Legitimizing Islamic Radicalization

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Legitimizing Islamic Radicalization
Prompted by Marylou’s search for the truth.
As a civil society, we must resist the temptations to blame one’s family, nation or religion for his or her individual acts,  and we must not give them the cover to hide under a religious label for their evil acts either.

Indeed, when they quote the scripture for their acts, instead of eagerly accepting their excuse, we must open the scriptures and find the truth. There is a successful experiment on the subject and it was a neglected story in the media.
In 2008, a judge in Yemen challenged the Al-Qaida inmates to find the verses in Quraan that propel them to kill the infidels,  he gave them three months to find and said  I’ll join you in your movement if you find the verses,  if not, would you reject it ? Not only they rejected, but were outraged for being duped and have become hunters for the Al-Qaida men.
Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas called Quraan an evil book written by a false prophet, instead of getting angry I visite him in his church and then on the public platform of TV and Dallas Morning News,  I asked him to find three verses in Quraan that were evil and if he did, I will give up my faith and join him. He chickened out. We then produced the Quraan conference in Dallas with non-Muslim clergy on the panel to evaporate the lies the right wingers have fabricated about Quraan.  Full story, interviews and videos at: www.Quraanconference.com
Finding the truth is a responsibility, the society would be better off by freeing themselves from suspicion and anxieties from our hearts and finding peace within.
Mike Ghouse is the founder of America Together foundation, committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on the issues of the day.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 21 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
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Mike, you say :  Phrases such as “Islamic radicalism” are oxymoron and must be avoided to uphold our civility.    What would be a your term?  I think the term “Islam” is used because they quote scripture to justify.  Perhaps you could give some clarity on this.  Thanks. Blessings, M.
Re: http://nabsites.net/demo/muslims-welcome-hearings-by-congressman/

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

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Its devastaing earth quake, its 8.9 on Richter Scale.
It’s was so difficult to witness the destruction of life and families.
Let’s take a minute to pray for restoration of normalcy to the survivors, Amen

I am at loss for words, I just wrote about Ashraful Mukhlookhat, the superior being and today I see this devastation, there is nothing one could do, it is beyond human control.

The 30′ waves were swallowing buildings, homes, cars, ships and just about everything.

I just bow to that superior power whatever one wants to call or not call and submitt to the higher power, which is beyond human control.

May God protect the surviors and bring their familes back together.

I welcome hearings on Islam – II

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There are responses on the Morning News, Huffington Post and several newspapers to the article I wrote, this was the short version in letter format at Dallas Morning News, you are welcome to respond as well. The links are provided below.
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RESPONSES AND THOUGHTS
Thanks for expressing your opinions
 
We all should be concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other.
 
Acknowledging that “some of our own” are a security threat to our nation is the right thing to do; Mr. King is not the right one to do that with his own bias and his support for IRA terrorism. We Muslims should have done it ourselves, since we did not, we have to accept the bad choice of Mr. King.
I trust our Systems and the moral goodness of our nation, if Mr. King takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.
 
I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face “if” he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him gratitude, not just Muslims but the whole nation.
Just as we produced the Quraan conference in Dallas to evaporate the lies the right wingers had propagated, this will perhaps become the first nail in their coffin and hope they will stop pitting one American against the other to have political gains.
Solutions abound.
 
If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot and they are no different than any of the 301 million of us. Each one of has a different thumb print, eye print, DNA, different sizes, shapes and colors, political affiliations. Let there be different faiths or no faiths as well. That is God’s universe.

I welcome hearings on Islam

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http://letterstotheeditorblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/i-welcome-heari.html
 
I welcome the initiative by U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to hold hearings on Islamic radicalism.
It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting peace in a society, and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate and find lasting solutions.
Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation’s security have come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and, as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American.
We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions and need to punish them expediently according to the law.
As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion and not legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts.
Phrases such as “Islamic radicalism” are oxymoron and must be avoided to uphold our civility. 
Mike Ghouse, President
World Muslim Congress

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Mike Ghouse, Peter King Strategy for Muslims

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Part of the following response was shared with the key Muslim leadership in America and as the questions come up, I will be sharing my responses in the comment section below. I hope to address all the questions thrown on the issue.

Peter King has made statements that are repulsive, and on the top of it they have no foundation or not sources to it. He pulls things out of thin air or acts out of the seat of his pants.

We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other. If he goes wrong, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights etc.

We have sadly elected the Republican Majority, which I had advocated all along; unfortunately it turned out to be a disaster. The right wings among them are riding on “hate agenda” and shamelessly the majority of the Good for nothing Republican Party is letting them carry it and evil thoughts continue to perpetuate.

The Republican Party rode to power in 2010 on hate agenda, shame on us to put them-in for their hate and not for addressing our issues. If they don’t get their act together we have to dump the leadership and fix them. I am a Republican and will stay one and count on me to attend the meetings, questioning and demanding proof for their non-sense and I hope many Republican will have the spine to speak up against what is wrong with their leadership.

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About 1:00 PM on Tuesday, March 8
Muslims and Peter King strategy

There are a lot of things we can do; a conference on Sharia, Quraan and other issues facing the nation to build cohesive societies. Get people to participate and for God’s sake attend the interfaith meetings, go the churches, synagogues and temples as a part of the learning. 

Let’s develop a group of Muslims to go speak about Islam in churches; they are hungry to hear us out, they are eager to have friendship. We are not doing our part.

Check these sites out:
www.QuraanConference.com ,
www.Unitydayusa.com,
www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
and teach Muslims to stand for others,
for every American and that is the right thing to do. 

Plan on July 4th Barbeque in Mosque parking lot, I will write more about it, but we must do it, it builds relationships, and we become part of the American story.

Are we a part of the American Society?  
http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2009/04/are-muslims-part-of-american-story.html

I am working on doing a talk on Sean Hannity show on the above topic, contrary to what he has been in the past and I see the improvement and desire in him to present another point of view. If I get the time, I will put videos clips together – he is not condemning Sharia out rightly anymore, at least he asks the other guests is this the Sharia Mr. Ghouse talks about or the Iranian Sharia? He asks me about Egypt, “Michael, what if you are wrong?” that element of doubt is good and intellectualism is taking root in him. He grudgingly acknowledges, he even agreed that CIA and Mossad have provided false information to America.  

Though it is difficult, in every show, I have been able to get a few key points out. Insha Allah, if I get the time, I will put the analysis together.
  
Today, Dallas Morning News and Huffington post will publish my articles about Federal debt and Evolution – it is a main stream article but I have included Islam into the conversation, it easy for the reader to absorb tid-bits here and there than a full talk on Islam.

We need to put our heads together and bring about a positive change.
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Guess what! I stopped at 1:05 and now it is 1:22, I was on Hannity Radio a nationally syndicated show against Brigit Gabrielle – The clear points I made are:

1)     Muslims have condemned 9/11, condemned Osama, just Google it or check out World Muslim Congress website or American Muslim website, the list is there.

2)     Muslims believe in justice and they are happy with the American laws and very few entertain Sharia Laws in America

3)     Imam Anjem Choudhary is radical, his views are as representative of Muslims as Pat Robertson representing Christians.

4)     She misquoted Quraan and I corrected her, she said Prophet Muhammad divided the world in Dar al harb and dar al Islam, I corrected her, prophet Muhammad did not do that, it was done by the kings later on for their own political reasons

5)     I may lose you on my take on Abrogation theory, you may disagree with me, that is Ok, I believe God did not screw up by saying one thing and then coming back and saying “what I said before is negated what I am saying now.” The Non-Muslims are confused with this idea, so what do we believe, what is abrogated and what is not…

6)     … I will attach the radio link on my site, that was 15 minutes of talk and I said Sean that as a Muslim, I will stand with him to protect him if that Choudhary guy has threatened him.

Mike Ghouse
Muslims together nurturing pluralistic values embedded in Islam.
www.WorldMuslimCongress.net 
http://www.mikeghouse.net/

 

King will hammer the first nail on right wing coffin

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This blog will list published opinions on the subject.  If you know a good piece that is not posted on this blog, you may consider sharing it. You can post the link in “YOUR COMMENTS” Link and it will  be post if it adds significantly to the understanding of the situation.   

Peter King has made statements that are repulsive, and have no foundation or sources to it. He pulls things out of thin air or acts out of the seat of his pants.
We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other.
If he takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.
We have sadly elected the Republican Majority, which I had advocated as an individual all along, instead the right-wingers rode in on the “hate agenda” and shamelessly a majority of the Good-for-nothing-Republican Party is letting them carry it, and evil continues to perpetuate.   If they don’t get their act together we have to dump the leadership and fix them.
I am a Republican and will stay one, and I am committed to attend the key meetings for the next season and I will be questioning and demanding proof for their non-sense. I hope other Republicans will have the spine to speak up against what is wrong with the Republican leadership; they are letting the hate mongers become their mascot.
I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face. Just as we produced the Quraan conference to evaporate the lies the right wingers had projected, this will perhaps become the first nail on their coffin.   

Mike Ghouse is a speaker commited to building a cohesive America. His work is reflected at three websites and twenty seven blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Your comments at:
http://peterkinghearings.blogspot.com/2011/03/peter-king-hearings.html#comments
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Dr Zuhdi Jasser, innoculating Liberty

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Indeed, we need to inoculate ourselves with the liberty cells. The sense of liberty has not caught on with a few of the immigrants and unfortunately they are the ones acting out as guardians of the religion.
Libert is an issue with Muslims in particular, but humanity in general.  The Muslim immigrants carry that baggage, if you study the organizational behavior of some these “men”. The Presidents or heads of the organizations right here in the United States, you will find their proclivities to hang on to their seat,  for God’s sake it is a non-profit organization and not a kingdom.  They act like Gaddafi, Mubarak and their ilk and eventually get forced out as the opposing group “take over” the Kingdom.  I have witnessed this over and over again. 
On the other hand there are numerous examples of Muslims who have found themselves in full tune with the ideals of democracy. They serve their term and happily train the next one and turn it over. It is a beautiful transition unlike the other, where hostility for the previous servers continues, as they were taken over.
By acknowledging that “our own” are a security threat to our nation, we will do the right thing. 
By God if those guys like Shehzad were successful, you and I would have a whole lot to answer to our children and fellow Americans.  We do have extremists among us, and those few who know about them, do not have the guts to turn them in and endanger not only the lives of 300 Million Americans, but 6 Million Muslims as well.  
Let me be fair, that is the case with Americans too, they will not stop at an accident or even a rape in process because they do not want to be involved.  This has to change.
Solutions abound.
If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot. It also proves that Muslims believe in democracy and differ on issues. A few organizations are pushing to be one voice – that is very undemocratic; those oppressive ideas are fading from even the Muslim nation but the Republican right wingers are in that mode in Wisconsin.
Amazingly, Islam teaches free will and non-compulsion. The behavior has nothing to do with religion, but the training they have had growing up, which ought to change by engaging in civil dialogue, again Quraan offers the best course on Civil dialogue.  http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html
However, I must be critical of a few points that Dr. Jasser made; he broad brushed Muslim organizations, suggested government to fund organizations and attacked CAIR unjustly. Calling CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator is perhaps another lie by the Bush Government and we should not value that phrase unless they present proof of it.  Our judicial system is one of the best and its value, that you are innocent until proven guilty needs to be valued, we cannot go wrong with that.
I respect and support many an items that Dr. Jasser proposes. Its time for the right wing Muslims and right wing Republicans to get that inoculation.
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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer. He is committed to building a cohesive America through the America Together Foundation, within it, the Foundation for Pluralism champions the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other, and World Muslim Congress is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. Mike is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam, Civil Societies, and Peace & Justice at your work place, place of worship, school, seminars or conferences.  He is a media commentator offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Mike’s work is reflected at three websites & twenty seven Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/
 

King Hearing will be good for Muslims

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Watch the #1 listed video Mark Potac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvZtSwwpVfk
I am glad this hearing is going on.

I  trust our Systems and the moral goodness of our nation, if Mr. King takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.

 
I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face “if” he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him gratitude, not just Muslims but the whole nation.
Just as we produced the Quraan conference in Dallas to evaporate the lies the right wingers had propagated, this will perhaps become the first nail in their coffin and hope they will stop pitting one American against the other to have political gains.
Solutions abound.
 
If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot and they are no different than any of the 301 million of us. Each one of has a different thumb print, eye print, DNA, different sizes, shapes and colors, political affiliations. Let there be different faiths or no faiths as well. That is God’s universe.

Mike Ghouse
http://www.mikeghouse.net/

 

Muslims welcome hearings by Congressman Peter R. King

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Mike Ghouse, president of the World Muslim Congress welcomes the initiative by Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security to hold the hearings on Islamic radicalism.
It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate it.
 
Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation’s security has come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American, and we welcome the hearings. We hope it will lead us to find the sources and causes of such erratic behavior, and perhaps point out areas of concerns to be addressed and find lasting solutions.
We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions, and need to punish them expediently according to the law.  As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion, and not fall for and legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts. The use of phrases such as Islamic Radicalism is oxymoronic and must be avoided to uphold our civility.
As Americans together and Muslims together, we are planning to organize conferences and workshops on terrorism, anti-Semitism, Sharia, Quran, GLBT, racial profiling, Islamophobia and other issues which pit one American against another. We hope to separate realities from myths to help find solutions.
Mike Ghouse is the founder of America Together foundation, committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on the issues of the day.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 21 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
 

Evolution, Quraan, Freedom and Muslims

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I am saddened to read BBC report that Dr. Usama Hasan withdrew his statements on evolution due to social pressures from a few Muslims.  I hope no one jumps to conclusion that Muslims are a monolithic lot, they are not.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had predicted that his community will eventually split into 72 or 73 tribes, indeed he was paving the way for Muslims to accept diversity and compete with each other in serving humanity.  He said; only God will decide who will be righteous, not now, but on the Day of Judgment. He took judgment and prejudgment out of people’s hands. Thank God, at least six schools of thought and about six main denominations in Islam exist today with several divisions within. Prophet’s prophecy will come true and hope no Muslim will be belligerent towards the other.    
Had Darwin presented his theory of evolution six centuries earlier, when Muslims were free and contributed tremendously to science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and religion, the Muslim Scholars at that time would have seen God’s glory and infinite wisdom in his words, rather than limiting God’s word to narrow definitions within the confines of our comprehension.
Quraan 31:20 (Asad) ARE YOU NOT aware that God has made subservient to you all (has enabled you to derive benefit from all)  that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and has lavished upon you His blessings, both outward and inward? (Both visible and invisible benefits, as well as both physical and intellectural endowments) And yet, among men there is many a one that argues about God without having any knowledge [of Him], without any guidance, and without any light-giving revelation;
The Muslims of the Golden age believed in scientific inquiry as God had repeatedly said in Quraan to reflect on his bounties of nature and encouraged humans to truly become the honored creatures by managing the affairs of the universe and earn the title of superior species; the survival of the fittest. They would have embraced the idea faster than the Christian Europe given their proclivities.
For the first time in nearly 500 years Muslims are becoming free again, they are extricating themselves from all bondages and forced limitations on Islamic thinking. The people in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere are freeing themselves from all clutches, thanks to Google, twitter and facebook.
A decade from now, Muslims will see reason and logic in God’s words and will develop an understanding that Adam was the first in the series of species who achieved the status of “Ashraful Mukhlookhat” the honored one among the species by observing God’s signs and learning to deal with them.   He was the first one who managed to survive, managed his environments, used intelligence and spoke cohesively; he was released from the dream world of heaven, and took his species to become a permanent fixture on the earth and God called him Adam, the first one.   
The new generation will see the plausibility of evolution, and two generations down will do more research in understanding Quraan and perhaps find the link; creation out of evolution.
Mike Ghouse is committed to nurturing the pluralistic and intellectual values embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress – his work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net
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Reference: The Imam who retracted the statements on evolution due to social pressures. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12661477