Title - Ramadan day 11 Dallas Family Church
Date - Monday, July 30, 2012 | Ramadan11,
1433
Mosque (not a Mosque) - Dallas Family
Church (214) 905-9233
Address - 1922 Anson Road, Dallas, TX 75235
Iftaar Time today: 8:31 PM CST
Recommended reading listed below the note
Today’s Iftaar
was at Dallas Family Church.
 |
| Rev. Kook Jin Moon |
Dallas Family Church is a place I visit a few times a year, and it is always a joy to be there, the
folks at this ministry are committed to the interfaith work. Indeed, they have become a family to me,
particularly Rev. Mark Hernandez. If he asks me to drop other things and join
him, I will do that out of respect for this great man. As the month progresses, I
will share some extraordinary stories and experiences from the interfaith
events, including the one tonight.
Reverend
Moon’s ministry has made several trips to Jerusalem with the Middle East Peace
Initiative, and I have been with them as well. In Korea this March, they held
an international meeting with thousands attending from across the globe. They
celebrated the interfaith movement with a unique concept - they made 4 Gold
plated statues of major religious leaders; Moses, Jesus, Buddha and for Islam,
they made a gold plated symbol of Quraan on a pedestal and conducted their
meetings under the umbrella of these.
They are very respectful of Islam, and I have opened many a sessions
with interfaith prayers.
Today,
Rev. Kook Jin Moon made it to Dallas, a Harvardian heading his father’s
business, an inventor himself and a powerful speaker. He is visiting several Cities in the United
States and other countries on a mission about creating freedom societies, similar to mine building cohesive societies, but his emanates from theology of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, his father.
Mark asked me to join him to
hear Kook Jin this evening, and also asked me to join for lunch. I
mentioned to him that I will join them, but that, I am fasting.
Mark Sat next to me and was reluctant to eat, I broke the ice, and told
everyone to simply enjoy their food, the more temptations sit in front of me,
the stronger I get in my fasting, indeed, I looked into each delicious dish, and
took pictures as well. The food looked real good.
 |
| Delicious "looking" Korean food
|
Then I
spoke about what fasting was all about - it’s to bring Taqwa, the spirituality in us, it is getting closer to God and acquiring those qualities - to be kind,
forgiving, generous, loving and caring towards all of God’s creation, and to learn
to be ourselves by being ourselves rather than go with the flow.
Kook Jin Moon shared some powerful views about freedom, less government, less
regulations and let the freedom determine the outcomes. Ideologically, it
sounds good and almost like the concept of “freedom wins” at last. I shared the concept of
freedom expressed in Quran 2:256, that there shall not be no compulsion in the maters of faith.
Furthermore, God could have prevented or programmed Adam to be obedient, and we
would not have been kicked out of heaven. God means business, when he gave free
will to Adam, he meant it. He did not interrupt, nor did he slap Adam for
disobedience. Adam knew there was a consequence to his decision, and we are living it.
When
Christians talk about the first sin, or being born sinners, they mean
that it is in our DNA to disobey, and that we have to do our inner Jihad to be
free again.
On the other hand, the
Saudi Police is intolerant of Muslims who do not fast, as if they are
responsible to God on the Day of Judgment. I don’t know if Iran has enforcers. What
an individual does is his own business and not any one’s. Similarly, a few
Muslims embarrass others by blatantly asking them if they are observing the
fast. On our part, we should not look down on those who don’t observe fasting,
as it amounts to degrading our own taqwa. I do hope our Imams agree with this.
Isn’t Islam about common sense and free will?
Rev. Mark Hernandez is Chair for the seven
states area for the American Clergy Association and Family federation of
Churches, in 2005 he heard me on 820 AM Radio and came to the Unity Day USA, since then we have
become friends. The founder of this world wide church is Rev. Sun Myung Moon
whose ministry is based in South Korea, but has flourished well in the United
States. He is quite an influential person on the world stage. I have had the
opportunity to have breakfast with him and his wife at 4:30 AM a few years ago, and
also welcomed him in Dallas by placing a Garland on him, and my late wife Najma had welcomed his wife Rev. Hak Jahan Moon. I have met with three of their sons, who
run their own businesses and head the church now, and thier daughter Rev. Injin
Moon, who heads the Church in the United States.
BREAKING
THE FAST
The program was from 7-10 PM and breaking of fast was at 8:32 PM. I had
informed Rev. Hernandez earlier, who had informed Rev. Moon that I will be stepping
out for Iftaar, thank God; Mrs. Yuri Hernandez had set a fruit plate for me and
Marzuk Jami, the other Muslim among some 250 people in a packed hall to listen
to Kook Jin Moon. By the way, we quietly walked out and did our Iftaar and
Maghrib prayers in the fellowship hall. My i-phone compass worked to point to the
Kaaba.
This is
the first time I am on the other side of the fence.
Five years ago, my Sikh and Zoroastrian friends reluctantly shared a story from
seven years ago, and they wanted to know why Muslims had walked out on them in
the Unity Day in 2005? They asked if the prayer sequence for religious leaders
be reversed this time from Zoroastrians to Atheists (though not a religion, they
are a part of the Unity Day) instead of the other way around. I could not bear their hurt, and quickly did
inquires and found out that Muslims did walk out on them when the Sikhs, Wicca
and Zoroastrians were speaking. I don’t let these things go unverified, and
found out that it was the time for Maghrib on September 11, 2005 and Muslim
went to prayers. It was all in Alphabetical order. My Sikh and Zoroastrian friends were relieved knowing the
truth, and the restoration of goodwill.
Our Key note speakers that evening were Daisy Khan and Mayor Pat Evans of Plano.
I shared the story and added that for Muslims, duty to God takes precedence
over other things, and mentioned to the Mayor and other Mayors present that
even if President George Bush (2007) would be speaking, Muslims would go to pray.
It was a revealing story, and the moral is, don’t hold against people
without verifying the truth. Whether it is Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims or
any one, we really need to verify before we hold someone in contempt, it is for
our own good, saving the anguish and sustaining the goodwill.
Mike Ghouse, Rev. Kook Jin Moon, Rev. Mark Hernandez
And
today, it was my turn to inform the organizers of the event to let them know in
advance, that I will be stepping out to do my Iftaar. Indeed, I stepped out at
8:29, right when Rev. Kook Jin Moon was being introduced. This ministry is well
versed with the religious nuances of Jews, Christians, Hindus and Muslims.
Rev. Kook Jin Moon’s talk on freedom was incredible, I do see his point, he is
more like Ron Paulian libertarian, and I am more like Gary John Libertarian or
John Huntsman Republican. We did talk
about Sean Hannity. Sean is indeed a good conservative who believes in genuine individual
freedom, but somehow he slips into being a radical Republican. He did correct me
once that he is a conservative rather than the Republican and I pray he remains
conservative but becomes a moderate Republican.
I will
write about Rev. Moon’s speech in a separate piece. However, I do want to thank
Rev. Hernandez for inviting me, and appreciate the honor Rev. Joshua Cotter gave
me by referencing several times from the stage.
Happy Ramadan.
Please
mark your calendar for the Unity Day USA, a positive event that brings all
Americans Together to rededicate our pledge for a peaceful, prosperous and
secure America. We are a part of America and we need to feel and live it. If you liked some of the article, you will
like the description of Unity Day USA at www.UnityDayUSA.com
A few other Articles to read if you have the
time:
What does God really want?
MikeGhouse is committed to
building a Cohesive America and offers
pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional
speaker,
thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and
justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity
show on Fox TV, and a
commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas
Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and several
other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.comis updated
daily.
