The joy of being one

Whether the situation is within the family – saying one thing to your sister and the other to your brother, one to your spouse and the other to your friend… that is the worst thing we can do to ourselves and our joy.

Over the years I have learned that if you are one and the same no matter where you are, what you do… and if you speak the same whether your are sleepy, drunk, angry, calm… you’ll be the happiest person on the earth. That was my mother’s advice when I was a kid, and I appreciate that very much.

by the way, I speak, write, think and act the same whether I am with Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus or any one, and with White, African American, Asian or European … and it wouldn’t worry me a bit what others’ say, I am the same and that gives me peace.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

Malala, we stand with you and your commitment to education.

Malala, we stand with you and your commitment to education.
URL:: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/10/malala-we-stand-with-you-and-your.html

Children, women and men joined in this evening in support of Malala, to stand up for what Malala stood; education. It was the right thing to do.

CLICK PICTURE TO GET LARGER VERSION

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157631756527127/show/

The event was organized by Jawed Siddiqi at Subzi Mandi place,  the purpose was to stand in support of Malala Yousafzai and send a message to Pakistan that extremism is condemned across the world. 

The program appropriately commenced with the famous poem of Dr. Iqbal - A child’s prayer, one of the most beautiful poems I grew up with. It was sung by Sister Zohra Chisti, and all of us joined the chorus.

Lab pe aati hai dua ban kay tamana meri
Zindagi sham’a key surat ho Khudaya meri.

My wishes become my supplication,
Let my life  be the light  to the world, dear God.

Dur dunya ka maray dam say andheera ho jaye!
Har jagah meray chamaknay say ujala ho jaye!

May the world’s darkness disappear through the life of mine!May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine!

Ho maray dam say younhi meray watan key zeenat
Jis tarah phool say hoti hai chaman ki zenat.

May my homeland through me attain elegance
As the garden through flowers attains elegance.

Full poem at (randomly picked video):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBzXqfwqgjo

I am a volunteer, and I don’t remember the names of every one that spoke, if I missed your name, please add it in the comment section below.

Thanks to Krishna and Manohar of Desi Plaza TV for capturing this event on their video, and it will be uploaded at http://www.desiplaza.us/ you can check them out at http://www.facebook.com/desiplaza.us . in a day or two.

Roha, Esha, Shahina and Maha were among the teenage girls who spoke, they had a message to Malala to get well and continue with her commitment to education.  Dr. Tasnim Agha spoke eloquently about the need for education and our support.

Sajjad Azhar’s message was perfect and precise, indeed an inclusive message, and he concluded with good parting remarks as well.  Brother Muhammad Suleman led a short prayer and blessings. There were two other speakers who extolled the value of goodness taught by the prophet, one of them emphasized the first word of Quraan- to read and understand. Naeem Sakhia capped the event very well, Malala brings a transition in the society, extremism will end and a new culture of education and acceptance will begin.

Jawed Siddiqi offered help to further her education.  

I shared my thoughts as well

Evil exists because good people do nothing about it. If you let a bully get by, he thinks he has your permission. How dare can one get?

The extremist was intolerant and did not believe education for women,  and shot at the girl because she dared to go to school.  A woman should never be deprived of education, it should be a crime if any one discourages, makes it difficult and prevents girls from getting an education. 

Had that guy's mother been educated, he would not have behaved this way, It is the female under-education that has brought backwardness to people in the subcontinent in general and Pakistan in particular The only one who can uplift a child is mother, and the mother can change the nations if she has the wherewithal of education.

I was at a book launch today, and the conversation rolled on to Malala, and it was a delight to see one of them speak up - he said, the entire nation of Pakistan is condemning the extremist. The positive word gets around. This is the reason more and more people need to spread the good word, so the world knows that Muslims are the first ones to condemn terrorism. 

We need to condemn the acts of the extremism, rather than condemn the extremists, as Jesus had said. We need to pray for their well being following in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We need to dialogue with them and weed out the root cause, rather than becoming confrontational and have them dig in their heels.  Mother Teresa’s wisdom cannot be lost, if you want to make peace, go talk with the enemies.

This event sends a message to the extremists that the world is not with them, the more events like this happen, the greater the momentum it builds.

Don’t forget to attend another event organized by John Hammond of FunAsia on Sunday at 8:00 PM FunAsia’s address is 1210 E. Belt line Rd. Richardson, TX 75081.  

 MikeGhouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike 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 and regularly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.com is updated daily. 

Subway ad calls Islamic jihadis ts 'savages'

Controversial subway ad calls Islamic jihadists 'savages'

Fox news had interviewed me on the topic, and I am glad they were able to show a few clips on Sunday. 

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/19631912/2012/09/25/controversial-anti-muslim-ad

another one - http://www.hannity.com/videos/?uri=channels/457042/1701793

I have urged the organizers of the ad campaign not to place the subway ad and I pray for the safety of passengers in the New York Subway.

This was the gist of my interview;

First of all I strongly believe in the first amendment and freedom of speech, a foundation of civil societies. Indeed, I will defend every one’s right to free speech however ugly it may be. It is intended to offend the offendee, and we have a choice to not be offended.

I appeal to the common sense of the organizers to resist the temptation to display the ads. It will do more harm and would become a safety issue to the City of New York. Someone has to be made responsible for the hurts those ads may cause.

Should the city of New York be sued for any hurt that this ad may cause to her citizens? We need to look to it as shouting fire in crowded room. I pray for the safety of Passengers in the Subway. What those ruthless brutes did to our Ambassador in Libya does not justify this poster.

It is dangerous to fellow Americans, particularly Muslim women wearing scarf or Hijab, Catholic women coming from a Church, Sikh Women, Hindu women with part of the Saree covering their head, the Non-Muslim women from Africa donning their cultural headdress. 

It has happened before,  the nut case like the one who beat up the Jewish kids in subway three years ago for saying Happy Hanukkah, the nut case who went on a rampage at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin,  and he loony who opened the gun in Norway. If a nut case sees the Jihadi ad in the subway, and sees a woman next to it, be it a Muslim, Sikh, Catholic, Hindu or other, he is tempted to hurt that woman, the woman can scream that she is not a Muslim; do the nut know any difference? What if she is a Muslim? 

Pamela Geller and I have known each other since May of 2010 when she initiated the attack on Ground Zero Mosque, she and I have battled on that issue for a long time on Hannity.

This ad is supposed to support Israel; does Pamela Geller really support Israel?  She is for her own self; she is like the Bernie Madoff guy who was for himself. There is nothing wrong with it for acting in the self interest,  she has every right to do that. But maligning Israel and Judaism with her hate is perhaps not authorized by the Jewish Federation of New York, just as those bad guys in Libya were not authorized by Libyans.

I am waiting for the Jewish Federation to tell her that she is wrong, in fact the Rabbis had asked her once to back off from her attack on how animals were slaughtered per the Sharia, she called it cruelty to animals for the Halal slaughter. Being Jewish, she knew Kosher meat was processed exactly same way as Halal. She probably believed that Americans would never fact check and made her day.  I hope the New Yorkers don’t fall for this trap to hate Muslims in the innuendo ads.
 

Mike Ghouse