A conversation about Muslims and Pakistan at Dr. Mona Kazim Shah’s home

at Dr. Mona Kazim Shah’s home.

With what is going on in Pakistan with
minorities, Mona invited several of her friends to join her for an open
conversation, about 30 gathered and each one shared his or her thoughts about
it. One overwhelming theme was the agony of being misunderstood, and what each
one is doing to change that. It was a motivating gathering of activists, who
are doing something or the other to bring about a change. 

Most of the problems in the society stem from
not knowing each other, when we do, things will change. Otherwise, we keep
building myths about each other without ever making an attempt to fall them. We
cannot expect change if we do nothing about it. 

What does it take to change the perceptions
about Muslims? Not fight, but be an example and connect and get to know”?
Knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to acceptance (not
agreement) and appreciation with a different point of view. 

JULY 4TH.

Such an opportunity exists, and it is here –
July 4th; inviting your non-Muslims friends to celebrate July 4th, it is the
most patriotic thing to do, and it will bind us with fellow Americans. Make an
effort to invite people from different faiths, races, ethnicities and
orientations – to rid of your own biases against others. You’ll be pleased you
did it. An article about it will be released next week with details. It will be
atwww.AmericansTogether.org 

RAMADAN 

It is a blessed month, and we need to feel its
blessings in our guts by being honest and sincere with ourselves. The most
important question we have to ask ourselves is – Is Prophet Muhammad really a
mercy to the mankind? If he was, as a follower, am I? Am I kind to everyone?
All Humanity? or just some? Am I loaded with hate for fellow Muslims? How can I
be a better Muslim like the Prophet without prejudice towards fellow humans?
Are we capable of meeting someone from Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya or the sub groups
within, and say peace to
them? Do we really mean it when we say Prophet was a mercy to
“mankind” or do we reduce him to the ownership of Muslims? Can we
show it by your actions? If you cannot, then please don’t say anything shallow.
Take a look at this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/how-i-connect-with-prophet-muhammad_b_2547782.html 

Ramadan is to purify us, it’s here for you. Go
do the Iftaar in a Masjid a day, every Masjid of Shia, Sunni and Ahmadiyya and
within each denomination there are several – you have 29 or 30 days to practice
removing your prejudice, go do it and be free from the conditioning, being free
from prejudices is such a joy, it’s like walking out of home to work with no
worries. A list of Mosques in Dallas is at www.DallasMuslimCenter.org 

How each Mosque follows their own unique tradition
is chronicled here with the pictures of Mosques since 2010-http://ramadanexclusive.com/

POWER OF ENGAGEMENT.

I shared my experience with Sean Hannity, which
I have called the power of engagement – change comes by engaging with people
without which there is no chance. It’s like the lottery ticket, you cannot
complain for not winning it, if you have not purchased it. Engagement increased
the chances to a change, disengagement guarantees status-quo. 

Full story in the video at my talk at Aligarh
Muslim University –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDMuE4bdYW4