Friday, November 7, 2014

Let Bill Maher Speak -- Islam Supports Free Speech

Bill Maher should not be stopped from speaking either; I will equally defend his right to free speech. I am speaking up in particular because the people opposing his freedom are Muslims, fellow members of my faith.

There are numerous verses in Quran to support free speech, but for now, I will quote three;

Continued at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/let-bill-maher-speak-isla_b_6103066.html#es_share_ended

Repeated several places

Snews - http://snewsi.com/id/1448453682
World News - http://article.wn.com/view/2014/11/07/Let_Bill_Maher_Speak_Islam_Supports_Free_Speech

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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.netand 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.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Warning to Terrorists - the BIG red poster

CLICK ON THE RED POSTER TO VIEW IN FULL SIZE

The acronyms SOB, AH, BS and others are certainly uncouth, but they effectively communicate a purposeful message, hence I made that choice. The Warning poster to Terrorist is a double edged sword and is at the bottom - the big red poster.

The following comments have been received against the poster below.

“sometimes your brain goes on strike I guess”,
“Don’t jeopardize”
“Who gave you the authority to represent Muslims?”
“Not appropriate and safe for you in today's hostile environment.”
“this is a mindless drivel”
“You are not qualified to speak for Islam”
“Do you think your severe warning will have any darn effect on these fanatics”
“I second it”
“it is appropriate response”.

In a learning environment, good thoughts and concrete ideas are developed with criticism and feedback; here is why this kind of response is needed.

Don't bark at the religion for the acts of bad guys. Punishment is set for bad acts, to restore the trust in a given society. When a Rapist is running around in a neighborhood, everyone is apprehensive, but when the guy is caught and nailed, peace of mind is restored in the neighborhood. Instead of catching the guy, if we blame his raising, his family, his religion, his race or nation, and his imam, rabbi, pastor or pundit – we will not restore peace. I intend to aggressively communicate this idea, the right idea, and intend to speak at various law enforcement agencies as well as religious institutions.
The criminal ought to know that he will be punished; we will not allow the poor alibi of religion, not at all. The Law enforcement and the media people also need to get this in their heads, the purpose of investigations and chasing the bad guys is to restore trust and not to aggravate by barking at a non-entity like Religion. The more you bark at criminal’s religion, race or ethnicity, the worse it gets. You cannot shoot, kill, hang, beat or bury the religion, then why bark at it?
72 Virgins are promised. Both the terrorists and the communicators of the problem (Media and Politicians) to the world at large have gotten it wrong. The poor guy needs to be outraged at the recruiters that he was duped, and there are no 72 virgins waiting for him, instead the SOB will rot in Jail if we Americans get him, or killed mercilessly if he is caught by the opposite party. No Geneva conventions will be observed by either the terrorist or his chasers. The Media needs to stop the BS of propagating the falsity with nothing to back up in the Qur'an.
Both the criminal and the law enforcement (coupled with the media and politicians) must be aware that it is the Sin, and not the sinner we are after. The clarity should prevent us from being unjust. We should not be abusive in disciplining or punishing the wrong doer. As a civil society, we cannot become the very evil we want to eradicate.
We should seek the criminal to lead us to the source of recruiting material and the recruiters by mitigating his punishment.
The Challenge to “read the right translation/interpretation” of Qur'an applies to both the criminal and the law enforcement. I am certain, the criminal will become a genuine repenter, and the law enforcement will not buy or propagate the dished out non-sense in the market or bark irrelevantly.

This is the right time to forge peace to the society in general, and American society in particular by boldly and loudly getting people to get the message, and i.e.,

I am being assertive, never has any Muslim or other communicated this so clearly and it is time we do that, thank God for the opportunities he has blessed us with to find solutions. If I don't, no one will speak, and I sincerely hope many of us to speak up, do it on your own or join me.

It is time we separate the evil from good.

Bottom line is to free Islam and Muslims from the stupid stereotyping, and focus on punishing the bad guys and restoring trust in the society.

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You SOB, you are the damned murderer, you messed up the peace, and your ass will nailed big time.

Don’t give me the BS about your job, childhood, parents, kids, siblings, spouse, imam, rabbi, pastor or the pundit. You did it and you'll pay for it.

I am not stupid to buy in your argument that your religion made you do that, and then bark at the religion endlessly. AH, you are the bad guy and you are going to pay for it. I am here to restore justice in the society and not be detracted and scream at your religion like a stupid ass. I can hang you, shoot you, bury you and beat you up to restore justice and trust in the society, and that is my goal

Note: Mr. Terrorist, I don't condemn you, it is your sin I condemn. If you claim to be a Muslim, just remember, those guys who recruited you, and cheated you with false promises of Hoories and virgins in paradise were dead wrong. There is no such thing nor is it mentioned in Qur'an, instead you will rot in jail for life. Would you turn in your recruiters for cheating you? Would you read the correct translations of Qur'an, we might minimize your sentence?

This should be the attitude of Law enforcement
Authorized by Mike Ghouse, World Muslim Congress.

Thank you

Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
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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.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Muslim guy Organizing Holocaust, Native American Genocides and Gujarat Massacre

Holocaust and the Muslim Guy

Frequently, I am introduced in the following manner, "He is the first Muslim guy to commemorate Holocaust, and perhaps the first non-Jewish person to commemorate the Holocaust as well." Of all the people on the earth, my mother would be pleased to know that I am doing what it takes to be a "good Muslim," to respect, honor and protect the sanctity of life.
As a Muslim committed to building cohesive societies, it was an honor to step up to the plate. Quran 3:133, "And vie with one another to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness and to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for the God-conscious." I am not driven by paradise, nor do I seek rewards. But it does mean building a cohesive world where no one has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. God-conscious simply means being caring and sensitive to all of God's creation; life and matter.

Of all the people on the earth, my mother would be pleased to know I am doing what it takes to be a "good Muslim," to respect, honor and protect the sanctity of life.

I have always believed, and I read the assessments of some of the best brains that if we can resolve the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, i.e., security to Jews and justice to the Palestinians, most of the world issues will collapse and a period of peace on earth will begin.

Commemorating Holocaust and Genocides for seven years is a fulfillment of a lifelong desire.

Continued at Huffington post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/holocaust-and-the-muslim-_b_4629509.html#es_share_ended

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Muslim Speaker Mike Ghouse
NURTURING PLURALISTIC VALUES EMBEDDED IN ISLAM

A Muslim Speaker, thinker, organizer and an activist committed to building cohesive societies with a belief that what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world and vice versa to sustain peace, harmony and prosperity.

The dearth of Muslims to speak up for the moderates has been a major problem in the society; it has created an imbalance in tilting America negatively towards buying in to stereotypical images of Muslims. Mike is an addition to a growing number of Muslim speakers in giving a fuller picture of Muslims engaged in civic society from speakers with beards and head coverings to no head coverings and no beards, just as a majority of Muslims live their day to day life.

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions to media and to the public on important and complex issues of the day and is available to speak in a variety of settings such as schools, seminars, conferences, and places of worship, or the work place. He welcomes all questions and will address the fears many have about Islam. He welcomes questions concerning misunderstandings about violence (jihad) and women's rights and other issues.

God loves his creation and does not exclude any one from his mercy and kindness and adds that he has sent a peace maker, messenger or a prophet to every tribe and nation, indeed no one is deprived of his love. The Quran lays it out very well in Surah Al-Hujurat 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware."

God has intentionally created diversity; each one of us has a unique identity with our own thumb print, eye print, DNA and other uniqueness. If we can learn to respect and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. God in Quraan makes it absolutely clear that no one is to judge the other in matters of faith, only he, he alone is the judge and not today, but on an elusive Day of Judgment.

Mike's Mission is to work for a world of co-existence through inclusiveness and participation. Speaking about the World Muslim Congress, the organization he manages, he adds, "As a member of diverse family of faiths, our efforts will be directed towards justice and equity to attain peace for the humankind with a firm grounding in commonly held values. We cannot have advantages at the cost of others. Such benefits are temporary and deleterious to lasting peace. We believe what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world, and vice versa, to sustain it.

Mike's work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/ Mike has chosen the path of moderation that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had advocated to his followers. He sees Islam as guidance to humanity to co-exist in harmony with life and what surrounds one without negating the otherness of other. Indeed, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) proclaims that he refreshed and updated the same message delivered by other prophets before him to create the kingdom of heaven on earth, where no human has to live with apprehension of the other.

Indeed we aspire to promote goodwill amongst people of different affiliations, regardless of their faith, gender, race, nationality, culture or any other uniqueness blessed by the creator.

Mike is a frequent guest on Fox News, (The Hannity Show), and has been interviewed on nationally syndicated Radio shows along with Dallas TV, Print and Radio networks and occasional interviews on NPR. He is a member of the Texas Faith panel of Dallas Morning News and writes on issues facing the nation every week. He has spoken at international forums including the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, in Melbourne, Australia, Middle East Peace Initiative, in Jerusalem, the International Leadership conference, in Hawaii, in Washington, and elsewhere.

The Foundation for Pluralism champions the idea of co-existence by respecting and accepting the otherness of those different from ourselves. The World Muslim Congress is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam, many are not aware that Islam teaches Pluralism. Heavily involved in both, Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and has produced outstanding public events to bring Americans together of different religions, ethnicities and races on common grounds of building a safe and secure America.

He is a speaker, thinker, collaborator and a writer on the subjects of Pluralism, the interfaith movement, cohesive societies, Islam, India, hope and world peace. Over 1000 articles of Mike’s have been published worldwide and two books are poised to be released this summer. His work is reflected in 4 websites and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
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In defense of Islam, pursuing a civil dialogue

20100919-In-defense-of-Islam-pursuing-9397.ece

By Steve Blow sblow@dallasnews.com Published 19 September 2010 02:28 AM

Over and over you hear it said: If Muslims oppose terrorism, why don't they stand up and say it?

If that has been you, Mike Ghouse ought to be your hero.

It is hard to imagine that anyone has worked harder than the Carrollton resident to demonstrate the peaceful and moderate side of Islam.

And that effort includes personally visiting Dallas' First Baptist Church last Sunday just to put a friendly face on the "evil, evil religion" that the Rev. Robert Jeffress denounced a few weeks before.

"It was wonderful," Ghouse said of the visit. "We were so warmly received."
He hopes a quick chat with Jeffress will be the start of deeper discussion about Islam and the importance of respect between religions.

"I want to have a dialogue with him, not to say he is wrong but to share another point of view," Ghouse said.

The 57-year-old Muslim was born in India and has lived in the United States for 30 years. He owns a small property management firm. But most of his day is devoted to building bridges between people of different faiths.

"It is my passion," he said in his distinctive raspy voice.

He has been a guest a dozen times on Sean Hannity's TV and radio talk shows. "I don't like the way Sean cuts me off, but I have to honor him for giving the American public a semblance of another point of view."

Ghouse said he can understand fear and criticism of Islam because he went through a time of similar feelings. As a teen, he was troubled by passages of the Quran. He called himself an atheist for a while.

But he said deeper study led him to realize the Quran had been purposely mistranslated down through history.

In the Middle Ages, European leaders commissioned a hostile Quran translation to foster warfare against Muslim invaders.

Later, Muslim leaders produced another translation to inflame Muslims against Christians and Jews.

"It was all for politics," he said.
Ghouse said he hopes to present Jeffress with a modern, faithful translation and challenge him to find evil verses.

"If he can, I will convert. I will join his church," Ghouse said. "If he can't, I will call on him to retract his statements and become a peacemaker."

Ghouse acknowledges that deep problems persist within Islam. "Three steps forward, two steps back," he said with a sigh.

And he agrees that mainstream Muslims have not done enough to counter violent images of their faith.

"That is very true," he said. "But part of it is that many Muslims have given up hope that we will ever be heard."

He said repeated denunciations of terrorism seem to fall on deaf ears.

And some efforts have backfired - like the proposed Islamic information center in New York. He said it should be hailed for furthering the moderate Muslim cause.
Instead, it has deepened hostility toward Muslims.

I have been astounded by the amount of anti-Islam propaganda that circulates via e-mail. Tons of it has come my way in the last few weeks.

One theme is that people like Mike Ghouse can't be trusted, that Islam encourages deception.

But Ghouse says actions speak louder than words. And he points to elections in Muslim nations.

More than half of Muslims live in countries with some degree of democracy. And time and time again, Islamist parties are overwhelmingly rejected in favor of secular, mainstream parties.

"The religious parties don't get more than 3 percent of the vote," Ghouse said.
Polls show deep mistrust of Muslims. "But the most important question in those surveys is: 'Do you know anything about Islam?' " Ghouse said. "Most people say no."
What keeps him going is faith in Americans, he said.

"The majority of Americans, if they know the truth, they will change their minds."

# # #

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, writer, thinker, futurist and an activist of Pluralism, Islam, India and Civil Societies passionately offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

He is a frequent guest at Fox News on the Hannity show, nationally syndicated Radio shows along with Dallas TV, Print and Radio networks and occasional interviews on NPR. He has spoken at international forums including the Parliament of Worlds Religions in Melbourne, Middle East Peace initiative in Jerusalem, International Leadership conference in Hawaii, Washington and elsewhere.

Concerned by the divisiveness, he saw the need to bring Americans together and founded America Together Foundation committed to building a cohesive America, indeed it is in response to ACT America which is bent on pitching one American against the other. We will be holding series of educational programs, conferences and workshops to address the issues that divide us such as Civil Right, GLBT, Quraan, Abortion, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Racial Profiling and Stereotyping.

The Annual Unity Day USA is in its 7^th year now, it is a purposeful event to bring Americans together, on this Unity Day, we the people of the United States of America of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background will gather to express our commitment to co-existence, unity, prosperity and wellbeing of our nation.

Thanksgiving Celebration is in its 15^th year showcasing cultural diversity.

The 5^th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides is to learn and to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and commit to avert such tragedies. Through this event non-Jewish people have consciously learned about Holocaust for the first time, it was also for the first time that people of 14 faiths came together to join in to commemorate the Holocaust that commemorated within the Jewish Community for years. They are not alone anymore in their anguish, we are all in it together with them, and it is a Muslim initiative to effect a positive change.

The programs, seminars and workshops conducted by the Foundation for Pluralism have become a part of the America Together Foundation. While the Foundation for Pluralism continues championing the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other, the commitment to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress continues.

Two books will be released this year; The American Muslim Agenda and My Journey to Pluralism.

Mike has written over 1000 Articles on Pluralism, Islam, India, Peace & Justice and civil societies published in a wide spectrum of Newspapers and Magazines around the world.

Locally, he is a panelist at Dallas Morning News's and writes weekly on a range of issues facing the nation. Washington Post, Huffington Post and other news papers and sites regularly publish his work.

Mike is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam, Civil Societies, and Peace & Justice at your place of worship, school, work place, seminars, workshops or conferences. His work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/