I welcome hearings on Islam - II

There are responses on the Morning News, Huffington Post and several newspapers to the article I wrote, this was the short version in letter format at Dallas Morning News, you are welcome to respond as well. The links are provided below. # # RESPONSES AND THOUGHTS Thanks for expressing your opinions   We all should be concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other.   Acknowledging that “some of our own” are a security threat to our nation is the right thing to do; Mr. King is not the right one to do that with his own bias and his support for IRA terrorism. We Muslims should have done it ourselves, since we did not, we have to accept the bad choice of Mr. King. I trust our Systems and the moral goodness of our nation, if Mr. King takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.   I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face “if” he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him gratitude, not just Muslims but the whole nation. Just as we produced the Quraan conference in Dallas to evaporate the lies the right wingers had propagated, this will perhaps become the first nail in their coffin and hope they will stop pitting one American against the other to have political gains. Solutions abound.   If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot and they are no different than any of the 301 million of us. Each one of has a different thumb print, eye print, DNA, different sizes, shapes and colors, political affiliations. Let there be different faiths or no faiths as well. That is God’s universe.

I welcome hearings on Islam

http://letterstotheeditorblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/i-welcome-heari.html

 

I welcome the initiative by U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to hold hearings on Islamic radicalism.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting peace in a society, and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate and find lasting solutions.

Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation's security have come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and, as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American.

We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions and need to punish them expediently according to the law.

As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion and not legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts.

Phrases such as "Islamic radicalism" are oxymoron and must be avoided to uphold our civility. 

Mike Ghouse, President

World Muslim Congress

  # # #

Mike Ghouse, Peter King Strategy for Muslims

Part of the following response was shared with the key Muslim leadership in America and as the questions come up, I will be sharing my responses in the comment section below. I hope to address all the questions thrown on the issue.

Peter King has made statements that are repulsive, and on the top of it they have no foundation or not sources to it. He pulls things out of thin air or acts out of the seat of his pants.

We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other. If he goes wrong, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights etc.

We have sadly elected the Republican Majority, which I had advocated all along; unfortunately it turned out to be a disaster. The right wings among them are riding on “hate agenda” and shamelessly the majority of the Good for nothing Republican Party is letting them carry it and evil thoughts continue to perpetuate.

The Republican Party rode to power in 2010 on hate agenda, shame on us to put them-in for their hate and not for addressing our issues. If they don’t get their act together we have to dump the leadership and fix them. I am a Republican and will stay one and count on me to attend the meetings, questioning and demanding proof for their non-sense and I hope many Republican will have the spine to speak up against what is wrong with their leadership.

# # #

About 1:00 PM on Tuesday, March 8
Muslims and Peter King strategy

There are a lot of things we can do; a conference on Sharia, Quraan and other issues facing the nation to build cohesive societies. Get people to participate and for God’s sake attend the interfaith meetings, go the churches, synagogues and temples as a part of the learning. 

Let’s develop a group of Muslims to go speak about Islam in churches; they are hungry to hear us out, they are eager to have friendship. We are not doing our part.

Check these sites out:
www.QuraanConference.com ,
www.Unitydayusa.com,
www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
and teach Muslims to stand for others,
for every American and that is the right thing to do. 

Plan on July 4^th Barbeque in Mosque parking lot, I will write more about it, but we must do it, it builds relationships, and we become part of the American story.

Are we a part of the American Society?  
http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2009/04/are-muslims-part-of-american-story.html

I am working on doing a talk on Sean Hannity show on the above topic, contrary to what he has been in the past and I see the improvement and desire in him to present another point of view. If I get the time, I will put videos clips together – he is not condemning Sharia out rightly anymore, at least he asks the other guests is this the Sharia Mr. Ghouse talks about or the Iranian Sharia? He asks me about Egypt, “Michael, what if you are wrong?” that element of doubt is good and intellectualism is taking root in him. He grudgingly acknowledges, he even agreed that CIA and Mossad have provided false information to America.  

Though it is difficult, in every show, I have been able to get a few key points out. Insha Allah, if I get the time, I will put the analysis together.
  
Today, Dallas Morning News and Huffington post will publish my articles about Federal debt and Evolution – it is a main stream article but I have included Islam into the conversation, it easy for the reader to absorb tid-bits here and there than a full talk on Islam.

We need to put our heads together and bring about a positive change.
# # #

Guess what! I stopped at 1:05 and now it is 1:22, I was on Hannity Radio a nationally syndicated show against Brigit Gabrielle – The clear points I made are:

1)     Muslims have condemned 9/11, condemned Osama, just Google it or check out World Muslim Congress website or American Muslim website, the list is there.

2)     Muslims believe in justice and they are happy with the American laws and very few entertain Sharia Laws in America

3)     Imam Anjem Choudhary is radical, his views are as representative of Muslims as Pat Robertson representing Christians.

4)     She misquoted Quraan and I corrected her, she said Prophet Muhammad divided the world in Dar al harb and dar al Islam, I corrected her, prophet Muhammad did not do that, it was done by the kings later on for their own political reasons

5)     I may lose you on my take on Abrogation theory, you may disagree with me, that is Ok, I believe God did not screw up by saying one thing and then coming back and saying “what I said before is negated what I am saying now.” The Non-Muslims are confused with this idea, so what do we believe, what is abrogated and what is not…

6)     … I will attach the radio link on my site, that was 15 minutes of talk and I said Sean that as a Muslim, I will stand with him to protect him if that Choudhary guy has threatened him.

Mike Ghouse
Muslims together nurturing pluralistic values embedded in Islam.
www.WorldMuslimCongress.net 
http://www.mikeghouse.net/

King will hammer the first nail on right wing coffin

This blog will list published opinions on the subject.  If you know a good piece that is not posted on this blog, you may consider sharing it. You can post the link in “YOUR COMMENTS” Link and it will  be post if it adds significantly to the understanding of the situation.   

Peter King has made statements that are repulsive, and have no foundation or sources to it. He pulls things out of thin air or acts out of the seat of his pants.

We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other.

If he takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.

We have sadly elected the Republican Majority, which I had advocated as an individual all along, instead the right-wingers rode in on the “hate agenda” and shamelessly a majority of the Good-for-nothing-Republican Party is letting them carry it, and evil continues to perpetuate.   If they don’t get their act together we have to dump the leadership and fix them.

I am a Republican and will stay one, and I am committed to attend the key meetings for the next season and I will be questioning and demanding proof for their non-sense. I hope other Republicans will have the spine to speak up against what is wrong with the Republican leadership; they are letting the hate mongers become their mascot.

I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face. Just as we produced the Quraan conference to evaporate the lies the right wingers had projected, this will perhaps become the first nail on their coffin.   

Mike Ghouse is a speaker commited to building a cohesive America. His work is reflected at three websites and twenty seven blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Your comments at:
http://peterkinghearings.blogspot.com/2011/03/peter-king-hearings.html#comments

# # #

Muslims welcome hearings by Congressman Peter R. King

Mike Ghouse, president of the World Muslim Congress welcomes the initiative by Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security to hold the hearings on Islamic radicalism.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate it.

 

Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation’s security has come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American, and we welcome the hearings. We hope it will lead us to find the sources and causes of such erratic behavior, and perhaps point out areas of concerns to be addressed and find lasting solutions.

We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions, and need to punish them expediently according to the law.  As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion, and not fall for and legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts. The use of phrases such as Islamic Radicalism is oxymoronic and must be avoided to uphold our civility.

As Americans together and Muslims together, we are planning to organize conferences and workshops on terrorism, anti-Semitism, Sharia, Quran, GLBT, racial profiling, Islamophobia and other issues which pit one American against another. We hope to separate realities from myths to help find solutions.

Mike Ghouse is the founder of America Together foundation, committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on the issues of the day.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 21 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/