, it is free but an RSVP is required at the facebook events “Naatia Mushaera” on February 21, 2014 or email to: rsvpforsure@gmail.com
 

Coming up next

World Muslim Congress To be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker committed to mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill, and to build cohesive societies where all of God's creation can live in harmony with each other.

Texas Faith: Is President Obama part of reinventing American civil religion – God and the public square?

What does God want? Like a mother who wants her kids to do well, a teacher who wants his students to make A’s, a chef who wants all his patrons to enjoy the food he cooks, God wants all of us to live in harmony and cohesively. Our freedom and need to feel secure makes us violate the common good and resort to my good, and every now and then someone among us rises and gives us guidance towards living cohesively, and that guidance is called religion. Indeed, we are creating a more inclusive God for us, and it is a good thing. Mike Ghouse

TEXAS FAITH: Is President Obama part of reinventing American civil religion – God and the public square?
By Wayne Slater | 11:47 am on February 4, 2014 

Author and speaker Diana Butler Bass suggests that we are in the process of reinventing American civil religion, the way we think about God and national purpose. And she says President Obama is part of that process. Obama, like his predecessors in the White House, has generally drawn the older form of civil religion complete with biblical language, social justice evangelicalism, and the themes of orthodox theology. But, she suggests, something has changed in the last couple of years. His speeches have included a view of God with an appeal to a wider faith audience, she says.

“Gone is the God of biblical revelation, the generalized God-as-Father-in-Heaven, and the distant God of Providence. Rather, Obama’s public God is a personal spirit, the relational presence of inclusion, community, empathy, irony, justice, and service. The God of this new and emerging American civil religion is a God who is with humankind, a far more embracing rather than judgmental figure, who loves and acts in the world through the works of human beings. Most theists can recognize this God (or gods) in their own religious traditions; most non-theists can interpret this sort of God as a spirit of beauty or justice in humankind.

This comes as America is becoming more pluralistic, as fewer people are claiming membership in orthodox religious groups. American civil religion has long emphasized a language and set of public practices based on the “biblical archetypes” of “Exodus, Chosen People, Promised Land, New Jerusalem, and Sacrificial Death and Rebirth” But the newer civil spirituality, which Bass says Obama expressed in his 2013 inaugural address, does something else: It reaches away from traditional civil religion and toward civil spirituality—a less dogmatic, more open-ended form of inspirational public speech.

Is she right? Is what is being called a new civil spirituality just the old civil religion in new clothes? Or is it a somewhat different, more inclusive, a new way of talking about God in the public square? And if so, isn’t that a good thing?

Our Texas Faith panel weighs in:

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith matters, Dallas 

The time has come again in human history to strip all the bells and whistles we have adorned on God, and restore him to a common denominator God, acceptable to all of humanity. If not, we have multiple sovereign versions of Gods.

Ignorance can reach to a point where we put our God on the ground to fight with other’s God – like cock fights. General Boykin in Bush administration had declared, “I knew my God was bigger than his.”  The radicals in Malaysia are fighting to own and enslave God; they are battling with Sikhs and Christians from using the word Allah to refer to God.

I have a theory for these men; let’s assume there is a customized God for everyone, and like men, God’s also have the need to prove who is superior and start slaughtering each other, and at the end,  the powerful one would have killed them all and become the All-mighty God with unparalleled power. This is ridiculous and hope makes the point.

As the saying goes, God has created us in his own image, I would say, we have created God in our own image and because it is a human definition, it is a fallible God creating irresponsible attitudes among us to fight with each other.

I loved the piece by author Diana Butler Bass, and add that God has not signed a deal with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs or others behind the back of Atheists, Pagans, Wicca, Native Americans, Jains, Shinto or Zoroastrians. He does not treat anyone above others, and if he were, who wants a God like that?

In the near future, religion would be defined as an instrument that would help an individual find his own peace and peace with others, and any religion would serve the same purpose then.

We are gradually heading towards a common God, a hands-off creator that is acceptable to most people including our Atheist friends, an inclusive God that is just and loves us all. We are endowed with complete freedom to mess our life or make it a heaven for us and others around us.

What does God want? Like a mother who wants her kids to do well, a teacher who wants his students to make A’s, a chef who wants all his patrons to enjoy the food he cooks, God wants all of us to live in harmony and cohesively. Our freedom and need to feel secure makes us violate the common good and resort to my good, and every now and then someone among us rises and gives us guidance towards living cohesively, and that guidance is called religion. Indeed, we are creating a more inclusive God for us, and it is a good thing.
To read other the view of other panelists, please visit Dallas Morning News at - http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/texas-faith-is-president-obama-part-of-reinventing-american-civil-religion-god-and-the-public-square.html/#more-34030


...............................................................................................................................
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 Hannity show 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.

Naatia Mushaera on Friday, February 21, 2014 in Richardson

NAATIA MUSHAERA – REQUEST TO POETS

Friday 8-12 PM on 2/21/14 at Richardson Civic Center

Naats** will be recited (poetry) to highlight Prophet Muhammad's work of building cohesive societies where people of different faiths and races lived their own lives. The program will start on time and end on time. If you are going to be late, please do not RSVP, let others enjoy. Seating is limited to 150.

The event is for people of all faiths. Prophet Muhammad's message like all the great prophets of the world is for the whole humanity and not just Muslims.

Muslims of all hues are requested to participate in the event and each community representative (s) to recite a Naat. Seating is limited to 150, so we request a firm RSVP.

At this time, the program will be in Urdu/Hindi language, we hope to make it in English in the coming years.

Throughout the program, we will be highlighting the inclusive teachings of the Prophet. Wisdom from the Madinah constitution will be shared, where the prophet signed a declaration with Jews, Christians and others, each one with freedom to practice his or her faith freely. In his last sermon, he declared that all men are created equal, and respecting each human is the right thing to do. Like the people of all faiths, we need revival to go back to the inclusive values taught by the prophet.

We are requesting our poets to make their poetry purposeful and meaningful and reflect those inclusive values in their poetry.

** Naat is poetry in praise of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the likes of Christmas Carols, Shabad in Sikhism or Chalisa in Hindu tradition.

Refreshments include tea, paani, chaat and Laddu!

Master of Ceremonies: Shazia Khan
Host: Mike Ghouse 

Richardson Civic Center

Friday, February 21, 2014 |  8-12 PM
REFERENCES:

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/how-i-connect-with-prophet-muhammad_b_2547782.html

 

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/festivals-of-the-world-mi_b_4579452.html

   
 Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916

Naat Program with Dr. Satya Pal Anand

POETRY SESSION IN PRAISE OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH)
www.UrduHindi.net

Thanks to Noor Amrohavi for organizing the 10th Annual Naatia Mushaira.  Naat is songs sung in praise of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and it’s fairly similar to Christmas Carols for Christians, Hanuman Chalisa for Hindus or Shabad in praise of Guru Nanak. Its human desire to praise and appreciate someone they admire and it is in every religious tradition. I am making references to these traditions solely with the intention of giving an idea what Naat is all about. Although celebration of Prophet’s birthday is not an Islamic religious tradition, it is very much a big part of Indian and Pakistani culture.  It has reached out to Philippines on the east and Guyana on the west and now the entire world. They all do sing in Urdu language. There are men and women (yes!) who specialize in singing Naats and they go around the world to sing – and it’s mesmerizing!

What was different this time was the presence of Dr. Satya Pal Anand. A teacher in English, Urdu and Hindu languages and has remarkable command in Arabic and Farsi. He shared the origins of Ghazal (poetry format) in pre Islamic Arabia – the style of poetry that is written with a near perfect balance and sung with a certain style, eventually it has filtered down to the Ghazal format in the Subcontinent.  I was thrilled to hear him talk about the Prophet as a Non-Muslim, and I loved that view. It’s devoid of sentimentalism and the traditional recycled language, and full of new expressions and new perspectives.

Dr. Anand made my day, when he talked about Naat in Nazm style – meaning it does not have strictures of the traditional Naat format (balance, length etc), as I wrote a Naat in that style. I did not complete it, due to the expectations of compliance to the format. But glad to hear the master talk about it. It will now open up the avenues for people of Dallas to express in prose-poetry format as he called it.  It was a good learning experience. If any of you hear his name, please do attend it, it’s worth your while.

It was also a joy to me personally, when Dr. Anand said he has been to every place of worship, and I must proudly say, that I have been to every religious places of worship including Pagan, Native Americans, Wicca and other traditions. It’s so beautiful to see the devotion in each individual towards his or her creator.

I am proud of Dallas/ Fort Worth; we have some of the nation’s best poets. It’s a joy to hear them out. Since, I do not have the entire list of poets; I will just mention a few, hoping to add all the names later. Syed Yunus Ijaz who was also the master of ceremonies,  Tariq Hashmi, Dr. Qaisar Abbas, Saeed Qureshi, Masood Quazi, Noor Amrohvi, Shah Asar Alam, Zohra Chisti, Shamsa Qureshi, and a lady from Houston……. The event was presided by Mr. Khanzada, who headed the Karachi Press Association.

Raja Zahid Khanzada will be sharing this event on Geo TV and many a News papers; he is a reporter for many news outlets.  We will also get to see some great pictures from Zia Khan who has been taking pictures of community events in Dallas for the last 20 years.

The other good part of this event that appealed to me was Mr. Javed Samuell and Irum Gill who are part sponsors of this event – this is the kind of thing we need to see, serving and supporting without barriers. My hats off to Javed and Irum, this is the culture we need to nourish. It increases the sensitivities of people to be more caring of each other.

Thanks to Noor Amrohavi, this was a great program and he has a great team of volunteers that managed the event well. God willing, we will have another small event on Friday, February 21, 2014 – Naat to be recited and sung by men and women. Please look up at www.UrduHindi.net.

Please don’t forget Saturday, March 29, 2014 – Pluralism Poetry Session in Urdu and Hindi.  If you are interested in literary event, all you have to do is, submit your email address at the top right box “UPDATES BY EMAIL” and you’ll get automatic updates.

Please note – I have avoided using the titles and words like Saheb, Bhai, Bahen etc, as I am writing this for general public.  I am sure I have missed a lot of names – but that is not my job, as a community Activist and a Pluralist, when I get a chance, I share things, particularly when I see pluralism and pluralistic attitudes in place or to encourage it. You are welcome to write your comments at the bottom of this note to complete what is missing.

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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 Hannity show 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.