Can Muslims and Christians Co-Exist?

CAN MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS CO-EXIST? | Interfaithspeaker.com

Yes, an overwhelming majority of Muslims and Christians have co-existed for nearly 1400 years, and will continue to do so. However a few among each one of them (less than 1/10th of 1%) are intolerant, not because of religion, but because they did not get their religion right.

There will always be rogues no matter what religion they wear, we have a choice to be dumb and blame the religion or be smart and blame the bad guys and punish them and restore trust in the society.  Barking at religion is useless - you cannot kill, beat, kick, slaughter, shoot, behead, hang of bury the religion, why bark at it?  

Mike Ghouse and Karen Hollie baptized at Baptismal site
What does this mean?  

Historical Event - Christmas and Milad celebrated for the first time in world history
by American Muslim Institution. 

Mike Ghouse praying at Jesus' Grave

This flag was used by Egyptian Muslims and Christians in the early 20th century to signify their unity against the occupying British forces. It continues to symbolize Muslim-Christian unity.

Good religious people want the world to be a peace, want to get along with all - that is what kingdom of peace on earth means. Half-ass religious leaders are dividers, like the devil in the center of the two towers.

90% of people of any group are moderates, and do get along with others. 4.5% each is liberal and conservative, then there is 10th of 1% who are intolerant. No religion or group of people are free from that tiny group of people.

Mike Ghouse
Text or Talk at (214) 325-1916

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net for his writings at TheGhousediary.com and several blogs listed there in. 

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) must end now

Female Genital Mutilation |  www.MuslimSpeaker.com

Warning : If you do not have the stomach to see the graphic images in some of the article links, please do not see it, but imagine how these children and women must have endured it. If you go have the courage to read it, please speak out against it.

This is a brutal practice of cutting the genital part of women by insecure men of the past, but continued today by equally insecure men.  I have put together several articles here below.  It is cruel, inhuman and violates the inalienable rights of women to life, liberty and happiness, and secondly, the religious leader Syedna Burhanuddin of the Bohra Muslim Community has refused to stop the practice.  I have written a letter to him but he has since passed away and his successor is no different. 

Muslim and Christians should join hands to stop this, as it is practiced by a fraction of them in the name of their religion.

Many have taken up to stop this inhuman practice and we should all join this.

Warning: The pictures too graphic, especially the one with raw blade. Most of the pictures are from Africa to illustrate the point and perhaps due to the limited availability of such practices.

1. Female Genital Mutilation among Bohra Muslims - A report - not for children, too graphic pictures to bear.
   http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/11/female-genital-mutilation-among-bohra.html
2. Setting the record Straight, Female Genital Mutilation
   http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/04/mutilating-facts-setting-record.html
3. Scientific knowledge at practice was banned in the USA in 1996
   http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2013/06/female-genital-mutilation-cutting-fgm.html
4. Female genital cutting
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk1XpaXP3RU
5. Bohra Women slam cruel tradition of female genital mutilation India Today – NDTV
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgwCt9N6OOA
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7DkaXCBtM
7. Female Genital Cutting: An Unknown Global Concern – by Mariya Taher
   http://www.fairobserver.com/culture/female-genital-cutting-an-unknown-global-concern-42053/
8. FGC and the Law: Why Criminalization Isn’t Enough
   http://blogs.cfr.org/women-around-the-world/2016/02/09/female-genital-cutting-and-the-law-why-criminalization-isnt-enough/
9. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/victim-fgm-speaking-out-cut-genitals-culture-of-silence?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
10. End Female Genital Mutilation in India
    https://www.change.org/p/end-female-genital-mutilation-in-india
11. http://www.safehandsforgirls.org/
12. Join the Global Conversation to #endFGM Imam Magid and Coptic Pastor
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmfflgHKCfU
13. Last Generation of Bohra women to go thru FGM
    http://sahiyo.com/2016/02/17/mariya-ali-london-bohra-resident-last-generation-to-lose-a-pinch-of-our-skin/

Mike Ghouse
Text or Talk at (214) 325-1916

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net for his writings at TheGhousediary.com 

Pluralism prayers at Carrollton City Hall by Mike Ghouse

What will Mike Ghouse do for Muslims in America?

February 12, 2016 – Washington, D.C.,  The Capitol Forum TV show in Washington has released a video of my interview.

YouTube VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swl2_zYCoi8

Frank Islam asks questions about my passion, work and what will I  be doing in Washington D.C. What is interfaith movement, Who are my mentors and what is Pluralism and what is that I want to achieve for the Muslim community?

Frank is a philanthropists in Washington DC and has generously contributed $2 Million to his Alma Mater AMU setting an example of contributing back to the place that made him who he is today.

Your feedback is requested.

Mike Ghouse
Text or Talk at (214) 325-1916

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics,terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net for his writings at TheGhousediary.com and several blogs listed there in. 

Muslim Radicals in America Mike Ghouse on Bryan Blue's Radio Show

It was a good one hour Radio talk show : Mike Ghouse with Danny Blue, Danny Coulson and Kinky Friedman. Danny Coulson is a former FBI agent and he agreed with my take.
  
December 18, 2015, Fort Worth, Texas -- 
Listen tot he Audio at this link -  http://bryanblue.com/2015/12/18/muslim-radicals-in-america/

Other links 

http://bryanblue.com/tag/mike-ghouse/

http://bryanblue.com/special-guests/

Mike Ghouse
Text or Talk at (214) 325-1916

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net for his writings at TheGhousediary.com and several blogs listed there in. 

Obama's opportunity in Charm City

Doug Burton has quoted me in this piece at the Philo's project.   I don't have to agree with all what Mr. Burton has written,  but agree with some of the material.

Mike GhouseCourtesy of Philo's project. 

Obama's opportunity in Charm City
Doug Burton

The president’s upcoming visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore will give him the opportunity to tell us all to take a breath before sounding the alarm about new waves of non-vetted Muslim masses crashing our gates. Expect a legacy statement to showcase American religious freedom, tolerance, pluralism and inclusiveness to audiences overseas.

Hopefully this visit will be more than a photo-op guaranteed to underscore the politically correct myth that Islamism isn’t Islam and that the religion of Islam has no causal link to terrorism. Americans know this plank is a nonsequiter: the Obama Administration says that no terrorists are Muslims, whereas virtually all Jihadi terrorists say they are Muslims.

Perhaps conservatives can give Muslim believers a break here. True, many American imams will not acknowledge that the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda or any form of violent Jihadism is Islam. But anguish could be hear in one imam’s voice as he spoke up during an interview to say, “Let me stop you right there. ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, which is a religion of peace – only peace. That’s like saying the crusaders who raped, murdered or tortured Muslims for centuries were really Christians.” While his constraint on language is his hapless dilemma, it reminds us that in the hearts of the vast majority of devout practitioners, Islam is a divine encounter, leading to a higher plane of compassion, self-transformation, lawfulness and justice.

More importantly, on Feb. 3, President Barack Obama has an opportunity to educate Americans about the great potential of American Muslims in the war of ideas within the Islamic world. As many an analyst has pointed out, Islam as a civilization has had neither a renaissance nor enlightenment, and is due. Fundamentalist Islam rooted in the Arabian Peninsula is actually at war with modernity. We aren’t dealing with “a clash of civilizations” as much as a crisis within one civilization – Islam.

American Muslims could make a big difference because they are different. The fact is, Islam has contextualized in North America’s democratic environment. Just as Christianity adapted to new cultures and ethical traditions as it moved from ancient Israel to Greece, to Rome to the heart of German Europe, and finally to North America, so has Islam.

The Muslims who murdered their colleagues in San Bernardino were in America, but notof it. American Muslims are inured to modernity: well educated and rooted in America. By one count, 5 percent of America’s doctors are Muslims, and many have served in the armed forces. Muslims are voters and public servants. At least two American Muslims serve in Congress. A week after the Paris attacks, the American Muslim Institution held an anti-ISIS protest on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. After the San Bernardino massacre, several Islamic societies held a candlelight vigil and memorial service at the Islamic Center of Silver Springs.

American Muslims who are passionate about Islam flourishing under the protection of a secular government have champions such as Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., the founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and the author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith.” Jasser currently serves as a commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

As Dr. Michael Ghouse, executive director of American Muslim Institution, said, “America is unquestionably the land of the free and the brave. The American Muslims love it, and once here, have unmoored Islam from its cultural chains. Yet American Muslims have retained the true spirit of Islam; a beautiful system devised to restore sanity and common sense in a given society through simple basics like being truthful, trustworthy, standing up for justice, humility and kindness as their life style.”

Dr. Walid Phares, an advisor to members of Congress and the author of “The War of Ideas,” said, “The problem in President Obama’s approach to diffuse the so-called Islamophobia is that his administration marginalizes the groups within the Muslim community that promote liberal views and anti-jihadi activities, while the more Islamist factions close to the Muslim Brotherhood have been elevated by the White House to the status of sole representatives of the community.

“Like any other community, the Muslim American community is not monolithic,” Phares argued. “American Muslims include the more fundamentalist and the more secular. To fight the ideology of the Jihadi terrorists, you need NGOs who would respond to the latter’s ideology not cover up for it.”

He went on to point out that, as seen in both Egypt and Tunisia, for example, the silent majority is strongly opposed to the Islamists. “But the advisors of the Obama Administration may have convinced the president of the opposite. Hence the repetitive failures of Washington in the campaign against the extremists. For the Islamists won’t challenge the jihadists – only secular Muslims will. Obama should have asked Zuhdi Jasser and his reformers to walk with him to that mosque. That would have created balance and neutralized Islamophobia among Americans.”

Muslim American patriots will be sitting in the pews Wednesday, yet it’s not clear yet if a president looking for opportunity will see America’s best assets looking back at him.

‪Why does terrorism dominate ‬ ‪the headlines?‬ Saudi Gazette

Thanks to Tariq Al-Maeena for mentioning me in his write up. I really appreciate that.

Mike Ghouse
www.TheGhouseDiary.com

# # #
Courtesy - Saudi Gazette
Why does terrorism dominate ‬ ‪the headlines?

Feb 3, 2016

  

 

Facebook

 

 

Twitter

 

 

Tariq A. Al-Maeena

Yet another despicable act occurred a few days ago when the Rida Mosque in Mahasen neighborhood of Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province was bombed by those following a takfiri ideology.  Four people who had been there offering prayers lost their lives to yet another act of terrorism, while another 18 were badly injured. The mosque is frequented by those following the Shia branch of Islam.

The media in the following days was full of condemnation of the latest series of attacks based on sectarian lines, and news of other terrorists who had been captured or are on the run.  But it is not just our own homegrown terrorists who dominate the news.  There are marauding bands such as Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS), Al-Qaeda and other fringe groups who have been thrust onto the front pages or the airwaves with their brutality, all the while chanting religious verses. All that this has succeeded in doing has been to promote a very violent image of Islam to those who are not Muslims.

So is this what Islam and Muslims are all about? The mayhem, murders, and bombings of the innocent?  Is there no other face of Islam?  You would have to dig deep between the pages to read of the other face of Muslims, a people who have dedicated their life to the proper teachings of this great religion and who by virtue of their piety are not seeking headlines.

There are Muslim individuals such as Dr. Mike Ghouse from the US who is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on a wide range of issues concerning Islam and the Western world. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day and building bridges between the faiths.

There is also Akbar Ahmed, the world renowned Muslim anthropologist whose various projects have contributed to and shaped contemporary thinking on the relations between the Muslim and the Western worlds. Professor Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC. He has served as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and was the First Distinguished Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

The list of such distinguished individuals and their positive contributions to society is long but inevitably obscured by the dastardly deeds of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the Daesh leader, and his kind.  And yet there are other relatively unknown Muslims who are shunted to the sidelines and deserve to have their story told.  They do not carry impressive credentials, but through their selfless acts they can indeed be a proud beacon to Muslims everywhere.

One such individual is Ali Banat, a Sydney born and bred Muslim who very recently discovered that he had cancer and only seven months to live.  A successful entrepreneur, Ali had everything he wanted, a fleet of high performance cars including a Ferrari Spider, luxury watches, mansions and just about everything else.  Facing his inevitable fate, Ali began disposing of all his assets and made a determination to make a difference in the lives of many who needed a helping hand.

For one of his projects, Ali travelled to Togo, Africa where he felt he could help without too much red tape.  He founded the MATW Africa Project which aims to build a village which will be home to over 200 widows, a school, and a residential dorm to house 600 orphans. A mini hospital/medical center and businesses to support the local community are also going to be established.  Half of the money required has been collected through goodwill donors. Ali explains: “After someone tells you, or you find out that you are sick or haven’t got much time in this life, wealth is the last thing you want to chase and this is how we should be living our life every day.  These people are going for the wrong goals; you will realize that when you get sick when someone tells you, you haven’t got long to live. You will realize all this stuff doesn’t benefit you in any way.

“It all started when I went to the cemetery to attend a funeral and I was thinking to myself after you go there’s nothing, there’s no one there for you, no mother, no father, no brother, and no sister except for your good deeds.  At this point in my life, Alhamdulillah I have been gifted by Allah with cancer throughout my body and I have changed my whole life to helping people.  It is a gift because Allah has given me a chance and some time to change.”

Ali’s days on the earth have decreased as the cancer has begun tearing through his body.  Yet it is his dream to make things happen, and the project in Togo is one of them.  He is a Muslim and he is not a terrorist.  Perhaps that doesn’t command him headline space but his deeds toward humanity should.

 — The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter@talmaeena