Monday, April 27, 2009

$600 New Car

The new car to hit the road in 2010
Price $600
Capacity -2
Speed 100-120 KM/H
258 Miles a Gallon

This is not a toy, and not a concept car.. It is a newly developed 2-seater car in highly aerodynamic tear-shape road-proven real car. It is ready to be launched as a single-seater for sale in Shanghai in 2010 for a mere RMB 4,000 !

Interested? Wait till you learn that it will cruise at 100-120 Km/Hr with an unbelievable 0.99litre/100Km (258 miles/gallon)!

Impressed? Totally, after you have read all the details below about the hi-tech and space-age material input into this car! Truly the most Economic Car in the world .

This car will be on sale next year

Better than Electric Car - 258 miles/gallon: IPO 2010 in Shanghai

This is a single-seated car.
From conception to production: 3 years. The company is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Will sell for 4000 yuan, equivalent to US $600.

Gas tank capacity = 1.7 gallons
Speed = 62 - 74.6 Miles/hour
Fuel efficiency = 258 miles/gallon
Travel distance with a full tank = 404 miles (San Francisco to Los Angeles )

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Is your faith Superior?

What is the effect of claiming one’s faith is superior?

In reference to my speech http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2009/04/mike-ghouse-honored-by-rcc.html I have received a number of encouraging words, as well as some good critiquing, and am pleased to address the questions for the sake of clarity.

Dr. Javed Jamil writes below “As Muslims, we cannot support Atheism, Polytheism, etc, but we respect the right of the people to believe whatever they like.”

Javed that has been my point; to respect the right of people to believe whatever they like. I do not encourage any one to become a polytheist or an Atheist, Christian or a Muslim, however, I respect their right to believe what they believe, and certainly work with them for peaceful co-existence of one and all. My inspiration comes from Sura Kafirun that expresses that thought exceptionally well (http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html ) –

Prophet Muhammad was an ultimate peace maker and I have written 10 different peace models he has offered the world to follow. Remember the offer was for every one, as he was the Rahmatul Aalameen, mercy to mankind. His message was universal and one of the models was signing the treaties with the warring tribes, to mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill and above all to co-exist in peace. It comes with accepting them reluctantly or willingly for the sake of peaceful co-existence. There is no compulsion in the matters of faith, you can always offer Islam for people to look at, and you have got to give the same right to others, but you cannot claim it is superior as it would turn them off, if you want to convert any one to your way of thinking, your belief or if you want to sell your product to any one, you don’t kick the beehive.

Ovais writes “this is a total misconception if you think by saying and accepting that Islam is the only right way would send out a message of arrogance, then you are absolutely wrong, I think this is more of a diplomatic way of making non-Muslim comfortable with you so that you can spend time with them.”

Larry James, the President of Council of Churches, the recipient of similar recognition spoke after me and said, “it is a tough one not to claim that my religion is the only way” It will be a major change in thinking by the Church of or clergy.

Indeed, it is a tough one to crack, but the right one though. If we can make a march towards ridding the arrogance of superior claims, life would be lot easier and paves the way for peace and security. Millions of Native Indians, Jews, Hindus, Christians, Muslims and others have been killed by the Zealots who believed that their way was the only way. Neither Christianity nor Islam is about oppression, force or compulsion, neither are any other faiths. Yet people who believe that their way is the only way, do the massacres, almost every conflict in the world has root in arrogance. You and I would not be able to practice our faith if the Majority decides that their way is the only way, that is not peace, and that is not Islam.

Ovais, the later part of the comment sounds like a personal issue to me, I do not need any diplomacy either, I have ticked off the right wingers in Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity, not intentionally though. We are fighting the turf - if we let them have their way, no one will have any freedom. But the 98% of the people are moderates and beleive in live and let live and that is thier understanding of their respective religion.

The source of conflict is arrogance – including the idea that my faith is superior. It is not the religion that has created problems it is indeed the arrogance of people, it is time we start shedding it. My faith's goodness is not because others are deficient, my faith is good because following it brings peace to me and what surrounds me. Other faiths offer the same peace to its followers; we need to respect their beliefs. Then conflicts fade and solutions emerge – that is Peace, isn’t that what Islam is about?

The other question raised by a few is about oneness of God.

Oneness of God means a state of conflictlessness, including the numeric one God. God (or the causer of the existence) has intentionally created diversity, when we learn to accept and respect that, conflicts fade and solutions emerge; we will be one world.

A friend shared the following “Linguistically Tawhid means: "To make something one, or to assert the oneness of something." [Lisaan ul-'Arab (3/450) of Ibn Mandhoor and also al-Hujjah fee Bayaanil-Mahajjah (1/305) of Abul-Qaasim al-Asbahaanee] However, what we are concerned with here is the Sharee'ah or technical meaning of Tawheed, which is: "To single out Almighty God alone for worship." [Ad-Dururus-Sunniyyah (1/48) of Shaykh 'Abdur- Rahmaan ibn Hasan] “

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PEACE?

You, me and every one of us is responsible for peace. If we are not in peace within ourselves, most certainly others are in the same boat. If we can clean ourselves from hate, malice, ill-will and anger, we can reasonably expect others to make the same effort. So, let peace begin with me. No individual or nation can be at peace, when others around it are not. So peace is every one's responsibility.

Prophet Muhammad was an ultimate peace maker (as were other spiritual masters); indeed, the name of the religion that I follow is “Peace” – aka Islam. Prophet Muhammad wanted to establish peace for humanity and offered various models for us to follow and communicated God’s wisdom through Qur’aan.

I do not consider this recognition as my achievement; it is your acheivement, it is a small step towards achieving the dream of 98% of the moderate population, be it Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews or any one; to open people’s hearts and minds towards fellow beings by mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. That is what peace is all about, that is what every Religion including mine contributes to.

A few comments:
Re: Mike Ghouse is recognized as a communicator of the year 2008

Dear Mike,

While I congratulate you on your achievement, I will give a suggestion. To have respect for other religions and faiths is one thing and to honour them is different. If you respect an ideology, it means that you respect the right of an ideology to exist and the right of people to follow it. If you "honour" an ideology, it means you agree with the basic principles of that ideology. Muslims must respect other faiths and must accept a plural society, which is the position of Quran, but they must in no way dilute the basic principles of Islam, most notably monotheism and Prophethood of Muhammad. Even without diluting them, you can be a part of the Inter-fath exercises. Recently, I was invited to attend an International conference on "Religious intolerance" at Bangalore, which was organised by International Council of Churches, Geneva. Most of the invitees were Christian priests. In fact I happened to be the only Muslim invitee. I presented a paper, "Building an all-religion alliance against evils". My paper was the talk of the whole conference. I advocated the all-religion alliance against commercialisation of human susceptibilities. I also argued that Westernism and Christianity are two different things. Muslims and Christians both should realise this. The best way of diffusing tensions between communities is to unite the religions for a common agenda. Mere handshakes, hugs and common lunches and dinners would not suffice. (I will like to share the paper with the Forum and will soon post it.)

AsMuslims, we cannot support Atheism, Polytheism, etc, but we respect the right of the people to believe whatever they like.

Dr Javed Jamil
##

A richly deserved honor, Mike. Your brief acceptance speech is a great piece and sums up a sublime understanding of Allah (swt), God or what ever other name Mankind invented for the Gracious and Merciful Spread of Energy that envelopes and causes The Universe and the Life there-in. Viva Mike and keep up your Crusade of Humanity.
Best regards:

Sher Suleman
###

Brother Mike,

Please accept my heartiest congratulations for winning the recognition as communicator of the year.Indeed, it should be proud moment for those who believe in your sincere and boundless efforts to bring people of all faiths together, and bring peace and pruralism among people of different faiths, without prejudice towards none.

Communicator : What is communicator and what it means to be a communicator.
Communicator is a person who communicates, esp. one skilled
at conveying information,ideas, or policy to the public.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a great communicator, and used his communicating skill to convince and convert non-believers into Islam.

President Ronald Reagan was a communicator who used his communicating skill to
sell his republican ideology.

President Barack Obama is communicator extraordinaire who uses his skill to win
friends and influence people by his charm and rhetoric.

I personally believe, brother Mike Ghouse is a great communicator in his own rights
as muslim, who does his best by using his skill to build bridge between people of
different faiths and create brotherhood, without prejudice towards none.

Hasni Essa
Islam for pluralism
###

Dear Mike

AA

Congratulations on the Award. On behalf of Community Builders Chicago, I would like to extend our felicitations to you, on this recognition for your community service and wish you continued success in the future.

JK

Azher Quader
Executive Director
Community Builders Chicago
www.mycommunitybuilders.com
###

Dear Mike Bhai,

Here is the issue "And further I am humbled to say that my religion is not superior to others, that claim would be a sheer arrogance. " this is a total misconception if you think by saying and accepting that Islam is the only right way would send out a message of arrogance, then you are absolutely wrong, I think this is more of a diplomatic way of making non-muslim comfortable with you so that you can spend time with them.

I am not jugding you in any way, your religion is your way to Allah, whatever I say will not affect your path to Janat, but it hurts me when religion is being compromised to gain acceptance of others, I hope I am wrong, but this is what I see in your emails that you are trying to make everyone happy by saying that they are all ok. I strongly believe in peace, it is the only way, but again Islam shouldn't be compromised. I would suggest you read Surat Kafirun, you would hopefully understand the message of Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him.

Again I am all for peace, Islam stands for peace, and if I have misunderstood your message I appologize but if you still say that all religion are right, then I think this is a misunderstanding, because now this would make you superior to Porphet Mohammed peace be upon him because according to him Islam is the only correct path.

Thanks for reading the message.
-Ovais
###


Mike, thanks for continuing the good witness of your award with the blog entry and pictures.
I much appreciate having your statement, which admirably set the tone for our ceremony.
I haven't had a chance to download my pictures, but I would like to request a "big file" version of the three awardees.

Rev. Bill Matthews


Mike

Please accept our heartiest congratulations on being honored as Secular Communicator of the Year. I know you have done a tremendous amount of quality work to promote this concept. Overdue but I am glad it happened.

Also, thanks for joining us at the Swaminarayan temple for pooja for Sapna. We appreciate it.

Keep it up.........
Bhupen
###

Mazel tov Mike! Congratulations! With more advance notice I might even have tried to attend, even though it is still Passover (and even though I've never heard of the organization). You're in pretty nice company. I know of Larry James and I've met him through one of his projects.

Bernie
###

Dear Mr Ghouse

You have stated a simpe fact which needs no further arguments to support it.
regards and bw

ravi
###

Mike - I'm celebrating with you! This is indeed a remarkable achievement but very much deserved. Your devotion to peace and justice inspires me everyday and keeps me moving along the path. All the best for a year full of successful campaigns. Your friend,

Rita Clarke
###

Congratulations Mike.

You deserve it and it is overdue. I don't know anyone who propagates such classic approach of religious harmony and tolerance in our disturbed world.

Hasan Mahmud
###

assalamu alaikum

this article is against the basic believe of islam, if we should honor every tradition, then we should honor those who used to kill their daughter just because they are girls???,
to those who drink dirty food??? to those who are killing humanity just for their worldly beneafits ????, to those who live naked or semi naked???.

Does it make any sense? after reading some part from the article from link, i found mike ghause state as followed

"I am humbled to say that my religion is not superior to others", that proves, mike ghause is
extremely misguided person and he may be working for kuffar to misguided muslims.
islam is not only superior to other religions but islam is the only true religion in the world until the last day world. All other religion are false, taking people to nowhere but distruction The Religion Communicators council is trying to misguid muslims, beware.
jazakallah
farrukh
###


Congratulations Mike! I am so happy for you and so proud to have interacted with you. i could not agree more with your stand on God and religion, especially the concept of not having any "Superior" or "Chosen" religion has always been part of my faith.

May God bless you!

Taj Hashmi
###

Respected Janab Mike Ghouse saheb AADAAB
No doubt, You are great, Your mission is great and I can say that you are a jewel
of humanity and a torch of world peace.

I appreciate your efforts. I am always with you. You can take my services for more success of your mission.
with regards
Tanveer Jafri. India
###

Friday, April 17, 2009

Mike Ghouse, Bio

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer and a Moderator.

He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India, Multiculturism, Terrorism, Peace, Politics and Civic issues. He co-chairs the center for interfaith inquiry of the Memnosyne Foundation and presides the Foundation for Pluralism. He is the president of World Muslim Congress a think tank with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world and vice-Versa.

His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Web sites and Blogs listed at his personal web site http://www.mikeghouse.net/ . He has authored over 600 articles on Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India and peace.

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 Master degrees and working on his doctorate in Psychology. He has two books on the horizon ; Basic Islam- everything you want to know about Islam and Pluralism, a text book on Pluralism 101.

Mike is a Neighborhood Commissioner at the City of Carrollton, and a Board Member of Dallas Peace Center. He is an Ambassador for Peace for the Universal Peace Federation and a member of the International leadership council. He has initiated the annual events like the Annual Thanksgiving Celebrations in its 12th year, Unity Day USA in its 5th year, Holocaust and Genocides, event just finished its 2nd Annual event. Mike Ghouse Cricket Gold cup and several other initiatives were taken. He was Past President of Indian Creek HOA and North Texas Cricket Association and has been a member of several Boards.

Mike is a Dallasite for three decades and Carrollton is his home town.

Monday, April 13, 2009

White Lies?

White Lies?

We may have caught ourselves telling what is convenient at times rather than the truth; when we are late to the work, late to a social meeting, the distance we are from an appointment, or sharing the painful information with the loved one in bits and pieces, accepting a fault when there is none to quell the disputes and on and on.. Why do we do that? Do we say to ourselves no more?

Let's work on living a cleaner life,
it brings tremendous amount of tranquility!

Live better each new day.

Mike

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Patriotism?

IS BUSH A PATRIOT?

Patriot is some one who does good for his country, his people and the world.

Patriotism is not about dying for the country, it is rather living for the country to make your own and others life better. Instead of killing and getting killed, he believes in living and letting others live. He believes in mitigating conflicts and nurturing good will to create a safe world for every one. We cannot be safe unless others around us are not.

A man's character is reflectd in how he/she treats the ones who are weaker than himself. Be it individuals or nations. Mr. Bush does not fit the bill.

1) He was some one willing to pick fights with other nations and put our men and women in harm's way?

2) He produced more enemies for America than any other president in our history, thank God for Obama, all that hate generated will be undone.

3) He messed up our economy and got us into over a trillion dollar deficit, financing the uncalled for war and not willing to listen to 72% of Americans.

4) He brought disaster to the American Families? A million plus un-employed.

A patriot must be willing to die for his country in defending the principle for the which his nation stands for, but certainly not die for this country in vain, agression, destruction and killing of others who have done no harm to us. Mr. Bush's dumb agression in Iraq cost nearly 4000 lives of our men and women, killed nearly a million Iraqi's, put nearly 200,000 women on the street and don't know how many children, and gave Al-Qaeda brutes a boost.

I have a hard time buying that he is a Patriot! yes, he took care of his friends and himself financially, yes he is a patriot to himself.

Stereotyping

STEREOTYPING

Believing that all Jews act certain way or the Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others act the other, or casting African Americans, Vietnamese, Arabs, Indians or Mexicans into a certain mold is detrimental to our mental health.

Imagine the negative impact it will have on our spirituality, taking away goodness from us ounce by ounce and replacing it with fear of others. The Creator has intentionally made us diverse, let's accept and respect that, we will find freedom in it.

Stereotyping is not a smart thing to do even in a business.

##
We are intentionally diverse, the creator or the cause of creation has programmed us to be that way, if we can accept that, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

##
We have to grow as human beings and 'know thyself' and unload the bias for our own well being, not for God or it is a noble thing, but for our own good, we have to keep our spirits free from bonding agents such as malice, bias or hate.As a society, we have to help each other be a better person to oneself, which will translate goodness for all.... Read MoreAngie preferring not to like any one is ok, it is fine to love apples and not like oranges, the problem will stem when you hate oranges and bind your self in ill-will or scheming to rid them or hurt them.

##


Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Finding the truth

TRUTH TRIUMPHS

Finding the truth is one’s own responsibility. Hate, malice, ill-will, prejudice and anger based on wrong information about others can bind you for days, months or eternity. Only you have the responsibility to free yourselves from this and no one else.

In your solitude or in your moments of reflections it is you who has to deal with your emotions resulting from your actions and consequences and not your Pastor, Rabbi, Imam, Pundit or your clergy.

The question one has to ask oneself is: Hate, malice, ill-will, and prejudice will be constantly bugging me, and most certainly all of it will disappear when I die, or when the person I hate or have malice towards dies... If it is going to go away some day, why not remove it now, and enjoy the rest of the life?

Finding and accepting the truth releases you from anguish, pain, apprehension and anxiety. Try it, you’d love it.

Mike

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

My Headstone

ZERO PREJUDICE :::

I have asked my kids Jeff and Mina to have these words inscribed on my headstone "Zero Prejudice; a life lived with prejudice towards none". I am still alive, but I just wanted to share the joy of life when you are free from bias. Try it, you will fall in love with the freedom from ethnic, racist, religious, orientation or any other bias, it is serene and is true happiness.

Mike
4/6/09

Monday, April 6, 2009

Exclusivism

My thoughts on
INCLUSIVISM, EXCLUSIVISM, and PLURALISM.

INCLUSIVE: if we can learn to accept the otherness of other and respect every which way one appreciates the divine, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

PLURALISTS: These Individuals are comfortable calling God every possible name, as they believe in the essence of the causer rather than a name, they are not bothered by the limitations of language, they are comfortable greeting you Shalom, Namaste, Salaam, Jai Jinendra, Peace to you... to them they all mean the same, they are synonyms. Pluralism is an attitude of accepting and respecting the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us.

MODERATES: As beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, faith is in the heart of the believer. Those who believe their faith is great, do not negate the divinity of others faiths. They believe as their faith works for them, other's faith must work for the other. A simple test I have found that works is; those who securely believe in their own faith, usually do ascribe similar security to the followers of other faiths, the corollary of that is if you do not have enough faith in your own, you assume that other's don't have it either and you hide in your insecurity by denigrating the other faith. Example: The preacher who expressed hate for gays vehemently was Gay himself, the one's who call other faiths hateful are hateful themselves.

EXLUSIVE: Those who believe that theirs is the only right path, others aren't. We have to be careful here, as Christianity and Islam, the two most accused of, are not exclusive either, it is been propagated as such for the interests of the self-proclaimed politically motivated guardians, who believe exclusivity will bring them clientele. Jesus was all an inclusive person, so was Muhammad. The Qur'aan guarantees God's grace to every one who is good to his creation; life and matter.

RELIGION v. PRACTICE: Our City Law books set the limits on speed and safe driving, yet we have hundreds of violations every month; Our Criminal Laws punish for murderers, rapists, arsonists... yet, we have all crims committed every day in every part of the world. The question is do we blame our law books or the individuals? Every religion teaches one to treat the other as they would wanted to be treated, yet there is violation of that rule by at least 1/10th of 1% of population in every group, do we blame the religion or the individual? I have not seen any correction or restoration of justice by blaming the religion, particularly in the last three decades, had we gone after the individuals as messers of law and order, we had better chance of restoring that delicate balance.

NEOCONS: The Neocons are insecure individuals; they are they extremists who believe that by annihilating others, they will secure their safety and mess up further. These individuals hide under every religious label, from Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Jews to Muslims and others. Their language is loaded with exclusion. I wish they spend that energy, passion and time towards peace.

RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUAL/PEACE MAKER: The one who mitigates conflicts and nurtures good will, he believes what is good for one has got to be good for all and vice versa to sustain it. Justice and truth are paramount to the.

PEACE is the responsibility of each one of us, if we have not contributed towards mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill, how can we expect others to do it? We cannot demand peace when we are loaded with malice, ill-will and hate.

Mike Ghouse

Friday, April 3, 2009

Al-Qaeda

You tube has six items on Al-Qaeda, is it Mafia or a religiously claimed organization?
It is always good to see different pionts of view to find solutions for co-existence, justice is the key for peace in the world.
  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOlwbaPe2os
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKjzxxbkRH4&feature=related
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4ht7pOX16g&feature=related
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIT-Z90A918&feature=related
  5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgHbN6CblEo&feature=related
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ROXFNL28s&feature=related

Peace is the responsibility of each one of the 7 billion of us. Our own minds, especially those who want and talk about peace, should be devoid of malice, hate, anger and revenge, then we are capable of peace. The simple question is if I am loaded with hate so is the other person, if can rid it, then I can expect others to rid it in their own time frame.

The golden rule is the same, exactly same in every religion - do unto others as you would want others to do to you. Those who get their own religious mesage are good religious people, and those who don't, tend to be on the fringe and harbor all ill-will borne out insecurities.

It is NEVER the religion that is the problem, it is the individual. You can always trace evil to individuals and not religion. If we can focus on individuals and punish them with the law of the land, then we have stripped our own bias towards other people and other groups. We are the beneficiary of receving salvation.

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer on Pluralism, interfaith, terrorism, peace, interfaith, Islam, Multiculturism and India. He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website http://www.mikeghouse.net/. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town.