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ADDRESS ............. World Muslim Congress ...... 2665 Villa Creek Drive, Suite 206, Dallas, Texas 75234. USA ......... (214) 325-1916 LABELS Categorized by Topic SPEAKER :: We will develop a list of speakers on various subjects. Meanwhile, Mike Ghouse is available to speak on Islam, Pluralism, Terrorism and Democracy. FESTIVALS :: To know is a key phrase in Islam - Let's be knowledgeable about the world around us. Religious Festivals | Definitions | Civic Holidays World Muslim Congress Muslim Agenda Moderate Muslims Moderate Islam Moderator Muslim www.worldwidemuslimcongress.net www.worldwidemuslimcongress.org Shia Muslims Sunni Muslims Bohra Muslims Ismaili Muslims Ahmadiyya Muslims Shia Muslims Sunni Muslims Bohra Muslims Ismaili Muslims Ahmadiyya Muslims Shia Muslims Sunni Muslims Bohra Muslims Ismaili Muslims Ahmadiyya Muslims
Kurd Muslims |
To be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker, one who seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; that is indeed the purpose of religion, any religion. Please read our Mission statement - Mike Ghouse
GO TO: www.WorldMuslimCongress.org
Are Muslims Part of the American Story? We are not connected enough with the mainstream society for vast majority of Americans to stand up for us, empathize with us or even understand the truth about us that we are no different than them in our endeavors and aspirations. We must however express our gratitude to the millions of Americans who have stood up for us, compelled by their sense of justness and fair play. Justice alone will not carry us further.
The Spirit, rituals and politics of Ramadan The Spiritual masters have captured the human gravity for rituals and have molded it with the art and science of self-discipline in their respective religion. The noble purpose of each one of them was to bring a balance in our lives and a balance with things that surround us; life and environment. Every faith is composed of a set of unique rituals to bring discipline and peace to human life. Fasting is one of the five key rituals that Muslims around the world observe.
Oppression of people and suppression of Ideas knocks off the balance in any given society and both go against the fiber of Islam; freedom and justice. Now comes, Dr. Amina Wadud, a Muslim woman has led the Friday congregational prayers for mixed genders, it is indeed a radical idea for those of us who are entrenched in thousands of years of traditions. Muslim Men are no different in their insecurities than Jews, Christians, Americans, Arabs, Zulus, Mongolians or the Mayans. If your strip the dirt from the religion, it boils down to "a men thing" rather than a Religious issue.
As a Muslim, I question the amendment in the constitution of
Maldives. If we don't question it, we would be giving a pass to
exclusive ideologies around the world. . The noblest among you
is the one who cares for the neighbors, Qur'aan says. Shame on
the fanatic few in the Government of Maldives to get a law like
this passed, it is against the spirit of Qur'aan and against the
spirit of Prophet Muhammad's Madinah pact that protected the
rights of every individual to practice his or her faith. In
fact, even conversion of the spouse was not a requirement in a
marriage. This amendment is contrary to the spirit of Islam.
Shaping the Tomorrow - The center for Interfaith inquiry What kind of world will we leave our children? Informed by the past, how will we consciously create our future? With a preponderance of behavior that only considers today’s pleasures and the rollout of the latest toys, how do we shift our focus to creating a healthy future history in a multi-religious multi-cultural world? When spirituality is being overshadowed by fear, fear and intolerance of the other, how do we not merely tolerate the other, but see them as interesting? Who cares? When turf consciousness is the overwhelming manner of conduct, how can we maintain our own individuality, yet at the same time, create a future coexistence that is both sustainable and nonviolent?
You still can't write about Muhammad(pbuh) Asra Nomani jolts a few, causes the majority of Muslims to think and certainly agitates the extremists. I do know one thing though; the masters know how to play the game, they know how the extremists react and tease them to play; and the extremists simply fall for it without realizing that they were had. The Dutch cartoon Masters tested the mettle of the extremists, and succeeded in getting them to do the intended thing, so they can move their next pawn; that Muslims are extremists. They have several moves planned, as long as the dumb extremists play the game, the Masters will give them the exercise.
Propaganda against Qur'aan Challenged. It is time to get over the propaganda been dished out over the years. There is no such verse "that ignites violence against 'Kafirs' in Qur'aan". If you have the list produce me one. Not what is handed down to you, but the one you can point to? Remember, finding the truth is one's own responsibility. You have an open challenge here. Let’s clean the slates and live in peace, one person at a time.
Birmingham council bans Atheist websites. Today it is Atheism, tomorrow it would be Hinduism, and day after tomorrow it would be Baptists or Mormons or Muslims, then it is every one they disagree with. Where is the end? How insecure is the council? Are they afraid that by looking at Atheists sites, one would give up his or her faith? As a Muslim I protest it.
Rabbi Rosen on Saudi Interfaith Dialogue Without skepticism, cynicism, understanding and support, no initiative will ever be comprehensive and it will not take off the ground without a combination of these elements that temper the progress. What is the loss if we believe in this initiative?
The Saudi Dialogue by Rabbi Michael Lerner Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun magazine, chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. He files an objective report about the Saudi dialogue, his skepticism and good omen included.
For the Sake of Biblical Prophecies The majority of each group does not subscribe to God’s plan to destroy his own creation deliberately and for what? All brands are fashioned by God, he would not favor one over the other as it amounts to injustice, and God is about Justice
Throughout the history of mankind, insecure men have found their false security in rattling up others, they have been wrong and will continue to err. You cannot have security when others around you are not; neither can you have peace when others can’t.
Interfaith Dialogue begins in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative religious societies and I am pleased to see it opening up to people of other faiths. The process began in 2005 when Saudi Emissaries started branching out all over the world to explore interfaith. In Dallas per the request of a Saudi minister, I had arranged for a 20 member meeting from Jewish, Islamic and Christian groups as an initial step towards including all faiths in the near future. Since then the Saudi Kingdom has taken series of steps in this direction culminating in interfaith dialogue series. First it was the same three groups; Judaism, Christianity and Islam and now, I am pleased it has included Hinduism and Buddhism.
A tribute
to Najma Ghouse
Sunday, June 29, 2008 | 4:00 PM to 6:00
PM
Location information upon receipt
of your
email
The world is a better
place today because of the spirit of volunteerism in each one of
us. Every one is endowed with the gift of helping others and a
majority of us do receive boundless joy from caring about
others.
Picking things up for
some one who cannot, taking time to help a stranger and simply
doing good to others makes our heart smile, and we can do this
every day. Every thing we are enjoying today is due to the
spirit of volunteerism in others. When we receive a benefit, we
have to give it back as well to keep a running balance and a
living a happier life. It is as simple as that, that is the
secret to living a peaceful and happier life per the spiritual
masters.
Please join us and unleash the spirit of volunteerism in you.
You may be pleased to
hear the Hymns in Chorus from several faiths and enjoy the
moments of affection, romance and pure goodness.
Send an email to :
Confirmattendance@Gmail.com
to confirm attendance and receive information
about the location.
Najma was stoic, she had
prepared herself for this journey, she had jettisoned the
anxieties and the desires of worldly living. She was content
with the purposeful life she lived, and grateful to the creator
for enriching her with a full spectrum of life experiences from
serene bliss to utter sadness, loneliness to being loved. No
wonder she passed away with a smile on her face, as if saying, I
have successfully completed my life as an individual, a woman,
mother, sister, daughter, grand mother and a wife and now I need
to experience the eternal life.
Full information.
We thank your for
your kind comments
I draw inspiration from all faiths and share this
beautiful precise expressive phrase from Jainism “ Michami
Dukadam”, the essence of which is, on this day, let’s forgive
and ask for forgiveness and start the next breath of life with a
clean slate, free from guilt, free from anxiety, free from hate,
malice, anger and all those enslaving emotions.
Is Dawah (Proselytising) Obligatory? Dawah, an invitation to be a good human being ought to be practiced by every one, and it should not be a condition to one’s spirituality. God reserves the right to shower his grace on whomever he chooses, but he has guaranteed paradise to every good human being regardless of their race, religion or any other uniqueness.
Here is an account of an Iraqi woman removing her head covering and how she saw herself without it. I am certain, most women, particularly those who wore Hijab once may find in tune with this article. I have written a few articles on the subject, whose links are provided below the article.
Islamic State or State of Islam In the book review below, Aisha Sherazi has rightly pointed out the issues we have not dealt with, Insha Allah; I will make an attempt to responds to a few issues; She writes “Which brings me to my initial point. If interpretation is everything in faith, how do we know we are on the right track and not being led astray?”
Prophecy and the fundamentalists Quest I have admired the articles and work of Farzana Hassan, president of the Muslim Canadian Congress who has taken a firm stand on moderation in approach that the Prophet taught, I hope and pray more and more Muslims join her in her Jihad to keep Islam pristine, simple, all embracing and peaceful
Praise the lord, Alhamdu Lillah, I am pleased to read this realization of King Abdullah “King Abdullah has realized that we Muslims have to play a part in reducing tensions across the world. It is a courageous decision.” For the last few years, we have been making attempts to define the role of Muslims in the world based in Qur'aan, and here is the sentence that makes part of the logo of this blogsite. "To be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker, one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for the peaceful co-existence, God wants to live in peace and harmony with his creation."
Aga Khan - democracy and Pluralism Where Hope Takes Root, a collection of talks given over the past sixyears, the Aga Khan sets out the principles that inform his vision of peaceful, productive societies. He returns again and again to the three cornerstones upon which his many years of work in the developing world are based: democracy, pluralism and civil society.
Dialogues - Jews, Christians and Muslims
First came an "Open Letter From Muslims
to Jews," signed by dozens of leading Muslim scholars
and intellectuals in the West, calling for "Peace,
Dialogue and Understanding Between Muslims and Jews." Violence has no place in Islam We can debate and argue with people who are open to seeing another point of you in the least, but truth in the most. Just about everything circulating on the Media is propaganda and we simply cannot fight it. We have to keep doing good and the World will see it one day.
Is Tolerance Accepted in Islam “The idea is that as Muslims we should have no difficulty in developing an attitude of tolerance towards some persons or some families, who are not entirely like us. The paramount need is to learn to co-exist.”
Muslims subtly condition themselves to relate with Hindus based on their reference to God, as one God. Although God is formless in both scriptures, subconsciously most humans give a form and insist on identifying with that One God, as though it is a physical being. Given that, the efforts of Syed Abdullah Tariq must be appreciated.
Critiquing Islamism and Maududi I am glad to see Muslims unhesitatingly critiquing the revered Muslims scholars of the past, we need to sort out the truth from the bunk and there is plenty of it, that is being unraveled now and Insha Allah, in the next decade we must be able to take out the additives by reverend Maududi, Qutub, Hilali and their likes who sought political gains through religion. Political Islam is a human endeavor to dominate, influence and control others, possibly out of fear of being run over or to cash in on the fear. It is the same story with Zionism, Hindutva and Neocons, agents of fear and war mongering.
In the foot steps of Prophet Muhammad, as a Muslim, I draw inspiration from all faiths and share this beautiful precise expressive phrase from Jainism “ Michami Dukadam”, the essence of which is, on this day, let’s forgive and ask for forgiveness and start the next breath of life with a clean slate, free from guilt, free from anxiety, free from hate, malice, anger and all those enslaving emotions. ..... The Qur'aan says that God’s favorite person is the one, who forgives and seeks forgiveness. It is also an idea central to the teachings of Jesus Christ. I want to thank every one who has participated and will participate in this heart and mind purifying process with Najma and I.
Besides the laws revealed by GOD that were designed to govern our lives, the Quran has also indicated a list of 'Etiquette' which we are advised to maintain in our dealings with each other on this planet.
The Rise and Fall of Islamic Empires The slogans of political Islam remain highly resonant, whether as a programme for peaceful governance or an inspiration to wage war. Two new books explain why
One indicator of the development of a society is its female literacy rate and, related to this, the number of its female scholars. On both these fronts, India's Muslims are among the lowest of all the communities in the country.
The following article has touched upon the steps in the growth of a community, starting out from building the places of worship, and the other basic to give the necessary education to retain the youth in the faith and culture one was raised to the third frontier; serving the community at large. One in 15 Americans cannot afford health insurance, the very basic need for a healthy family. The entry of Muslim community to take the responsibility to participate in serving the community is a great welcome in building a healthy nation by individual initiatives.
AHMADIYYA MUSLIMS, WHAT IS NEXT? The real issue is not about who is a Muslim, but it is about how the majorities treat their minorities. Should the bad decisions of a few in the name of Islam, reflect on the Muslim community at large? Now, Indonesia is planning to ban the "heretical" Muslim sect, should that reflect on Islam? The least we can do is to speak up against the tyranny of one group of people against the other. The easy option is to do nothing and let the world believe that it is Islam, and if we did that, we would lose our right to complain that it is not us, well it is us. The actions are not the work of a Looney brigade or some fringe groups; it is the government of Indonesia succumbing to please the few among them.
50 YEARS OF IMAMAT BY HH AGA KHAN His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan completes 50 years as the Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslim community. Congratulations for leading the community to create a better world through interaction with all of God’s creation. During the 50 Golden years of Imamat, his highness has dutifully followed Qur’aan, Prophet Muhammad and Hazrat Ali.
If some one claims righteousness of his belief, he or she must be willing to withstand the onslaught of questions and bring wisdom, rather than the circular logic to the debate. It is true that the establishment, be it Muslim or otherwise is usually short-sighted or perhaps overloaded with the issues and is inclined to ignore the unproven, un-established mavericks; Zuhdi is beyond that now. ISNA offers the platform to express one’s ideas in their legendary three day annual conferences. You have to be one of the many to be a presenter.
MUSLIM MODERATION IN SHORT SUPPLY Tavleen Singh states that Moderation is in short supply among Muslims? In fact that is the only thing in abundance with Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or any one for that matter. Most are moderate people and they go on about their daily responsibilities of earning a living and taking care of their families. They do not wear their religion on their sleeves; one may know some one is Muslim or a Hindu, but they don’t wear a neon sign.
Who really speaks for Islam? Based on the largest and most in-depth study of its kind, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think presents the remarkable findings of the Gallup Organization's six-year poll of the Muslim world-the first ever data-based analysis of the points of view of more than 90% of the global Muslim community, spanning nearly 40 countries and representing 1.3 Billion Muslims.
Let me begin with the oft quoted statement “all it takes for the evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing". I believe the majority of either a religion or a nation is good people. What is missing is action on the part of these good people. They do nothing until crises reaches to a point of destruction.
INDIAN MUSLIMS AGAINST TERRORISM The image of Muslims is carved out by the media; TV, Radio, Blogs, Webs and the Newspapers. Shamefully their livelihood is dependent on creating a good guy and a bad guy duel, in the US they have successfully casted the Jews, the African Americans as the bad guys and now they got Muslims staged for a few more years until they find someone else, may be Mexicans or Chinese. It is time that the Media resorts to being truthful and more importantly, the Muslims need to change that image as did the Jews and African Americans.
This piece
is everything I have been wanting to write. What makes
one a
Qur’aan talks about a refined language that occurs in a civil dialogue. The pitiful language used by the interlocutors “Divorce is given only when husband gets angry with his wife due to some act of hers lack civility.” This is a bad language where the woman is treated less than the man. Alhamdu Lillah, Qur’aan has expressly added the language that Women can initiate a divorce for the very same purpose – to believe in the equal rights of men and women. The language of the Ulema should be “Divorce is an outcome of misunderstanding between the spouses” which is a language of the equals, which is an expression of Justice.
The Islamic State and Khilafat The mainstream Muslims do not aspire or have any thing to do with "Is the Ideological Desire to Establish an Islamic State a Clear and Present Danger to the U.S.?" They have come to America to be free and not have another lawless society in the name of any religion, be it their own. The main stream Muslim knows deeply in his hearts that, democracy is the right form of governance. No doubt, there are a few out there, who dream Islamic form of government, which is about justice, but by no stretch of imagination they are main stream.
Fitna documentary, Geert Wilders, Muslims and the Qur'aan.
Those 14 verses have not only been misquoted for
millennia, but were mis-translated with the intent of maligning
Islam in the middle ages to protect the European kings and their
kingdoms. I have placed the correct translations for him to take a
look and seriously think about becoming a peace maker and not a
provocateur. Is Pope Benedict a peace maker or a Provocateur Did Pope's conversion event on Easter, mitigate or aggravate the conflict? With all due respect to his holiness, his words have not been that of a peace maker. There have been three incidents where his non-action or silence would have been better. The revival of comments made by the Emperor Constantine he delivered in Germany irritated his counterparts in Muslim world, then revising the prayer that was not kosher and now this. What was the need to make the conversion on Easter? Provoke? Qatar - Catholic Church opens
First church opens in Qatar
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