British Muslims on a Pluralism tour of America

When a group of people from overseas visits the United States to understand religious landscape of America, I am blessed to receive them and conduct half a day workshop to familiarize them, and address their concerns and issues.

I see three groups of people in a given year and generally they are Muslims from Albania to Zaire and every one in between. I have met with the Muftis of China and Russia to religious ministers from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Chad.... and the like.  

Today, I met the British Muslim youth and for the first time in a decade, the conversation was without translators! It was funny, in the beginning I was speaking with a slow Rick Perry speed as though a translator was going to translate, then I realized my conditioning! It was funny, they probably thought I had speech impediment. 

Shan Bhagat and Rizwan Ali - Thank you for the facility.

My expertise is studies in religious, social, political and cultural pluralism and have been researching, watching and shaping the trends and writing and speaking for the last 22 years.  There are over 800 articles written up on Pluralism - 200 of them are published in Dallas Morning News, and over 100 at Huffington post and other places. There are another 1700 articles, and about 900 are on Islam, the rest are motivational, inspirational, sports, movies, festivals, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine and human rights including standing up for others, add to this 520 hours of Radio talk on "Understanding Religion, each beautiful religion" and 26 workshops to learn the wisdom of every tradition including Atheism.
 

Our conversation ranged from dealing with social and political issues during peace times as well as conflicting times starting with the film clip about building a cohesive America. Dealing with the right wing Americans, and civic engagement to bring positive outcomes.

It was a joy to have the conversation with this group, they were thoughtful, critical and above all inclusive! Most of them were open to the idea of reaching out to people of other faiths to build cohesive societies, it was an extended topic. They said, I was speaking to the choir and I liked that very much and gives me hopes that we are doing things to make our lives better.

The British Muslims have similar issues as we do; dealing with right wingers.  The non-sense falsities spread by Gov. Bobby Jindal and Fox News this week about "no go zones" for non-Muslims in UK, France and Europe is a myth.

When I was talking about Prophet Muhammad's examples of being Amin, and the post-story thoughts about Najran Christians and Hudaibiyah treaty - I thought there might be some resistance, but it was a joy, and they clarified it that it was not a radical thought.

I loved this group for being so interactive and open to newer expressions in Islam. I hope to be available to them in the future. They can turn British society around to be more inclusive through their initiatives we discussed today.

When I get the time, I will write the details of this productive constructive conversation.

We have to accept that every society is composed of right wing, left wing, intolerant, ultra liberal and moderates. We have to chart a course with the give situation.

Here is the outline:

PROPHET MUHAMMAD & COHESIVE SOCIETIES

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the ultimate peace maker, indeed he was called Rahmatul Aalameen, that is mercy to the whole humanity. He believed in building a cohesive society, where no human had to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other.

Towards this goal, the first Sunnah or the tradition he established was the Amin Model, a peace building citizen.  Indeed, to be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker who mitigates conflicts and nurtures goodwill.
 

INITIATIVES DURING PEACE TIMES
  

1. Unity Day USA—www.UnityDayUSA.com

2. Thanksgiving Celebrations—www.ThanksgivingCelebrations.org

3. Holocaust and Genocides—www.HolocuastandGenocides.com

4. The Amin Model—
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/american-muslim-agenda-a-_b_5528706.html

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

5. The power of Engagement  - Fox News
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2014/06/youre-dangerous-sparks-fly-between.html

6. Standing up for others, if you don’t stand up for others, why should any one stand up for you?  Www.Standingupforothers.com

7. Intra-faith Conference—Shia, Sunni, Ahmadiyya and others
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2013/02/muslims-talk-with-muslims-at-boniuk.html

8. Shia Studies in Iran - my application http://www.worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-application-for-short-term-course-on.html

9. Ramadan Intra faith and Interfaith Iftaars
http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/

10. Sharia Conference— www.ShariaLaws.com

11. Quran Conference - www.QuraanConference.com 

11. Interfaith Dialogue events.

12. Youth participation

   

IDEAL RESPONSES TO CONFLICTS

1. Quran Burning Pastor Terry Jones
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/04/reestablishing-right-muslim-attitudes.html

2. Quran Cursing Pastor Robert Jeffress—www.QuraanConference.com

3. Investigating Muslims:  Congressman Peter King
http://peterkinghearings.blogspot.com/

4. Ground Zero Mosque
http://groundzeromosque.blogspot.com/

5. ISIS Response Go ahead and Destroy ISIS http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/president-obama-go-ahead-_b_5765264.html#es_share_ended

6. Charlie Hebdo http://thearabdailynews.com/2015/01/11/muslim-solutions-terrorism-paris/

7. Criticism of Prophet, Quran and Islam - http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/11/criticism-of-islam-prophet-muhammad.html

7. Free Speech http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2015/01/texas-faith-taking-offense-in-name-of.html

8. Conflicts and issue for discussion

…………………………………………………………….

Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism at work place, politics, religion, society, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, food and foreign policy. He is commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post.  All about him is listed in several links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com and 10 other blogs. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

A Satire on Colorado Mass Murderer and a Message to the Opportunists

James Holmes, the alleged shooter who killed 12 in a crowded Colorado movie theater, reportedly worked at a Muslim summer camp for underprivileged children.

Holmes, 24, spent a summer working as a counselor for an Islamic Camp in Glendale, Calif., which is run by Muslim Brothers of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles New Times reported Saturday.

He is suspected of opening fire on the crowd late Thursday night at a midnight screening in Aurora, Colo., of the new Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises." Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured in the shooting spree.

Holmes was arrested shortly after the shootings. He reportedly set off smoke bombs before firing at the crowd.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Muhammad Mureed, chief executive of Muslim Society of Los Angeles and director of Camp Islam, said of Holmes, "His role was to ensure that these children had a wonderful camp experience by helping them learn confidence, self-esteem and how to work in small teams to effect positive outcomes." In a later e-mail, Mureed added, "That summer provided the kids a wonderful camp experience without incident."

Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas sent a letter to President Obama on Saturday expressing his condolences and those of the Palestinian people to the families of the Americans who were murdered in the theater.

"All Palestinians stand alongside the American people in mourning over this terrible tragedy which claimed the lives of so many," Morsi said. "We well understand the pain and loss that you are experiencing."

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

If Joe Blow rapes a woman in your neighborhood, should the police arrest Joe, or should they arrest and harass his parents, siblings, kids, spouse, and his friends?

Joe committed the crime and his tushie needs to be hauled off, and by arresting him, it bring calmness to the neighborhood, knowing that the rapist is locked up. People would feel safe again and a sense of safety would be restored in the community.

On the other hand, imagine harassing the entire neighborhood, blaming the Mayor and the pastor or even the Bible for this criminal, we will never resolve an issue if we dance around it.

Do you remember how quickly the opportunists cashed in on Osama Bin Laden? He was the bad guy, but we destroyed nations instead of him, we blamed their religion and their book, how dumb! Did the Billion plus Muslims vote Bin Laden to do the evil? We recklessly sacrificed 5000 of our men and women in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and have destroyed other nations and innocent people and shamelessly called it a collateral damage.

Had we nailed the criminal Osama bin Laden in the first place, and not others, we would not have caused budget deficits, and millions of Americans would not have lost their jobs and their homes. The war mongers should never be listened to, they make their good, but the common man gets screwed. Wars destroy us more than it destroys others. The results are in our face.

Where is Pamela Geller, Brigitte Gabrielle, Fank Gaffney, Robert Spencer, David Horowitz or their ilk? It’s an opportunity for them to make a capital out of it. Of course, they will not take it up because it was not a Muslim.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

This is a spoof, a mocking imitation of an article that appeared in the JTA.org, thanks to them. The original piece has the word Jew in place of Muslim, Netanyahu in place of Mahmoud Abbas, and Palestine in place of Israel.

I hope we reflect on how our media and some of the opportunists would have reacted if this guy had gone to a Muslim camp.

A chill went up my spine imagining if it were a Muslim how much of a mess they would have created in America. Instead of going after the criminal, they would have blamed Muslims, Muslim Brotherhood in the US (Hallucination of Michelle Bachman and the other opportunists) and Islam.

It’s time for America to wake up and question the integrity of these men and women, thanks to John McCain for unleashing the power of questioning, others will follow and a trend is in the making to restore America to be just and not put with the non-sense of the opportunists.

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on the topics of Pluralism, Coexistence, politics, interfaith, Islam and cohesive societies. He is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.