Prophet Muhammad's birth celebrations speeches by Maulana Naqvi and Mike Ghouse

Speech at Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) birth celebrations 

It was a great honor to speak along with Maulana Irtaza Naqvi at Milaad- Prophet Muhammad’s birth celebrations organized by the Pakistan Club of Dallas at Sherrill Park in Richardson, Texas.  It was also a poetry session (naatia mehfil) in praise of the Prophet shared by our respected poets Syed Younus Ijaz, Syeed Qureshi and several others. I have written three pieces on Maulana Naqvi.I was buoyed to learn a few key points in his speech that were fairly supportive of the pluralistic approach to religion. He emphasized the idea of “respecting the otherness of others” without having to agree. I narrated the story of Suleh (peace treaty) Hudabiya with precisely the same line.

Continued at:http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/02/milaad-speech-by-maulan-irtaza-naqvi.html

I was buoyed to learn a few key points in his speech that were fairly supportive of the pluralistic approach to religion. He emphasized the idea of “respecting the otherness of others” without having to agree. I narrated the story of Suleh (peace treaty) Hudabiya with precisely the same line.  

We both talked about first thing first, that is to be the Ameen; a model of sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthy, and a person around whom other people felt secure.

His point about Hazrat Bilal was powerful – it had three points; knocking the arrogance out, forging the idea that all men are equal, and respecting the otherness of other.

The Arabs like all other people in the world have the arrogance that they are the chosen people, and that their language is superior to others. So when Prophet asked Hazrat Bilal (a freed slave) to give the first public prayer call (Adhan), it must have hurt the knowledgeable literate nobility that they did not get the chance to have that honor, as the prophet said, in the presence of God we are all equal, no matter what faith or race we belong to.

Secondly, Hazrat Bilal could not pronounce the “sh” as in “she” sound in the Adhan part of “Ash-hadu-an La ilaha ilal la”. A few laughed at the mispronunciation but the prophet stopped them, and said, you may not have understood the call, but God did.

Whether you are a former slave or the king, we have to learn to respect the otherness of others.   

Then we spoke the same thought – I mentioned that Quran is not for Muslims alone, but for the entire humanity. The first sentence of the first chapter and the last chapter both address the entire humanity, and not Muslims. He emphasized that, and thoroughly explained the meaning of prophet’s title – Rahmatul Aalameen- Mercy to mankind and not just Muslims.

He also added, that Quran is a book from God as God has made it inclusive of all faiths, Quran acknowledges Judaism and Christianity and others to denote other faiths. Even though in principle there were differences, God still chose to call the people of the book to instill a sense of cohesiveness with people of different faiths. I had emphasized what I had posted on facebook a day ago. “Quran says it clearly and repeatedly - if you take care of fellow beings you need not worry, and also reasserts, whether you are a Jew, Christian, pagan or other... you need not worry as long as you take care of fellow beings.”

Of course as blunt as I am, his narration of miracles of the Prophet that he purified the water in a well and splitting the moon were not needed, but I have no problem with it as others believe in it endearingly. It is the same with Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Hanuman and others – shaft becoming a snake, walking on the water, Immaculate Conception, carrying a mountain on his hands respectively. There was a time in history, external fantastic miracles were needed, but now, their message is good enough.

I asked the audience, who is the first person to initiate interfaith dialogue in the world? I was completely taken back, no one knew it, and there was someone in the front, who called out my name. I quietly moved on.  I had asked the same question in a conference attended by majority of African American Muslims, nearly a third of them said it aloud “America’s Imam Warith Deen Muhammad.” While that is true for America, but not true for the world.

Prophet Muhammad was the first man on the earth to initiate interfaith dialogue. Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Mahavir or Jesus did not have many faiths to deal when they were preaching, where as prophet Muhammad dealt with Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Pagans and others.  I need to speak in Milaad more often; usually they sing Naats/ Nasheeds (in praise of the prophet) or poetry in his honor.

I emphasized on Freedom of speech and gave the example of Adam. It is because of freedom of speech we have been able to pray, preach and propagate Islam, and we have to honor and defend that freedom of speech, we cannot bite the hand that feeds us.  Indeed, we are addressing this issue in our film “Sacred”. The film also exemplifies Prophets Amin Model, Taif-Jesus-Turning the other check Model, and conflict mitigation and goodwill nurturance model. Information for sacred is at www.WorldMuslimCongress.com

I share the meaning of the stories that are never told in the Mosques – of Hijre-Aswad, Suleh Hudabiya, Najran Christians visit and similarities of our immortal declaration of independence and his last sermon – all of them have the prophet’s formula for humanity; conflict mitigation and goodwill nurturance.

I asked people to be merciful to others, if you ask Asiya Bibi, a Christian lady in Pakistan and Pastor NadirKhani in Iran both charged for Blasphemy and Apostasy, if they think Prophet was a mercy to mankind? I don’t think they will, then whose fault is that? Didn’t we push them to say things they really would not have said?  We need to rid of Blasphemy and Apostasy laws, both practices are contrary to the personality of the prophet – i.e., mercy to mankind.


The above points in speech came straight from the following writings:

How do I connect with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/how-i-connect-with-prophet-muhammad_b_2547782.html

1444^th birth Celebrations of the Prophet
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/festivals-of-the-world-mi_b_4579452.html

Prophet Muhammad's advice
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2014/11/prophet-muhammad-pbuhs-advice.html

Thank you

mike
Mike Ghouse, President
America Together Foundation 
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
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Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator onPluralism, Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politics and other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film " Sacred" to be released on 9/11 and a documentary "Americans together" for a July 4 release.  He is a frequent guest 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 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.