IS IT HAPPY RAMADAN? SEASON'S GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
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Many of us have been debating and will continue to debate about our traditional greetings of Happy Ramadan and Ramadan Mubarak to each other. It is not a happy Ramadan to many and it is time for all of us to ponder.
The deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza, passengers from the two plane crashes, Christians in Islamic State, Iraq and Syria, and Muslim, Sikh and other deaths across the world and deaths of military men on both sides of the conflicts must all be mourned.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) always chose the most peaceful way to find solutions; he was the ultimate peace maker and a mercy to mankind, and we should not let that go of us, we need to be the peace makers and mercy to fellow beings.
My thoughts here are influenced by seeing the entire humanity as one. Indeed, our belief is based on God to be God of the Universe, and Prophet to be mercy to entire mankind and us to be peacemakers for the entire Aalameen, whole humanity, thus the phrases; Rabbul Aalameen, Rahmatul Aalameen and Mukhlooqul Aalameen.
Not only Muslims, but Jews, Christians, Hindus, Atheists and others are equally concerned about the deaths of innocent civilians and it would be wrong to discount their goodwill at this time, let our words mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill, a formula of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Good calls
Most Muslims have followed Prophet’s guidance in speaking out when there is injustice, and we have done that in different formats.
The Jews, Hindus, Christians, Atheists and all others have joined in the demonstrations throughout the world to protest Israel’s aggressive campaign that has killed over 700 civilians mostly innocent children.
No violence has been reported in the demonstrations, and we need to thank God for that. Animals don’t know how to express their anger and resort to fighting and killing each other, humans were gifted with a tongue to dialogue, and dialogue we must. We need to remind ourselves, we are humans.
Please remember we are all in this together, and we must we continue to restrain ourselves from developing prejudice, hate or anger towards any group of people – be it Jewish, Muslim or the other. Prejudice eventually will take down every one.
Bad calls
6 out of 190 nations are justifying excessive Israeli aggressions, indeed this has been the case for nearly six decades. This is sheer stupidity, their support is supposed to protect Israel, but will actually harm Israel’s long term security. There is a sense of anger for the injustice towards Palestinians from over 90% of the world citizenry; their helplessness and frustrations are translating into anti-Jewish sentiments and thus resentment towards United States, the feeling is they are getting away with murders and injustice. It is like the world v USA-Israel-Canada combine. The ugliness of Anti-Semitism is on increase, and for this no one but the leadership of Israel and the United States is responsible, we cannot let Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia and other evils of society to flourish. It’s time to think and time to speak out against our elected representatives in the United States.
Al-Baghdadi, the rogue and the thief has gone on a killing spree and terrorizing Christians to convert or pay Jiziyah in his new Islamic State. This is not Islam and we condemn this strongly, Islam is about freedom and not oppression. This ugly man is maligning the name of Islam further, and if we cannot capture and imprison this man, he will mess up a whole lot more, and Muslims will come to regret it.
A few ugly Rabbis’ and the Ministers in Israel are calling for annihilation of Palestinian children and mothers who give birth to children quoting from their holy books. Indeed they are a match for some of the Imams who are misinterpreting Quran not to trust Jews. Damn them, they are wrong. God is not unjust, God is not discriminatory, and God cannot wrong his own creation and God cannot play favorites. Together, they are fueling the fire of hatred. This needs to stop. For every Muslim ass, there is a Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and other ass. All it takes is for us to speak out.
Ugly calls
A few Jews, Christians and Hindus are justifying the Israeli massacres, while a few Muslims have not blamed Hamas for firing the rockets into Israel. This is a shameful behavior, none of us should rejoice death and destruction, or justify the killings.
The day we mourn for our own and not others marks the disgusting selfishness in us, and the day we mourn for the deaths of all people, we are entering the zone of civil societies. Unless we stand for the rights of others, why should anyone stand up for us?
Ramadan celebrations
I am not sure if we can can be genuinely happy when there is oppression, mass killings and murders of Muslims, Christians, Jews and others is going on. We must, however, thank God for the blessed month, and pray for the well being of all humanity in our congregational and individual prayers. Let our kids know that life goes on, celebration and commemoration is all part of the life. God reminds us, and which one of the favors do you deny?
Ramadan celebrations are scheduled for Monday, July 28, and some will be celebrating on Monday, and some may have already done today. I am finding it difficult to say Ramadan Mubarak.
May God help us remove any ill-will or malice towards fellow beings, and fill us with abilities to find peaceful solutions to the complicated issues, may this Ramadan bring blessings of goodwill, at least in our individual hearts. Amen!
May God guide Netanyahu, AlBaghdadi, Asad and other tyrants, and may God give guidance to our senators and congresspersons to give common sense to be just.
May God help us guard ourselves from from being prejudiced towards groups, faiths, tribes or nations. Yes, we can hold individuals responsible for their crimes, but not their nations or faiths, residents of such nations and followers of such faiths.
May Ramadan's blessing shower the entire humanity, may all of us understand the dividends of peace, and realize the secure feeling when we work for cohesive societies where none of us have to live in fear of the other. Amen!
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Thank you
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam,Israel, India, interfaith, cohesive work place. He is committed to building aCohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day atwww.TheGhousediary.com. Mike believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up, and the process of making the film "Flames of Passion" has begun. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; regularly at Oped News and several other periodicals across the world. His personal sitewww.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.
